In Front of Death, Mr. Piero Angela Spreads Serenity
Love of knowledge is the language that goes beyond death
Mr. Angela, Italy’s most famous popularizer of science, passed away. Soon or later, it happens to everybody, yet this great man gifts us with an unusual way of living his own death.
He was 93. It is quite reasonable to accept the end at that age, and he did. However, it is by no means a given. Acceptance is an attitude that we might, or might not, have built throughout our life. How did he build it? In his latest public letter, Mr. Piero Angela unveils the answer:
Despite a long illness, I managed to complete all my broadcasts and projects (even a small satisfaction: a jazz piano record).
You see: his days had a purpose which he expanded into a constellation of projects.
However, a project-oriented mindset is not enough to nurture the serenity that his words give.
The foundation of his serenity is at the beginning of the letter:
Dear friends, I am sorry to no longer be with you after 70 years together. But nature also has its rhythms.
Mr. Angela knew to be part of a game that has its rules. The same rules that gave him life now are turning it off for him, and this is ok. There is no trace of blame or merit, which too often pollute our worldviews. His words are of care and love for Italy:
Dear all, I think I have done my part. Try to do yours as well for this difficult country of ours. A big hug.
Read these words. What is the feeling? Is a farewell, yet it is simultaneously a beginning. By inviting to take care of Italy, Mr. Piero Angela goes beyond the dead as trauma and shows it as the end of a project, nothing more. Sadness surrounded by hope because a new project is starting again.
The projects that he loved were about introducing people to scientific knowledge. Mr. Piero Angela showed that science is based on curiosity, and politely he spread this peaceful message all throughout his professional life.
Is a farewell, yet it is simultaneously a beginning.
For people who perceive scientific rationality as a limit in front of the boundless universe of faiths, his message sometimes appeared tough and uncompromising. For example, Nicola Porro says that Mr. Angela was a
[…] missionary and theologian, as indeed he was, of a new religion called Science (from Vi dico dove sbagliava Piero Angela)
This sort of statement reveals more about the writer than about his object. Those who are imprisoned in any dogmatic and emotional faith have no language other than the words “missionary,” “theologian”, and “religion”. They only know the language of judgment. Right, wrong.
Instead, Mr. Angela’s s letter goes beyond that. He does not say to be right. He says that he gave his life a purpose and that he is grateful to have had the opportunity to realize it. That’s it. That’s serenity.
It does not hurt: try to forget the categories of right and wrong. Once you turn off the noise they produce, you can listen to the serene scientific discourse. By the way, there is an alternative to the right and wrong opposition, which is seeking truths that are actually true beyond cultures and opinions. That is science.
Mr. Angela was a universe dweller, and his last letter gifts us with the universal standpoint of one who loved knowledge and asks you to continue this love.
