The Saunterer

J. R. R. Tolkien on moral failure

    In a letter to a correspondent, J. R. R. Tolkien defined the  point at which we ought not to be blamed for morally failing:

We are finite creatures with absolute limitations upon the powers of our soul-body structure in either action or endurance. Moral failure can only be asserted, I think, when a man’s efforts or endurance falls short of his limits, and the blame decreases as that limit is closer approached. (Quoted from The Life of the Creative Spirit, p. 206.)

    For a brief biography of J. R. R. Tolkien, click here.

Tom Lehrer on rushed solutions to crises

    The launch of Sputnik on October 4, 1957, lowered America’s confidence in itself. Politicians were put into a tizzy looking for a quick fix to restore the country’s ego. One that was rushed into practice across America was a school curriculum called “New Math.” Tom Lehrer, mathematician and composer-singer of satirical songs, tells of the folly:

[The fuss about Sputnik had] at least one memorable, though ephemeral, consequence. Americans were evidently afraid that Sputnik was proof that the Russians were getting ahead of us because of the inadequate science and math teaching in our schools. In an attempt to attack the problem, some committee came up with a ridiculous curriculum called “New Math,” in which they tried to teach kids abstract concepts that they couldn’t understand. The teachers weren’t prepared to teach it, and the kids couldn’t have cared less about it and its dubious practicality. Despite the money poured into it by the government, the fad soon died of natural causes. (Quoted in The New York Times, Sept. 25, 2007, p. D10.)

    The important general lesson that ought to be learned from the incident probably won’t be.
    For a history of Sputnik, click here. For a history of New Math, click here. For a brief biography of Tom Lehrer, click here. To read, listen and laugh to Tom Lehrer discussing New Math, click here.

William O. Douglas on our fundamental need for wilderness

    Hear William O. Douglas:

Man sometimes seems to try to crowd everything but himself out of the universe. Yet he cannot live a full life from the products of his own creation. He needs a measure of the wilderness, so that he may relax in the environment that God made for him. He needs life around him in order to experience the true measure of living. Then only can he get a sense of the full glory of the universe. There is a place in man’s life for the antelope, just as there is for the whir of sage grouse and the song of the thrush. There would be a great emptiness in the land if there were no pelicans wheeling in great circles over Hart Mountain, no antelope fawn in its aspen groves, no red-shafted flickers in its willow. I say the same for the coyote and golden eagle. We often downgrade them as predators. Yet they, too, play an important role in the cosmic scheme.
    I always feel sad leaving Hart Mountain. Yet after I travel a few hours and turn to see its great bulk against a southern sky my heart rejoices. This refuge will leave our grandsons and granddaughters an inheritance of the wilderness that no dollars could recreate. Here they will find life teeming throughout all the life zones that lead from the desert to alpine meadows. (Quoted from My Wilderness: the Pacific West, Doubleday & Co., 1960, p. 74.)

    For a brief biography of William O. Douglas, click here.

Artur Schnabel on misunderstanding both the nature of wisdom and how it is obtained

    Confusion over what wisdom is and how one acquires it is as frequent today as it was in Artur Schnabel’s time. He says:

I would say that many of the questions asked [me by students] point to a belief in the existence of what I would call a safe conduct to wisdom, a trust in methods and books and rules to lead to the solution of problems, to settle everything. Also a belief that there is only one solution, one way, one type of experience. (Quoted from The Life of the Creative Spirit, p. 349.)

    For a brief biography of Artur Schnabel, click here.