Petrarch
Hello Friends of Humanity! My name is Francesco Petrarch, but most people just know me by my last name, or simply, as the "Father of Humanism". Yes, art, architecture, politics and the like are all very important in the Renaissance...but let's not forget intellectual thought! My friends and I call it "Humanism", and I'd love to tell you a bit more about it. |
As Humanists, we believe in the simple quest of the furthering of the human progress. Think about it: "humanism" simply means the "belief in humans"...and that's what we focus on. How can we, made God's glorious image, achieve a "higher calling", a more "elevated" path in life? In truth, yes, it's about God, but it doesn't have to be! Humanism is all about transcedning through the miserable human experience in order to achieve a better one!
Most of us subscribe to the theory of virtù, the ability to "shape the world around you". But this is not achieved overnight. Humanism is about the progress and the struggle to shape the world around you. In my own words, I believe that, "battles between armies are more easy to win than battles within oneself. For a human being there is no struggle more pertinacious [relentless] than that with his soul and character."
So how does one traverse through the struggle? We talk about it! And we read! Simple, huh? Humanists gather in groups to discuss their own mental strivings and conversations with wise men. But nothing helps more than the "continual
and diligent reading of the works of outstanding writers," many of whom lived
"hundreds of years before our time, who still live and dwell with us, and
talk to us with divine intellect in their great books." When we read these ancient texts in search for wisdom, I believe it can "guide our wavering
thoughts" through the storms of change. My personal favorites are the works of Cicero and Seneca, ancient Roman philosophers and politicians.
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Lastly, humanism is all about reason. As I mentioned, we believe in the "furthering of the human progress", right? So, what better way to "progress" than to apply reason to the "storms of life"? "Reason" is just the process of "logical thought". Think about it: "If you rejoice in being young and in the prime of life, Reason
will remind you of relentless change and fleeting youth. If you are depressed, overcome
with sadness and misery, Reason will take you through a meditation that leads not only
to a consideration of God's special concern for man but also to Cicero's and Seneca's
writings on peace of soul." Reason reminds you not to take too much joy in the present, as it is fleeting. Reason also reminds you that pain is temporary, and that there is always a way out...
Speaking of a "way out", I'd like to share with you a book I write, simply titled, "Secrets". I never meant for this book to be published, as it was simply a "diary of sorts" that expressed my deepest thoughts and fears. In this book, I carry on a discussion with the ancient Roman philosopher St. Augustine who instructs me on the path to enlightenment. Again, this book was never meant to be published, so it might read a little awkwardly, but in truth, it holds my deepest and darkest thoughts about my own insecurities and weaknesses. I've include a few excerpts below. I hope you enjoy it. It was originally written in Latin, and has been translated to modern English. Some phrases, words, tenses, and exclamations have been changed in order for you to read it better! |
Excerpts from Petrarch's Secretum
SAINT AUGUSTINE: Oh, mortal men! I fear for you! You cling to your miseries and pretend that you do not know the danger that hangs over your head!
PETRARCH: What do you mean?
AUGUSTINE: Mankind has been given all the powers of the mind. Yet, in attempt to find salvation, pursues all of the world’s sinful pleasures. And in this pursuit, mankind will never find rest.
PETRARCH: I disagree. I believe that there is salvation simply in the quest for salvation.
AUGUSTINE: That may be true in some cases, but simply desiring salvation does not guarantee it. One has to work towards salvation.
PETRARCH: Well, certainly. If you put it in “absolute” such of those. Yes, in certain cases, if mankind desires "total happiness", he will remain unhappy until he decrees himself “totally happy”. These quests for salvation are in vain. But what about a "simpler salvation"? An "escape from misery"? But what about those who have felt the crushing weight of grief, through bodily disease, or the death of those they loved, or imprisonment, or exile, or hard poverty, or other misfortunes. Those situations are not their fault, and they will remain unhappy for the rest of their lives!
AUGUSTINE: Wow. I had no idea I was dealing with such a simple mind! How is it you have forgotten all those wise philosophers who state that misery is a “choice” and not a “life sentence”? Succumbing to misery is so pedestrian, so common, and so “expected”. You must avoid the common beaten track and set your aspirations higher; take the way marked by the steps of very few who have gone before, Remember the poet’s word:
"On, blow lad, on!
your courage leading you,
So only Heaven is scaled."
