Leonardo Da Vinci An Artist Navigating Both Worlds by a Different Path The attainment of enlightenment need not be strictly through religion or spirituality. Individuals can find the very depts of themselves by the continual practice and sole concentration of their great art by drawing from the well within themselves. Such is the goal of the alchemist. They are working on their art, experiencing the worlds and themselves as they attain greater connections and understandings. I believe that Leonardo da Vinci is one man who attained this great understanding through art. Inspired by ancient Greeks and Romans, Leonardo did not limit the truth of what was available to him to only those writings. He was also not restricted to what was available in the Bible or the intrepretations of the times. Like many others, Leonardo experienced truth by observing nature and systematically recorded solutions to scientific questions in his sketchbook. This was considered somewhat bizarre by many, since this led to working day and night sketching cadavors of criminals as they rotted in his studies. This way, he paid attention to even the very smallest of details including capillaries and hidden parts of the skeleton. He had no refrigeration or way to preserve the bodies, so this was achieved under quite ghastly conditions. Da Vinci is know as one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance, although there are not many paintings attributed to him. He is famous for his paintings of The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa which hung over Napolian's bed at one point in history. Leonardo Da Vinci experienced the worlds through his art as captured in his notebook entries and sketches of his studies, containing much of his true genius. Many differences about Leonardo continue to come out through his work. The Mona Lisa,for example, is known to be a much different type of portrait than the other examples of the time. Not only does she have her mysterious smile, but she is placed against a background of nature rather than a flat background. This portrait is studied for its many nuances including the smokiness and the mysterious bridge in the background. Many facets of this portrait continue to be pondered today. Da Vinci was certainly obviously different from other people at the time in many ways. For one thing, he was left handed and made no attempt to hide this. This was back in the days when it was "sinister" to be left handed and thought to be a mark of the devil. Da Vinci not only continued to use the left hand, but wrote backwards, from right to left. His left handedness is thought to be part of the gateway that allowed him to see differently than many others. It is pondered that he was literally drawing on a different side of the brain. Some see da Vinci's accomplishments as seeing beyond the ordinary. Leonardo da Vinci was able to use art as a way to many other diciplines. By studying each part of a machine and understanding it, for example, he could improve the mechine or design it better. He sketched what he saw. He observed and made many notes. He made many important scientific discoveries using the technique through his art. There are some things that seem conflicting about his discoveries. Although he was a vegetarian and lover of animals and despised war, he invented many advanced weapons of the times. He also drew up strategic layouts and battle plans that are still marveled at to this day. Leonardo has many special traits attributed to him. He studied and incredible array of sciences including anatomy, zoology, botany, geology, optics, aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. Engineers concluded that the bridges he designed would have indeed been stable had they been built. Leonardo da Vinci displays the many marks of having attained true inner wealth on the inside as well as out. People observed him as being super intelligent as well as strinkingly handsome. His singing voice was fine. His acts of mercy included buying caged animals at the market just for the purpose of setting them free. Leonardo has left this world many great things and beautiful art that continues to be a wonder to this day. Perhaps Leonardo da Vinci was another enlightened individual who found his true gold though his connections and study with nature and art. Perhaps this attainment of gold came through as a great love for all things captured in sketches and writings to the tiniest of details with passion for the divine order of the great universe.
Links and Excerpts: Pictured above below the title is a page from Leonardo's sketchbook. To learn more about da Vinci's sketches, studies of proportions and other amazing imformation from his sketchbooks, visit the links! Excerpts: It seems that the drawing, or better the original design as explained by Vitruvius, contains many layers of geometry and symbolism that concord in one single image delineating the proportions of the human body. This idea of 'reason' governing 'form' was the fundamental theme of the Renaissance and is traceable in best architecture and art in general. It would not be odd if Leonardo had a close contact with scholars that spread the source of the Renaissance thought which didn't distinguish between art, science, and magick in terms of conflicting or opposing discourses as is the case today. *** Inventions 
Leonardo recognized that levers and gears, when applied properly, could accomplish astonishing tasks. Gears were at the heart of nearly all his inventions, from the crane to the helicopter to the automatic turnspit. Like any rational human, Leonardo abhorred war -- he called it "beastly madness" -- but since Renaissance Italy was constantly at war he couldn't avoid it. He designed numerous weapons, including missiles, multi-barreled machine guns, grenades, mortars, and even a modern-style tank. He drew the line, however, with his plans for an underwater breathing device, which he refused to reveal, saying that men would likely use it for "evil in war." *** The Last Supper The Last Supper is one of Leonardo's best-known and worst-preserved pieces. Doomed from the start by Leonardo's experimental technique, the mural began to deteriorate even before the artist's death. Within 50 years it was almost indecipherable, and it was repainted twice during the 18th century. Its suffering continued through the 19th century, first at the hands of Napoleon's soldiers, then from the monks who actually cut a door through the bottom. After miraculously surviving the Allied bombs of World War II, the beleaguered mural's luck began to change. Restorers discovered that much of the original work remained, and it is once again a joy to behold. 
People just can't stop talking about that Mona Lisa. Why is she smiling? What's her story? Some people think her mysterious grin meant she was secretly pregnant, but that would be unlikely in conjunction with another theory: that Mona Lisa is actually a self-portrait of Leonardo! X-rays of the painting and close comparison with drawings of Leonardo suggest that this may actually be true.
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