LEONARDO da VINCI

DID LEONARDO da VINCI FORECAST OUR PRESENT MONEY CIRCUMSTANCES?

Nearly five centuries have passed since Leonardo da Vinci left his Earthly sojourn in l5l9 at the age of 67 years. Still his words, sketches, inventions, paintings and prophecies continue to amaze scientists, as many of his inventions are even now unfolding as the necessary products to make them have become available.

It was often necessary for him to refer to his prophecies in cryptic language and riddles to avoid the anger of the church. After two centuries the Inquisition was still going strong and Leonardo had good reasons to fear for his safety. Even electronic voice technology was suggested with his words: "Men will talk to those who are not present. They will speak with each other from the most remote countries, and reply." Referring perhaps to the present day folks at Wall Street as well as the pyramid scheme makers that are bilking many of their retirement savings, he said "Invisible money will procure the triumph of many who will spend it."

He often scattered his riddles and prophecies among his notes that were written backwards, and readable with the aid of a mirror. Here is one of his riddles. "Many persons puffing out a breath with too much haste, will thereby lose their sight, and soon after will lose all consciousness." Want to guess the answer? At this point he was likely delighted to stump the king and those attending court. The answer: "Putting out the light when going to bed."

In da Vinci's day, Church dogma mixed liberally with alchemy, superstition and necromancy. Danger lurked at every corner for him as one biographer accused him of heresy and he devised many methods of thwarting snooping inquisitors. He was an ethical vegetarian and a defender against cruelty to animals. "These creatures will form many communities, which will hide themselves and their young ones and victuals in dark caverns, and they will feed themselves and their families in dark places for many months without any light, artificial or natural." He was speaking of ants.

Perhaps he referred to each one's book of life when he said, "Things that are separate shall be united and acquire such virtue that they will restore to man his lost memory; as sheets of papyrus made of separate strips that have preserved the memory of the things and acts of men." To understand how he walked the "closer walk," perhaps we can look to the knowing smile of the Mona Lisa. Dr. Lillian Schwartz, of Bell Labs, sugggested that Leonardo used himself as the model for this painting. Schwartz digitized the artist's self portrait along with that of the Mona Lisa, flipped the self-portrait, and merged the two together in a computer program. The features of the faces aligned perfectly. Was that perhaps Leonardo's greatest riddle of all? His painting, "The Last Supper" suggests he may have used himself as the model for Thaddeus, second from right. He died at the castle of St. Cloux in France commenting to his friend, King Francis I that he had offended God by not working on his art as much as he should have. He included alms for the poor in his will.