My time in Italy has been extremely transformative. Comparing it to the lightness essay written Calvino, I believe that I truly experienced lightness. On this trip particularly, I was challenged to confront my anxiety and the fear caused by that. One big fear that I deal with is heights. When I am up in very high places and I know it I feel my arms and legs start to shake, my throat starts to swell shut, and I get light headed before I go into full on panic mode. When visiting the Duomo, I knew that it was going to be a challenge for me. I didn’t realize though, just how much of a challenge it was going to be. As I started ascent, I noticed that the journey upward was confined to narrow, dirty, dark cement walls that was passable for only one person at a time. I did not think that Brunelleschi had in mind that amount of people that would be trafficked in and out of the cathedral when he drew up the plans to have it built. Safe to say, I was already nearing the entrance to my panic zone. My only sense that I got of where I was were tiny square windows every so often showing me that I was getting higher and higher. As I climbed further I felt myself become heavier and more panic induced. I reached the final steps and I climbed up while the whole world opened up in front of me and I truly experienced entering the spiritual lightness. I felt weightless and I felt my anxiety dissipate. I felt connected with God and I felt completely and wholly at peace.

Today in cultures in varring degrees, we suffer from hiding behind the screens of our technological devises. Though technology is really nice to have, it has more influence on us than we might think. This being my first time traveling, I am begining to see just how deep this takes hold of us and how much we underestimate the damage that can be dealt if left unchecked. I think that this hit the most when viewing the Sistine Chapel and all of the galleries and sites we’ve seen thus far into our journey here in Italy. There are a lot of people who will just take a picture and shuffle along without much inquiry in the art past the photograph. What is maddening about that is that due to modern technology, why would you even leave your house. If that is your mindset, then you can just pull up an extremely detailed picture on your computer from the internet. The thing is that this epidemic is virtually unknown to most, if not all, some time or another to varrying time lengths. Our technology has crippled us to the point where it has become a veil prohibiting us from experiencing our lives in the current moment. When seeing the majesty of the art in person, you become vulnerable. You are inspired and convicted to think about yourself in such an intrinsic way we do not get to experience in the busy american day to day life. The importance of being still and truly experiencing the moment is that it makes you transcend your physical senses and takes you into a place of growth, knowledge, and experience.