This chapter is entitled: The Philosophical Foundations. Here, Taylor traces the philosophical development of the study of poetic knowledge, beginning with Plato through Aristotle, St. Augustine and finally Aquinas.
I have to admit this book is straining my intellectual capabilities. I simply am too distracted by life right now and also too unfamiliar with a lot of what Taylor is saying. This is deep stuff! Hard to wrap my brain around. As I read though I find myself saying 'yes!' a lot and also underlining and writing exclamation points and asterisks in the margins. So much of this is very inspiring and great food for thought. Since this material is overwhelming me a bit, I feel the need to read it very slowly and more than once. Unfortunately, my life and the weekly time schedule for the study group are not cooperating! So I'm probably going to have only a superficial response. One way I think I'll narrow the focus of this book study is to view everything in the light of whether it jives with Catholic Unschooling or not. Since this blog is about that topic anyway! Seems only fitting!
In talking about educating the young, the Greek philosophers presumed a background of immersion in Homeric poetry. So poetic experience was taken as a given. Poetry and art integrate both universal truths and immediate appeal. The scientific knowledge of something is basically mechanistic, for instance knowledge of music theory vs. experiencing the beauty of hearing a piece of music. But the poetic experience is a "penetrating gaze into the transcendent nature of things." In my own words, a poetic experience ennobles the mind. For instance, I am not very mathematically inclined (to understate the matter greatly!). So for me mathematics is a process of memorizing facts and formulas and learning to plug in numbers. I have no understanding of how math works. However, every once in a while someone will be able to explain something to me and for a tiny moment I'll have a glimmering of understanding and for that moment I feel amazement and almost joy! I can only really know mathematics in a scientific, mechanistic way. But when I hear people talk about the beauty of mathematics, I sort of understand what they are saying because of those occasional glimpses I've gotten. People who are mathematicians understand math more deeply and I think often in that poetic way. It isn't just music theory to them, they can hear the symphony!
Taylor talks about the how leisure is necessary for poetic knowledge. I found this fascinating. The word 'school' comes from the word skole in Greek (schola in Latin) which means leisure. You can't experience the world poetically if you can't rise about the workaday grind of survival. Once though, you have basic survival needs met, you need time to take in the beauty and wonder around you in life. This made me think about the word for school in Latin, which is ludus. Ludus also means games! I wondered how they could use the same word for both! I think it must be because the opportunity to have a dedicated time for study and the opportunity for fun, depends on the existence of times of leisure in one's days.
In Plato's Republic all the educational experiences revolve around songs, poetry, music and gymnastics. These were seen as ways to draw the student to the Good, The Beautiful and the True. In other words Children learn first through poetic knowledge and this knowledge will lead them to wisdom. Taylor talks about how Socrates' vision of education is a living and organic one that expands like the rings of a tree instead of the more linear conception of it nowadays.
Taylor defines the poetic experience as one that initiates in 'wonder.' Wonder is akin to fear in that it is dealing on a sensory level with the unknown. We come across something that takes us aback, either a sudden dangerous situation or sudden astonishment at, say, rounding a bend in the road and suddenly having a glorious view of a rainbow in the sky. This connection between wonder and fear reminded me of the old fashioned way of talking about man's relationship with God; having 'fear' of the Lord. Fear is awe and also a consciousness of being before something that is Unknowable.
A little unschooling aside here! Taylor cites one of my favorite quotes that support the ideal of natural learning or 'unschooling,' Aristotle noted: "All men by nature desire to know." This little phrase always pops to the top of my consciousness when I hear other mothers say things like "my kids wouldn't do anything but play video games, if I didn't make them do school work!' I don't think they realize that they are denying their own children's humanity by viewing their children in this way! If they could trust in the fact that their children are humans who have certain attributes, like all other human beings, they could relax a bit and let their children unfold the way God intended them to. Children seek food, shelter, love, encouragement. They are inquisitive, they love to imitate the adults in their lives, they love to explore, ask questions, play. Unfortunately these characteristics are often only valued if they serve an immediately utilitarian function. I discovered through my own experience homeschooling my children, how micromanaging one's child's education makes them shut down and turns off that natural and energetic curiosity, causing the children to seek refuge in things like video games. In others words, in my experience, children often resort to more mindless things when they are not given the freedom to learn naturally.
St. Augustine further developed the concept of poetic knowledge. He understood that while it begins in wonder, it also involves knowledge of what is being experienced. To enjoy something requires a certain knowledge about it. One has to possess it in a sense to enjoy it. To quote Taylor: "through delight in contemplation of the object for itself" [Me: that is, not for a utilitarian purpose] love has attained possession. [ love here is really the same think as when we say 'I loved that movie!" meaning we really enjoyed the movie.] So St. Augustine can say, "There is no enjoyment where there is no love." Taylor says: "Enjoyment is spontaneous, surprising,
unplanned, and immediately captivating to the senses and emotions as well as to the mond; in other words poetic." I bolded the word unplanned because again I see a connection here with unschooling. One can not plan enjoyment in learning. Teachers try very hard and often students are cooperative because 1)they are human and curious about things 2) the teacher often tries to be fun and lively to engage their interest but very, very often these things fall flat and not much knowledge is retained at all. Which why children are so constantly having to review things over and over again until numbing boredom sets in. The knowledge simply doesn't obtain to the mind when it is forced.
Another quote that I find jives with the idea of unschooling:
Unlike the scientific mode of learning that proposes methods and systems for acquiring knowledge, the tradition that has been thus far reviewed reveals rather a way of knowledge, like a path or winding road, with interesting detours off the road, more than the superhighway of modern education. It is more akin to the natural human response to discovery of the world. It is a way of leisure and reflection of what is there, the way things are, and when one is considering the kinds of knowledge, it is seen that here is a natural order after all the corresponds to the learner and his universe, beginning with what is known, immediate and accessible, and proceeding to the unknown.
Wow!
Taylor goes on to explore St. Benedict's influence and rules and how they reflect a valuing of poetic knowledge. St. Benedict created a way of life for his monks that allowed the cultivation of a mystical or poetical experience of God. This way of life gave rise to much beauty, for instance, beautiful medieval architecture and Gregorian Chant.
Taylor spends a lot of time explaining the connection between the senses, the way in which we gain knowledge of the world through our bodies and our souls or minds. Poetic experience is an integrated experience, so it involves all the the human, body, intellect and soul. Taylor has a nifty chart that breaks down the understanding of how Poetic Knowledge works (which is kind of ironic!) These are, in order: we encounter something through our senses, we have an emotional response, our will becomes engaged and then finally we process the experience in our intellect. This portion of the chapter was really difficult for me to follow! However, one thing I did get from it was the idea of the 'loving will.' Taylor quotes from Conrad Baars:
"The basic activity of the will is love. Love is the passion of the intellect. The loving will is a blind power that follows the enlightenment of the intellect . . . . . .[The will}. . . .approves the known being as valuable in itself. . . Therefore, the loving will is characterized by the activity of passivity. The core of love is: let it be, because it is good as is. Love as it is in the will] is respect and adoration of the loved being. Love allows the being to be, and it enjoys its being.
I found this passage beautiful because I think it reflects God's love for us, in that he loves us as his children with all our blemishes. He waits for us to come to him, with an always open door. He gives us the choice to follow his will. I also think that this reflects an unschooling mindset to not impose on one's children preconceived notions of what they should be and what they should choose to learn but let's them discover the right way for themselves, trusting that with love and encouragement they will choose wisely.
