On visiting Italy and getting inspired

I’m rounding up my week long trip to Italy and I have been truly inspired. From the majestic Duomo cathedral in Milan to the ruins of the Roman empire to the papal basilicas in Rome. Italy is truly a sight to see. The statutes and paintings are nothing more than jaw dropping and remarkable. I couldn’t help but wonder how the great thinkers and philosophers of that time made it all happen.

What can we learn from the Romans and the great artists of the Renaissance? I thought to myself. Indeed, they created something that echoes through time. They created something that will outlive them. So how can I do this? How does one go about creating a legacy that is timeless? A legacy that will stand the test of time and will live on long after I’m gone.

Mastery

On Michael Angelo’s tomb were three angels ¹. Each to represent the different disciplines he was a master of - sculpting, painting and architecture. He devoted his life to these things and the result are masterpieces that can never die. This is also why I vehemently believe we are born with many passions. Only a few dare to pursue all. Either we are too busy heads down chasing the wrong things or life gets in the way or worse - we let work and our jobs dictate what skill we need to nurture. We spend our entire lives trading our precious time for money.

It is very important to go through the exercise of imagining the end of our lives and asking this question - what do I want to be remembered for? What I’m I living for? What will be the sum of my life? I believe asking these questions regularly will steer you in the right direction.

For me, I really want to be a master of the technologies I find interesting and also, a master of some sought of the arts. It is interesting because the two disciples to me have always seemed to be complete opposite and I often struggle to balance the two. I picked up drawing when I was young and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is one those things that focuses my mind and forces me to sit still and just observe. Drawing is the act of seeing. It opens your eyes to the details and beauty I otherwise would miss.

Admittedly, I drew only sporadically threw the years due to school and work. It is something I wish to devote more time to but only as a means to an end. Out of my love for art, came a natural interest in photography and cinematography. This sounds yet again like three different disciplines and at this point you’re thinking I’m confused and lack focus. Hear me out. What is the common theme between drawing, pictures and videos? They are images and images are a way to convey a message; to tell stories.

Whether using a camera or with a charcoal or oil on a canvas, images tell a thousand words. It is all art and art is the ultimate form of human expression. The camera, my paintbrush.

That being said, I do think that drawing gives the most creative freedom. You are limited only by your imagination and the borders of the page. There are tradeoffs with each medium. In today’s world, vidoes have a farther reach than pictures and paintings but it is notoriously expensive to get started and you are constrained by the size of your wallet in addition to the need to collaborate with others to get something tangible done.

Now back to mastery. How does technology and art coincide? Truth is I don’t know and I’m still trying to figure it out. One thing I know is when I die, I want to be remembered for both. Will I be as good as the great Micheal Angelo? Or be a great engineer like Nikola Tesla or Edgar Disktra?

Maybe. Maybe not. But that’s not the point. The point is to make my contribution to humanity before my time is up. Tell powerful stories through art with whatever medium I deem fit. Use technology to make people’s lives easier and better. Of course, make money doing what I love. I don’t want to die broke lol and I definitely don’t want to just survive and manage. I want to thrive and have financial peace!

Pour your energy/legacy into things that are long term

My spoken words are good but it does not scale. The moment I leave the room, it dies there in the minds of those who heard. They remember for a little while or might even act on it. However, when they die, my words also die with them. Writing and imagery scales much better than words and it will be here long after I leave this earth. It is why paintings and sculptures outlive the creator and even after many generations and centuries, you can still revisit the message the author was trying to convey.

The Duomo cathedral took 600 years to build and has been standing since 1602. It has outlived every since pope and archpriest that and will continue too. The only way we know the pope ever lived is from the engraving on the stained glass of the chapel. St. Peter, the disciple of Jesus, established the first church in Rome and was essentially its first pope. Jesus said “On this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail”. St. Peter’s Basicilica in the Vatican is where St. Peter was buried and his remains lie in the underneath the center of the church. Literally fulfulling the words of Jesus. The Roman’s wanted to be remembered and so they built elaborate temples and archs and buildings with giant columns and their names inscribed on it. They understood that life and this earthly body is fleeting. But words and . I always wonder 10,000 years from now, what will people find when they dig up the ruins of this world? What will they find when they dig up my grave? Or better yet - what do I want them to find when I am only bones and ashes?

So then, why is Italy worth visiting? Why should we pay attention to history? Because someone 4000 years ago might have created something important. Something that tells us about the world they lived in. It might be a warning for future generations. The point of digging into the past to study history is to rescue ideas that have been hidden at the edge of time and bring it into the light. The creator knows we are coming for it and thats why it exists in the first place. If you’re reading this 10,000 years from now, I hope the ruins of the Roman empire and the works of the great artists of Florence are still around for you to be inspired by. I also hope that when you see my ruins, you know I lived up to my mission: “To tell powerful stories through art and to use technology to help people live a better life.”

Anyways, enough of my rants. Go out there and create something eternal.