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RELOCATIONS Herb Rothschild Jr.: Respecting limits DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Jul. 25, 2015 @ 12:01 am Updated Jul 25, 2015 at 12:27 PM Posted Jul. 25, 2015 @ 12:01 am Updated Jul 25, 2015 at 12:27 PM » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2324,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> In Valladolid, Spain, there is a large, elaborate monument to Christopher Columbus. Columbus is kneeling in the prow of a small barge; a figure representing Faith is standing behind him holding a cross and chalice. All this sits atop a globe encircled by a band on which, in raised letters, are the words NON PLUS ULTRA, meaning “nothing beyond this,” which was the motto of Spain at the time of the discovery of the New World. But a lion is tearing off the NON. 1492 was early in the Renaissance outside Italy. Near its end, in 1620, Francis Bacon, the first popularizer of scientific inquiry as we understand it, published his “The Great Instauration” (renovation). The frontispiece showed a ship sailing through two pillars, a reference to the straits of Gibraltar, regarded until the Renaissance as the western boundary of the known world. The geographical and astronomical discoveries of the Renaissance created a new sense of space, captured in the title of Alexandre Koyre’s study, “From the Closed World to the Open Universe.” Inevitably that new sense of space induced a new sense of self. Western culture ever since has been characterized by the belief that human possibilities are limitless. Nowhere is this truer than in the U.S. A good indication of how deeply this belief is rooted in our psyche is the widespread commercial use of terms like “no boundaries” and “limitless.” They are effective sales tools. “No Boundaries” is the name of the first album Kris Allen recorded after winning the 2009 American Idol competition. There’s No Boundaries Clothing. There’s a TV show on Hulu called “No Boundaries.” There’s a Limitless Publishing Company and a Chrome plug-in for time management called Limitless. There’s even a Limitless Church. More than such names, note how often that same appeal to going beyond limits is incorporated into advertising texts for all sorts of products. In 1893, the historian Frederick Jackson Turner proposed that an open frontier had shaped the American character. He propounded the now-famous Turner Thesis just when the Western frontier was closing. Yet, for us there are always new frontiers. As John F. Kennedy proclaimed in his acceptance speech at the 1960 Democratic National Convention, “We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier — the frontier of the 1960s, the frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, the frontier of unfilled hopes and unfilled threats. ... Beyond that frontier are uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered problems of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus.” The phrase stuck as the hallmark of his presidency, short on achievement and long on youthful schtick. But if the frontier has never closed in the American psyche, if boundless possibility remains the Faith standing behind us holding our cross and chalice, the reality is quite different. As I pointed out last week, socio-economic mobility has been seriously curtailed. But far more important are the environmental consequences of our disrespect of boundaries. We now know that the carrying capacity of the planet, while immense, is nonetheless limited, and the only way to avoid catastrophe is to conform our conduct to those limits. Nothing in modern Western culture has prepared us to make such an adjustment. That’s why there has been an increasing interest in indigenous cultures, which understand humans as one part of a web of life that has to be respected if we are to survive. Such understanding can be our salvation, but will it sell merchandise? Herb Rothschild Jr. is chairman of the board of Peace House.   DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Jul. 25, 2015 @ 12:01 am Updated Jul 25, 2015 at 12:27 PM » Comment or view comments /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Mobile Site Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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