HS #75 2021.10.14
Long Live Liberal Arts
Introductions first:
I met Andrew while waiting for a stalled train by Hope College. I asked him the dinner question I have asked such Hope seniors for 30 years: How are you a different person now than when you arrived at Hope College?
I have heard many thoughtful answers, but his brought a lump to my throat: “Professor Ortiz taught me how to see beauty. He showed me how to slow down when I read Augustine’s “City of God” and appreciate the beauty.”
I can’t think of a better testimony to the liberal arts – disciplines meant to liberate the mind.
Meet Yamir - my 18-year-old Hispanic housemate who responded to my Craigslist room-for-rent ad. Yamir recently graduated from high school in Tulsa OK and is seeking a way to get a college degree in psychology. He brought two suitcases with him – the larger one filled with favorite novels. He recently received an Amazon package: “The Best Poems of the English Language” and a favorite epic DVD: “Ben Hur.” We take turns showing our favorites. Last evening, he had the privilege of watching “Casablanca” for the first time. Unlike most of his generation, he watches movies without his phone on his lap. In our subsequent discussion, he stumped me, “If Lazlo had to choose between his wife and his cause, which would he choose? (If you haven’t yet seen “Casablanca” put it on your bucket list.)
Yamir loves the liberal arts.
Let me introduce you to “Floor Fienz Family.” If you frequent Holland’s Thursday 8th Street Entertainers, you have likely seen them. They are the break-dancers who draw the overflowing crowds and represent Holland as they travel the country. Break dancing is the improv “jazz” version of dance. Mastering their art requires athleticism, appreciation of music and dance, understanding of the body, engagement with the audience, and tenacious practice. Hope College should sponsor a joint Hope - Floor Fienz dance concert. Spanning cultures, it would be the very best of the liberal arts.
I don’t know his name, but this past weekend I got into a conversation with a 26-year-old skateboarder at Smallenburg Park who was jumping OVER picnic tables on his board. Except for a couple missing teeth, he was unscathed from his years of practice. No money. No medals. No audience. Just the thrill of perfecting his leaping much as Jonathan Livingston Seagull perfected his flying. He may not know the term, but he is a pure liberal artist – as pure as they come.
As are those who paint the colorful murals on railroad cars. As was the 10-year-old African American boy who coming out of a Hope College violin recital exclaimed, “That made my throat dance!” As are my computer game-design students at Davenport University who – know it or not – are engaged in perhaps the newest form of artistry.
Of course, there is also value in studying the liberal arts. When I give math talks in high schools, I explain that one can get a great education and learn about life by traveling, or getting a job, or joining the military, or, for that matter, living on the street. But one can only learn the greatest things ever discovered by the human mind via study of the liberal arts.
But learning ABOUT the liberal arts is not as valuable as actually DOING them. Emerson admonished young men to be out in the world creating their own adventures rather than sitting in a library reading the adventures of others. C.S. Lewis explained that while a map is needed in finding a mountain lake, it is not as valuable as sitting by the lake.
However, there is no need to choose betwixt them. A life is enriched both by studying the liberal arts and by being engaged in them. This is what led President John Adams to reflect, “I am a revolutionary so my son can be a farmer, so his son can be a poet.” Or the counsel of my college physics professor, “If you only know what you have to know, you are just one step from being ignorant.”
More broadly, a life is enriched by engaging in what Bertrand Russell sarcastically termed “useless knowledge.” In his essay, “In Praise of Idleness” Russell argued that during WWII, England devoted half of its energy to the war and still produced enough for all to live. So he suggested a 20 hour work week for all with the balance devoted to living rich lives. Something to ponder.
