There are some who believe that students of the Humanities spend all day sitting up in their metaphorical ivory towers reading books and thinking about how much better they are than everyone else. But we don't simply think we're better than others; we know we're better than others.
Sarcasm aside, I did not become a Humanities major only because I like reading or because I have an inflated sense of pride, though I must admit, I do. My love for books comes from the same roots as my major, namely, that I love stories and ideas. There is something magical about stepping into another soul's imagination and interacting with ideas older than my homeland. Even more, I believe that stories, ideas, and art form a crucial part of our human nature, that these things reflect the image of God in man.
As I see it, people tell stories because God has made them in his image and, as sub-creators under the Creator, they create worlds that reflect and reveal reality. C.S. Lewis writes, "Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become." I find in philosophy a similar truth, that these ideas refine my own understanding of reality, that in understanding them, I understand God, the world and myself at a deeper level. I study these things because, in them, I catch a glimpse of the image of God, of who man is and is meant to be.
In a way, then, I became a student of the Humanities because I am learning to understand and love people. When I enter a story and wander its pages or listen to the words of a philosopher, I grow in my understanding of people. After a journey in these texts, I am transformed. It may seem odd, but in my time at CIU, my most transformative experiences have happened in class while studying these stories and ideas. Among my spiritual mentors, I cannot help but include those I have read, from Shakespeare to O'Connor, from Keats to Augustine, even Nietzsche and Da Vinci. From these thinkers and artists, I have learned more about humanity and, thus, more about people.
Because I believe these things matter and they have transformed me, they push me to leave the ivory tower and love those around me. I study the Humanities because I desire to understand and love my neighbor as myself.
