MENTAL LANDSCAPE NO. 1
We must sustain the inner life with ideas as we sustain the body with food.—Charlotte Mason
Our minds grow and thrive as they receive and assimilate ideas. An idea may be embodied by a definite object or truth, or by an appetency for that which is lovely, good and true. When I read my old letters, journals or blog posts, I find it fascinating to trace the development of my mind—to mark the genesis of an interest, or the first stirring of a vision, which is today part and parcel of my being.
The following is a list of the books, music, lectures, movies, and questions that are currently occupying the ever-changing landscape of my mind. It is for me an exercise in discernment, a record of where I am finding my mind-food, the new ideas that shape the way I think.
{WHAT I’M READING}
Minor Prophets {Bible, King James}
‘Pericles’ {Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, Plutarch}
‘Chapter 1: Skinner-Boxed: The Legacy of Behaviorism’ {Punished by Rewards, Alfie Kohn}
Chapter 6: Three Instruments of Education {Towards a Philosophy of Education, Charlotte M. Mason}
‘Tom Jones and Morality’ {All Things Considered, G.K. Chesterton}
Jayber Crow {Wendell Berry}
Beowulf {tr. Charles W. Kennedy}
Pre-Raphaelites at Home {Pamela Todd}
Blue Iris: Poems and Essays {Mary Oliver}
What I’m Reading Aloud...
Children of the Covered Wagon {Mary Carr}
The Silmarillion {J.R.R. Tolkien}
{WHAT I’M STUDYING}
‘Chapter 15: The Respiratory System,’ ‘Chapter 18: The Urinary System,’ ‘Chapter 19: Fluid-Electrolyte and Acid-Base Balance,’ {Essential Principles of Anatomy and Physiology, Valerie Scanlon}
‘The Health Risks of Drinking Demineralized Water’ {Rolling Revision of the WHO Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality, F. Kosisek}
‘Nutrition, Respiratory Function, and Disease’ {Margaret M. Johnson, Robert Chin, Jr., Edward F. Haponik, Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease}
‘Part 3: Identifying Deductible Expenses’ {Minding Her Own Business, Jan Zobel}
‘Chapter 29: The Air in Your Castle,’ ‘Chapter 33: Dust and Dust Mites’ {Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendelson}
Latin Lessons I-V, ‘Adeste Fidelis,’ ‘Pater Noster’ {Latina Christiana I, Cheryl Lowe}
{WHAT I’M LEARNING}
‘La Rotta,’ ‘Bon Jour, Mon Cœur’ {Medieval and Renaissance Music for Recorder, Robert Bancalari}
John 1 {Bible, King James}
Revelations 12 {Bible, King James}
‘The Bells’ {Edgar Allan Poe}
lines for Miss Wells in The Florist Shop {Winifred Hawkridge}
{WHAT I’M WATCHING}
The Fugitive {Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones}
Shadowlands {Anthony Hopkins, Debra Winger}
Castaway {Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt}
A Night to Remember {Kenneth More, Ronald Allen, Robert Ayre}
African Cats {Samuel L. Jackson}
{WHAT I’M LISTENING TO}
Trois Gymnopedie and Gnossienne {Eric Satie}
three sessions with educator and writer Elaine Cooper, on the theological and historical background of Charlotte Mason, and the wise use of technology
Elaine Cooper’s interview with Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, on Macaulay’s role in resurrecting the ideas of Charlotte Mason
‘Eight Essential Principles of Classical Pedagogy’ {Dr. Christopher Perrin}
{WHAT I’M ASKING}
What principles should govern the portrayal of sin in stories?
How does sin affect a Christian’s relationship with God? How should we address our sin in prayer? {Also, see ‘Saint or Sinner?—Rethinking the Language of Our Identity’}
What is the Christian response to behaviorist theory and practice? What is our response to those who claim Christianity is religious behaviorism? {See the book of Job.} Specifically, what might we say about God’s motives concerning promises of Heaven and threats of Hell, and whether these two are in fact natural or arbitrary consequences?
• detail from landscape by Thomas Cole •
August 9, 2013