Quid schola est? Pars II

FETTI, Domenico. Portrait of a Scholar.
1620. Oil on canvas. Gemäldegalerie, Dresden.

Consider Fetti's depiction of the learned man. Here we see the scholar, stroking the beard in thought, symbolically with his hand on the world, which further suggests that he attempts to know the world God has made, the universe whose mysteries are even now ever increasing in spite of our science. You will remember that yesterday we talked about education and how it is supposed "to lead" you "out of" the cave of ignorance and beyond that cold love of self. You will also remember that in the ancient world, to possess an education was the sign of a free man, while to only be trained for a job was the sign of a slave. Christ once said, "Veritas vos liberabit," and he did not merely mean the freedom of guilt and sin. Jesus was stating a universal principle: truth sets you free. Therefore, it is meet and right to begin the year in consecration to the Lord.
This week we are talking about expectations for this course. Soon we shall begin Confessions by St. Augustine. 

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Discuss Summer Reading
1. What is reading and why is it. 
3. Finish review and discuss Syllabus.
4. Review from last year:
1. Reading Journal: The Medieval World
1. What did you read/study in class last year?
2. What do know / have you studied in class about the "Classical" world?
3. What do know / have you studied in class about the Medieval world? 
4. What did you enjoy in class from last year?   
5. Reading Exercise: begin Confessions by St. Augustine. 
6. HW Review:
1. Sign Syllabus and turn in by Friday. 
2. Humanities 9 Binder (if you haven't already read it). 
3. Finish Summer Reading (if you haven't already) and be ready to present on it for Monday (8/12).

Quid schola est?

CARAVAGGIO. Narcissus. 1598-99.
Oil on canvas. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome.

Here we have Narcissus who, as Ovid tells us, after hunting, "stooped to quench his thirst another thirst increased. While he is drinking he beholds himself reflected in the mirrored pool—and loves; loves an imagined body which contains no substance, for he deems the mirrored shade a thing of life to love. He cannot move, for so he marvels at himself, and lies with countenance unchanged, as if indeed a statue carved of Parian marble." Trying to relate to the image, he died there. Tiresias, the prophet, explains for us the moral lesson: "If he but fail to recognize himself, a long life he may have, beneath the sun." Thus, it is that the purpose of education must also draw you out of your own narcissism, which daily surrounds you and presses in on you from every side. Facebook, Tumbler, video games, personal blogs, Instagram, Google+, and all other forms of entertainment often draw us away from THE OTHER. Schola should therefore should promote eros, the love of other good, true, and beautiful things. God has created a giant universe full of new and beautiful things, and He has created us to be full of wonder. He has not created us to wither our lives away as Narcissus did, enamored with oneself yet starving physically and intellectually.  

Agenda:

1. Welcome back, discipuli. Pray.
2. Meet, greet, and seat: 
1. Who are you?
2. Why do you exist?
3. What was the craziest or coolest thing you did this summer? 
3. Lecture: Quid schola est? 
4. Review and discuss Humanities VIII Syllabus:
1. Course Description: philosophy and literature in the American Authors
2. Course Outline: Puritans to the Moderns
3. Grading: unjust weights are an abomination to the Lord.
4. Class Policies: follow the handbook, and it will go well with you in the land.
5. Review HW: 
1. Sign Syllabus and turn in by Friday. 
2. HVM VIII Binder