My dear Petrarch, don’t you remember the point of our conversations?
PETRARCH: Yes, but I've since forgotten...
AUGUSTINE: I wanted you to realize that the first step in avoiding life’s stresses and in elevating your soul to higher level is to meditate on, and find peace with, death and man's misery. But I feel that I am at a loss with you. One has to have a vehement desire “live life elevated”!
PETRARCH: But what about the loss of Laura, my one, true love? You say that no man has ever fallen into misery but of his own free will, or remained miserable except of his own accord. But I’m the living, breathing example of the opposite! Laura’s death has made me miserable!
AUGUSTINE: Oh, that complaint is so old and tiresome! I will say it again: No man can become or can be unhappy unless he so chooses. In all of mankind, there is a dangerous tendancy to deceive themselves, to trick and to convince themselves of whatever they feel necessary. Why? Because mankind has a natural habit of trusting! This makes them unsuspicious and the pleasantly familiar sound of their voice is apt to put them off our guard! Mankind longs to trust, and it’s easiest to trust themselves! Now, at this moment, you are deceiving yourself into believing that you haven’t done a single thing to bring upon yourself life’s misery.
PETRARCH: Alas. I wonder how many times I have to tell you that change, for mankind, and myself, is impossible.
AUGUSTINE: And I wonder how many times I must reply that it is “want of will”, not “want of power”, which is the trouble. You have to want to change. Do not focus on your belief that “change is impossible”. That’s yet another “roadblock”...But I was just like you! You might remember stories of my mortal life: I tore my hair; I beat my brow; my fingers I twisted nervously; I bent double and held my knees; I filled the air of heaven with most bitter sighs; I poured out tears like water on every side. I remained what I was, until a deep meditation at last showed me the root of all my missed opportunities and made it plain before my eyes. And after that, I changed! I was no longer weak! I underwent a marvelous and most blessed alteration! I was transformed instantly and made another man, another Augustine altogether.
PETRARCH: I beg you, go on.
AUGUSTINE: I remember the words of the ancient Roman poet, Virgil. He said, "Unchanged their mind while vainly flow their tears." Socrates would say it in a different format: “An unexamined life is not worth living”. For Virgil, you can cry all you want, but change comes only to those who seek it.
PETRARCH: Agreed. Please continue.
AUGUSTINE: I feel, still, that there is something you are keeping from me. Do, please, confess it, no matter what it may be. Do you not remember the phrase of Ovid, the Roman poet? He says, "To wish for what you want is not enough; With ardent longing you must strive for it."
PETRARCH: But I am "longing" for it! I am "striving" for it!
AUGUSTINE: You were mistaken.
PETRARCH: That's your opinion.
AUGUSTINE: To make your belief certain, examine your own conscience. Conscience is the best judge of virtue. It is a guide, true and unerring, that weighs every thought and deed. Conscience will not lie to you. It will tell you that, in fact, you have never longed for spiritual health as you should have.
PETRARCH: I have been examining my conscience, as you suggested.
AUGUSTINE: What do you find?
PETRARCH: That what you say is true. What, then, would you say a man must do to break free from the world and to “live life elevated”?
AUGUSTINE: As I said in the first instance: Meditate on 1) Death, and 2) Man's own mortal nature.
PETRARCH: But I already do these things!
AUGUSTINE: Ah, here is another delusion, a fresh obstacle in your way…
PETRARCH: Well, maybe I'm wrong. It seems to me, that mankind loses his way when he thinks he has already reached his goal, and therefore makes no effort anymore.
AUGUSTINE: Here’s a test: Every time you meditate without any feeling of spirituality, know that you have meditated in vain. But if, in the act of meditation, you find yourself suddenly grove stiff, if you tremble, turn pale, endure pain...if show yourself willing to be healed and wishful to be raised up; if you cling to your purpose and persist in your endeavor, then you may be assured you have not meditated in sin.
PETRARCH: But we all die in the end, right? Every day I see men giving in to their carnal desires. And he'll die just like the virtuous one...yet have a happier life in the meantime!
