Gentle reader, you may have noticed that blog entries have heretofore lapsed into cyberspace. That is because the previous use for this blog vanished when college classes began. Yet another opportunity has arisen, and I hereby rededicate this blog to a new expression of it's same purpose.
The original purpose is stated above: "Listening in on the Great Conversation." Simply put, throughout the vast reaches of time, mankind has reasonably mused about the nature of the world, of mankind, of God, and the nature of truth, goodness, and beauty. Written across history there exists a kind of a "conversation" between thinkers of all kinds: philosophers, poets, theologians, statesmen, and common men, discussing and developing ideas and answers to persistent questions. These have stored up for us their great conversation, and we have the opportunity to answer to learn from their accumulated wisdom, and have a sort of "conversation" of our own about their ideas.
As I believe will be demonstrated in time, this is not an impractical activity. Within the company of the great conversationalists we are given much wisdom regarding who we are, why we do the things we do, and how we can be better human beings. Participation in the great conversation is not the highest good in human life, but can show us how to live poorly or live well; how to get along with your neighbors and get them to get along with you; and what sort of beings we are. If you think you know all of this already, then good for you. I challenge you to stick around--and I wager some dead philosopher or another will prove you wrong.
The particular opportunity I alluded to above manifests itself in a series of online lectures by learned men from my beloved alma mater: Hillsdale College. I learned a great deal from them, and learned most of all that I have much more to learn, and big shoes to fill if there are to be good men and women for the next generations. My brother and I decided that we should listen to these short orations and discuss the ideas contained therein. The courses were designed for those unable to attend a college where these ideas are taught. This is no substitute for actually cracking open a book. Yet, if we do our task well, this will only cultivate further reading, discussion, and prudent application of their ideas into our lives.
There are a goodly number of courses offered at this point. I proposed that we begin with the course "History 101," as the foundational ideas therein help greatly in understanding the rest. Even if you, gentle reader, have had a course in history already, I hope the clarity of their insight may provoke new thoughts and foster constructive discussion among us. I also hope to provide some original source material to support the lectures given here, so our discussion can be had as intimately as possible with the ideas.
The plan so far:
1. Sign up for the course "History 101" here: https://online.hillsdale.edu/ and following the instructions.
2. Watch one video per week. Take notes. (The timing is subject to change--we might speed things up if we are able)
3. Read any posted source documents relating to the topics of the lecture.
4. Write an informal blog entry articulating your understanding of the ideas from that video. In can be as long or short as you want. Our intent is to learn, and very often the need to articulate an idea can nurture our understanding.
5. Comment and discuss the ideas as heard and read and written.
6. Repeat.
At first I planned this for only a few people whom I already know. Yet I understand that my brother wants to invite more to join in with us. That's great! So to you, unknown reader, be it known: If you comment regularly and charitably, I may give you authority to post your own entries on this blog. Until then, I'm counting on the discipline and willingness expressed by the spoken-with few to carry on a good conversation among us.
We will begin doing this by next week. I will watch the first video this weekend (likely June 1st, a Saturday). I will write my entry when able, probably the next couple days, so that conversation can sprout from a blog post about it. I'd like to see everyone else doing something similar. I understand that schedules are crazy, but if we're going to make this work, we've got to be disciplined, lest we fall into the abyss of internet amusements.
Peace be with you,
+VDMA
-Keaton
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Hello and welcome. We would love to have you comment and join in our little conversation, so long as you order your discussion alongside ours. So please... no solicitation, no trolling, keep it civil, rational, and vaguely on topic. Check your lolcats at the door. Thank you!