Education and Virtue

"Education is properly understood as the care and perfection of the soul. Excellence (arete) is not primarily excellence of skill but excellence of virtue." ~ Richard Gamble on Plato's view of education, The Great Tradition

Pooh's Profundity - Growing Up

Just more proof that A. A. Milne was a brilliant observer of human nature.

By the time it came to the edge of the Forest, the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, “There is no hurry. We shall get there someday.” But all the little streams higher up in the Forest went this way and that, quickly, eagerly, having so much to find out before it was too late.
There was a broad track, almost as broad as a road, leading from the Outland to the Forest, but before it come come to the Forest, it had to cross this river. So, where it crossed, there was a wooden bridge, almost as broad as a road, with wooden rails on each side of it.

~ The House at Pooh Corner, by A.A. Milne

Austen characters on facebook?

If it were so...

HT Claire Escobar

Poetic Education and Boys

This is a subject near and dear to my heart!  Cindy at Dominion Family has a thoughtful post on this.  Here's a quote:

But it is the regular boys, the sports-loving boys, the farmer boys, the active boys who will benefit most from a poetic education: the Spurgeons and the George MacDonalds and the Eric Liddells and the Almanzo Wilders.

I'm trying to spend some time on this Christmas break reflecting and checking my home education course, so I appreciate this food for thought. 

Why Teach Latin? continued

"Four years of high-school Latin would dramatically arrest the decline in American education... Nothing so enriches the vocabulary, so instructs about English grammar and syntax, so creates a discipline of the mind, an elegance of expression, and serves as a gateway to the thinking and values of Western civilization as mastery of a page of Virgil or Livy (except perhaps Sophocles’s Antigone in Greek or Thucydides’ dialogue at Melos)."

~Victor Davis Hanson

Read the full article here

HT:  Justin Taylor

It was good for me to be afflicted...

George Grant’s blog entry for today was very timely for me as I’ve had several weeks of forced inactivity due to swelling in my knee.  Here’s an excerpt:

Sin is pleasant--but unprofitable. 
Affliction is unpleasant--but profitable. By affliction, the Lord separates the sin that He hates--from the soul that He loves. He sends affliction--to take the dirt of the world out of the hearts of His children! "Before I was afflicted I went astray--but now I keep Your word!" Psalm 119:67

There have been many profitable lessons in these several weeks, and great blessings as family, church family, and friends have served us in so many ways.  Humbling, but tremendously heartening.

True Hope

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,

"therefore I will hope in Him."

~ Lamentations 3:22-24

Chilling

I don't often post political stuff, although my family constantly discusses issues, but this blog by Dr. Veith of PHC is a must-read.  There is so much at stake here. 

Consider the Lilies...

Here's a quote I find timely, having spent my Autumn Break this week cleaning out drawers, closets, and hidden spaces in bedrooms, sorting and discarding clothes (mine and the kids):

A man of eighty has outlived probably three new schools of painting, two of architecture and poetry and a hundred in dress. ~ George Gordon, Lord Byron

A Prayer as I Grow Older

There was a time when I would have prayed this for others…now, I'm beginning to see that I need to pray it for myself. I just want to be like my Grandma Morrison when I grow up (okay…old)…the Lord granted her what this dear saint prayed:

Lord, thou knowest better than I know myself that I am growing older and will someday be old.

Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.

Release me from craving to straighten out everybody's affairs.

Make me thoughtful but not moody; helpful but not bossy.

With my vast store of wisdom it seems a pity not to use it all, but thou knowest Lord that I want a few friends at the end.

Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point.

Seal my lips on my aches and pains. They are increasing and the love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by.

I dare not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tales of others' pains, but help me to endure them with patience.

I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessening cocksureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others.

Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.

Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to be a saint - some of them are so hard to live with - but a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil.

Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people.

And, give me, O Lord, the grace to tell people about it.

For all our sakes,

Amen.

