The School of Athens is one of the most celebrated fresco paintings from the Italian Renaissance, painted by the artist Raphael in 1510 AD. It is considered Raphael's greatest masterpiece and a perfect illustration of the classical spirit of the Renaissance period. The painting captures the great achievements of ancient Greek civilization, and shows the high value the Greeks placed on learning. It portrays antiquity's most profound thinkers as pioneers in human thought, responsible for laying down the foundations for all human advancement in western culture. Today's modern European nations can essentially trace their heritage back to the foundations laid by ancient Greece.

                                       A Timeline of Western Culture

500 BC                   476 AD                 1300 AD               1600 AD                      Present

I---Ancient World---I---Middle Ages---I---Renaissance---I---Modern Europe---I

Roman civilization was especially fond of Ancient Greek accomplishments. The Romans inherited and infused greek learning into their culture and ways of living, and implemented them in more practical forms. Roman culture borrowed and revised Greek philosophy, science, language, art, theology, architecture, drama, and government. However, the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 A.D. marked the end of the Classical period characterized by free-thinking, reason and logic. This period also marks and the beginning of the Middle Ages in Europe characterized by strict religious faith set forth by the dominant influence and presence of the Roman Catholic Church. During this period, also considered the "Dark Ages" in Europe, the church dictated the way of thinking in Europe, leaving little room for human inquiry and thought!

The Renaissance ("Rebirth") was a period in European history that emphasized the importance of returning to and building upon the classical accomplishments of classical Greece. It was a period of revival of ancient Greek knowledge, helping Renaissance Europe transition from a period of strict religious faith and restricted thinking to a period of human inquiry, logic and Enlightenment. 

The School of Athens is a perfect embodiment of the spirit of revival during the Renaissance. The painting illustrates Greek love of Idealism, and  their emphasis on beauty, order, proportion, and symmetry. The architectural background is adorned by statues of 2 major Gods taken from Greek theology; Apollo, the God of truth, wisdom, light, music, medicine, healing and the arts, and Ares, the God of war. The figures within the architectural background are the great thinkers and philosophers from Greece's Classical period. 

 2: Epicurus 4: Anaximander 5: Averroes 6: Pythagoras 7: Alcibiades 12: Socrates 13: Heraclitus 14: Plato 15: Aristotle 18:Archimedes19: Zoroaster 20: Ptolemy

#2: Epicurus- a pragmatic philosopher who proposed the purpose of life is to attain happiness and tranquility. A life characterized by ataraxia, peace and freedom from fear, and aponia, the absence of pain, which is attained by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends.

#4: Anaximander- a metaphysician who explained the first principle to be an endless, unlimited primordial mass (apeiron), eternal and ageless, that perpetually yielded fresh materials from which everything we perceive is derived. He postulated the apeiron as the first substance, and all elements such as air, water, earth, and fire derive from it. Anaximander maintained that all dying things return to the element from which they came (apeiron).  

#5: Averroes- One of the most profound Islamic thinkers who lived during the Middle Ages. Averroes was a master of Islamic philosophy, theology, astronomy, geography, mathematics, music theory and medicine. Most importantly, Averroes studied and translated ancient Greek philosophies into Arabic, including the works of Aristotle and Plato. During the Renaissance, his transcripts were eventually translated into Latin, helping Renaissance thinkers to build upon the classical wisdom of the ancient Greeks. Averroes' translations played a significant role in the intellectual revival of Europe, and it's transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance period.

#6: Pythagoras- a mathematician, philosopher, and mystic who believed that all things in the universe are related by number and mathematical proportion and that the universe itself is one grand integrated symphony in motion. The purpose of the human soul is to purify itself over lifetimes through re-incarnation, so that it can reach its ultimate destiny; to hear the celestial 'music of the spheres'.  

#12: Socrates- a philosopher concerned with Ethics, and the proper way of human living. Through the method of dialectic, a question and answer form of conversation, Socrates would often have students reach their own conclusions about concepts such as Justice, Love, and Beauty; merely by asking them the right questions and guiding them in reaching their answers. He believed that knowledge is already inherent within the student, and through questioning the teacher acts as a 'midwife' in delivering the truth. Here, he is engaged in a conversation with multiple students, including #7Alcibiades, a young Athenian general and statesman.  

#13: Heraclitus- a philosopher who believed that the Universe is forever in a state of 'flux' (change), yet all things are governed by a singular underlying principle called 'Logos' (Reason).  

#18: Archimedes- a mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer, also regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. He used innovative methods to calculate the area under the arc of a parabola with the summation of an infinite series, and gave a remarkably accurate approximation of pi. His ingenious inventions include mechanisms that were passed on and used in later history, such as the Archimedes screw and Heat Ray.  

#19: Zoroaster- a Persian prophet, poet, philosopher, mathematician and the founder of the religion Zoroastrianism. Although not Greek, the persian prophet is known to have set forth dualistic concepts such as good and evil, heaven and earth, and body and spirit, which influenced the philosophies of Greek thinkers.  

