Learning for a Lifetime |

August 18, 2014

Don’t Confuse Technology With Wisdom

Technology can be truly astonishing, but today we often confuse technology and wisdom. Many of the greatest creators and thinkers of history produced works of great beauty, inspiration, and profound insight, using tools we would regard today as primitive. Using a computer doesn’t guarantee that the user is producing great music, writing a brilliant book, or reflecting wise and profound ideas.

The great composers and writers throughout history didn’t have access to today’s technological wonders. The finest musical masterpieces were written by hand, as were the novels and books of philosophy that have stood the test of time. Compare The Federalist Papers to much of the nonsense found on Facebook. People posting “selfies” or tweeting the conventional wisdom of the moment are not wise at all. Eternal truths are no less true whether written with a quill pen, a fountain pen, or with the latest digital tool. False messages are no more valid when typed on a digital tablet than they were centuries ago. Could anyone today write the Declaration of Independence or the Gettysburg Address more eloquently than the original authors by simply using a computer?

Too often today we tend to assume that ideas are valid if they reach us through technology and out of date if they were created before the modern era. Don’t forget that Mozart and Jefferson wrote with a quill pen. Don’t confuse technology with wisdom. To learn more about the impact of technology on your family’s daily lives, click here.

The Opportunity |

August 17, 2014

| by Mark Evans

Preserving Our Cultural Resources As National Treasures

Do the music, books, and art we choose matter? Just as we preserve our natural treasures, our streams, lakes, forests, and national parks, we must preserve our cultural legacy. Otherwise the best of our culture will fade into an undeserved oblivion.

Is choosing a book to read or a piece of music to hear no more important than expressing a preference for baseball or football, chocolate or vanilla, driving or flying? There is an major difference. These other choices may not impact our lives. But what we read, the music we hear, the art, motion pictures, and plays we see, all convey ideas. For the most gifted creators among us, throughout history and certainly today, the ideas they convey are often their most significant legacy.

Especially for children, the earliest values they are taught will influence their perspectives as they grow to adulthood. Will they appreciate wisdom, beauty, and knowledge? Or will they fall prey to the onslaught of the pop culture which emphasizes notoriety, fame, celebrity, vulgarity, and peer pressure?

If our finest music, books, art, plays, films, as well as our language and history are irretrievably lost, future generations will pay the price without ever realizing what they have missed. A society which preserves its natural resources, must also preserve its cultural resources which are just as valuable. To learn more about Cultural Conservation, please click here!

Pride of Achievement |

August 17, 2014

| by Mark Evans

Lighting Candles Rather Than Cursing the Darkness

It is easy for us to become frustrated and angry when we see what has happened to true culture in the 21st century. But instead of merely tilting at windmills like Don Quixote or spending all our time focused upon those who have created our problems, we can take a positive attitude and positive action. Those who have done so have truly changed the world for the better. While many among us have chosen to complain bitterly about the very real problems we face, others have chosen to something about them. Certainly, we need to identify these problems. If we do not recognize our challenges, we cannot meet them successfully. Lighting a single candle rather than cursing the darkness is not a new idea. It has been traced back to ancient China and was for many years the motto of the Christopher Society.

Those who have made a difference have come from every walk of life, from every background. Some have been prominent and famed for their achievements in many fields. Others have functioned quietly in anonymity. Groups of men and women of all ages have gathered together to help conserve the best of our culture. But sometimes great deeds have been accomplished by a single person with determination and persistence.

Cultural Conservation is a movement born not of despair, but of realism. It is a movement of opportunity and a movement of hope. Let us begin! To learn more about the opportunity and the movement and what you and your family can do to help, please click here.

The Opportunity |

August 17, 2014

| by Mark Evans

When Only Birds Twittered and Google Was a Comic Strip

Not long ago, only birds twittered. Google was a comic strip. The Web was spun by a wise spider in the book “Charlotte’s Web.” Now everyone twitters and tweets. We are all in a hurry and think that everything worth saying can be said in 140 characters.

Technology has provided untold blessings for society. But technology often places great emphasis on speed. Fast computers, faster e-mails and text message, and even the fastest food. People, we are told, have a short attention span. So if you can’t capture public attention with a catch phrase or a quick picture, your message won’t be worth delivering.

This same advice is given to all in the arts. “Hurry up,” is directive for composers, writers, and artists. All those thick book and long pieces or music that require concentration are simply out of date and old-fashioned. Modern culture must be evaluated by the speed in which it is delivered to an audience. This is abject nonsense. Certain things in life require attention, study, and concentration. You cannot express the ideas of The Bible or the United States Constitution in a few tweets. Nor can the works of Shakespeare or the classics of English literature be replaced by a series of advertising slogans. Good music requires attentive ears.

The Cultural Conservationist doesn’t reject technology; but the Cultural Conservationist also realizes that the best of our culture demands and deserves attention even if it means we must slow down to smell the roses. In the age of high technology, people scramble about, rushing around, doing twenty-four things at once. We need to remember what we may be missing while we are in such a hurry, the songs of a bird and the melodies of life. To learn more about the impact of high technology on our culture, why not start with personal plan of action here?

