Arguing to Death: Socrates in America

Here's an excerpt from a superb article in the Dec. 17 edition of the "Economist."

In 1968 Stringfellow Barr, an historian and president of St. John's College in Maryland, wrote a Socratic critique of American discourse: "There is pathos in television dialogue: the rapid exchange of monologues that fail to find the issue, like ships passing in the night; the reiterated preface, 'I think that...,' as if it mattered who held which opinion rather than which opinion is worth holding; the impressive personal vanity that prevents each 'discussant' from really listening to another speaker".

Complete article:
http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15108704

The Artwork of Shepard Fairey

Contemporary artist, Shepard Fairey, is good at making a statement. His ability to attach irony to modern symbols, iconography, and themes in order to critique social and political ills is unmatched. From sardonic renditions of currency designs to satirical propaganda posters, Fairey's artwork is both visually engaging and thought provoking.

Every person needs four things

1. Something to do
2. Someone to love
3. Something to believe in
4. Something to look forward to

(From legendary college football coach, Lou Holtz)

The Idea of Progress

As we journey through the ages, we realize that our concept of progress inevitably falls short again and again.

http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15108593

Why Get an Education

I sometimes hear people reveal their esteem for education primarily in terms of how it can increase earning power. Yes, making a living is important and education is the best means to making a higher salary, but there are so many additional reasons why an education is important. A rigorous education provides the foundation for a conscious and fulfilling life as well as for responsible citizenship. If we are only educated in technical skills with a neglect for the development of our capabilities for reasoning and discernment, then we become mere cogs in the modern industrial machine. We fail to exercise the active agency and social resistance to make discriminating choices about what ideas or products we embrace, how we view others and behave towards them, what we value, and what we refuse to pay attention to. Education teaches us how to recognize and appreciate beauty. It helps us to question our assumptions and recognize our biases. It helps us to organize our thinking and develop the skills for communicating effectively. An education gives us the power to interpret our world from different angles, improve our relationships, and avoid the deception of those who would try to control us for their gain. For these reasons, it is important that mothers and fathers, artisans and business people, technicians and scientists are educated not only in the technique and best practices of their individual roles, but in a general understanding of the world in its physical, spiritual, and social aspects. Getting an education helps us to become better human beings.

Moral Discipline is the Foundation of a Civilized Society

"Self-discipline has eroded and societies are left to try to maintain order and civility by compulsion. The lack of internal control by individuals breeds external control by governments. One columnist observed that “gentlemanly behavior [for example, once] protected women from coarse behavior. Today, we expect sexual harassment laws to restrain coarse behavior. . . .

“Policemen and laws can never replace customs, traditions and moral values as a means for regulating human behavior. At best, the police and criminal justice system are the last desperate line of defense for a civilized society. Our increased reliance on laws to regulate behavior is a measure of how uncivilized we’ve become.” (D. Todd Christofferson, "Moral Discipline," LDS General Conference Oct. 2009)

Little Pleasures and Hard Work

You will understand that I am bragging when I say that my children are farmers...Last summer my granddaughter, Virginia, who was eleven, put in some long days on the [tractor]. She was good at it, and all of us are pleased with her. She told her mother: "What is good about hard work is that it teaches you about little pleasures." She said that when the weather was hot and a little breeze came, it made her happy and she was grateful. I think this is something very important to know. I hope that, when the time comes, this knowledge of little pleasures will preserve her from the common assumption that pleasures have to be big, expensive, and dangerous. I am thankful that she could learn this in the same way that her parents and grandparents learned it. I am thankful that we have continued so far. (Wendell Berry, "Citizenship Papers," 2004, Counterpoint Press)

The Space Between

“Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky.”

-Rainer Maria Rilke

Faux Friendship

A fascinating article about the state of friendship

http://chronicle.com/article/Faux-Friendship/49308/

Poetry and Marriage by Wendell Berry

The meaning of marriage begins in the giving of words. We cannot join ourselves to one another without giving our word. And this must be an unconditional giving, for in joining ourselves to another we join ourselves to the unknown. We can join one another only by joining the unknown. We must not be misled by the procedures of experimental thought: in life, in the world, we are never given two known results to choose between, but only one result that we choose without knowing what it is.

Marriage rests upon the immutable givens that compose it: words, bodies, characters, histories, places. Some wishes cannot succeed; some victories cannot be won; some loneliness is incorrigible. But there is relief and freedom in knowing what is real; these givens come to us out of the perennial reality of the world, like the terrain we live on. One does not care for this ground to make it a different place, or to make it perfect, but to make it inhabitable and to make it better. To flee from its realities is only to arrive at them unprepared.

Because the condition of marriage is worldly and its meaning communal, no one party to it can be solely in charge. What you alone think it ought to be, it is not going to be. Where you alone think you want it to go, it is not going to go. It is going where the two of you - and marriage, time, life, history, and the world - will take it. You do not know the road; you have committed your life to a way.

Education and Democracy

"The founders of our Republic envisioned education as providing for all citizens the necessary apprenticeship in the understanding and practice of democracy. To make democracy safe we must have universal schooling; to make schooling safe for education we must have democracy. But since the founding of our country the study and practice of democracy in our schools has weakened. We must return to the primary purpose of education and ensure that it is indeed for everyone."(Goodlad, John I., Corinne Mantle-Bromley, and Stephen John Goodlad, 2004, "Education for Everyone: Agenda for Education in a Democracy," Jossey-Bass.)

Reverence

Reverence is a key component of a happy and balanced life, and it also forms the backbone of a healthy and cooperative society. But unfortunately, reverence is largely absent in modern society. There's a pervasive lack of reverence for other people, for the earth, for spiritual knowledge, for life, and for ourselves. Reverence is gratitude and respect for the whole of creation and for one's humble position within that great system. Reverence means patience in forming judgments. Reverence means recognition for the contributions and value of different individuals in one's community. Reverence means recognizing the value of other communities with differing ideologies. Reverence is generosity of spirit. Reverence is selflessness.

Imagine a world of reverence.
There is no violence to the earth. Imagine how clean the air is. There is no violence between people. Imagine how peacefully conflict is resolved. Imagine how people do business. Imagine how they recreate. Imagine how they worship--their lives are a continual practice of worshiping the sacred.