07-13-2017, 12:58 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-13-2017, 01:03 PM by Eric the Green.)
College does broaden the mind, and can encourage thought beyond the boxes people are brought up in. On the other hand, it does tend to promote some boxes for your mind. In my day, I could avoid them, but I don't know about today.
The first one is concentrating on the economic benefits and job training; this "education" just builds a big box around you and confines your view to the priority of making money. Making money for what purpose? And whom do you serve, and whom do you turn your productive life over to in the process? At what cost to society? And in your economics priority, do you absorb the box of trickle-down economics and libertarian beliefs that enslave us to the wealthy?
The second box is the materialist empirical paradigm. It still tends to dominate college, despite cracks in the box that developed in the Awakening years. Some of those cracks can still be seen in some places. Science gives us many benefits and dispells lots of errors. When it's not a box, it enables us to know much of what works and what doesn't. But I wonder if those who prefer evangelical superstitions and establishment/fundamentalist religions see a grain of truth in the back of their minds, beyond the reach of the usual authoritarian and intolerant preaching they listen to; the need for a spiritual life. It does greatly cramp humanity to restrict it to the materialist box, and thus deny your very own consciousness and center of your being and creativity. Reducing human life to what can be explained through mechanical causes, is about the worst box you can crawl into, because it cuts you off from genuine life itself, and from the benefits of spiritual knowledge and genuine worship, consciousness-revealing arts, prayer and meditation. Being present, not dominated by mental chatter and other addictions, and aware of the miracle, mystery and glory of "God" both within our consciousness and body, and among us humans and all things, is both essential, wondrous, and sadly lacking in our society.
I tend to think that seeing humans and other beings as inherently valuable in their own right, because they are soul and spirit and not just objects to manipulate, are essential to a fulfilling life and society. The two boxes above then don't need to be torn down, just seen beyond.
The first one is concentrating on the economic benefits and job training; this "education" just builds a big box around you and confines your view to the priority of making money. Making money for what purpose? And whom do you serve, and whom do you turn your productive life over to in the process? At what cost to society? And in your economics priority, do you absorb the box of trickle-down economics and libertarian beliefs that enslave us to the wealthy?
The second box is the materialist empirical paradigm. It still tends to dominate college, despite cracks in the box that developed in the Awakening years. Some of those cracks can still be seen in some places. Science gives us many benefits and dispells lots of errors. When it's not a box, it enables us to know much of what works and what doesn't. But I wonder if those who prefer evangelical superstitions and establishment/fundamentalist religions see a grain of truth in the back of their minds, beyond the reach of the usual authoritarian and intolerant preaching they listen to; the need for a spiritual life. It does greatly cramp humanity to restrict it to the materialist box, and thus deny your very own consciousness and center of your being and creativity. Reducing human life to what can be explained through mechanical causes, is about the worst box you can crawl into, because it cuts you off from genuine life itself, and from the benefits of spiritual knowledge and genuine worship, consciousness-revealing arts, prayer and meditation. Being present, not dominated by mental chatter and other addictions, and aware of the miracle, mystery and glory of "God" both within our consciousness and body, and among us humans and all things, is both essential, wondrous, and sadly lacking in our society.
I tend to think that seeing humans and other beings as inherently valuable in their own right, because they are soul and spirit and not just objects to manipulate, are essential to a fulfilling life and society. The two boxes above then don't need to be torn down, just seen beyond.