AUGUSTINE: But who said that meditation brings no happiness? Who said that meditation is devoid of pleasure? Furthermore, that “happiness” evaporates at the end of the day when Reason takes over. There is Reason to believe that life is more than just pleasures. "What deludes almost all of us," as Cicero says, "is that we regard death from afar." Do you know what stands in your way?
PETRARCH: No! And that’s what I desire to know!
AUGUSTINE: That the heart and soul are captive inside of a sinful body. Virgil states:
"The soul of men still shines with heavenly fire,
That tells from whence they come, save that the flesh
And limbs of earth breed dullness, hence spring fears,
Desire, and grief and pleasures of the world,
And so, in darkness prisoned, the no more
Look upward to heaven's face."
Meditate on the last line: “Look upward to heaven’s face” to avoid “desire, grief, and pleasures of the world”.
PETRARCH: O best of Fathers, it is so hard to do this!
AUGUSTINE: Your heart suffers a plague: it is overwhelmed by so many thoughts, feelings, emotions, and circumstances that your spirit grows weak! It’s the same as when a farmer sows too many seeds in one small space of ground. As the seedlings spring up they choke each other. So in your overcrowded mind, what there is sown can make no root and bear no fruit.
PETRARCH: Ah, woe is me! Now you've gotten to the root of my problem!
AUGUSTINE: It’s OK! It’s going to be painful! You are awakening to life. But that’s enough for today. Let us rest until tomorrow, and let us take a breathing space in silence.
PETRARCH: Yes, I am tired somewhat, and most gladly shall I welcome quiet and rest.
PETRARCH: What do you mean?
AUGUSTINE: Mankind has been given all the powers of the mind. Yet, in attempt to find salvation, pursues all of the world’s sinful pleasures. And in this pursuit, mankind will never find rest.
PETRARCH: I disagree. I believe that there is salvation simply in the quest for salvation.
AUGUSTINE: That may be true in some cases, but simply desiring salvation does not guarantee it. One has to work towards salvation.
PETRARCH: Well, certainly. If you put it in “absolute” such of those. Yes, in certain cases, if mankind desires "total happiness", he will remain unhappy until he decrees himself “totally happy”. These quests for salvation are in vain. But what about a "simpler salvation"? An "escape from misery"? But what about those who have felt the crushing weight of grief, through bodily disease, or the death of those they loved, or imprisonment, or exile, or hard poverty, or other misfortunes. Those situations are not their fault, and they will remain unhappy for the rest of their lives!
AUGUSTINE: Wow. I had no idea I was dealing with such a simple mind! How is it you have forgotten all those wise philosophers who state that misery is a “choice” and not a “life sentence”? Succumbing to misery is so pedestrian, so common, and so “expected”. You must avoid the common beaten track and set your aspirations higher; take the way marked by the steps of very few who have gone before, Remember the poet’s word:
"On, blow lad, on!
your courage leading you,
So only Heaven is scaled."
My dear Petrarch, don’t you remember the point of our conversations?
PETRARCH: Yes, but I've since forgotten...
AUGUSTINE: I wanted you to realize that the first step in avoiding life’s stresses and in elevating your soul to higher level is to meditate on, and find peace with, death and man's misery. But I feel that I am at a loss with you. One has to have a vehement desire “live life elevated”!
PETRARCH: But what about the loss of Laura, my one, true love? You say that no man has ever fallen into misery but of his own free will, or remained miserable except of his own accord. But I’m the living, breathing example of the opposite! Laura’s death has made me miserable!
AUGUSTINE: Oh, that complaint is so old and tiresome! I will say it again: No man can become or can be unhappy unless he so chooses. In all of mankind, there is a dangerous tendancy to deceive themselves, to trick and to convince themselves of whatever they feel necessary. Why? Because mankind has a natural habit of trusting! This makes them unsuspicious and the pleasantly familiar sound of their voice is apt to put them off our guard! Mankind longs to trust, and it’s easiest to trust themselves! Now, at this moment, you are deceiving yourself into believing that you haven’t done a single thing to bring upon yourself life’s misery.
PETRARCH: Alas. I wonder how many times I have to tell you that change, for mankind, and myself, is impossible.
