An Educated Person

The ancient Greeks believed that one could not know if they were truly happy until the end of their lives, until death. This presupposed that life was a process of development in the Aristotelian teleological sense. This is true as well for the process of educating oneself.

Not to sound morbid, but a truly educated person is one that is preparing to die. By this I do not mean the death of one's body but the transition that comes with living through its various stages all the way until death.

To be truly educated is to gird oneself for these various stages; all the joy, pain, sadness, "the sling and arrows of outrageous fortune." To this one must have a sense of both comedy and tragedy and one other thing: independence of mind.

With independence of mind one can transcend the problems of the moment, the infirmities of the body, the physical, the merely temporal. Independence of mind is the essential element for living in and maintaining a free society of free individuals. Without it we are subject to the buffeting winds and tides of the crowd, the advertisement, the demogouge with solutions for all our problems if we will only submit our judgment, our money, or our votes to the siren song of their temptations.

As for me, I choose to develop independence of mind through reading anything that I can. I have a love and obsession for History. I find that subject to encompass many others so that it is the shortest cut to at least some knowledge regarding varied topics. In this age of the internet and brilliant but aliterate 20 something face book addicts, I find myself feeling a bit like the dinosaur just after that comet hit the Yucatan. However, in my (too few) brighter moments) I have faith that there will always be a core of people who believe that the written word is key to the independence of mind that is essential to the educated person.

When asked why I read so much, if I am feeling whimsical, I say that I am preparing to die. I say it with a smile on my face :)

John.