Without Athena?

I miss my copy of the Odyessy (did I ever have one?) - studying Greece without it is simply devoid. Of what, I'm not entirely sure. I think the fascination that used to come from the myths themselves is no longer coloring the study of politics and daily life, and I know certainly that 'summaries' never satisfy me. I feel like I spent hundreds of dollars on a giant summary - actually, thats exactly what I did.

Its entirely understandable. Teaching Western Civilization in just one semester would necessitate that fast moving, "just grasp the highlights of each century and the cultures which shaped the way the world now functions." But I liked how I learned it all in middle school far better.

I'll just have to keep studying on my own in order to look into those details that interest me so greatly once I graduate. Will I be able to do that? I hope so - it will have to be a discipline. I am not good with discipline. I desperately want it to be though, even if I only read one new book a month, and I hope I will do it. I know that learning can never come to a halt, since education isn't "the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire," and I suppose it becomes a matter of priority. Other obligations will arise, especially as life moves onward - I will grow up and out of the title of 'student'. In title only; my mind will always wonder and ask questions and find itself unaware of many things. In practice, I hope to continue questioning and searching for ideas and expanding them. Maybe the people who don't are really the ones who have grown old. Not to call knowledge the fountain of youth, but I do think it is some kind of fountain - its moving flowing, searching. I want to find out! I want to understand, connect - grasp and in some way, let it all become a part of me. Putting down the books and closing up questions to go the rest of life with your so-far answers is stagnant.

Knowledge is not the most important thing, but it is a great gift (even while it has come to be seen as a requirement in our part of the world.) Leadership will always require knowledge of something, it plays a great part in wisdom and discernment. Or maybe its the reverse; wisdom and discernment play a great part in knowledge. Maybe they aren't supposed to be forced independent.

Anyway. I miss the Odyssey and the Iliad and the art and the philosophy among the dates, events, and 'significant people.'