L’integrazione dei saperi “della mente, del cuore e delle mani” nelle scienze e nella vita: genio e normalità
10.6092/issn.1973-9494/10628
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1973-9494
10628
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Mauro Mantovani
Conservation Science in Cultural Heritage
The Integration of the Knowledge “of Mind, Heart and Hands” in the Sciences and in Life: Singularity and Normality
Text.Serial.Journal
https://conservation-science.unibo.it/
19
Editorial
2020-03-18
2020-03-11
2020-03-18
2020-03-18
15-26
CSCH
Mauro Mantovani
2019
10.6092/issn.1973-9494/10628
15
Rector of the Salesian Pontifical University, Rome
1973-9494
en
26
The Integration of the Knowledge “of Mind, Heart and Hands” in the Sciences and in Life: Singularity and Normality
https://conservation-science.unibo.it/article/download/10628/10570
19
E    DITORIAL


The integration of the knowledge “of mind, heart and
hands” in the sciences and in life: singularity and nor-
mality

Salvatore Lorusso
Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences

Mauro Mantovani
Rector of the Salesian Pontifical University, Rome, Italy



   Singularity: the integration of knowledge in one person

   It is only right to start from the most famous Italian artist in the world who, through-
out the whole of 2019, is being celebrated – it is the 500th anniversary of his death:
however, it is not enough to define him simply as an artist, as a painter, draftsman,
scientist, art theorist, engineer, anatomist, a scholar in hydraulics, he is the author of
paintings considered to be absolute masterpieces worldwide and of a large number of
manuscripts: Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo was an investigator, whose aim was always
to highlight that a theory can be proven by experimentation, allowing conclusions to be
reached and, therefore, establishing a norm.
   As an assiduous researcher, his first step was to investigate. He was always seized
by the desire to understand what surrounded him and it was for this reason that his
paintings were experimental and often unfinished; in contrast there were many notes.
Among them can be found theoretical considerations of extreme value relating to the
superiority of painting and a push toward the theory of perspective. Leonardo also
studied and designed “flying machines” and, as such, was a forerunner of many of
the ‘machines’ made in the following centuries, such as the balloon, the helicopter, the
machine for human flight, planning and giving meaning, as early as the 1500s to the
words: “When science becomes art”.
   Artist, scientist, philosopher, painter, architect, etc., Leonardo may be regarded, in
a certain sense, also as a “theologian”, considering his pictorial production which ef-
fectively represents a great “hymn to the Creator”. “In Leonardo’s writings – says the
art historian Rodolfo Papa – we find frequent reflections on the relationship between
the art of painting and God. Furthermore, most of the works we have by Leonardo are
of an unquestionably sacred theme: creation, incarnation, redemption. Leonardo is a
theologian due to his ability to represent totality” (cf. Leonardo Teologo, Ancora, Milan
2006). His figure, unfortunately often associated only with themes such as heresy,
freemasonry and esotericism, is also – if not primarily – that of a “believer”, as his pic-
torial works and his writings historically bear witness to. A believer, naturally according
to the typical form that existed in fifteenth century Tuscany – certainly different from
the later cliché of the devout Catholicism of the Counter-Reformation – and therefore
                                        a great passionate investigator of the divine Mystery and its manifestation in human
                                        history. It was within this particular context that he was able to conceive, mature and
                                        develop his idea of ​​an artist as “one of God’s grandchildren”, and thus fully integrate
                                        art, science and faith.
                                            The knowledge gathered from his multifaceted activity represented a force that
                                        drove him to observe, meditate, draw inspiration and persevere in conceiving, un-
                                        dertaking and realizing the objectives that he had set himself and, over the years,
                                        achieved within the context of his work and life. Mention has been made of his inner
                                        impulse and shaking-up from an atavistic and accepted condition and situation of that
                                        time by resorting to those peculiarities deriving from his own abilities, his own inclina-
                                        tion and his own horizon of values and religion.
                                            A similar proposition and behaviour can be found in another great versatile master
                                        of the Renaissance, a talented painter, engraver and treatise writer, who profoundly in-
                                        fluenced his contemporaries and subsequent generations, Albrecht Dürer. In his “Four
                                        books on human proportion”, he underlined that creativity is a gift from God but, he
                                        added: “Never manifest yourself as being able or wanting to do something better than
                                        what God has conceded nature, which he himself created. Because your power is
                                        weak before one of God’s creations”.


