A Memorandum of Leonardo Da Vinci (1490s)

I've been writing my to-do lists religiously since 2010. Before that I'd always make a list for groceries shopping (because you cannot possibly remember all the items you need to buy, especially when the respective shelves are located in all parts of the shop). And I'd also make notes of what needed to be done, but I rarely set it up as a list. Then one day in 2010 I had to run 8 places for errands, so I wrote them all up in a list, grouped them by location... and by the end of the day I did visit them all! This was a real proof of the list-mania working, so I just carried on.

Frankly speaking, my lists mostly deal with work and errands. Work - because I do a lot of that, and unless I list and prioritise I won't accomplish much. Errands - because I love doing my work, and I may genuinely forget paying that bill or buying that item. So, I have to be really exacting.

More seldom, unfortunately, I schedule rests and other activities, like sport or languages. I think this is where I need to up the level of my list-making :-)

Yet I'm sure very few of us do follow in Leonardo da Vinci's footsteps, whose "to-do list" is below. Strictly speaking, this list is called "memorandum", and it's not exactly a "to-do list" but rather a reminder of things one needs, or wants, to do, know, learn, ask about. As I see it, there's a difference between the two. A to-do list has a trait of immediacy; it's usually a list of actions one needs to take in a more or less precise frame of time. That's why it's a list, and that's why it may even have times added to it, to make it more like a timetable. Leonardo's memorandum is of a different nature. It is a list of subjects for contemplation and investigation. Obviously, learning the size of the Sun isn't the most important thing on anyone's agenda, neither is the Lombard manner of repairing locks, or understanding why on Earth the Tower of Ferrara has the wall without a single loophole. This is a list of things a person wants to learn. I'd rather think of it as a map of a learning process, and as such it is far more valuable than a mere to-do list. How many of us jot down things they want to learn? Those little matters that tickle our curiousity, do you write them down or just let them die off? How many of us actually expand the learning process beyond their immediate field of specialism?

The image is taken from a post by Robert Krulwich, Leonardo's To-Do List.

Я обнаружила этот рисунок на Хабрахабре и перевела целиком всю статью (под катом). Надо сказать, что речь в данном случае идет не столько о "to-do" листе, сколько о своеобразной матрице познавательного процесса. Все-таки у листа есть некое время выполнения, чего нельзя сказать о том, что начеркал в записной книжке Леонардо. Скорее, у него мы видим список того, о чем он должен размышлять, что должен узнать, спросить и найти. Т.е. вряд ли у необходимости узнать размер Солнца была некая deadline. Эта "памятка" дает в сжатом виде представление не только о том, чем жил сам Леонардо (все-таки это не наш привычный список продуктов или коммунальных платежей к оплате). Это также культурный срез эпохи. Здесь нет ни одного упоминания о политике, хотя в Италии в 1490х был всякий повод о ней говорить. Нет ничего "бытового". То, что надо спросить или узнать, явно намекает на содержание бесед, которые ведет великий итальянец. И вот здесь-то и становится немного яснее, как, в каких условиях формировался этот гениальный человек. Его интеллектуальная ненасытность поражает и восхищает. И заставляет задуматься: когда в последний раз нам хотелось узнать что-то, что, как и размер Солнца, вроде бы не имеет к нам никакого отношения?

"To-Do" Лист Леонардо - Роберт Крулвич

Есть вещи, которые редко удается сделать. Например, немного побыть Леонардо да Винчи, узнать, как работает его мозг. И благодаря историку Тоби Лестеру, мы можем это сделать.

В книге, которая скоро выйдет из печати, Лестер сообщает, что Леонардо повсюду передвигался с маленькой записной книжкой, прикрепленной к поясу, и "когда его взгляд за что-то цеплялся", он это записывал или принимался "неистово рисовать".

