Tonight’s show is an important one. Without it, it’s hard to build on the information presented in the other shows. Here we begin to learn about learning, logic, critical thinking, Hegelian dialectics, Plato, the Trivium, the Quadrivium, the 7 liberal arts, and many other facets of human cognizance.
Gnostic Media’s 1 Year anniversary show!
Tonight’s show is an important one. Without it, it’s hard to build on the information presented in the other shows. Here we begin to learn about learning, logic, critical thinking, Hegelian dialectics, Plato, the Trivium, the Quadrivium, the 7 liberal arts, and many other facets of human cognizance.
My guest is Gene Odening.
This is the story of the 3 successive stages of the “Philosophic Life” which almost all of us live. Some of us live it consciously, others, not so much.
Gene’s story is one of good fortune. Early in adolescence he was given the tools to recognize and to pursue the Philosophic Life, which he undertook to do, not as a vocation but as a serious hobbyist. This is part of what the talk is about, defining those tools and following time-tested ways of applying them.
Gene lived through the first part, the Stage of Preparing For Life, in a fashion which the ancient Vedic Sages called: “Learning by grazing through the fields of the Brahma (the Creator God), in sobriety, and with a guru”. He even had his own guru!
When he was 20 years old, he began the second part, the Stage of Receiving From Life. This is when he began his vocational career and started his family life. Life was good. He and his wife traveled many parts of the English speaking world scouring the libraries in particular; she reading her beloved fiction; he in the reference and antiquarian sections. His quest was to find out what Money was. Money is a very elusive thing. As ghostly as it is, it takes up much of our life’s time and energy. By happenstance, in pursuit of its secrets, almost all other known topics come into view for a closer examination, including Philosophy, a treasure beyond measure.
As he reached the age of about 56, he had the realization that he was now in the final stage, the Stage of Giving Back To Life. This is when one should properly become the elder advisor, not ‘offering’ advise, but giving of it freely when asked. It is also the time of beginning one’s journey through mentality. This is the time of: “Examining a life which has been worth living”, as the Greek sage Socrates counceled.
This is the podcast I’ve been listening to.
And btw, Bob, my friend who introduced me to this concept says you’re right, and D is wrong on the rhetoric issue.
But I had already suspected as much.
Lmao, I get it now. I only have a GED. Cum grano salis
Seriously?
What more do you want, I apologized in that other thread.
Not directed at you, here I was just trying to have a sense of humor. I also apologize. Cum grano salis ( with a grain of salt). I have visited From the trenches for quite sometime via blacklistednews, have grown to respect the perspectives and views of the members here. Thanks for all you Trenchers do.
Understood.
Somebody had made a reference to, The Lost Tools of Learning
Dorothy Sayers
Quote, There is also one excellent reason why the veriest amateur may feel entitled to have an opinion about education. For if we are not all professional teachers, we have all, at some time or another, been taught. Even if we learnt nothing–perhaps in particular if we learnt nothing–our contribution to the discussion may have a potential value. ie, I only have a GED, and my reason for my personal amusement.
My parents sent me to a private school (Catholic) 1st through 8th grade, where I received the majority of my education (much better than my friends in public schools got). I never made it past 10th grade, and got my GED in SLC.
Since then, I’ve educated myself far more & better than any school ever did.
Yeah – I’m going to go through all the vids on Jan’s site. I’ve been putting off digging deeply into this stuff for a long time, so I need to buckle down while Jan’s available as a resource.
You ought to win a prize – as it stands, we are 2 comments away from the mythical 100 comment mark! Based on this, I think I’m gonna pound the hell out of this topic in the coming months.
I dare you to do that again! 🙂
To be perfectly honest, I had no idea it would garner so many responses, but I’m glad it did since I am seriously interested. A friend here has been talking about it for months (knew nothing of it before that), so I finally decided to do some investigating, and I knew the best place to start would be to inquire of my fellow Trenchers… if anyone would know about it, they would.
As usual, I was right (about that much, anyway). 🙂
I’ve been studying it several years since listening to John Taylor Gatto and Richard Grove. Learning more each time I listen.