The Importance and Urgency to Return to the Liberal Arts
The Liberal Arts and its fields are underappreciated disciplines in my eyes and we, not only as a society but as a species, have strayed from understanding, utilizing and respecting the importance this field and its disciplines bring to humanity. It is Liberal Arts that enable us to express ourselves more accurately because there is no true or proven way to measure human expression. If I cannot understand your expression of pain with my expression of pain, then it does not make sense for me to say whether your pain is more or less, better or worse, than mine. More or less of what? There is no scale; we must consider ourselves as equals. It is Liberal Arts that allows understanding of each other. If I look at a situation with the perspective ‘it does not matter who is wrong or right, better or worse, more or less’, then I am saying what we should really be after and focused on is the understanding that we are looking for what is true, not right or wrong. Then this would also mean certain accepted and held beliefs of the subjective Self must be allowed the freedom to change. This does not mean you are wrong and they are right, it simply means we have found a piece that seems to hold true in all cases. It is Liberal Arts that shows us how to communicate better by emphasizing the need to LISTEN. Stop hearing to prove right or wrong, listen to understand and rationally, logically conclude a proven truth. We cannot measure human expression; therefore, we cannot measure each other’s subjectiveness which includes opinions. We can possess opinions but we must also possess the ability to alter and change those opinions when irrefutable evidence is presented that supports better overall understanding. It is Liberal Arts that holds valuing differences at its core. We try so hard to show how different we are from one another, yet when confronted with actual raw differences we shun those who fall even slightly out of line. We are all conclusively different, we are aware of this, but we do not value it (value in the sense of importance or usefulness not in quantity). Differences mean different ideas, different perspectives, different experiences, different subjectiveness which brings a wider and deeper understanding of humanity. It is the awareness yet suppression of these differences that continue to plague our growth and progress. But as much as we need to be open to embracing these imperative lessons the Liberal Arts can bring us, perhaps the most crucial is the understanding and focus on the vital importance a collective respect of all man has on our future. Our societal actions continue to focus on selfishly motivated advancements and developments which creates an imbalance in a world where we have concluded imbalance holds no value; it is meaningless, unimportant and does not make sense. We have to center our collective focus on understanding the value of respecting all as equals without a right or wrong, but with the honest want of finding truths that will better all of mankind. Until we can shift societies mindset backs towards recognizing and understanding the importance of the Liberal Arts and its disciplines, we will continue down this path of self-destruction, falling victim to the nonsensical and unimportant.
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