~ A Mother Superior's Prayer

Green Dolphin Street

I just posted on my friend Sarah's new blog that I had reviewed Elizabeth Goudge's Green Dolphin Street here, and then realized that I actually hadn't, only thought I had (not very uncommon for me these days). Anyway, in my current Elizabeth Goudge binge, I read this book for the first time. I think I started it years ago, but it didn't grab me, and I put it aside. Now I can't imagine why or how it didn't. I truly loved this book and would recommend it without hesitation. Like most of Goudge's books about marriage and family life that I have read, it is about real the demands of true, gritty, Christ-like love in unexpected ways and places, and in a self-sacrificing way that is definitely not hip or cool today, even among most Christians. Do yourself a favor and read this book.

Here are just a few of my favorite quotes:

"…what the world sees of any human creature is not the real life; that life is lived in secret, a reality that moves behind the façade of appearance, like wind behind a painted curtain; only an occasional ripple of the surface, a smile, a sudden light or shadow passing on a face, surprising by its unexpectedness, gives news of something quite other than what it is."

"There's much that goes into the makin' of a man or woman into somethin' better than a brute beast, but there's three things in chief, an' they're the places where life sets us down, and the folks life knocks us up against, an' – not the things ye get, but the things ye don't get."

And a most insightful quote on the ongoing battle with habitual and indwelling sin:

"By this time next week, such was her selfishness and pride, she might find herself once more a changeling, strayed again from home, with the door to unlock all over again. Yet once you had been home, surely, it was easier to get home again, and each fresh fight to get back to the water brook would bring one nearer its source, and that final coming home would be the satisfaction of every longing and the healing of every pain."

Who Shall Deliver Me?

God strengthen me to bear myself;
That heaviest weight of all to bear,
Inalienable weight of care.

All others are outside myself;
I lock my door and bar them out
The turmoil, tedium, gad-about.

I lock my door upon myself,
And bar them out; but who shall wall
Self from myself, most loathed of all?

If I could once lay down myself,
And start self-purged upon the race
That all must run ! Death runs apace.

If I could set aside myself,
And start with lightened heart upon
The road by all men overgone!

God harden me against myself,
This coward with pathetic voice
Who craves for ease and rest and joys

Myself, arch-traitor to myself ;
My hollowest friend, my deadliest foe,
My clog whatever road I go.

Yet One there is can curb myself,
Can roll the strangling load from me
Break off the yoke and set me free

~Christina Rossetti

A Book of Comfort, by Elizabeth Goudge

My friend Linda Dean introduced me to the novels and writings of Elizabeth Goudge years ago. Yesterday I pulled this anthology of poetry and prose from my shelf to peruse again.  I love this quote this from her preface, describing the comfort which books give us…

"…What are the sources of comfort to which we turn in what Saint Augustine…calls "our mortal weariness"?  The answer is that our existence is as light with comfort as it is weighted with weariness.  The sources of our comfort are legion, and cannot be counted, but if we attempted the impossible and tried to make a list most of us would place books very high indeed, perhaps second only to faith, for reading is not only a pleasure in itself, with its concomitants of stillness, quietness and forgetfulness of self, but in what we read many of our other comforts are present with us like reflections seen in a mirror.  If the light of our faith flickers we can make it steady again by reading of the faith of the saints, and hearing poetry sing to us the songs of the lovers of God.  In the absence of children we can read about them, and in the cold and darkness of midwinter, look in the mirror of our book and see flowers and butterflies, and spring passing into the glow and warmth of summer…"

I also like her "categories" of comforting things (from the table of contents):

We Are Comforted When We Consider the Glory and Wisdom of Creation… The Comfort We Have in Delighting in Each Other… The Comfort of Faith… The Comfort We Have in Living in the World of Imagination

Elizabeth Goudge (1900-1984) was the daughter of a clergyman of the Church of England. You can read more about her here, and see the extensive bibliography of her works.  A couple of my favorites are The Dean's Watch;  a trilogy about the fictional Eliot family: The Bird in the Tree, The Herb of Grace (also published under the title The Pilgrim's Inn), and The Heart of the Family; and her children's fairy tale, Linnets and Valerians, which I read for the first time last week, and which I thoroughly enjoyed!

Spurgeon: “Looking unto Jesus.”

