Having begun the discussion on one of my three blog themes for 2021, the preservation of liberty, I will now introduce the second, the literary life. When I originally determined my themes, I didn't recognize a connection between these two concepts; but now their close relation strikes me as startling. Perhaps I can open the conversation of the literary life by sharing my own experience in a world before the dominance of the internet and social media on people's lives.
The majority of folks now seem to live their lives directly on social media and do not know how to function otherwise. It's a true addiction. But earlier this week I deleted my Facebook accounts, and it really didn't hurt! Because of what this "platform," which is really a publisher, recently pulled, in cahoots with other Big Tech companies, I could rise above the personal and leave on principle, an ability that I can attribute to having once lived a literary life.
As an English major in college, I learned that literature teaches us about life and the human condition, and that by reading high quality works that have stood the test of time, we can gain wisdom and understanding. Additionally, by analysing the ideas found in great works of literature, philosophy, and religion, then developing a thesis and arguing our point in writing based upon the text, we grow in our critical thinking skills.
Today the focus is on information, and the power to control it, and this information largely comes in the form of video. I enjoy watching YouTube videos myself, and I spend much more time on those channels than I do reading blogs online or consuming print books. Even when people do read books, it's often on a hand-held device, so an inordinate amount of time is spent in front of screens. People work on computers, check their social media constantly, sit for long hours in front of the television, and have very little time left for more traditionally human pursuits.
When I lived alone for most of my 20s in the 1990s, I had the bare minimum of technology available at the time. My computer came from an office that had replaced their system. All it did was spreadsheets, which I didn't use, and word processing. I typed my poems on it, saved them, and printed them out. That's all I used it for. To access my hotmail account, I had to walk down the street to the coffee shop and sign up for time on the shared computer. There were maybe two people that I emailed. I bought a cell phone, which only made and received calls, and I used it predominantly in the car. I don't remember if it even had texting. None of my jobs involved computer work, except for being a library clerk, and that was in a situation of interacting directly with people. Every job I had required that I work in direct service of others, in person and face-to-face.
In my free time I took a lot of walks, watched a little TV on the 3 or 4 channels that my 13-inch television was able to receive, went to see movies, plays, and art exhibits, wrote poetry and went to poetry readings, hung out at bookstores and coffee shops, spent time with friends, and regularly went out dancing. Oh, and I read a ton and wrote daily in my journal. I took classes to learn things like calligraphy and writing for children, in person, and then became a student of belly dance after I was married in 2002. I was a well-rounded woman with a variety of interests and was comfortable both in social situations and by myself.
As a mother, I homeschooled my child in the Charlotte Mason method, which is based in classic literature and nature study in the field. Lots of time with living books, engaging mind-to-mind with the ideas found in them, and as many hours as possible spent outdoors were emphasized in Miss Mason's philosophy. So there is always a cognitive dissonance experienced when people assume that we homeschool online. My daughter, now 16, uses an online math program and some other online resources, but the bulk of her learning comes straight from actual books.
Unfortunately, I have in great part lost the comforts and benefits of the literary life I once so much enjoyed, and I spend a great deal too much time on my Kindle. I can only imagine the self-imposed isolation of life on a smart phone!
Our path to preserving liberty is not ultimately going to be found in big government, public schools, Big Tech, or mainstream media. It's going to be found in libraries, homeschooling, private schools, churches, and local governments and communities. It has to start in the home first and foremost, and with the cultivation of our own minds and the development of character and virtue in the classic sense. It has to do with the re-education of our senses to wake us up to the real world around us and the redirecing of our hearts to the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. We have to get back to Nature, to self-reliance, to in-person interactions, and to a literary life.
Perhaps we will find that the Big Tech purge of conservative voices will be a blessing in disguise. If more and more of us find the courage to leave the likes of Facebook and Twitter, and to cut our dependence on social media even when we find good alternatives; and we reinvigorate ourselves physically, intellectually, creatively, emotionally, and spiritually in the ways human beings have done for thousands of years, we will have the edge when we we need it most. And that time is fast approaching.
In upcoming posts, we will continue to explore the connections between the preservation of liberty and the literary life, and how this all finds its foundation in the domestic monastery.
