when i heard the learn'd astronomer.

"When I heard the learn'd astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and
measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much
applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars."
-- Walt Whitman

i wish i could have met that man.

something i often struggle with, even though it is summer right now, is education in itself. most teenagers will agree with me when i speak of how pointless the things we're supposed to learn are, but many only agree for all of the wrong reasons.

first of all, if you haven't read the book The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis, i strongly suggest it. a very, very good point Lewis makes about education in Abolition is the bird analogy. he points out that in earlier times, education was distributed like a parent bird to its offspring, but now it is more synonymous to a bird being taken care of behind one of those panes of glass, with the gloves built into the walls. everything is so clinical, there's rarely passion and genuine care involved. it's all so... so by-the-book, that we all must learn the same things and be exposed to the same experiences. it makes me sick, how hard we try to become the same thing.

it's not laziness or lack of motivation that causes me to complain about education. it's not me trying to undermine the whole idea, like many of my peers. i have a considerably good grasp on mathematical / scientific concepts. i get things, when i finally make myself. it's not that it's too hard for me at all, it's just that i don't believe in it. i hate how everything in life is supposed to be a formula. how we chart and grid every last thing, as if that suddenly means we've conquered it - as though it's a feat to come up with explanations that i've no doubt will be proven wrong later. we know such an infinitesimal amount about things that we think numbers and formulas are know-all, cure-all solutions. until we realize that there's more depth to it, and we feel the need to apply an extra set of charts.

we don't seem to get that we live in a world that's way out of our league. even our own minds. i once read a quote that said something like,"if we possessed minds simple enough that we could understand them, we would be so simple that we couldn't." God didn't just throw things together and say,"well, i hope that works out." he made everything linked, such a delicate web of divinity. we're setting our sights on a never-ending, circling quest to "figure things out," instead of just trusting what has yet to fail us.

it's analogous to the dog that chases the car. what, exactly, will he do when he catches it? for medical purposes, i understand how incredible these studies are, and what good they do for people. but even so, whenever we think we've conquered every mystery of our very own bodies... what will we do? i often wish i lived further in the future, to witness all of the amazing advancements in computers and vehicles and the like.

but when i think about this, i am thankful i still live in a world that breathes mysteries, where we don't believe we have the explanation behind every last thing in existence.

where i can still look at things and just admire them for what they are: beautiful.

“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.”
-- Oscar Wilde

-c.


soundtrack: copeland.