AUGUSTINE: And I wonder how many times I must reply that it is “want of will”, not “want of power”, which is the trouble. You have to want to change. Do not focus on your belief that “change is impossible”. That’s yet another “roadblock”...But I was just like you! You might remember stories of my mortal life: I tore my hair; I beat my brow; my fingers I twisted nervously; I bent double and held my knees; I filled the air of heaven with most bitter sighs; I poured out tears like water on every side. I remained what I was, until a deep meditation at last showed me the root of all my missed opportunities and made it plain before my eyes. And after that, I changed! I was no longer weak! I underwent a marvelous and most blessed alteration! I was transformed instantly and made another man, another Augustine altogether.
PETRARCH: I beg you, go on.
AUGUSTINE: I remember the words of the ancient Roman poet, Virgil. He said, "Unchanged their mind while vainly flow their tears." Socrates would say it in a different format: “An unexamined life is not worth living”. For Virgil, you can cry all you want, but change comes only to those who seek it.
PETRARCH: Agreed. Please continue.
AUGUSTINE: I feel, still, that there is something you are keeping from me. Do, please, confess it, no matter what it may be. Do you not remember the phrase of Ovid, the Roman poet? He says, "To wish for what you want is not enough; With ardent longing you must strive for it."
PETRARCH: But I am "longing" for it! I am "striving" for it!
AUGUSTINE: You were mistaken.
PETRARCH: That's your opinion.
AUGUSTINE: To make your belief certain, examine your own conscience. Conscience is the best judge of virtue. It is a guide, true and unerring, that weighs every thought and deed. Conscience will not lie to you. It will tell you that, in fact, you have never longed for spiritual health as you should have.
PETRARCH: I have been examining my conscience, as you suggested.
AUGUSTINE: What do you find?
PETRARCH: That what you say is true. What, then, would you say a man must do to break free from the world and to “live life elevated”?
AUGUSTINE: As I said in the first instance: Meditate on 1) Death, and 2) Man's own mortal nature.
PETRARCH: But I already do these things!
AUGUSTINE: Ah, here is another delusion, a fresh obstacle in your way…
PETRARCH: Well, maybe I'm wrong. It seems to me, that mankind loses his way when he thinks he has already reached his goal, and therefore makes no effort anymore.
AUGUSTINE: Here’s a test: Every time you meditate without any feeling of spirituality, know that you have meditated in vain. But if, in the act of meditation, you find yourself suddenly grove stiff, if you tremble, turn pale, endure pain...if show yourself willing to be healed and wishful to be raised up; if you cling to your purpose and persist in your endeavor, then you may be assured you have not meditated in sin.
PETRARCH: But we all die in the end, right? Every day I see men giving in to their carnal desires. And he'll die just like the virtuous one...yet have a happier life in the meantime!
AUGUSTINE: But who said that meditation brings no happiness? Who said that meditation is devoid of pleasure? Furthermore, that “happiness” evaporates at the end of the day when Reason takes over. There is Reason to believe that life is more than just pleasures. "What deludes almost all of us," as Cicero says, "is that we regard death from afar." Do you know what stands in your way?
PETRARCH: No! And that’s what I desire to know!
AUGUSTINE: That the heart and soul are captive inside of a sinful body. Virgil states:
"The soul of men still shines with heavenly fire,
That tells from whence they come, save that the flesh
And limbs of earth breed dullness, hence spring fears,
Desire, and grief and pleasures of the world,
And so, in darkness prisoned, the no more
Look upward to heaven's face."
Meditate on the last line: “Look upward to heaven’s face” to avoid “desire, grief, and pleasures of the world”.
PETRARCH: O best of Fathers, it is so hard to do this!
AUGUSTINE: Your heart suffers a plague: it is overwhelmed by so many thoughts, feelings, emotions, and circumstances that your spirit grows weak! It’s the same as when a farmer sows too many seeds in one small space of ground. As the seedlings spring up they choke each other. So in your overcrowded mind, what there is sown can make no root and bear no fruit.
PETRARCH: Ah, woe is me! Now you've gotten to the root of my problem!
AUGUSTINE: It’s OK! It’s going to be painful! You are awakening to life. But that’s enough for today. Let us rest until tomorrow, and let us take a breathing space in silence.
PETRARCH: Yes, I am tired somewhat, and most gladly shall I welcome quiet and rest.
I hope you enjoyed your time with me. Click on the link below to return to the "Leaders of Men" page.