Renaissance, pt. 2
We look back on the Renaissance as a period of glory: Dante and da Vinci, Michelangelo and Medici.
But Renaissance wouldn't have been possible without catastrophe. The Fall of Constantinople led to a refugee crisis. These refugees, many of them scholars, likely brought the texts of Greek antiquity back to Europe.
Further, Renaissance bloomed in the wake of plague. The Black Death devastated Europe, including Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance. Mass death led to mass equalization—commoners who survived found their labor more highly prized, while food and land were cheap.
War, pandemic, social upheaval—the conditions which preceded the Renaissance are not unfamiliar. They even had their own climate catastrophe, with the end of the Medieval Warm Period.
Are we ripe for another Renaissance? The world seems in chaos, but if history is any guide, the final outcome might not be breakdown, but renewal.
What follows are nine pieces on the theme of Renaissance. They touches on themes which include art, LSD, reincarnation, the end of capitalism, teenagers learning to drive (and the Vedic significance thereof). Each, in its own way, hints at possibilities for a new societal Renaissance.
The next issue of Liminal will come out in the Spring, and will be on the theme of Automaton. To submit, email liminal.literary@gmail.com, deadline is March 20th.
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Meditating Under a Tree: Conversation with Natalya Nova
We interview experimental artist Natalya Nova about meditation, dreams, manifestation and AI.
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Father and son meditate on psilocybin, Rumi, Vedic transitions and driver's licences.
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A high-dose LSD trip becomes an investigation into violence and pacificism.
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"Will the Machine Stop?" by Daniel Pinchbeck
Temperature check on the state of contemporary capitalism, from social media giants to psychedelic Renaissance.
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"Tales of Katholikos Thánotos" by Deanna Araceli
A young software engineer rebels from his beatnik parents, only to discover the universe is much stranger than he imagined.
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"We don't need more awakening" by Jessica Ann
An annoying cough tanks a spiritual retreat and leads to its own kind of awakening.
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"Reminisce & Renaissance after COVID" by Psalmuel Benjamin
Nigerian family life during covid, from the perspective of a schoolteacher-poet.
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"The Embodied Angel" by Dory Cote
An encounter with an angel leads an alcoholic to Sami shamanism.
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"magnum opus of a modus operandi" by Luna Lynn Kincaid
Poetic expression of orchestral embodiment.
