Seananigans

The decision has been made--I will not be registered to take any classes this Fall. This assuredely doesn't mean I will not be attending classes, it just means i am not paying to go to class or doing any of the homework assignments (unless I think it might be interesting).

With that decision being made, it begs the question, "What will I be doing with myself?"

My plans are to focus on academics. "Focus on academics!? But I though you are taking a semester off from school?", you ask. Quite honestly, taking classes keeps me binded to doing what I don't really want to do. By not taking classes, hopefully this will free my time (that I would be spending on school work), to do some things I've wanted to do.

"What are these things which you wish to do", you ask?

Well, for one, I will be attending (sitting-in) on classes I think might be interesting. I plan on talking to, and getting in good with, the different professors around campus.

Also, spend time in the library studying things I want to study. Different people's lives, topics of interest. Stuff like that.

Another idea me and a friend have had is to hang out with the different organizations and ministries on campus such as BYX, BSM, Crosstalk, SACA, etc. Get to know the people within the groups better, and network with people. Build relationships.

Help others. Help anyone in need, going out of my way if I have to.

And whatever else comes up.

What do you think the essence of education is?

Since Michael you are pretty much the only person who reads this, other than myself, this question is addressed to you. And of course anyone else you may stumble on to here.

What are we getting educated for? To do what? To become what?

Do you think education should be a means for obtaining what we think is most important?

Leo Buscaglia, a professor from California suggests that "maybe the essence of education is not to stuff you with facts but to help you discover your uniqueness, to teach you how to develop it, and then to show you how to give it away".

I like that. Maybe the essence of education is to help you lead the best life you can lead. This guy Leo also says that we can only teach/give what we know. In a relationship / friendship with another person we can only give to that person what we are... our lifes experience. So OUR (MY) RESPONSIBILITY to OUR (MY) SELF IS TO BECOME THE MOST ENORMOUS, WONDERFUL, FULL OF KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING, FULL OF EVERYTHING - so... that I can give it away

There is a quote from a book that I remeber that has always stuck with me. "There is nothing that can be seperated from right living".

To me this means.. no ammount of knowledge, no ammount of things, or whatever is better than living rightly.

Thats all. Your thoughts?

Rene Descartes, one of the world's most influential philosophers says in his key work Meditations that when he considers and questions how he came to believe what he believes, he realizes that everything he has learned was "conditioned by various political, religious, and educational authorities" and NOT by conscious choice.

Well certainly this is true of most of us. We are conditioned starting day one to believe certain things by our parents, our friends, our education system, religion, etc. We are scripted to have certain beliefs about things. Whether this be political or whatever. Think about your political beliefs. Most likely you are a democrat or republican not b/c you choose it by conscious choice, but b/c your parents were that.

Taking this further, I believe if you don't come to a belief by conscious choice and studying, you MUST reject that belief b/c you do not understand it! It is scripted and conditioned, and therefor only making you ignorant if you regurgitate or even argue for a belief that you learned from you parents or friends and not by researching and seeking to understand.

Rejection of all your beliefs in order to seek truth is not such a bad idea. This is where I am today. I still hold on to something I read from Plato on Socrates.. Socrates was considered to be the wisest man on earth (at the time) because he realized he knew nothing. Certainly when we begin to think we know, we form an ego attached to that belief. By keeping ourselves humble and always seeking to remain in a state of learning and not getting a big head about ourselves we can begin to really understand and educate ourselves.