God bless them all! I'd love for my grandkids, most of whom aren't even in double digits yet, to attend UATX! And they are growing into the kind of independent critical thinkers I believe you'd love to have among your student body. Keep up the good work! It's sorely needed in our world today.
I agree that self-absorption is bad for everyone, including yourself. For the universe is bigger and deeper than yourself and you would not be able to understand even yourself without paying attention to the outside world. However, I don't agree with the statement that one should forget oneself either. In fact, you would not learn a thing without learning it within yourself first. The claim of forgetting oneself only produces zombie followers or worse.
Good point, Yan. Learning at that level requires intense focus and energy, and thus requires self-motivation. Such resolve is difficult to share. Setting a good example of diligence is often the best one can do.
However, joint studying sessions were helpful, but not all course material is amenable to that. I found these sessions helpful, for even when contributing more than receiving, the process of explaining an idea consolidates it within oneself.
I'm likewise concerned by this call to forget yourself, or to sacrifice the opportunity to discover who you are in college. This is consistently what people cite (retroactively) as one of the most rewarding experiences of university-- and it sounds disturbingly cultish.
A fine speech, President Carvalho. This new generation could also use a great conservative project for being equal to the one their forebears had: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U0C9HKW
Thank you for sharing this. A friend and I have been envisioning something like this but for us retired folk who are still active and would like to augment our funds with a part-time situation and keep our brains sharp and have time to enjoy hobbies, be near more young people perhaps we could help them as needed with kids, gardens, etc. Gonna get your book.
Wow! THAT statement contains the ever so important essentials that other institutions should strive to personify. It should be the objective of every higher-learning institution to produce vetted, challenged, and prepared intellectuals, while instilling in them resilience, gratitude, humility, and a genuine love of country.
It's certainly commendable to aspire to be part of something bigger than yourself, and I would agree that much of our present misery stems from our disconnection and over-emphasis of self. Yet I'm concerned by the weird subtext that seems to run through this argument: a thesis left unstated.
You think that people "turned wilderness into civilization... stormed the beaches at Normandy... walked on the moon..." because they were *self-reliant*? Anyone who knows about civilization or space missions or major combat operations will tell you they require complex interdependence: these last two events in particular were massive central government operations. These were not cowboys, entrepreneurs, or frontiersmen; these were teams of people in public service, deeply reliant on each other. This is just a very weird depiction of our history.
You go on to celebrate this "pursuit of greatness" as "strong, persistent, and the opposite of introspective"? That is very peculiar language. So you are calling on smart freshmen to join you in... *not* thinking carefully about what you believe and why? *Not* spending time reconsidering the ideas or traditions you grew up with? *Not* examining your own thoughts, feelings, and motivations? That's a very strange call at a convocation of scholars. Surely, if we're trying to produce educated citizens, people who "know how to think through hard things," introspection would be a virtue?
And then there's the causal dismissal of *authenticity* as a worthy aspiration. I have studied history, ours and others': do you appreciate how many horrors we have all endured at the hands of brittle, psychologically infantile men chasing power or money or deference because they are perfectly terrified of their own selves? Authenticity is not about saying all ideas are equal or there is no difference between good and evil: it's about knowing who you are, and living your life in alignment. It's about not being fake, desperately tethered to the approval of others. You can't be free without it.
You do say that "To strive beyond ourselves we first need to understand ourselves"... but then you seem to say that this means "fully understanding our inheritances." Well, that's one part: you have to know where you came from. But where you're from is not WHO YOU ARE. That was the very core of the American immigrant experience: that was the beacon that attracted so many talented people from other shores.
Look: maybe I misunderstood your argument. If it's just "let go of your focus on your petty little self and look to how you can serve others" then I have no real objection, save that this is a worn convocation theme echoed at all of our major universities. But if not, it sounds dangerously like a fascist call to self-oblivion: wherein the individual only has value insofar as he/she serves a larger collective, the nation. "What kind of person do I want to be?" is a classical liberal question. "What is my role in the historical destiny of my people?" is a fascist question.
"Greatness starts with recognizing that we incurred a debt to the past, to the family that raised us, to the founders of our country, to the dead who built everything around us and fought our enemies so that we can live in freedom and prosperity."
Very well said. We must relearn and recover the Western tradition
God bless them all! I'd love for my grandkids, most of whom aren't even in double digits yet, to attend UATX! And they are growing into the kind of independent critical thinkers I believe you'd love to have among your student body. Keep up the good work! It's sorely needed in our world today.
Congratulations to the class of 2030!
Exciting speech, all the best to the new class.
I agree that self-absorption is bad for everyone, including yourself. For the universe is bigger and deeper than yourself and you would not be able to understand even yourself without paying attention to the outside world. However, I don't agree with the statement that one should forget oneself either. In fact, you would not learn a thing without learning it within yourself first. The claim of forgetting oneself only produces zombie followers or worse.
