CHAPTER 109

CHAPTER 109

— AS I SAID, ART is the repository of humanity's experiences and anxieties. To know man we must look at his art. Unlike history, which can suffer censorship or even manipulation according to the interests of the powerful, artistic production reliably reveals all the vicissitudes that humanity has gone through. It is enough that we have sensitivity and erudition to understand it, drawing important lessons.

— So you say that art can reveal some secrets to us, and what secrets would those be? — Green interfered — What is the nature of these secrets?

— see, Father, if you look at great cathedrals like Notre Dame, Chartres, etc., you will see that they are the maximum expression of a historic moment; its sober and elegant lines point upwards, and in a grandiose verticality, they seek to awaken men to God. They were built at a time when concern for the eternal destiny of the soul occupied an important place in all minds.

— This seems well portrayed by the movies — Nicole interjected.

— Yes — Victoria confirmed —, for literature too. I read a book by Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose...

— The Name of the Rose?... — Domenico Di Polli's face betrayed a certain disgust.

— What's up with The Name of the Rose, Your Eminence? — Nicole asked, realizing the situation.

— It's a book, whose true message is not the one understood in a first interpretation — answered Di Polli enigmatically. — Very well — continued the Cardinal. — After this period, art underwent a real revolution, followed by the Renaissance, in which sculptures, previously sober and demure, now showed the nude and sensuality. As the name already says, the Renaissance was an attempt promoted by groups of artists, scholars and mystics who sought to lead, through art, Western civilization back to the hedonistic culture of the Hellenistic period.

— Did you say sages and mystics? asked the woman with a certain strangeness.

— Yes, if we turn our attention to a more in-depth and judicious literature on the events of the history of art, we will see that this is not simply the search for aesthetic pleasure, for the satisfaction of the soul in finding beauty. Art, above all, is an expression and a form of transmission of ideology. Plato himself in Book A Republic, reaffirms this. When referring to the art of music, he said that every musical innovation is full of dangers for the polis, and that it was not possible to alter musical modes without altering the laws that govern a State.

— Plato said that? — Asked the woman.

— And said even more! Also in Republic:

"We must not admit that the guardians of our city grow up surrounded by images of moral depravity, feeding on a bad weed that has grown up here and there, in small quantities, but which day after day introduce, without realizing it, an enormous source of corruption in their souls."

— It's really interesting — Nicole said attentively.

— Yes — confirmed Di Polli — interesting…and dangerous. But let's continue: the Renaissance made men stop looking up and turn their eyes to the things of the earth. The beautiful, which had the objective of raising men to God, losing that meaning, now becomes an element of seduction, leading everyone to enjoy the pleasures of existence. The statues, before serene, are now portrayed with an exploration of sensuality; what was sublime and sought to lead men to God, now portray the material joy and pleasure of contemplating the physical form.

— Art no longer seeks God, but exalts man.

— Yes, Father... God is left aside, and man becomes the measure of all things. Man was put in the place of God. Diverting the focus from spiritual things, Renaissance art sought to descry man. The virtuous man was no longer the one who conducted himself by the rules of Christian morality, but the one who possessed natural talents such as beauty, strength or simple wit.

— Benevenuto Cellini was a murderer, however, the pope himself at the time declared him above the law, due to his extraordinary artistic fecundity.

— Exactly! With the suppression of spiritual things in the Renaissance, this void was filled by a materialist posture, in which art sought to establish a world of harmony and beauty based on rationality.

— Beauty and rationality, two icons of Western civilization — said Green.

— Beauty, yes; rationality, not so much — replied Di Polli. —Let's fast-forward through time now and we'll arrive at Romanticism. And here we stop to examine it more closely. I can say that the Western world, as we know it today, owes its identity to Romanticism. If in the Renaissance man divorced himself from the beauty of God, the theme of Gothic preaching, and deified reason, intending to build paradise on Earth with it, in Romanticism, although the ideal of beauty still persisted, this would no longer be associated with the reason, but with the subjectivity of the artist. The beautiful, for the romantic, had nothing to do with objectivity and rationality, but with feeling, with the dream. The romantic distanced himself from the concrete world, that is, from reason, and plunged into his own subjectivity.

— That reminds me of what you said about rationalists versus empiricists — Green said.

— See how things are related — smiled Di Polli — Now in Romanticism, beauty was no longer subordinated to morality, in this case, God, or to reason or logic.

— This is really very interesting — Victoria reaffirmed.

— But we're not done yet — Di Polli said. — As we have seen, art, which for the naïve people only aims to awaken man to beauty, is much more than that, it is a very powerful instrument of power and social transformation.

— Are you saying that there is a conspiracy in art? Green asked.

— I'm not saying, Father, I'm demonstrating. But let's continue... Let's now come to Modernity. What characterizes Modern Art?

— I confess that I feel perplexed looking at a modernist painting — said Nicole. — Those straight lines, those scribbles... They mean nothing to me, I don't understand how anyone can pay millions for a painting like that.

— I'm glad you were sincere, young lady. You can be sure that there are not few people who think the same thing. It's just that everyone is ashamed to admit that the king is naked.

Nicole laughed at the Cardinal's approval.

— Well then, continued Di Polli, Modern Art was the crowning achievement of human stupidity. With the Renaissance, art moved away from God; with Romanticism it moved away from reason and, finally now, the picture was completed, with art definitely moving away from beauty itself.

