Question: Why do you need
July 29th, 2002Question: Why do you need a classical education for that?
Answer: So I can, through a thorough knowledge of the classics, create a program of study for young people that will lead to understanding them.
Q: Do you really need a classical education for that?
A: Yes, dammit! Also I want one, whatever I do.
Q: Gotcha! What do you want from it?
A: A more complete understanding of the ancient world.
Q: What’s so special about the ancient world?
A: One has to understand something. And I’m interested, dammit. Besides, one ought to start at the beginning if you want to understand the whole.
Q: You’re floundering.
A: There is a reason. I just have to find it. I know it’s there. It’s not even a difficult one.
Q: Yeah, well, tell me when you think of it.
The ancients were able to see the world as something present, whole, and natural–as something to be participated in rather than merely observed. A wholesale return to their way of thinking is impossible, but in our time of increasing abstraction and alienation, a clear understanding of the ancients can help guide us towards a more natural understanding of our own world. It may not be immediately apparent on an intellectual level, but any child can see that there is something special about the old tales and songs. That they teach us how to live.
Comment by Moss — July 29, 2002 @ 1:51 pm
I think most people cannot help but perceive that life is to be participated in: don’t you kind of participate even if you are "merely observing"? I think that observation, an ability to stand back from the fray for a few moments, is a good thing, keeping in mind that by doing so you are, in fact, not really removing yourself from life or the obligation to act. And I agree one hundred percent that the old stories are still useful. I kind of want to be a medical-mythologist, if such a profession even exists. The nature of physical/mental injuries and their causes/cures in ancient stories is so darn cool! When I combine what I’m learning about traditional chinese medicine with, for example, the nature of the injuries sustained by the heroes of the Iliad, I am astounded at the connections I find! (Well, it could all be a product of my overactive imagination, but hell, god bless my imagination!)
Comment by Tanya — July 30, 2002 @ 8:07 pm