The Middle Ages was the age of pregnancy. And the child that was to be born from that pregnancy was the Renaissance, that great Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages was a period that saw the death of Stoicism. Stoicism was replaced by the thoughts and doctrines of the doctors of the Church.
As early as about 150 AD, Epictetus and other stoic philosophers were banned in Rome.
The phrase “Middle Ages” is used to describe the period between the fall of Rome in 476 AD and the beginning of the Renaissance in the 14th century.
The fall of Rome left power vacuum. But since nature does not allow vacuum, it was the Bishops of the Church, (the powerful doctors of the Church that gave thought and direction) that ruled people with the Bishop of Rome being the head Bishop and was to be called Pope, the Father of the world.
It is argued that during this period, this Middle Ages reason and philosophy were suspended, and the Roman Catholic Church dogma was the sole ideology of life. That might be truth to some extent, but it is not the whole story.
May be it was so during the early days of the Middle Ages. But as time went on, great things were happening. Ideas were flourishing. It was during the Middle Ages that we have some great revolutionary inventions. Take for example the spinning wheel.
The spinning wheel revolutionized the production of yarn, which increased productivity and led to the establishment of a prospering textile industry. In turn, this helped set in motion forces that would create a perfect environment for the beginning of the Renaissance.
Perhaps the greatest invention during the Middle Ages was the Wheelbarrow. The term “wheelbarrow” is made of two words: “wheel” and “barrow.” “Barrow” is a derivation of the Old English “barew” which was a device used for carrying loads.
The wheelbarrow brought a lot of comfort and better life to common life. With the wheelbarrow wood for fire could be carried, and this facilitated the great times togetherness for the family around the fire. With much wood family could stay together for long hours around the fire and that gave great opportunities for transference of history and traditions to the young through folk stories and direct teaching.
The wheelbarrow did not just contribute to the strengthening of family bonds. It also contributed to the community with parties held where a bull would be slaughtered and meat cooked for the community, now that much wood is available.
In general life was beginning to improve. Life was no longer drudgery and full of misery, but happiness and comfort. The simple pleasures of life were brought to bear by both the spinning wheel and the Wheelbarrow.
There was also a surge in reason, during the Middle Ages. Take for example the ideas of the Roman Catholic Church theologian Thomas Aquinas. Thomas Aquinas is a man who initiated the separation of church and state. Thomas Aquinas wrote that God gave people minds to construct their own world. And so reasoning and thinking should be put to practice in the building of the state.
Reason and unencumbered thinking should take the front stage not the church in common everyday life. It is through the ideas of Thomas Aquinas that we have the two concept of nature and nurture. God gave us nature, and also gave us brains to develop that nature.
Nature run alongside nurture. Nature and Nurture are two sides of the same coin. You have nature then through ingenuity that we have we apply nurture to nature. We nurture nature.
Thomas Aquinas was a great thinker. His ideas are well with us. In life and in science human beings are given the ingenuity to adapt nature. Look at Dubai. Dubai is a natural desert. But through nature the desert has been transformed.
Dubai is a city in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai’s meteoric rise as a hub of international finance, entertainment, and commerce, is a results of nurturing nature. Nature provided the desert, and God gave us creative flair to use our minds to turn that desert, that desert into super commerce and entertainment.
