I first became aware of Allan Bloom in the late 1980s. As a fellow educator and believer in democracy, I was interested in reading his then-recent publication, The Closing of the American Mind. Having read his book, I realized that he was writing about the failure of American Universities to live up to their role of educating the elite. Bloom was a self-described elitist. For Bloom, then, the university, specifically the classics, was the most essential institution of American democracy. He wrote about and taught classes on Plato’s Republic. Taking Plato at his word, he believed that the character of a society is best expressed by the people who rule it. Thus, colleges and universities, the training ground for America’s elites, had the task of ensuring that the country’s leaders embodied the basic principles of its political regime.
I’m a proponent of the classics and believe in their inherent worth. But if we are to build a more convivial society where people become educated persons, thereby gaining knowledge through experience. An educated person can and should love others. Before she can love others, she must respect herself. She must feel confident and competent in herself and her role in dealing with others. She is also rational, skilled in reasoning, intuitive, and analytical in thinking. She is compassionate and warm in interpersonal relationships. She is sensitive, empathetic, and non-ethnocentric. She is an independently motivated lifelong learner. She is a problem-seeker and solver. She is fluent and flexible in her perceptions, ideas, and feelings. She is curious and an inquirer, an avid gatherer and an organizer of information and ideas. She is a copper rather than a defender, an active seeker rather than a passive acceptor. She is a clarifier of her own belief systems and values, working to remove dissonance between the ideals she professes and the actions of her daily life. She is a person who continues to grow in wisdom, competence, compassion, and reason throughout her lifetime.
This type of educated person is ideally suited to life in a rapidly changing society. However, in a highly controlled and stable society, which some scholars propose, such a person would pose a threat. She would be viewed as a deviant and undoubtedly would be “treated” to correct her abnormal tendencies. George Orwell describes this type of society in his book Nineteen Eighty-Four. In such a society, the educated person tends to have an authoritarian personality, having been taught and learned to accept their lot, show great respect for authority, think stereotypically about themselves and others, and believe in the absolute nature and truth of knowledge in academic disciplines. These persons are offended and threatened by the ever-increasing divergence in publicly expressed values and lifestyles.
I once wrote a paper titled “A Theory of the Functional Self.” Most theorists, however, would agree that the self is inseparable from the social contexts in which we exist. This is why, as an educator, I have tried to practice John Dewey’s philosophy, which holds that all learning occurs within a social environment. In this sense, knowledge is socially constructed based on our experiences. As Dewey puts it, the ‘educational process has two sides — one is psychological and the other is sociological.’ As John Donne states in his poetic passage:
No man is an island, Entire of itself; Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, As well as if a promontory were: As well as if a manor of thy friend’s Or of thine own were.
Any man’s death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.
Mount Hebron Cemetery, Winchester, VA (August 22, 2021) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
This morning I received word that the husband of Linda Parrish, a friend, and co-worker at Texas A&M, had passed away October 29, 2021. Paul Austin Parrish was 77 years old.
Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe, For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow, Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee. From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee, Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee doe goe, Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie. Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell, And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well, And better then thy stroake; why swell’st thou then? One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally, And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.
No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manner of thine own Or of thine friend’s were. Each man’s death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee.
We have lived in Tanuri Ridge now for over a year. Like all communities, it has a culture, which is an organization of learned behaviors and products of the behaviors that are shared and transmitted. The culture represents a style of life that includes information, governmental patterns, and ways of thinking and speaking to a lesser degree. Each person in the community exists in an interactive relationship with the community as a whole. Even though some interact more than others, as John Donne states in his poetic passage:
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man
Is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main:
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the
Less, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine
Own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I
Am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to
know for whom the bell tolls it tolls for thee.
Having spent seventy-plus years developing who I am (self) through social interaction, the last year of which has been in my new community. During that time, we have sought many opportunities to interact, which have included (1) social situations providing cooperative associations and communication with others and (2) opportunities to “get into” the experience of the other. The latter allows me to get outside myself to come back to myself. By doing so, I can become an object of myself, just as others are objects to me. By revealing my true self to others, in turn, I’m able to see myself as I truly am. This past year, however, it has been difficult accepting the pains of discovery inherent in this objectification process.
As with any experience, there have been a series of events on which I acted. Since each person’s experiential history is different, the interpretation of a given event will vary from person to person; therefore, each may choose to act differently. This can lead to discord.
In seeking a better understanding of human acts, I often turn to the writings of Thomas Aquinas and his work, Summa Theologica, in which he wrote on discord. Discord means a jarring of acts since the act of one party is set on one thing and the act of another on another, which results in a lack of charity and unity. There are two ways in which clarity is destroyed – ordinarily and incidentally. “In human acts and movements, that is said to be ordinary, which is according to the intention of the agent. Hence a man is at ordinary discord with his neighbor when knowingly and intentionally he dissents from the good of his neighbor, to which he ought to consent.”
On the other hand, discord is considered to be incidental when both sides share an interest in a good end while differing on the course. In such a case, the discord can produce charity from a union of acts, not a union of opinions. To the demise of charity, however, we too often stay focused on a union of opinions.
“Man In Boat” — Computer Painting by kenne
Living in Tanuri Ridge — Concord vs. Discord
We have lived in Tanuri Ridge now for over a year. Like all communities, it has a culture, which is an organization of learned behaviors and products of the behaviors that are shared and transmitted. The culture represents a style of life that includes information, governmental patterns, and ways of thinking and speaking to a lesser degree. Each person in the community exists in an interactive relationship with the community as a whole. Even though some interact more than others, as John Donne states in his poetic passage:
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man
Is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main:
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the
Less, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine
Own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I
Am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to
know for whom the bell tolls it tolls for thee.
Having spent seventy-plus years developing who I am (self) through social interaction, the last year of which has been in my new community. During that time, we have sought many opportunities to interact, which have included (1) social situations providing cooperative associations and communication with others and (2) opportunities to “get into” the experience of the other. The latter allows me to get outside myself to come back to myself. By doing so, I can become an object of myself, just as others are objects to me. By revealing my true self to others, in turn, I’m able to see myself as I truly am. This past year, however, it has been difficult accepting the pains of discovery inherent in this objectification process.
As with any experience, there have been a series of events on which I acted. Since each person’s experiential history is different, the interpretation of a given event will vary from person to person; therefore, each may choose to act differently. This can lead to discord.
In seeking a better understanding of human acts, I often turn to the writings of Thomas Aquinas and his work, Summa Theologica, in which he wrote on discord. Discord means a jarring of acts since the act of one party is set on one thing and the act of another on another, which results in a lack of charity and unity. There are two ways in which clarity is destroyed – ordinarily and incidentally. “In human acts and movements, that is said to be ordinary, which is according to the intention of the agent. Hence a man is at ordinary discord with his neighbor when knowingly and intentionally he dissents from the good of his neighbor, to which he ought to consent.”
On the other hand, discord is considered to be incidental when both sides share an interest in a good end while differing on the course. In such a case, the discord can produce charity from a union of acts, not a union of opinions. To the demise of charity, however, we too often stay focused on a union of opinions.
— kenne
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