The Leap of Your Life

CHAPTER 4Risk, Redefined

Giordano Bruno was as unconventional as they come. He was a sixteenth-century Italian philosopher, and a man of innumerable interests. Cosmology, science, studying the universe and even magic—Bruno spent a large part of his life running from authorities and conducting lectures of what he believed to be true.

His core thesis, written in 1584, entitled On the Infinite Universe and Worlds argued if there is one of these worlds, then there are infinite numbers of planets and stars in the Universe. Today, this seems obvious. In his time, however, there were severe consequences to pay, and he spent most of his time on the run.

But he didn’t care. In contrast to Copernicus, who delayed the publishing of his works by 40 years for what many say was fear of retaliation, imprisonment, or death, Bruno was boisterous around his beliefs. He was loud, and a trailblazer.

On a return trip home from England to Italy to print his works, Bruno was captured and spent nine years in prison as he awaited trial.

But he was given an out: recant his beliefs and lectures, and he’d be saved. If not, he’d be burned at the stake at the hands of the inquisition. Many of Bruno’s contemporaries had chosen to retract their teachings in the face of death.

But Bruno remained committed, and when the sentence finally arrived on eight counts of heresy, Bruno proclaimed: “Perhaps you, my judges, pronounce this sentence upon me with greater fear than I receive it.”¹

At the time, Bruno was ...