                                           Normality: the integration of knowledge through the reciprocation of partici-
                                           pants

                                           It is possible, as previously stated, that the integration of knowledge is the preroga-
                                        tive of a single person who, as such, represents a “unicum”. This is because they have
                                        their own particular genetic heritage that allows them to exploit the unquestionable
                                        faculties of their mind, their heart and their hands, thus giving rise to expressing them-
                                        selves for their own fulfillment and / or for the well-being that can be drawn from the
                                        outside world.
                                           Instead, in normality, which as a rule is synonymous with good custom and with
                                        common usage, it is fundamental, among participants – whose intent is to integrate
                                        the respective knowledge of their minds, their hearts and their hands – for there to
                                        be a significant preliminary knowledge and sharing in wanting to undertake together
                                        the path that is needed to achieve the planned objectives. This implies the previously
S. Lorusso, M. Mantovani - Editorial




                                        mentioned integration of knowledge which can be defined as “reciprocation” of intents
                                        and objectives for one’s own and other people’s well-being.
                                           When faced with the results achieved and with the consequent commendations, the
                                        question they ask themselves about what has matured over the years with conviction
                                        on their part is: “How is the accumulated experience, the eventual success, the disen-
                                        chantment of those who are convinced, going to be useful to those who are still at the
                                        starting line and do not have, cannot have, the slightest idea of how things will go?”.
                                           In particular, we are addressing young people and those in training, by underlining
                                        that the consequent response must necessarily also imply any impediments, adversi-
                                        ties that may be encountered and how it may often lead to having second thoughts and
                                        foreseeing the possibility of failing in something.
                                           It is also true that today, more than ever before, we can perceive the rarity and dif-
                                        ficulty of truly effective pedagogical actions. It is too easy to blame this difficulty on the
                                        usual, open crisis of values and on the meanings suggested by those values. It would


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be like declaring that the whole of reality is the consequence of such irremediable
mistakes that we are no longer able to convey appropriate feelings and convictions to
counter the richness, violence and fundamental ambiguity of life. Faced with the strictly
rational arguments of a technocratic vision and cultural paradigm, these sentiments, it
must be admitted, are altogether quite useless. In theory, an orderly flow of information
from one generation to another may disregard any form of training.
    And so the question to ask is: “How can you bypass the obstacle that separates
you from the outside world?” You can only do so by following a road that is rough but
which, in the end, is effective, i.e. by interpreting the advice and experiences which
are mandatory for whoever dedicates themselves to educational activities, understood
as appropriate training in the context of one’s own activity: it means, in this cultural
context, focusing on the most unpopular of subjects, the least suitable for the specific
occasion, presenting the reality, in other words, the realism of one’s own experience
that represents an inestimable “reserve for the future”.
    And in this experience, if on the one hand, it is true that adversities and difficulties
may be encountered and the consequent psychological reflex may determine a state
of profound uneasiness – without even wanting or deserving it – as well as renouncing
what was desired, on the other, it is equally true that one never really knows oneself
or the strength of their beliefs until they are put to the test by adversity. Combined with
an awareness of the situation is the ability to express oneself when re-proposing one’s
convictions willfully and with determination.
    Consequently, a simple but solid idea: “being advanced in years, i.e. being enriched
by the past does not necessarily mean we are able to transmit truth. It is only experience
that can teach, having lived it to the full and having drawn strength and conviction from it”.
    And so, treasuring the years of experience and defining the continuation of one’s
life, one says to oneself: “Why then in some cases is there the temptation to give up, to
give in, to surrender?” Because picking oneself up again and resisting, requires effort,
courage, invention: it requires a generous spirit. Those who give in, flee and, out of




