Intro

After succesfully finding opportunity for life outside our universe, I have been charged with the heavy responsibility of starting life on a new planet with those of us who survived Earth's decay. Pollution has in fact penetrated the atmosphere's protective layers, we had no choice but to leave our home and be pioneers in a foreign galaxy. With a great team of highly educated and trained scientists, I'm confident that we will be able to find and develop sufficient resources in order to sustain life on our new planet. My concern, however, is how we will begin to govern ourselves once settled in. With this great opportunity to develop a new culture, I decided to bring 8 artifacts from Earth along with us. Why you ask? I did so in order to help my people develop a passion for learning and creativity so that together we can facilitate the training and education of future generations and help them to embrace great morals and cultural standards. As I contemplated the significance of learning, I began to explore my own definition of learning and would like to present what I came up with. I believe that leaning is the exploration of curiosity through careful observation, thoughtful meditation, and the successful application of new and deeper understanding in our lives. Learning has the capacity to change the course of a civilizations destiny. In the LDS Bible Dictionary under the definition of knowledge it says, "one progresses only as fast as he gains knowledge" which demonstrates very dynamically the importance of gaining knowledge through learning. (4) The artifacts I have chosen represent my definition of learning in various ways and I'm excited that I'll be able to bring each of them along. Please enjoy reading about these 8 artifacts I selected and hopefully together we will come to understand how to better encourage our people to learn as our new planet begins.

#1 - Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci

April 15, 1452 - May 2, 1519

Italian “painter, musician, architect, engineer, scientist, teacher, historian, optician, cartographer, and adviser to nobles and kings.” (S,D,H pg. 32) (A true Renaissance Man)

The first artifact I chose to bring along with me on my travels is actually Leonardo da Vinci, an incredibly famous man who was knows as the “great master of the early Renaissance.” (S,D,H pg. 32) I already liked the guy but upon further research I was also excited to learn that da Vinci and I actually share the same birthday, April 15, and we’ll be celebrating that day here soon. That, however, was not the reason I decided to bring him along. Leonardo was an extremely curious and talented individual and loved to learn about the world, create new inventions, and master new talents or crafts. Recognized by others as a "painter, musician, architect, engineer, scientist, teacher, historian, optician, cartographer, and adviser to nobles and kings" we can see how incredibly talented this man was and can only wonder how significant his contributions would have been to his society and all those after him. Throughout the course of his life he explored his curiosities almost to the extreme and followed a consistent pattern of first observing something and then trying to learn from it. His ability to do so was recognized at an early age and the textbook said that even at an early age,“he had a passion for horses and would study them at length, in time becoming an excellent horse trainer. He was also fascinated by birds and studied them and their flight from an early age and throughout his life.” When he was trying to better understand how to draw humans, he actually ended up getting permission to use the bodies to executed criminals to study anatomy so he could better understand the body and what he was depicting. He was well trained in art and some of his most famous works include the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and the Vitruvian Man (top right picture). Da Vinci’s life and accomplishments seem to be the sum of his careful observations, thoughtful meditation, and the application or portrayal of these things throughout his life which fits perfectly with my definition of learning. That’s why I would love to bring him along for the journey, to act as a role model of how we can acquire greater knowledge and understanding through creative thinking and learning! (S.D.H pg. 32) I would hope that my family and future generations would learn from his example and become increasingly observant and courageous enough to explore their curiosities like da Vinci. He would be a great guy to have along for the journey. 

#2 - 95 Theses

Martin Luther’s 95 Theses:

October 31, 1517

Germany

I chose this artifact because this marked a significant change in the world as we now know it and opened the doors for many great thinkers by giving them the courage to express their creativity and theories. Martin Luther's 95 thesis to me represents the start of reformative thinking which is huge in the history of learning and creativity. Martin Luther was born in 1483 in the central region of Germany. After earning a “bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and a master’s degree in law,” Luther’s life took a dramatic swing of events due to a life threatening event. He found himself caught in a lightening storm so big that he was sure his life would soon end and therefore pled with God for protection with a promise that he would “dedicate the remainder of his life to God’s service” if he were to survive the storm. He did miraculously survive the storm, and shortly after he began to study theology and joined the “Order of Saint Augustine” to become a monk. Luther was incredibly smart and was invited to join the prestigious “Wittenburg University, where he studied theology and graduated with a doctorate in 1512” where he became a professor of theology. (S,D,H pg. 49) Luther was obviously smart and well educated, but his fame didn’t really come until he began thinking out of his prescribed boundaries which were dictated by the authoritative figures in the church.  On a trip to Rome, Luther began to realize that practices within the church weren’t as consistent with the doctrine he had studied in the Bible which caused a lot of controversy in his mind. Luther observed these wrong practices and after thoughtful study and meditation, he put together perhaps his most famous work known as the 95 theses, which he posted on the door of the chapel at Wittenburg University. His work outlined his disagreements to the church’s practices and he posted it on “October 31, 1517, the day before All Saints’ Day, so that the large crowds coming to the church would be sure to see the document.” (S,D,H pg. 50) This artifact is the product of learning as it was a work which was produced after careful observation and thoughtful meditation as I have defined learning to be. I love how he used this artifact to facilitate incredible amounts of religious and non religious reformative thinking.

#3 - Handel's Messiah

Handel's Messiah:

April 13, 1742

Dublin, Ireland

 I chose this artifact because I love music and to me this represents an important learning curve in the music world. George Frederick Handel, the composer of Messiah, was born in Halle, Germany, in 1685. From and early age he recognized his love for music although his family wasn’t very supportive of him developing musical talents. His Father reluctantly agreed to provide music lessons for him and his talents really developed quickly, landing him as an “assistant choirmaster at the local church” at only the age of 12. (S,D,H pg. 256) After exploring a variety of opportunities presented to him because of his music prestige, Handel headed to London where he explored the genre of Opera. His success didn’t last long there, however, and was concerned about being able to provide for himself financially. Taking a suggestion from one of his librettist, Charles Jennens, Handel decided to explore the musical world of Oratorio and used one of Charles’ libretto’s already prepared which was titled Messiah. At the request of the Duke of Devonshire, Handel began preparing a work for a charity based event in order to support and Irish hospital and decided to use Messiah for that event. Messiah was a huge success after it’s small performance debut in Dublin and I think it was largely in part because Handel was concerned about moving people by his music. He didn't just want to produce a nice song that people liked, he wanted his music to change them when they heard it. He said that “Messiah was not intended to entertain, but to change lives.” (S,D,H pg. 257) His hope was for them to learn about themselves and their Savior. I was so touched by the story of Handel that I definitely wanted to include this as an artifact knowing that it would inspire people to not only observe with physical senses, but to listen meditate on those things that we can’t see with our physical eyes or hear with our physical ears.