In Exordium 1, I was immediately aware that I had not spent my money in vain. Andrew Kern kicked off the conference with a stirring talk. Here are a few highlights:

• Knowledge is transformative.
• We are created to know God.
• Adam knew Eve. This was not merely physical.
• The solution to life: Active Love.
• Active love embraces reality.
• Education should not lead to cynicism.
• Cynicism equals death.
• Classical education can produce cynicism and arrogance. It should produce humility.
• The modern mind cannot know since there is no connection between thinking and living.
• Nominalism is the idea that ideas cannot be known.
• Will Durant ” Men ceased to dispute and started to search.” Abandoning authority.
• Knowledge is what the 5 senses give us.
• Education is not efficient.
• Relationships are not efficient.
• Embrace wth the soul the world God has given us.
• Science is now the slave of politics.
• Plato ” Grace and Harmony are the twin sisters of goodness and virtue.”
• Do what you can.
• Embrace limits.

Suggested reading: Wendell Berry Standing by Words.

Whew. No wonder I loved that session. I was reminded of Richard Weaver’s notes on generalization in The Southern Tradition at Bay.

It is useless to argue against generalization, a world without generalization would be a world without knowledge. The chaotic and fragmentary thinking of the modern age is due largely to an apprehensiveness, inspired by empirical methods, over images, wholes, general truths so that we are intimidated from reaching the conclusions we must live by.