Truth, Beauty and Goodness

[Kelly1730]

How's that for a deep topic on a Monday? ;) Heard Christopher Perrin speak at CHAP on Friday (had no idea he was involved with a local Christian school for years) and he mentioned this briefly, not nearly enough time to go into it more extensively. So, I thought I'd bring it to the HIve. If you classically educate, and even if you don't, what does this mean in your home and homeschool specifically? How do we cultivate these areas in our home. This thought really spoke to me and now I want to figure out how practically and intentionally make our home and lessons exemplify truth, beauty and goodness. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on it and if there are previous conversations concerning this I'd love a link or two! Thanks!

[JNW]

Very deep! I like it. What first comes to mind is the idea of character. I think that encompasses all three- truth, beauty, and goodness. I like the ATI Operational Definitions of 49 Character Qualities chart.

[Seeker of Schole]

I've been doing a lot of reading and pondering on this very topic since hearing Perrin, Cothran, Kern and Pudewea at convention as well. One thing to know is that they come at this from a Christian perspective in which truth = knowing God / the Bible.

 

For me this means a few things:

1. To teach dds to discern truth, they need to be grounded in the Truth. Also, that truth is a part of every subject - it exists in history, science and math, not just the 20 minutes spent on a Bible lesson.

2. Beauty is everywhere, including science and math. It may take time and a higher level to find it in math, but it is there (this is a radical concept for me, as math is SO not my thing). For me this translates into a few things: for my youngest dump the science curriculum and just truly spend time exploring and observing the beauty in the world (this means attentive perception, not just a passing glance), also incorporate music as that is the easiest place to find beauty in math.

3. Incorporate more beauty in the form of art, music and poetry. Those can easily be neglected, but she needs a solid base in these for the future.

4. Good literature feeds the moral imagination, so spend time on it. Also, use good literature, not current lit or historical fiction - fairy tales, tall tales, legends, myths, and of course the Bible. My reading list has changed dramatically. I'm not going to read any historical fiction to her until she is at least fourth grade level, so that there is no confusion about what is real literature or real history.

 

Hopefully that is coherent, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about this and reading various blogs and literature.

[forty-two]

Since no one has posted it yet, here's a link to a *giant* thread discussing Circe Institute's approach to classical ed, which is very much centered around the idea of focusing on the true, the good, and the beautiful: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/359457-how-does-one-provide-a-classical-education-circe-institute-lovers/page__hl__circe#entry3722228

[Kfamily]

Here is a fairly recent thread which may have some ideas:

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/470397-finding-beauty/page__hl__+beauty?do=findComment&comment=4927168

[Kelly1730]

Thanks for the links, I kind of thought this may have been discussed before;)

[Kelly1730]

"Order" was the word that popped into my mind when I thought of what was needed to implement truth, beauty and goodness. When coming from a Christian perspective, our God is a God of order. I can't have truth, beauty and goodness in a home full of chaos. Whether in my physical surroundings or in my thoughts/emotions. Just thinking out loud:)

[forty-two]

"Order" was the word that popped into my mind when I thought of what was needed to implement truth, beauty and goodness. When coming from a Christian perspective, our God is a God of order. I can't have truth, beauty and goodness in a home full of chaos. Whether in my physical surroundings or in my thoughts/emotions. Just thinking out loud:)

 

Interesting :). I do think that looking for order, in all the myriad ways it exists in the world, can be a helpful handmaiden in the search for truth, beauty, and goodness. And also - or maybe more accurately - it is a helpful handmaiden in *studying* that which good, true, and beautiful - that one of the things that makes those things worthy of study is how they are arranged, their internal order, and so looking for and studying their order is part of understanding and appreciating them. And certainly, part of living a life that is striving to find and embody truth, beauty, and goodness is striving to live *intentionally*, which is rather the opposite of living a chaotic, purposeless life.

