The world is constantly evolving. The nature of humanity is changing. The environment is much different now than it was, just ten years ago. I sometimes wonder if people even understand what's happening right in front of our eyes. I'm sure you've heard the line, "history repeats itself". Do you brush it off or do you actually consider what's happening across the globe today? Throughout the course of this article I want to touch on a couple of things that taking Liberal Arts courses at St. Thomas has taught me about the nature of the world around us.
People often criticize America's education system, claiming that it's "broken". My interpretation of this claim is that schooling in the United States teaches us what to know. We're taught that we need to know x for the test; therefore, we study x and get a good grade. But what is a good grade without true understanding of the content? This is knowledge without application, a huge problem for future generations, unless fixed. I constantly remind myself that it only makes me better to truly understand the real world application of it. For instance, understanding U.S. history so that future generations don't make the same mistakes over and over again in society. Understanding the religions of the world to see why one believes the way they do. Understanding philosophical ideologies and consciousness. And finally, perhaps most important, the application of the sciences and how they're surrounding us. If you think about it, we are science.
Now I want to wrap all of these together as one; explaining how the application of Liberal Arts courses have provided me with a new perspective of the world. Let's start off with science. At this point, we are still relatively unsure what's, "out there" beyond Earth. But everything in the universe is energy right? So wouldn't it be fair to argue that there's life in a parallel universe? And since the universe is infinity, wouldn't that mean that there is another version of you in a parallel reality? So wouldn't that mean that your mind could control your reality? These new age philosophical ideologies like this are quite abstract; however, most would say the same about Plato, Socrates & Aristotle's excerpts on the soul. Philosophy can really open your mind to abstract thoughts and possibilities.
Over the course of millions of years, humans have evolved to be the most dominate of all organisms. Earth has been around for billions of years, and there have been a number of mass extinctions. Should we be skeptical that our environmental habits are impacting the future of life on earth? I would say so. Our population is growing exponentially, our CO2 output is higher than ever. How long can earth sustain such negative impacts? How long will it be until we reach mass capacity? How can we be so clueless of the chemicals we're constantly putting in our bodies? It's often times hard to see but everything is connected on a micro-level. You might think you're drinking purified water, but you're really drinking water and some chemicals from the plastic bottle. Then we go to the bathroom and some of those chemicals Give it some thought.
In terms of theological application, I came to understand how and why certain religions branched from Christianity. Theological practices around the world are still relevant to understand today, as radical ideologies continue their push to dominate the east. On the other hand, there has been a significant drop in Evangelicals across America. Are we being told something here?
-AE