                                                                                                      CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
fear and avarice, surrender, put forward justifications that represent the expression of
a mean soul that has no desire to make any effort, of an intelligence that has no wish
to reconsider things and think about new ones. “Surrender” – as the Polish sociologist
Paul Kecskemeti wrote – is a service that the loser renders to the winner. In life, on the
other hand, we must never give up”.
    Also by referring to classical authors, we wish to highlight what happens upstream
and downstream in the creative act, in integrating our knowledge with that of others, at
the beginning and at a certain point in time of our activity.
    If you want to be creative, you have to bear a certain amount of creative boredom,
i.e. apathy, which is the precise meaning of the Latin “otium”. Only when there are the
conditions and the time to reflect, are there insights that can lead to unforeseen solu-
tions: this provides the opportunity to “create” which follows the line of thought defined
by the philosopher Seneca “secum morare”, in other words to study oneself. However,
there is no doubt that the verb “to create” refers to a capacity that goes beyond human
possibilities, as it pertains to the divine. In reality, however, as a synonym for imagina-
tion, the creative act can, rightly and correctly, be and represent the expression as well
as the occasional prerogative of the individual, determining the passionate involve-
ment of the external world: in one word, empathy. Empathy, in fact, from the Greek
“empateia” – “en” inside and “pathos” feeling, but also suffering – highlights the ability
to fully understand the state of mind and the consequent need of others.


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                                           Considerations

                                            There is no question that in the two previously discussed cases, the faculties, sen-
                                        sibilities, possibilities, capacities of the individual, even if alone in their solitary great-
                                        ness, and of most of those participating in the integration (all sharing common intents),
                                        represent decisive aspects and factors to achieve their objective in the first case, or in
                                        the second case, the commonality of purpose.
                                            It is just as true that in believing in, managing and achieving any goal, the need
                                        to dialogue intimately with oneself and with one’s own convictions, is dictated by the
                                        mind, heart and hands in a form of natural albeit lonely integration or, in the second
                                        case, is extended to the participants of the aforementioned integration.
                                            “Yet at the same time we must dare to be different, to point to ideals other than
                                        those of this world, testifying to the beauty of generosity, service, purity, perseverance,
                                        forgiveness, fidelity to our personal vocation, prayer, the pursuit of justice and the com-
                                        mon good, love for the poor, and social friendship”. This thought can be found in n. 36
                                        of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christus vivit of Pope Francis to young peo-
                                        ple and to all the people of God. It is this very pontifical document that has taken up the
                                        expression “the ability to integrate the knowledge of head, heart and hands” where in
                                        no. 222 there is talk of the renewal and revival of ecclesiastical educational and cultural
                                        institutions, according to some important inspiring criteria: “a fresh experience of the
                                        kerygma, wide-ranging dialogue, interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches,
                                        the promotion of a culture of encounter, the urgency of creating networks and an option
                                        in favour of those who come last, those whom society rejects and discards”.
                                            And continuing: “We need to create more spaces where the voices of young people
                                        resound: ‘Listening makes possible an exchange of gifts, in a context of empathy’.
                                        […]. This means humbly recognizing that some concrete things must change and if
                                        that is to happen it also needs to appreciate the vision but also the criticisms of young
                                        people” (38,39). It is interesting that the Holy Father invites all educational bodies,
                                        starting from the ecclesiastical ones, to “develop spaces for the best culture for young
                                        people”, because they “have the right to it”. Thus, we read in n. 223 in the Christus
                                        vivit: “Today, above all, the right to a good education means protecting wisdom, that
                                        is, knowledge that is human and humanizing. All too often we are conditioned by trivial
                                        and fleeting models of life that drive us to pursue success at a low price, discrediting
                                        sacrifice and inculcating the idea that education is not necessary unless it immediately
S. Lorusso, M. Mantovani - Editorial




                                        provides concrete results. No, education makes us raise questions, keeps us from
                                        being anaesthetized by banality, and impels us to pursue meaning in life. We need to
                                        reclaim our right not to be sidetracked by the many sirens that nowadays distract from
                                        this pursuit. Ulysses, in order not to give in to the siren song that bewitched his sailors
                                        and made them crash against the rocks, tied himself to the mast of the ship and had his
                                        companions plug their ears. Orpheus, on the other hand, did something else to counter
                                        the siren song: he intoned an even more beautiful melody, which enchanted the sirens.
                                        This, then, is your great challenge: to respond to the crippling refrains of cultural con-
                                        sumerism with thoughtful and firm decisions, with research, knowledge and sharing”.
                                            This is why it is important to point out that the condition of human and cultural well-
                                        being and growth that one achieves cannot ignore the fatigue and defeat, but by ex-
                                        periencing and overcoming them, they are manifesting their true credentials. In other
                                        words, the imperative of what is called “winning” is incompatible with defeat. Suffering,
                                        due to the ethics of the result as being imperative, must be eliminated and so for the


