Liberal Education: U of R vs. Gandhi

When Gandhi spoke of a liberal education, he made me think of the university of Richmond. Defining liberal education, Gandhi writes, "That man I think has had a liberal education who has been so trained in youth that his body is the ready servant of his will and does with ease and pleasure all the work that as a mechanism it is capable of...who has learnt to hate all vileness and to respect others as himself. Such a one and no other, I concieve, has had a liberal education, for he is in harmony with nature. He will make the best of her and she of him" (54). Gandhi's definition of a liberal education highlights the full functionality of the body and the mind, as well as the possesion of morality. At college, specifically U of R, a liberal arts education is defined along the same lines. This type of education creates well rounded individuals who can thrive in many diverse scenarios. Like the coordination of the mind and the body, students with liberal arts education can interpret mathmatcial equations and well as philosophical texts. Both definition of liberal arts educations stress the concept of balance. Balance is what separates one from the pack. A person with balance can do it all and often possesses more value than a one-sided person.

Gandhi is correct about Cities vs. Towns

Gandi and I share similar views about the differences between cities and towns. On p. 35 Gandhi writes, "they further reasoneed that Cities were a snare a useless encumbrance and that and that people would not be happy in them, that there would be gangs of thieves and robbers, prostitution and vice flourishing in them and that poor men would be robbed by rich men. They were, therefore, satisfied with small villages. Coming from a small town, I can attest that there are only as many temptations as ones wants. At my house, the doors have been unlocked for seven years now. There are no prostitutes or vice, as most of the residents are retired and have passed through their stages of young ambition and folly. People in Urbanna live a simple, but complete life. The local church serves as a community builder, and most know all of the town residents at least by face. Coming from Urbanna to Richmond, I have seen the vice that Gandhi speaks of. Driving through the fan last saturday night at midnight was a enlightening experience. Gangs existed, whether they were drugdealers or robbers, it is unknown. Gandhi's statements of the past still ring true today.

Sheparding according to Nietzsche

After Nietzsche discusses the idea of who should be in charge of the sick, he comes to the conclusion that the "ascetic priest is the predestined savior, shepard, and advocate of the sick herd...his historical mission is dominion of the suffering in his kingdom...he must be sick himself...but he must also be strong, master of himself even more than of others...he has to defend his herd againsst the healty" (125-126). Nietzsche decides that the sick, actually the less-sick, but not the healthy, should be in charge of protecting their own sick kind. My only concern is how the less-sick, who are weaker than the strong, possess the strength to defend themselves against the strong. It seems to me that the shephard cannot actually defend his herd, that the predator is much stronger than its prey. The question now is, why does nietzsche advocate the less-sick as the shepard when it seems that there is no why in reality they can actually survive.

Dealing with "Psychological Pain"

Nietzsche compares digestion to the character of man. On page 129, Nietzsche writes, "A strong and well-constituted man digests his experiences as he digests his meals, even when he has to swallow some tough morsels. If he cannot get over an experience and have done with it, this kind of indigestion is as much physiological as is the other--and often in fact merely a consequence of the other.--With such a conception one can, between ourselves, still be the sternest opponent of all materialism". This is a unique metaphor Nietzsche uses comparing digestion and the overall character of man. The metaphor is commonly used today in cases such as coping with grades, as well as dealing with friends and family. Digestion is not easy, especially in the case of the death of a loved one. When death occurs, ingestion normally results. Traumatic experiences such as death stay with one for an extended period of time. Trying to expedite the situacion of morning can often have more long-lasting results.

Combating Depression

After reading many of Nietzsche's arguments, his argument as to how to combat depression makes the most sense to me. To fight depression, he recommend "petty pleasure" (135). Furthermore, he cites that the most common form of this pleasure is that "of the pleasure of giving pleasure" (135) meaning helping others with their problems. Most interestingly, he says that the happiness of doing good things for others originates from your "slight superiority" (135). In most of my experiences, as horrible as it seems, the feeling of having slight superiority over those I teach or help makes me feel valuable as person. For example, when I was an adolescent, my mother and I delivered food to the houses of low-income persons on Saturday mornings. Besides from the idea that I was providing food to one of God's creatures that needed it, what also unconsciously made me feel good was the fact that I was in the position to be distributing the food.

Mnemotechnics

On the idea of remembering, instead of forgetting, Nietzsche writes, "If something is to stay in the memory it must be burned in: only that which never ceases to hurt stays in the memory" (61). After reading this, I begin to ponder upon my childhood memories. I asked myself what did I remember most? Let's see, besides my family, I recollect falling off my bike and getting stitches on my knee, and falling down on a case of cement steps and busting my forehead wide open. My most vivid memories were most definitely the ones where intense physical pain was involved. My memory is further intensified when I try to recollect solely memories of physical pain. I remember intense hits on special teams during football seasons, and getting hit in the fact while playing in the outfield in a game of baseball. After doing these painful things, making these harmful mistakes, I thought twice before doing these things again. As Nietzsche states,"With the aid of such images and procedures one finally remembers five or six will-nots". (62)

A frequent misconception

Although the lower and higher classes of morality consider "evil" the good
of the other morality, it is interesting to note that the weak, in fact,
want to be strong. Nietzsche writes, "These weak people-some day or other
they too intend to be the strong, there is no doubt of that, some day
their 'kingdom" shall come" (48). Although the upper and lower, good and
evil splits consider those who disagree with them their opponents,
there is evidence that suggest their sources may not be so unique. For
example, Dante "placed above the gateway of his hell the inscription 'I
too was created by eternal love'" (49). This statement, though obviously a lie, says that Dante, someone belongs and is in hell, had heavenly origins. Although Dante, since in hell has hate for heaven, he possesses an incarnate trait that makes him desire to ultimately return to heaven where he originated. He wants to move from evil to good.