#1255 - Verum Ipsum Factum
Verum Ipsum Factum.
I found these words engraved on the outside wall of an old Venetian convent now housing a university. I was there for a meeting, and for mysterious reasons, those words struck me even if I couldn't read Latin, so I couldn't understand their meaning then.
I mean, in Venice, there are inscriptions and engravings everywhere. But those stood out and captured my attention.
As soon as I was out of my meeting, I checked online the meaning of the inscription. It is a formula used by Giambattista Vico, An Italian philosopher who lived at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries.
The formula is composed of three words: Verum meaning "true", Ipsum meaning "itself", and Factum meaning "made"; that is, "truth is in the making itself".
Vico used this formula to indicate that we can only understand what we can make. So, as an example, we can not understand nature because it is not a human production.
Fascinating, indeed. I'm definitely going to read more about Vico's work.
Still, the questions remain. Why those specific words captured my attention?
I found my answer yesterday during another meeting. We were discussing a workshop we are preparing and how important it is to end it with a clear set of actions. And while we were sharing that, I realized how good I am at ideating things only to avoid acting on them. At that moment, those words came back.
Verum Ipsum Factum.
Truth is in the making itself.
Only this time, I felt a different message in them.
Whatever idea or revelation I may find, it is only when I act on it that it becomes real; that it becomes my truth.