…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

It is ever the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus; but Satan’s work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, “Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you have not the joy of his children; you have such a wavering hold of Jesus.” All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: he tells us that we are nothing, but that “Christ is all in all.” Remember, therefore, it is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee—it is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee—it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument—it is Christ’s blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith. We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by “looking unto Jesus.” Keep thine eye simply on him; let his death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to him; when thou liest down at night look to him. Oh! let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after him, and he will never fail thee.

"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness:
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name."

(Morning and Evening, June 28)

Prince Caspian?

I don’t pretend to be a movie critic. I’m not even a big movie fan. I’d rather read a book. But there are some exceptions, like To Kill a Mockingbird. Gregory Peck was the perfect Atticus, and there was little not to like in the movie.

Having read Prince Caspian (and all of Narnia) numerous times (say 15?) since I was twelve years old, the bar for me is admittedly pretty high. Overall, I liked The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and thought Adamson did a reasonably good job with it. So I was cautiously optimistic about Prince Caspian. I really wanted to like it. I did. Honest.

There were a few things that I really liked:

The river god was cool, very cool.

The trees “waded” through the earth admirably.

The scenery was awesome.

The last line was accurate: “I’ve left my new torch in Narnia!”

(Deep breath here) Now, with apologies to my friends who liked the movie, here a few of my many (to put it mildly) disappointments:

The very cool river god was never explained at all. If you hadn’t read the book, what in the world were you to make of that whole thing?

Reepicheep as a thinly veiled Puss-in-Boots from Shrek…Reep deserved better.

Aslan as a totally absent and detached diety (can’t even say Christ-figure), who has to be fetched by Lucy -- as opposed to followed by Lucy, as Lewis wrote it.

Peter as a sullen, angst-ridden, obnoxious teenager.

Caspian as a sullen, angst-ridden, obnoxious teenager.

Susan as a pouty heroine with a come-hither look, who would NEVER have actually been allowed to fight in a battle by Lewis, only to lead the archers, away from the fray. Lewis didn’t subscribe to the idea of women in battle. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Father Christmas says as much, “…battles are ugly when women fight.” That line, of course, was axed in the first movie.

Trumpkin never did bow and truly submit himself to the Lion, he just gave Aslan a surly and half-hearted look. Trumpkin…one of the most noble characters in the book…where was he? In the book, Trumpkin was Chesterton’s “jolly atheist”…you couldn’t help but love him. Volunteering for a mission which he believed to be in vain, Trumpkin stoutly answered Caspian’s inquiry as to why he was willing to go and look for the expected help from the high past when he didn’t even believe the old stories: “No more I do, Your Majesty. But what’s that got to do with it? I might as well die on a wild goose chase as die here. You are my King. I know the difference between giving advice and taking orders. You’ve had my advice, and now it’s time for orders.” A noble fellow…nothing like the snide and surly character I saw on the screen yesterday. Trumpkin without “Cobbles and kettledrums!” , “Thimbles and thunderstorms!”, “Wraiths and wreckage!”, “Crows and crockery!”??? Only heard one “bedknobs and broomsticks!” or some such…the kids said he did say that same line one more time but I must have missed it.

Worse still, where was the real Caspian, the boy king in whom the old nurse and Dr. Cornelius instilled a love of the truth and the “old things” by telling him the stories of old Narnia, giving Caspian a sense of mission, and giving him the authenticity to make the old Narnians trust him and recognize him as Aslan’s chosen deliverer and rightful ruler? In the movie, I couldn’t help but wonder why in the world the old Narnians would trust such a jerk.

I was fairly certain one of my favorite lines from the book would be left out, but nonetheless, was disappointed to find it gone. Aslan to Prince Caspian, after Caspian voices his shame on learning that he is descended from a race of pirates: "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

My overall impression is that this movie succeeded admirably in being just what Lewis repeatedly criticized in his essays on literature -- a postmodern retooling of the author’s story, thinly veiled chronological snobbery: ”We know oh so much better than Lewis could how to “reach” teens and tweens…our new ways are so much better than your old fashioned ways.”

My teens’ and young adults’ descriptions of this movie mostly involved the word “lame”.

And all of us, quite crestfallen.