Aesthetic Education

A little Schiller for you to digest, from the Ninth Letter on the Aesthetic Education of Man. This is one of my favorite pieces ever...

If, then, a young friend of the true and of the beautiful were to ask me how, notwithstanding the resistance of the times, he can satisfy the noble longing of his heart, I should reply: Direct the world on which you act towards that which is good, and the measured and peaceful course of time will bring about the results. You have given it this direction if by your teaching you raise its thoughts towards the necessary and the eternal; if, by your acts or your creations, you make the necessary and the eternal the object of your leanings. The structure of error and of all that is arbitrary must fall, and it has already fallen, as soon as you are sure that it is tottering. But it is important that it should not only totter in the external but also in the internal man. Cherish triumphant truth in the modest sanctuary of your heart; give it an incarnate form through beauty, that it may not only be the understanding that does homage to it, but that feeling may lovingly grasp its appearance. And that you may not by any chance take from external reality the model which you yourself ought to furnish, do not venture into its dangerous society before you are assured in your own heart that you have a good escort furnished by ideal nature. Live with your age, but be not its creation; labour for your contemporaries, but do for them what they need, and not what they praise. Without having shared their faults, share their punishment with a noble resignation, and bend under the yoke which they find is as painful to dispense with as to bear. By the constancy with which you will despise their good fortune, you will prove to them that it is not through cowardice that you submit to their sufferings. See them in thought such as they ought to be when you must act upon them; but see them as they are when you are tempted to act for them. Seek to owe their suffrage to their dignity; but to make them happy keep an account of their unworthiness; thus, on the one hand, the nobleness of your heart will kindle theirs, and, on the other, your end will not be reduced to nothingness by their unworthiness. The gravity of your principles will keep them off from you, but in play they will still endure them. Their taste is purer than their heart, and it is by their taste you must lay hold of this suspicious fugitive. In vain will you combat their maxims, in vain will you condemn their actions; but you can try your moulding hand on their leisure. Drive away caprice, frivolity, and coarseness, from their pleasures, and you will banish them imperceptibly from their acts, and length from their feelings. Everywhere that you meet them, surround them with great, noble, and ingenious forms; multiply around them the symbols of perfection, till appearance triumphs over reality, and art over nature.

In essence, Schiller says to be excellent. In being excellent, you will show others to be excellent. To paraphrase another part of the Letters, be lenient towards others, and hard on yourself. Understand that they may not be where you are.

Do not treat others as you want to be treated - treat them as how they wish to be treated. And when looking at them to find out how that is, look at them how they are not how you think they are.

This brings me great difficulty, for I am well aware of the propensity towards viewing the others as an outward reflection of the self. It seems to me we will need some very good psychoanalysts to lead us in the right direction.

Either that or we will need an incredible amount of radical honesty with oneself. It is very difficult to be honest with one's self. This maybe the reason I prefer a psychologist - because it is very difficult to descipher yourself.

I admit to having problems being extraordinarily tough on myself. But I think I have the leniency with others part down... maybe not though - like I said before, its very difficult to be honest with one's self.

Moreso than anyone else sometimes.