Samhain \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Thanksgiving Moon<\/p>\n
I’ve spent my whole adult life within the ambit of the humanities. \u00a0At an early age, perhaps junior high, the notion of a liberal arts education took hold. \u00a0An education in disciplines for which an inner passion, a vocation, burns will produce the best person. \u00a0Not, necessarily the best job. \u00a0Just the best person.<\/p>\n
Note, not a better person. \u00a0But, the best person possible. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Our passions call from us the sum totals of our powers, render them available and useful. \u00a0Therefore we might reach a peak of human potential, one described solely by our own history and our particular genetics.<\/p>\n
Yes, this is a fuzzy idea, full of the wishy washy and the self-indulgent. \u00a0Yes, it seems to come down right beside the point of an education, at least today’s education. \u00a0Today it seems apparent to everyone that an education should enable you to get ahead. \u00a0Get going. \u00a0Start maximizing, not necessarily yourself, but your earning potential.<\/p>\n
That is a far different thing from becoming the best person you can be. \u00a0This is the person as tool, as instrument, sharpened and lubed for the truest fit in the gears of our economy. \u00a0Not insignificant and a surprising number of people prefer to be tools, used by managers and companies, getting financial and status rewards along the way. \u00a0Even so, tools, like their machines, need to be guided, shaped, aimed.<\/p>\n
What is an appropriate, healthful, just, socially useful aim? \u00a0Ah, now we have the entered the realm of the humanities. \u00a0Weighing the lessons of one historical era against another’s. \u00a0Investigating the variety of ways in which we can be human. \u00a0Reading the tales and legends and novels and poems of others, so that we might know ourselves. \u00a0No bomb will know where it should be dropped. \u00a0Or why. \u00a0Is the expansion of health care services to a population a wise, just act? \u00a0How can we decide whether to go further than our moon? \u00a0What brings beauty into our life? \u00a0Who creates it?<\/p>\n
Should the state interfere with individual’s nutrition? \u00a0Exercise? \u00a0Only with careful and sustained study of the human story can we make these kind of decisions. \u00a0Ethical decisions. Aesthetic decisions. \u00a0Social policy decisions. \u00a0Even space exploration decisions.<\/p>\n
Imagine. \u00a0How might we decide as a world to engage a mission to Mars. \u00a0Incredibly expensive. \u00a0Dangerous. \u00a0Exciting. \u00a0Adventurous. \u00a0I might begin with reading the diaries of Rogers and Clark. \u00a0The journals of James Cook. \u00a0Zeng He. \u00a0The navigation methods of Polynesian islanders. \u00a0Examining the archaeological record of human migration. \u00a0What do we need to know? \u00a0How have we come to know such things? \u00a0What are the unexpected results of exploration? \u00a0Are they cautions?<\/p>\n
Of course, the politics and the economics of the day will press hard upon the answer, too. \u00a0Here, too, the historical record, political history and economic history of joint endeavors would prove instructive.<\/p>\n
My point? \u00a0Neither the scientific\u00a0feasibility, the economic practicality nor political realities can make us want to go. \u00a0Can make us search for a way through the inevitable difficulties and barriers. \u00a0Only decisions shaped by our common humanity, in the present and in the past, can guide us. \u00a0Can make us decide it’s worth it, no matter what.<\/p>\n
I don’t know. \u00a0Perhaps this is all special pleading, the sentimental journey of one long committed to a life lived with books, ideas, art. \u00a0All I can say is that the ancientrail of the humanities has been a rich vein for me. \u00a0For my whole life. \u00a0And continues to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Samhain \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Thanksgiving Moon I’ve spent my whole adult life within the ambit of the humanities. \u00a0At an early age, perhaps … Continue reading The Humanities. Another post.<\/span>