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well-being discussed earlier on defeat becomes a place of truth, research and initia-
tive. This is the path that frees one from the resentment that paralyzes creative energy,
inventiveness and action.
    By insisting on this aspect, which is believed to represent the result of integrating
mind, heart and hands in the individual case and in the normality of the participants,
the meaning encloses what is said in the axiom: “The most able person is not the
‘faber’ nor the ‘sapiens’, but the ‘patiens’, i.e. the one who knows how to give meaning
to fatigue and suffering by transforming them into creativity”.
    And this is what happened at the beginning of the year 2000, when with dedication
and enthusiasm we launched the Journal “Quaderni di Scienza della Conservazione”
to address the numerous problems of protection and enhancement of cultural and en-
vironmental heritage. By offering means and ways to inform and educate readers, at-
tention was paid in particular to young people who, in a subsequent future, would give
meaning to our efforts and be encouraged to improve it. With a vision that stretched
beyond the medium-long term, the efforts made to start the Journal, planting the seeds
for the future, greatly sought after in the present day, have convinced the media and
the international market. With the new title, “Conservation Science in Cultural Herit-
age”, the Journal, published in both paper and electronic versions, is based on the two
conceptual terms that distinguish it: interdisciplinarity and internationalization.
    This is therefore how the research, studies, experimental contributions, thematic
collections, published annually in the Journal in the last twenty years from 2001 to
2019, have constituted a concrete result attributable to the integration in the scientific
field of the previously mentioned knowledge. It is knowledge that knows no scientific
boundaries, since the publications come from researchers with very diverse back-
grounds, experience and skills regarding both the human sciences and the experimen-
tal sciences.
    And with the integration of the sciences, the recognition from international organi-
zations has sealed the achievement of the objectives: – those of a scientific nature,




                                                                                                  CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
related to the use of the correct scientific methodologies; – those of an institutional
nature, promoting coordination, progress and dissemination of the sciences and their
application in the sector of cultural and environmental heritage; – those of a cultural
nature, performing a communicational, social and educational function.
    Undoubtedly, the concept of internationalization, as the prerogative of the cultural
asset, is also connected to the value that emanates from the cultural asset itself, not
attributable to a specific place or region or country, but which goes beyond both spatial
and temporal limits.
    Therefore, the vision and mission illustrated in the contents of the Journal by the
Authors of the published articles, are representative of a reality that goes beyond all
borders carrying out its identitary mission.
    In conclusion, how can one not link the integration of knowledge with the profound
changes that have taken place in recent years, including the process of globalization
not only in the economy, in the employment market and in society, but also in culture.
The essential productive factor is human capital and, therefore, education, creativity,
inventiveness and new ideas, new products, new processes: the economic perfor-
mance of human capital has increased rapidly.
    With this in mind, we are working at an international level with the aim of support-
ing cultural sectors and offering increasing opportunities, especially for young people
who are experiencing the current problematic fluctuations, to enter the employment


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                                        market. Promoting an integral and integrated vision of art and science also offers us
                                        the opportunity to highlight and support the intrinsic value of technoscience, when it is
                                        “well-focused”. It is consequently able to produce – as Pope Francis writes in his en-
                                        cyclical Letter of 24 May 2015, Laudato si ‘- “important means of improving the quality
                                        of human life, from useful domestic appliances to great transportation systems, bridg-
                                        es, buildings and public spaces. It can also produce art and enable men and women
                                        immersed in the material world to “leap” into the world of beauty. Who can deny the
                                        beauty of an aircraft or a skyscraper? Valuable works of art and music now make use
                                        of new technologies. So, in the beauty intended by the one who uses new technical
                                        instruments and in the contemplation of such beauty, a quantum leap occurs, resulting
                                        in a fulfilment which is uniquely human” (n.103).
                                            There is a need to bring to the forefront a set of cultural values which though dif-
                                        ferent in each individual, can become common elements and be such as to make a
                                        real project of integration feasible within a context of the knowledge or commonality
                                        of the knowledge of mind, heart and hands. This is with the aim of promoting together
                                        profound interiority, relational quality and openness to transcendence, which are also
                                        indispensable for a healthy relationship between the different generations, for mutual
                                        dialogue and the responsibility of one towards the other, and for the delicate, but at the
                                        same time, fascinating “handing over” between past, present and future generations.
S. Lorusso, M. Mantovani - Editorial




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