 

But while I agree that order (of some sort - there are many good ways to order one's life as a Christian, including ways with very little outer structure) *contributes* to truth, beauty, and goodness, I don't know that I'd agree that order is foundational or anything. I definitely don't agree that we need to achieve a certain level of order *before* we can profitably find or learn from the true, the beautiful, and the good. That's too much like saying we must somehow achieve a certain level of goodness on our own *before* we can learn from the great works of God and of other men :doh.

 

(And looking at it theologically, it is a cousin to the notion that we Christians must first prove ourselves worthy of God working in us *before* He acts - that *we* must somehow find the wherewithal in ourselves to seek out *God* before He will then help us the rest of the way. But where do we find that wherewithal to look to God, if not from God Himself? And to continue in a theological vein, I see love, rather, as *the* foundation - God may be a God of order, but He *is* love - God's love is central to everything in the Bible, and everything, including order and a search for the true, good, and beautiful, must be approached in love or it is nothing more than a clanging gong. Lacking order in our lives hurts us, but we can still do much good in spite of it. Lacking love, otoh, ruins everything, no matter how good it otherwise was.

 

(I say this because I've seen one too many Christian speakers and authors elevate order over love, in practice if not in theory, and it has left a very bad taste in my mouth. I have to work to not throw out the baby with the bathwater when I see the phrase "God is a God of order" because I've seen too many people interpret order in a very narrow way (order = a lot of outward structure, sometimes a highly specific structure) and then proceed to stuff those around them into their structure regardless of how it hurts them, all in the name of being a "good Christian". (Also, elevating lack of outer structure as The One True Order (like the more zealous unschoolers) and stuffing everyone into *that* box is equally bad). Not at all saying that you are doing that :grouphug: - but it is something to watch out for. Like ambition, order is a good servant but a *bad* master.))

 

Back to the idea of having to have sufficient truth, goodness, and beauty in our lives *before* we can properly search for truth, goodness, and beauty:

It reminds me of C.S. Lewis in his introduction to Athanasius' On the Incarnation (read the entire intro - http://silouanthomps...n/introduction/ - it is *awesome*). He talks about the tendency of those who see themselves as unlearned to feel like they must read all *about* the great books before they could possibly be ready to approach the great works themselves. But in Lewis' view this, while understandable, is entirely backwards. The great works are great in part because they make hard things clear. In many cases, it is easier - and certainly more profitable - to understand Plato himself, in his own words, than to understand someone else's interpretation of Plato.

 

And so it is studying the good, the true, and the beautiful that allows us to cultivate those qualities in ourselves, not the other way around (that we cannot profit from studying worthy things and people *until* we are sufficiently worthy ourselves). There are plenty of worthy things that are accessible even to an infant. Quoting Lewis again ;), the mark of a good children's book is that it is at least as worth reading at age 50 as at age 10. We hopefully will see more at 50 than we did at 10, but that doesn't mean it was useless to have first seen it at 10.

 

So a life of beautiful, good order is a *result* of studying the good, the true, and the beautiful - not a prerequisite. (Just like a good Christian life is a *fruit* of faith, not the cause; a *result* of God working in us, not the *prerequisite* for God working in us.) We can start wherever we are right now, and benefit. In fact, if we believe the best formation comes through studying the most worthy things, the further from the ideal we feel we are, the *more* we need to just get started - those who are lacking need the best even *more* than those who have already benefited much - and will profit all the more from it :).

[imagine.more]

"Order" was the word that popped into my mind when I thought of what was needed to implement truth, beauty and goodness. When coming from a Christian perspective, our God is a God of order. I can't have truth, beauty and goodness in a home full of chaos. Whether in my physical surroundings or in my thoughts/emotions. Just thinking out loud:)

 

 

Absolutely, I think Order is a key part of this. I read a great blog post over on Like Mother Like Daughter and she had some great things to say about the home needing to have both Order and Wonder. I love that balance! God is a God of order for sure, but certainly a God of wonder as well. In the best case scenario those two things would work together to help us encounter what is Good, True, and Beautiful every day.

 

And to whoever linked to it, the giant Circe Thread was what popped into my mind when I read this post too, lol!