LIGHT AND WARMTH

To continue with my thoughts on balancing heart and mind, if you live where it gets very cold in the winter, you know that you can step outside on a January morning and see the sun shining just as brightly in the middle of winter as it does in the middle of July.  Yet, without its warmth, nothing grows.

John Dewey who is recognized as the father of modern educational philosophy added his name to a document known as the Humanist Manifesto back in the 1930's.  What I draw from this effort is that a group of 'smart' people  decided if we can learn to be guided by our intellects, we can stop the cycle of repeating humanity's dumb mistakes.  From an intellectual standpoint, who would ever think war is smart?  This line of reasoning has carried into today's current focus on critical thinking skills and scientific facts in our schools.  What I see  happening is while the school's attention is placed on the mind (light), they're ignoring the heart (warmth).  And our schools are failing.

Just like plants in winter, human beings don't grow on light alone.  We need warmth. 

The danger of light without warmth is pointed out in the following thoughts of Oliver deMille, former president of George Wythe University:

"As Allan Bloom pointed out in his classic bestseller, The Closing of the American Mind, the last society to be highly trained [light] and as poorly educated [warmth] as the current U.S. was Germany in the 1930's.  A significant number of German engineers were highly enough trained to build cutting-edge weaponry, submarines, missiles, airplanes and so on, but not well-read enough in history to vote against Hitler or refuse to do his bidding.

"Same with German scientists, who understood chemicals and genetics enough to experiment on their neighbors when they were thrown immorally into prison camps, but not learned enough in ethics, morals, history, psychology or basic politics to not elect Hitler or refuse to torture their countrymen.

"Critics could say that by the time submarines were being launched and people were being tortured, it was too late to do anything.  But only the combination of top technical training [light] and poor Leadership Education [lack of warmth] could have allowed this all to happen.  A less highly-trained people could not have done it, and a truly educated people would not have done it. "

Put one more way, knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.  Wisdom is knowing you don't put it in a fruit salad.

Light and warmth; mind and heart; knowledge and wisdom; reason and faith. 

The equation must be balanced if we want to start growing again.