Liberal learning, at its core, is about personal growth and the pursuit of truth. It requires introspection and a willingness to challenge our own preconceived notions. This guide offers practical advice for students seeking to embark on this transformative journey, focusing on two key pillars: self-discipline and the creation of a personal library. These steps, when combined, unlock the freedom to escape academic monotony and discover the wonders of reality.
Self-Discipline: Mastering Your Inner World
Self-discipline, while often perceived as an unpleasant endeavor, is essential for academic and personal success. Understanding our inherent flaws and tendencies towards distractions is the first step. We all possess desires, habits, or choices that can hinder our ability to focus on what truly matters.
Josef Pieper, referencing Thomas Aquinas, highlights acedia, or sloth, not simply as laziness, but as a lethargy that prevents us from confronting important aspects of our lives. This lethargy stops us from taking positive steps toward knowledge and action. Many teachers recognize that a student’s inability to learn stems from a lack of self-discipline, an unwillingness to manage their time, prioritize tasks, and execute them effectively.
Discipline, especially self-discipline, involves a systematic process of acquiring knowledge, virtue, or skill. It implies instruction, specifically organized instruction. When applied to the self, it signifies that we are both the subject and object of our own rule, responsible for instructing ourselves. Ultimately, no one can impose order upon our lives but ourselves.
We have the power to organize our lives according to principles and purposes, or to allow them to fall into disarray, deviating from what we know is right. Self-governance is challenging, and some argue that we require external guidance, grace, and instruction to truly understand and control ourselves.
Aristotle’s Ethics explores this concept of ordering our lives around a central principle. We must reflect on our actions and thoughts to identify our driving force, our ultimate purpose. We may deceive ourselves, believing we act for noble reasons when, in reality, we are motivated by money, pleasure, or ego. Honest self-reflection, as emphasized by the Delphic admonition “know thyself,” is crucial for understanding our intrinsic motivations and our inherent human nature.
The ancient Greek inscription “Know Thyself” at Delphi highlights the importance of self-reflection in liberal learning.
The university experience often brings newfound freedom, but many students lack the self-knowledge and self-control to navigate it effectively. Bad habits, such as excessive television consumption or aimless socializing, can hinder their progress. By the time they reach college, some students may have already failed to cultivate self-discipline. They may not yet have developed the habits and motivations to consider life’s big questions, a lifelong endeavor. College offers a chance to correct these mistakes or, conversely, to exacerbate them.
Self-discipline, ruling over our passions, fears, dreams, and thoughts, can become dangerous if seen as an end in itself. Stoicism, which emphasizes self-control as the ultimate goal, can lead to pride and a detachment from the world. Self-discipline should be a tool for seeing and loving what is external to ourselves. Recognizing our limitations and the need to control our impulses is the first step toward achieving anything meaningful. We must identify the obstacles that hinder our progress, whether they be other students, teachers, or external distractions like alcohol, drugs, television, parties, work, laziness, or unchecked desires.
The goal of self-discipline is not self-centered. The classical writers linked self-discipline to liberty. The freest person is the one who has the most control over themselves, while the unfree are ruled by pleasures, money, or power. Self-discipline does not define knowledge, truth, or goodness but is a means to pursue these values.
Building a Personal Library: Curating Your Intellectual Landscape
Creating a personal library is the second crucial step in the pursuit of objective truth. While the internet provides access to vast amounts of information, the most profound ideas often originate in print, particularly in books. Mastering the art of reading, as articulated in Mortimer Adler’s “How to Read a Book,” remains a fundamental skill.
It’s not necessary to read everything. Significant intellectual progress can be made by focusing on a select few, even lesser-known books. Re-reading is essential. As C.S. Lewis famously observed, we have not truly read a great book if we have only read it once.
C.S. Lewis seated in his study surrounded by books, reflecting the importance of a personal library in liberal learning.
A personal library consists of books we have repeatedly read and absorbed. These books become part of our memory, readily accessible when facing new challenges or controversies. We often recall having encountered specific arguments in our reading.
This personal library can include books we have yet to read or will read only in the future. A genuine book lover will never finish reading every book they own. This reflects a thirst for knowledge and anticipation of future discoveries. It refers not to technical books that quickly become outdated, but to books that explain fundamental truths about our existence.
A worthwhile book will invariably lead us to new authors, topics, and ideas. Problems that once seemed insurmountable can suddenly become clear through insightful reading later in life. A personal library is a dynamic and evolving resource for lifelong learning and intellectual growth.
