Based on the confirming authority of past experience, we find ourselves in accord with William Shakespeare’s eternally famous observation, “The world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.” The statement, albeit phrased in theatrical vernacular, is empirically descriptive of man’s ubiquitous “roles” in society; the prescribed roles of early childhood, teenager, young adult, and parent have their respective nuanced costume and predictable theatrical dynamics.
Our thematic concern, nevertheless, relates to the extent and quality of the “inner life” of the ubiquitous role-playing citizen, i.e., the extent to which he achieves a sense of individualized identity, personal self-image, and responsible ethics. The utilitarian function of a skilled plumber, by illustrative example, might ideally be accompanied by a personal sense of contemplative identity and mature perspective. Analogous to the pragmatic need of society for ubiquitous utilitarian skills, the individual’s attainment of a fulfilling life (and, pragmatically, the establishment of a valuable citizen) requires the positive development of a stable and referable self-image and a mature, contemplative perception.
Thematically, we have, of late, sadly been obliged to observe society’s general reluctance to strive for the personal attainment of understanding and contemplative depth, by eschewing the benefits ol advancement through, among other things,, the rewarding activities of reading, intellectual discourse, and personal contemplation, in favor of faciile and impersonal digital interaction, the search for a convenient route to financial success, supplementing the populist desire for readily available, ephemeral entertainment. The classical aspiration for intellectual growth and metaphysical understanding has regrettably declined in favor of short-sighted materialistic goals and stereotypically evinced symbols of success. Many students attend institutions of higher education as the singularly required route to good jobs, rather than the acquisition of knowledge and personal growth.
Academic professionals advise that many of today’s college-level students cannot meet the most basic requirements of higher education, viz., do not read books, cannot write effective essays (some currently hobble their educational growth by falsely employing the convenience of A-I writing), and in derogation of the appropriately contextual challenge of intellectual curiosity, seem driven by the pragmatic desire for high grades, beneficial on employment-seeking resumes.
We are deeply concerned about the reported nature of contemporary students in higher education, no longer motivated by the laudable desire to advance their personal store of knowledge and intellectual understanding.
Our bitterness is painfully exacerbated by our recollection of our long-past college attendance (accompanied by the attendance of several other first-generation Americans) at Brooklyn College, who, universally, demonstrated a hunger for enlightenment and understanding, and who relevantly worshipped their knowledgeable professors and appreciatively imbibed their imparted enlightenment. Sandwiches brought from home, to be eaten at the college lunchroom, were invariably accompanied by serious debate about Kant, Marx, Engels, and the political and social issues of the day, such as “McCarthyism.” “Academic dilemmas were hotly debated, and exotic theories were propounded and excitedly disputed over stereotypical tuna and tomato on rye. Lunch was an extension of academic activity as well as an enjoyable social experience.
We were enabled to beneficially replicate the ardent desire for the accessibility of advancement and understanding in our days of higher education, and notably, in the progress of our future lives. This dedicated and perpetual inclination has reliably continued to enrich our lives to the beneficial extent of mitigating the natural experience of disability and joint pains attributable to Man’s late period of life, notably rendering the profound pleasure of life’s potential for rich and desirably rewarding experience
By impactful contrast, the failure to avail oneself of the challenges and richness of an inner contemplative life is empirically productive of a bland, disappointing life experience; the motivation for reductive and thoughtless rebellion that ultimately results in disappointment, grievance, and the rebellious inclination to vote for a morally perverse and societally atavistic candidate such as Donald J. Trump.
-p.
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