Good point, Yan. Learning at that level requires intense focus and energy, and thus requires self-motivation. Such resolve is difficult to share. Setting a good example of diligence is often the best one can do.
However, joint studying sessions were helpful, but not all course material is amenable to that. I found these sessions helpful, for even when contributing more than receiving, the process of explaining an idea consolidates it within oneself.
Well said. The universe is quite organic, it’s foolish to separate oneself mechanically, either by selfishness or forgetness
I'm likewise concerned by this call to forget yourself, or to sacrifice the opportunity to discover who you are in college. This is consistently what people cite (retroactively) as one of the most rewarding experiences of university-- and it sounds disturbingly cultish.
A fine speech, President Carvalho. This new generation could also use a great conservative project for being equal to the one their forebears had: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U0C9HKW
Thank you for sharing this. A friend and I have been envisioning something like this but for us retired folk who are still active and would like to augment our funds with a part-time situation and keep our brains sharp and have time to enjoy hobbies, be near more young people perhaps we could help them as needed with kids, gardens, etc. Gonna get your book.
Data Centers seem to be looking for a community home these days? Parttime communities might be the right thing at the right time.
Wow! THAT statement contains the ever so important essentials that other institutions should strive to personify. It should be the objective of every higher-learning institution to produce vetted, challenged, and prepared intellectuals, while instilling in them resilience, gratitude, humility, and a genuine love of country.
It's certainly commendable to aspire to be part of something bigger than yourself, and I would agree that much of our present misery stems from our disconnection and over-emphasis of self. Yet I'm concerned by the weird subtext that seems to run through this argument: a thesis left unstated.
You think that people "turned wilderness into civilization... stormed the beaches at Normandy... walked on the moon..." because they were *self-reliant*? Anyone who knows about civilization or space missions or major combat operations will tell you they require complex interdependence: these last two events in particular were massive central government operations. These were not cowboys, entrepreneurs, or frontiersmen; these were teams of people in public service, deeply reliant on each other. This is just a very weird depiction of our history.
You go on to celebrate this "pursuit of greatness" as "strong, persistent, and the opposite of introspective"? That is very peculiar language. So you are calling on smart freshmen to join you in... *not* thinking carefully about what you believe and why? *Not* spending time reconsidering the ideas or traditions you grew up with? *Not* examining your own thoughts, feelings, and motivations? That's a very strange call at a convocation of scholars. Surely, if we're trying to produce educated citizens, people who "know how to think through hard things," introspection would be a virtue?
And then there's the causal dismissal of *authenticity* as a worthy aspiration. I have studied history, ours and others': do you appreciate how many horrors we have all endured at the hands of brittle, psychologically infantile men chasing power or money or deference because they are perfectly terrified of their own selves? Authenticity is not about saying all ideas are equal or there is no difference between good and evil: it's about knowing who you are, and living your life in alignment. It's about not being fake, desperately tethered to the approval of others. You can't be free without it.
You do say that "To strive beyond ourselves we first need to understand ourselves"... but then you seem to say that this means "fully understanding our inheritances." Well, that's one part: you have to know where you came from. But where you're from is not WHO YOU ARE. That was the very core of the American immigrant experience: that was the beacon that attracted so many talented people from other shores.
Look: maybe I misunderstood your argument. If it's just "let go of your focus on your petty little self and look to how you can serve others" then I have no real objection, save that this is a worn convocation theme echoed at all of our major universities. But if not, it sounds dangerously like a fascist call to self-oblivion: wherein the individual only has value insofar as he/she serves a larger collective, the nation. "What kind of person do I want to be?" is a classical liberal question. "What is my role in the historical destiny of my people?" is a fascist question.
"Greatness starts with recognizing that we incurred a debt to the past, to the family that raised us, to the founders of our country, to the dead who built everything around us and fought our enemies so that we can live in freedom and prosperity."
Very well said. We must relearn and recover the Western tradition
Please find a somewhat different Understanding of Reality culture politics and freedom via these references:
http://beezone.com/current/the-big-picture.html
http://beezone.com/latest/politics_for_men_and_women.html
http://media.adidam.org/pdf/en/freedom_is_the_only_law_adi_da_samraj.pdf
http://www.nottwoispeace/excerpt-723
http://www.nottwoispeace.org/excerpt-two-is-not-peace
On forgetting ones self
http://beezone.com/current/whenbodyfulllight.html When the Body is Full of Light
http://beezone.com/baptism-of-immortal-happiness
http://beezone.com/current/awakenfromword.html
http://beezone.com/current/stresschemistry.html
Two more references on the primacy of cooperation
http://beezone.com/adida/cooperation-and-doubt.html.html
http://beezone.com/current/coopcomm.html