#20: Ptolemy- an astronomer that took Babylonian planetary observations recorded in linear fashion, and put them into cyclical patterns. Ptolemy was the first astronomer in history to propose a geocentric (earth-centered) theory of the world, stating that all planets, including the sun revolve around the planet earth.  

Most Central to the painting, 

Plato and Aristotle in a philosophical debate, 

"literally" emerging from the light!  

#14: Aristotle, a materialist, with his palm facing downward, emphasizing that reality is to be found through careful and detailed investigation of the physical/natural world. For Aristotle, to find the function and form of a Rose (flower), you must dissect it, and observe each of it's parts in relation to the others. You come to know the Rose through close observation using the senses. The physical world is all that exists. Reality is to be found in the physical world of nature! 

#15: Plato, a dualist, with his finger pointing upward, emphasizing that reality must be reached through transcendence of the physical/natural world, through reasoning and introspection. For Plato, there are many Roses in the physical world of nature, and all are unique variations of one another. However, none of them is perfect in Form. In addition, all physical Roses in nature undergo constant change; like shadows passing through time, they come-to-be and pass-away. What is "Real" must forever be the same!  

The Ideal Rose, which is a Perfect Form, is timeless, changeless, and transcends the realm of nature. In fact, all Roses in the natural world are imperfect fleeting copies of the one 'Absolute Form'. The Ideal Form of the Rose belongs to the realm of Eternity, and is reached by the spirit through philosophical introspection, much like other Forms such as Beauty, Justice, and Equality...! 

#R: Raphael- It was common for Renaissance painters to include themselves in their portraits, usually looking at the viewer.

The Star of David

According to the Hebrew Bible, and the Gospels of Mathew and Luke, David was the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel. He was born in the city of Bethlehem in 1040 BC and died in Jerusalem in 970 BC. Although not without fault, David is historically known as a righteous king, as well as a great warrior reigning over Israel for nearly 35 years. He was also a musician and poet, and credited for composing many of the psalms contained in the Book of Psalms. As a legendary king, he is known for leaving his people with the Star of David, a legacy which has become the icon of Judaism and a symbol of identity for its people.

According to Jewish legend, when David was a teen he fought the enemy King Nimrod. David's shield was composed of two interlocking triangles attached to the back of a round shield and at one point the battle became so intense that that the two triangles were fused together. David won the battle and the two triangles were henceforth known as the “Shield of David”. Hebrew people believe that although David was a great warrior and King, he did not win his battles on his own, but under the support and protection of God. Throughout the ages, the Star of David has been used as an architectural ornament on synagogues as a symbol of God's protection. 

Despite its meaning, the Star of David had never been mentioned in Judaic literature until the Middle Ages. Since the Middle Ages, Kabbalists (Jewish mystics) have expanded the concept of the Star from being merely a shield of protection to a symbol of philosophical meaning. During the latter part of this era, interpretations in the Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) began to interpret the symbol with deeper spiritual significance.

Some Kabbalists interpret the two triangles as representing humanity’s dual nature – good and evil. The two triangles may also represent the reciprocal relationship between God and His people. The triangle pointing "up" symbolizes our good deeds, which go up to Heaven; the triangle pointing “down” symbolizes the flow of God’s goodness back down to the world.

Others interpret the six points of the Star to symbolize God’s rule and protection over the universe from all six directions: North, South, East, West, Up and Down with the middle of the hexagram providing the spiritual dimension. Yet others observe the twelve sides of the integrated triangles as a dodecagon, representing the Twelve Tribes of Israel. 

To Messianic Jews, the Star of David is a secretive symbol of salvation, which will come through the Messiah, a direct descendant of King David. The symbol is represented through 2 separate triangles, which are integrated: one triangle pointing upward to the heavens, the other pointing downward to the material world. The upward triangle represents the “heavenly” direction and the Will of God. The downward triangle represents the “earthly” direction and the way of mankind. The integration of the 2 triangles represents the coming of the Messiah, descending from the heavenly realm to bring  God's Law to mankind, thus, unifying heaven and earth. 

The Coming of the Messiah

The prophet Isaiah is considered by Hebrews, Christians, and Muslims as one of God’s most revered prophets, living during the 8th-century BC in the Kingdom of Judah. His prophecies, as compiled in The Book of Isaiah, are accepted as Biblical canon in both the Old and New Testaments.

A part of the Hebrew Bible, The Book of Isaiah contains 66 chapters; the first section, chapters 1-39 prophesy the doom of the “sinful” Kingdom of Judah, and all the nations of the world that oppose God; chapters 40-66 prophesy the restoration of the “nation” of Israel and a new creation in God's glorious future kingdom. 

Isaiah 53, a chapter from the Book of Isaiah is the last of the four Songs of “the Suffering Servant”, a story that became a dominant theme in medieval and later Christian theology and art. In the song, God calls on His chosen servant to lead the nations, but the servant is horribly mistreated and abused. The servant sacrifices himself, enduring  pain and afflictions from the world, and taking onto himself punishment due to others. In the end, his sacrifice is rewarded as mankind finds salvation through his suffering.  

