The new year has arrived, and many of you are making resolutions for what comes after the popping of corks, the tolling of bells and the wailing of sirens.
Resolutions invariably focus on diet, exercise and sobriety, but by Valentine’s Day, they’re forgotten. Instead of making resolutions that are transient, consider something more enduring — a personal renaissance.
As an undergraduate, I took a history course on Western civilization, where we learned about the historical Renaissance, centered in Florence, Italy, but which spread across Europe. Roughly spanning the 15th and 16th centuries, the Renaissance was a look past the Middle Ages back to the classical world of Greece and Rome. As a result, there was a rebirth and a flourishing of art, music, literature and science, all the things that make us human.
Before I explain why you should strive for a personal renaissance, I’d like to suggest how you might proceed, after first turning off your computer, television or the latest i-whatever.
Set yourself the goal of reading a poem a day. A well-written poem is a highly concentrated expression of human experience, one that demands you focus on each word, image and thought.
Acquire a copy of a college-level poetry anthology, either from a brick-and-mortar bookstore or from the internet. I prefer the former, as they need the business. Make sure to read Walt Whitman’s “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” and Wallace Stevens’ “The Idea of Order at Key West.”
If you’re not a fan of poetry, pick a novel or work of history, and challenge yourself with something you normally wouldn’t be interested in. As you read, jot down comments and questions and look up words you don’t know. When you’re done, the world will have, or should have, changed. Try Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man” or William Faulkner’s “The Bear.”
Language challenges us, but so do images. Never pass up the chance to go to an art exhibit. It doesn’t matter if you’re into art or not — just go! And it doesn’t have to be the Art Institute, as a small gallery would be happy to welcome you. Revel in the colors, forms and styles. I still vividly recall an exhibit of Buddhist art from the Temple of Tōdai-ji in Japan that was at the Art Institute in 1986.
If you’re not into literature or art, then hit a trail. Learn every patch of woods in your local forest preserve or state park. There’s nothing like the spice-like aroma of a tall-grass prairie on an autumn day. Enhance your observations with more formal knowledge from books at your local library. At times, I’ve never felt more human than when I was deep in a patch of woods or when I was watching a flight of sandhill cranes.
Regardless of your choices, record your experiences in some way — as long as it’s not electronic! Pick up a clothbound composition book at your local dollar store, and with several sharpened pencils, reconnect to your own thoughts, memories and observations, and not those from Fox News.
Not in the mood to write? Then buy a sketch pad, some colored pencils or a box of good ol’ crayons. Draw that flower, bird or tree you encountered in the wild. Or a sunset or a bank of clouds at sunrise. Whether you write or draw (or both), with each word, image, color or scent, you should feel yourself growing, expanding.
And now, here’s why you should strive for a personal renaissance.
We live in a world that is politically, economically and environmentally unstable. Our more specific problems — gun violence, homelessness, hunger, the migrant crisis, global warming — are grave, and in the background beat the drums of war. At times, I feel we are stumbling toward another Dark Age.
A personal renaissance rooted in literature, history and the arts will make us more focused on, contemplative of and knowledgeable about the world. As a result, we’ll see things clearly and precisely, and we’ll have the potential to act more purposefully, especially at the polling booth, and thus address the problems that threaten our lives, our communities, our democracy and our planet.
The inner journey determines the outer journey.
Happy New Year.
John Vukmirovich is a Chicago-area writer and book reviewer.
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