Леонардо писал: "Весьма полезно постоянно обозревать, делать заметки и размышлять". Но что же роилось в голове у великого итальянца? В одном из мест книги Тоби Лестер представляет нам, по сути, "to do" лист, затерянный в одной из таких записных книжек: все то, что Леонардо планировал сделать на неделе или в каком-то месяце в начале 1490х гг.

Charlie Chaplin on Life and Love for Oneself

As I began to love myself, I found that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth. Today, I know, this is authenticity.

As I began to love myself I understood how much it can offend somebody as I try to force my desires on this person, even though I knew the time was not right and the person was not ready for it, and even though this person was me. Today I call it respect.

As I began to love myself I stopped craving for a different life, and I could see that everything that surrounded me was inviting me to grow. Today I call it maturity.

As I began to love myself I understood that at any circumstance, I am in the right place at the right time, and everything happens at the exactly right moment. So I could be calm. Today I call it self-confidence.

As I began to love myself I quit steeling my own time, and I stopped designing huge projects for the future. Today, I only do what brings me joy and happiness, things I love to do and that make my heart cheer, and I do them in my own way and in my own rhythm. Today I call it simplicity.

As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything that is no good for my health - food, people, things, situations, and everything the drew me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism. Today I know it is love of oneself.

As I began to love myself I quit trying to always be right, and ever since I was wrong less of the time. Today I discovered that is modesty.

As I began to love myself I refused to go on living in the past and worry about the future. Now, I only live for the moment, where EVERYTHING is happening. Today I live each day, day by day, and I call it fulfillment.

As I began to love myself I recognized that my mind can disturb me and it can make me sick. But As I connected it to my heart, my mind became a valuable ally. Today I call this connection wisdom of the heart.

We no longer need to fear arguments, confrontations or any kind of problems with ourselves or others. Even stars collide, and out of their crashing new worlds are born.
Today I know that is life!

Charlie Chaplin (1959)

И на русском :-)

Полюби самого себя

Religious Paintings by Francois Boucher

Although better known for his sensuous paintings, François Boucher shows a more serious side of his genius, when tackling religious themes in his paintings. Among several completed canvasses and a few sketches some study the popular story of the flight into Egypt and Nativity, while others illustrate stories from both Old and New Testament.

1. Old Testament.

Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert. Boucher illustrates the 'second' expulsion of Hagar from the house of Abraham, when she went into the desert with Abraham's son, Ishmael.







Genesis 21: 14-21 tells the story:

15 And the water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bow-shot; for she said: 'Let me not look upon the death of the child.' And she sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her: 'What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him fast by thy hand; for I will make him a great nation.' 19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. 20 And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
As it often happened in paintings since the Renaissance, Hagar has contemporary headwear, that makes her resemble a 17th c. shepherdess. A Cupid-like Ishmael is lying next to her, and in the foreground there is an empty jug and a small sac with what seem like arrows. There is another sketch on the same topic, more robust, tempestuous, and dramatic.
Joseph Presenting His Father and Brothers to Pharaoh. In this 1723 painting Boucher managed to stay away from the temptation to dress his characters in contemporary clothes, and we see the particular line being illustrated, namely the presention of Joseph's father. Dr Shimon Kuper has an interesting analysis of this story in the paper for the Bar-Ilan University's weekly Torah reading. Joseph went and told Pharaoh, "My father and brothers, with their flocks and herds and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen." He chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked the brothers, "What is your occupation?" "Your servants are shepherds," they replied to Pharaoh, "just as our fathers were."  They also said to him, "We have come to live here awhile, because the famine is severe in Canaan and your servants' flocks have no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in Goshen." Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Your father and your brothers have come to you, and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock." Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh,  Pharaoh asked him, "How old are you?"  And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers."  Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence. (Genesis 47: 1-10).
2. New Testament
The Dream of St. Joseph. All three dreams of St. Joseph were recorded in Gospel of Matthew and refer, in one way or another, to Nativity. In this painting Boucher illustrated the first dream:
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”(Matthew 1: 20-21).