Written over 500 years before his birth, the passage is thought by many Jews and Christians to be a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah. Followers of Christ believe the passage to refer to the suffering of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins made possible by his death.

 Isaiah 53; A Rebellious Nation

¹ Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

⁴ Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Beauty of a Song

What mystical power does the singing artist have....?

That he should so easily unravel the secrets of the heart.

To make us look within to see ourselves for whom we really are,

Reminding us of our dreams and what we still yearn to be.

Allowing our Spirits to take flight with unbounded imagination,

With emotions soaring ever higher with the passing of each bard.

Ministering us to see beyond the material world to the transcendental,

For the moment making time stand still, and the world outside fade away.

Having us lost in the story and eloquent expression of his song,

Revealing that life is worth more than the sum of its fragmented parts.

Resonating truth to reduce a convoluted life back to basic essence,

And liberating our captive heart from the confinement of an ordinary existence.

Helping us recollect precious love from lifetimes past,

To call upon their memories to better love in this most recent passage.

Through a singular voice capturing the universal in all,

For one instant seizing time itself, reminding us that we are all 'one'.

Making us believe there is Harmony in the world after all,

And that we long to love others more than we love ourselves.

Echoing the sounds of an Eternal life we once knew,

With his majestic song a single remembrance of that divine grace.

Assuring us the physical limitations that separate us will one day fade,

And that one glorious day we shall return to a realm where all is love!

Continental drift is a geological hypothesis presented by a German geophysicist called Alfred Wegener, who proposed the continents were one time a single landmass before breaking apart and drifting to their present locations. It states the Earth's 7 continents were once a supercontinent called Pangea, which existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago. Continental drift occurs through dynamic forces deep within the earth's surface, where the earth's inner core releases it's heat energy through the layers to the surface. Mantle convection is the motion of Earth's mantle caused by convection currents carrying heat from the interior of the Earth to the surface. Over time, mantle currents have separated and moved the earth's continents into the present configuration we see today. 

During his time, Alfred Wegener found evidence to support his hypothesis. First, he recognized how well the physical boundaries of the various continents of the earth fit into another like a puzzle. In addition, he found similar plant and animal fossil deposits on 2 different continents separated by the vast Atlantic ocean.  For example, the fossils of an ancient species Mesosaurus, a freshwater reptile resembling a small crocodile was found in the shores of both Brazil and South Africa, two countries located on 2 different continents. This evidence suggested the continents were once joined together in a single landmass and drifted apart over time. 

Since then, evidence of the same living animals have been found on two separate continents. Families of 'earthworm' have been located in the continents of South America and Africa, again proving the two continents were once part of the same landmass, since earthworms could not migrate across the Atlantic ocean. 

Following Alfred Wegener's discoveries, more recent scientists have built on the concept of continental drift. Plate tectonics is a scientific theory that states the Earth's outer crust is not a single layer, but composed of 12 major and some minor plates. These plates lie underneath the earth's continents and ocean floors, and are constantly in motion due to mantle convection. The Earth's plates interact with one another, and can be classified as 3 types according to their relative motions; A. divergent, B. convergent, and C. transform. 

3 Types of Plate movement:

A. Divergent plates - two plates that move away from each other, leaving open space between them. Magma from the earth's mantle layer flows upward, creating new crust.

B. Convergent plates - two plates that move toward one another, with one plate "subducting" underneath the other. The lower plate slides down and melts into the Mantle layer of the earth. 

C. Transform plates - two plates that slide past each other in opposite directions. They can interlock and become stuck, building up tremendous levels of potential energy over time. When they eventually slip, the energy stored between them abruptly releases, and the released energy moves through the earth's crust in the form of an earthquake.

Tsunamis in Japan

The subduction of an oceanic plate under a continental plate

Subduction zones illustrate the Earth's Rock Cycle, and that indeed all things in nature are recycled to be reborn once again. In the above diagram, two plates converge, with the oceanic plate (left) subducting underneath the continental plate (right) down into the earth's lower Mantle layer. The solid oceanic plate will melt into the Mantle layer, recycle, and one day be reborn as new rock, flowing out of a volcano and solidifying into the earth's crust.  

During the process of subduction, the two plates can often interlock (X), with the oceanic plate (left) pulling down on the continental plate (right) as it makes it's way into the mantle layer. The continental plate will bend and bend, until it reaches its threshold. Then, it will violently "recoil" back, releasing the potential energy built up by the pulling of the oceanic plate. The recoil will literally 'snap' a tremendous amount of stored energy into the ocean's water, which will travel in the form of a wave or tsunami towards land. Since energy is intended to do work, the energy carried by the tsunami will continue to travel until it passes its force to other objects. In this case, passing it to objects awaiting in mainland Japan.