— And this was the result of a conspiracy? — Green was impressed.

— A conspiracy whose dimension you would not be able to appraise. But I'll let you draw your own conclusions, Father. Now let's continue: I believe it is not necessary to say that what is demonstrated here does not only refer to art, but that it serves as a thermometer to show the ideological alterations that have been operated through time. Political and economic events were also worked on so that we could reach the civilization we know today.

— This is unbelievable! — Exclaimed the woman, with an expression of someone who seemed to be completely unaware of the matter.

— I know that at first sight this really seems absurd — continued Di Polli — but the facts speak for themselves, they are there for everyone to see, all you have to do is look at them.

— What you said about Plato and his belief about the influence of music on the customs of peoples seems to have irrefutable proof — the emergence of rock music and the cultural revolution that emerged in the sixties — said Nicole.

— This is proof, young lady, now there are many others. But let's continue: I spoke a moment ago of the philosophical dispute between rationalists and empiricists. He said that rationalists believed that beauty was a characteristic of a certain being, unlike empiricists, who believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Well then, these same philosophical currents also conflict on another much more crucial point for philosophy.

— Apparently it's quite a conflict — observed the young woman.

— Yes, it's a huge clash in the field of ideas, but with consequences for human life itself, Nick. They also conflict over the nature of truth.

— About the nature of truth?

— Exactly. Just as for rationalists beauty has an objective criterion for its appreciation, truth must be sought objectively. On the contrary, empiricists are not concerned with the existence of an objective truth, thus leaving the question of truth at the discretion of each one's subjectivity.

— I'm a little confused — confessed the woman — what's the importance of all this?

— It is vitally important, Victoria — replied the Cardinal. First, because the world we live in is dominated by the principles of empiricist thinking. Contemporary thought owes a lot to men like Bacon, Hobbes, Locke and Hume, creators of a positivist and pragmatic mentality that dictates the way of thinking of Western civilization.

— Well done, Your Eminence! I agree with you, but where does all the secrecy of men that you talk about fit into all this? — Victoria asked.

— I am happy that you agree, Victoria, but before revealing the great secret of men, this small introduction was necessary to facilitate the understanding of the secret itself and its implications for the history of man on the face of the Earth.

— Is this secret really that important? — Nicole was startled.

— Yes, young lady, perhaps there is nothing more important for Western civilization than the revelation of this secret.

— But if that is so, and it is of paramount importance, why is it not revealed? What hidden interests prevent its disclosure?

Di Polli smiled.

— To answer your question, I'll ask you another one. When you were at school, what did your teacher tell you about the Middle Ages?

— She said it was the ′′dark ages′′ — promptly replied the young lady.

— Very well, said the Cardinal, and when the classes were about the discovery of America, what did the teacher say about the fear felt by navigators?

— From what I learned, the fear was that they would fall into a great abyss when they reached the end of the world, because according to the knowledge of the time, the Earth was flat.

— Well done, young lady — said Di Polli with satisfaction. — Now what would you say if I told you this is all false?

— False? How is that fake? — The young woman was startled.

— Exactly what you heard, fake, fib, old wives' tale, fables for adults. What you, and not only you, but all students in the Western world learn is a gigantic lie!

Di Polli smiled for a moment, savoring the stupefaction that had come over everyone.

— And I can prove it — continued the Cardinal — if you look at some representations of Charlemagne, the greatest of the Frankish kings; or Emperor Otto III, who was over the Holy Empire in the period 983-1002, you will be able to observe that both hold the terrestrial globe in one of their hands.

— This is amazing! — Nicole stated.

— See what Dante tells us in The Divine Comedy, written almost two hundred years before the first trip to America:

"Col Viso ritornai per tutte quante le sete sfere, e vidi questo globo tal ch'io Sorrisi del suo vile sembiante."

— If this is not enough to prove that in the Middle Ages, contrary to what is propagated in schools, there was knowledge of the round shape of the Earth, let us turn our eyes to the Summa Theologica of Saint Thomas Aquinas, where in its pages the greatest genius of that period mentions this same sphericity.

— Or else — continued the Cardinal — let us return to the study of the Greeks, prior to the Middle Ages itself, when Aristotle, when examining the shadow that our planet caused on the Moon, proved the curvature of the Earth. Now, it is impossible for the wise men of that period to be unaware of this, since medieval thought was basically built on Plato and Aristotle.

— It's surprising — Green confirmed.

— And as a final argument, young lady, for you, who are students of history and a profound admirer of the Word of God, I prove from the Bible that in the Middle Ages there was knowledge of the sphericity of the Earth.

— By the Bible? — Asked the curious young woman.

— Exactly, replied Di Polli, see what Isaiah tells us in Chapter 40:22:

"He is he that sitteth upon the globe of the earth, whose inhabitants are as locusts to him."

— How could it be that in the Middle Ages, so religious, this passage from the Bible was disregarded?

— But, Eminence, this is complete nonsense — said the woman — it seems unreal indeed! — How was this hidden from us, from our young people? What is the purpose of this systematic error in schools and universities?

Di Polli watched them, contemplating the great curiosity he had aroused.

— Let's go back to secrecy, in the end you will understand the secret purpose behind all this — he said at last.

— So the reason for this Homeric fraud is connected with this secret? asked Green.

— Yes, Father, you will now see that this is not the only fraud!

There is an even greater one, both connected with the great secret.

— And is this possible? — Questioned the woman.