Day One

For some time now I have thought about blogging, but this week, in a conversation with my son Stephen, he suggested that I might want to start one because of a comment I made to him about doing some daily writing in long hand called "The Morning Pages." I think he found it curious that anyone would want to bother with long hand considering the convenience of word processing, not to mention the other benefits such as publishing and editing the text. But, a great deal of the purpose of TMP is to break out of writer's block, or at least to keep thoughts flowing, and to not worry about publishing. In fact, TMP purposes to not publish, but keep the writing personal, private and free from worry about criticism from either self or others.

A blog, on the other hand, is usually published for all the world to see, or at least friends and family, and subject to potential criticism from self and others. I could keep it private, but that seems to defeat the purpose and the benefits regardless of the downside.

Once I decided to pursue creating a Blog, the first obstacle was a title. I felt the need for something with meaning and something that would endure, but I am usually lousy at coming up with such ideas. Then, in TMP, I was reflecting on the past and my varied interests and I remembered being labeled as a "Renaissance Man" by one of my colleagues. At the time, I was flattered even though I did not know what a Renassance Man was. Upon being told that a Renaissance Man is "a man of diverse interests," I felt that the label fit and I was happy to belong to a category! Today I hesitate to use it because new learning makes me believe it applies to a person not only of diverse interests, but also of considerable knowledge and skill in diverse subjects. Diverse interests yes, diverse expertise? - not so much.

Then today, in researching more about Renaissance Man I discovered the terms "polymath" and "polyhistor" and their application to the concept of what might more correctly be termed "universal man." I especially enjoyed Aristotle's thought: "For an educated man should be able to form a fair off-hand judgment as to the goodness or badness of the method used by a professor in his exposition. To be educated is in fact to be able to do this; and even the man of universal education we deem to be such in virtue of his having this ability."

Now, even as I write this, it occurs to me that what I am really talking about is being a "man of universal education." Aha! Yes indeed. Hence the title "The Education of Wade Austin."

Now, the purpose of this blog is to both share and continue my education. Writing, speaking, conveying understanding in whatever form or genre serves to deepen understanding, if not discard it when it is foolish. It also serves to seek new input from others - to create dialog. My hope is that this blog will serve as a forum for expressing my own understanding [or lack of understanding] of a broad range of subjects, for seeking and accepting input from others as a means of increasing my understanding of those subjects, and participating in discourse about them.

As time goes by, I hope I will find a few friends that will bear with my struggle to educate myself and share the journey with me. I suspect there will be some that endure for awhile but will tire of my progress or be consumed with other dialogs more important to them. In any case, I look forward to this journey with a tiny bit of trepidation, but a whole lot of optimism, because learning is about truth, and truth genders to freedom, and freedom, while it may experience seasons of fear ultimately leads to being at peace with oneself. What more could one wish for? Ah, a question for another time.