Pride of Achievement |

August 17, 2014

| by Mark Evans

Writers Who Can’t Write, Painters Who Can’t Paint

In the 21st century, we tend to just the value of a man’s work by how much money he earns and how famous he becomes. But fame doesn’t guarantee quality and this phenomenon is not new. Ernest Hemingway was outspoken on this subject and things have become much worse since Hemingway’s day. This is a reminder that you can’t always judge a book by its cover.

Hemingway said, “We have writers who can’t write, painters who can’t paint, and actors who can’t act, and they are all making a million dollars a year.” The very idea of a writer who can’t write or a painter who can’t paint seems outrageous. But today there are many famous “writers” whose books are ghostwritten. Even those who write their books or articles are often unskilled in the use of language and achieve recognition through shock value or attracting attention to themselves. The same problem exists in the art world. Painters who throw paint at a wall or declare that anything can be art proliferate.

The pride of achievement should be based on real accomplishment. But in order for us to appreciate the pride of achievement, we have to accept the now controversial idea of values and standards. “Everyone” isn’t entitled to be called a writer or artist. Everyone is entitled to try. But unless we return to a perspective that doesn’t confuse celebrity and notoriety with accomplishment, we are likely to look forward to more writers, painters, actors, singers, and self-proclaimed artists who are nothing but charlatans with good publicity agents. To explore a plan for you and your family through Cultural Conservation today, click here.

Delight of Language |

August 17, 2014

| by Mark Evans

Are You Searching for an April Meadow?

Robert Nathan was a master of satiric fantasy and the author of over forty books. He often wrote about people who were romantic, gentle, and whimsical. He said, “A writer can find reality in an open sewer or an April meadow. It’s all a matter of where you choose to look.” When other writers insisted that only the scandals and violence reflected reality, he had a different point of view. His outlook tells us that we shouldn’t apologize for seeking inspiration and beauty in a world that often ridicules us for doing so.

Publishers and movie producers alike tell us today that only salacious, profane prose is commercial. The recording industry is eager to embrace foul-mouthed rock and rap stars who think it is an accomplishment to make a fortune screaming amplified four-letter words into a microphone. The vulgarians are on the march and they declare themselves to be advocates of “reality.”

Too often we are apologetic and defensive in our response to such arguments. Robert observed that the April meadows that inspired him were real too and we should proud and enthusiastic in seeking to find them. The beauty and delight of language awaits us all. Learn more about Robert Nathan and the delight of language through Cultural Conservation. Click here.

Learning for a Lifetime |

August 16, 2014

| by Mark Evans

A School That Welcomes Everyone

Ray Bradbury was the world’s most famous and admired writer of science fiction. Although a prolific author, he never graduated from college and was instead the product of self-education and an intense desire for learning. He set an example for all of us. You’re never too young or too old to learn and there is no telling what you may accomplish through curiosity, enthusiasm, and a desire to achieve.

When he graduated from high school in the midst of the Depression, he didn’t have the funds to go to college. So he decided to educate himself and draw upon the great minds and teachers he encountered in books. For ten years, he went to the Los Angeles Public Library three days a week. He checked out ten books per week and read hundreds of books on many subjects. He was quite accurate when he said that he graduated from the public library, not from college. But he emerged from this intensive course of study with a vast knowledge of many subjects and a familiarity with literature, language, history, science, and the arts.

Bradbury’s story reminds us that education is a continuing process; the more you learn, the more you need to know. The more answers you learn, the more questions you have. The library, whether in a building or online, welcomes everyone regardless of age or financial circumstances. You can learn something new every day! Click here!

Our Vanishing History |

August 16, 2014

| by Mark Evans

Why Our Heritage Matters

Dr. John Silber, President of Boston University was a distinguished scholar who recognized the need for moral clarity in education and urged colleagues and students to understand that one cannot understand the present or prepare for the future without knowledge of the past. Dr. Silber was irrepressibly honest and rejected today’s assumption that the present always trumps the past. His speeches are now collected in a provocative and inspiring book called, “Seeking the North Star.” We can learn much from Dr. Silber; he spent many year successfully challenging the conventional wisdom regarding notions of change, progress, and rejection of our heritage. He wisely counseled us to remember, “No generation can find meaning unless it is informed by what it inherits and is accountable for what it bequeaths.”

There is trend in modern education, in the arts, and in our daily lives, that suggests that history is burden to be ignored or even intentionally forgotten. But to do this is destructive and even dangerous. We can learn from the successes and failures as well as the folly and wisdom of the past. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. But if we have no idea who these people were or what they contributed to our culture, we are embracing ignorance and dismissing knowledge.

The Cultural Conservationist seeks to prevent our history from vanishing and to learn from it. To learn more about Our Vanishing History, click here!