Year 9-13.
“What is the aim of education?” or “Why do I write my column?”
A Harvard University report says that “The aim of a liberal education is to unsettle presumptions, to de-familiarize the familiar, to reveal what is going on beneath and behind appearances, to disorient young people and to help them to find ways to reorient themselves.”
Harvard’s approach reminded me of a book I have by Dr Herman Fiolet, a Dutch Roman Catholic theologian, who wrote, in a passage dealing with prophecy, and I translate:
“A prophet is a believer who is open to what’s happening in this world and accepts complete responsibility for the immense challenges our fast-changing society faces.
“A prophet is a believer who deliberately re-examines decisions made in the past, including confessional statements, and test them on their relevance and viability for today.
“A prophet is a believer who, rooted in the present, takes steps to keep nature intact for our children while also engaged in working for a church and society in which future generations can thrive.
“A prophet is a believer who through reading the Scriptures recognizes what God, in the long history of the human race, has done to keep our world through Christ in the grip of salvation. That’s the reason why he or she, in spite of all evil and sin in this world, is able to look to the future in full confidence.
”A prophet is a believer who, even now, can sense what the future will bring and dares to criticize past inactions that prolong the status quo, and strives to influence the present to embrace renewal.”
The Harvard report wants us to unsettle presumptions, one of which is stimulating growth at all costs, even though this leads to resource depletion and climate change. The same holds true for global ‘stimulus’ packages, which merely transfer immense financial burdens to the future, and, paradoxically, want to cure overspending with more spending. When Jesus was faced with something similar, accused of casting out devils in the name of the Devil, his reply was that “a house divided against itself will fall.”
Another glaring presumption is that we will always have access to energy. By de-familiarizing the familiar, it is revealed that beneath and behind our need for light, heat, fuel and comfort, Alberta sees seas of sludge and clouds of contamination and so speeds up world-wide warming. Moreover based on Energy obtained by Energy Invested – EOEI- 80 calories of clean natural gas are burned to obtain 100 calories of dirty motor fuel, not counting the pollution it causes in the process, which more than annuls any gains.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), the father of the scientific method wrote that Nature was to be “placed on the rack”, “enslaved,” “bound into service,” and “forced out of her natural state and molded.” Rene Descartes (1596-1650), the fellow famous for “I think therefore I am,” saw the human race as “masters and possessors of nature.” Our own tar sands are a clear case of such cosmic cruelty.
Current government and industry actions are founded on these ancient heresies. Here’s what the celebrated John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) – he is everybody’s favourite now- once wrote: “Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.” Indeed, the voices of Bacon and Descartes are still echoing in the minds of politicians and industrialists alike, even though the Bacon-Descartes doctrine has led to the present plight of the planet.
Just as our planet is a living entity, now suffering from a multiple range of diseases, so the economy too is a complex, dynamic, non-linear system, which refuses to be manipulated by trillion dollar infusions here or there, and is molded more by the moods and minds of the masses than by men and women in power whose aim is growth at all cost.
Are there still prophets today? Yes, going by both the Harvard and the Fiolet statements, fortunately there are, because:
Those people are prophets who assume responsibility for past and present actions, and take steps to ensure that our children and grandchildren can experience ‘shalom’ , that beautiful Hebrew word that conveys ‘harmony’ and ‘being at peace with the human race and nature alike.’
Those people are prophets who reorient themselves, stand still, look around, perhaps even take a step back to seek wisdom, and make sure that they are on the right road to the future.
Those people are prophets who dare to choose the “Road Less Traveled”, the creation-friendly road, in the sure conviction that this is needed to safeguard our planet’s future.
I hope my column contributes to that.