Education

Education. Recently a friend posted a meme on the fb which for some reason rattled my cage. The meme featured a kid asking why he has to go to school, his mother retorts “So you don’t end up being a thich fascist twat….etc… etc…” 

Although I agree totally with the sentiment, I have serious doubts about the assumption that sending our children to participate in the ‘Education system’ as it stands is any protection against their indoctrination to fascist ideology. I asked myself, what is Education anyway? I remember as a kid I declared that I was leaving school at 16 to ‘get an education’. I admit the experiences I had after leaving school were far from academic, however I did learn some things. (possibly not the most efficient or fool safe way of learning. How do I perceive the word ‘education’? Well there’s the formal title they give it at school and then there’s the concept I had when I left school that I would actually go out and seek knowledge (OK I didn’t put much effort into that). 

 

Pentridge Prison Wikipedia

I remembered talking to friends who (through their own misadventures) had spent time at Pentridge prison in Victoria, they called it The Bluestone College, a place of higher learning for career criminals. They were put there to be ‘Educated’ by the state ‘correctional system’ but the college was an unusual institution. Between the bars and official curriculum preporting rehabilitation, house of corrections style, It was well known that the Bluestone College was a place where the tacit ideology of violence and crime were expertly conveyed.

Unsure that I really understood what the word education even meant I took a punt with Google, the first definition I found was this: 

1. Noun - the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university.

(Yes it was the first hit, no I am not quoting the source, it’s near enough to more reliable sources and serves the purpose of my inquiry)

I looked closely at the wording of the entry. Did the definition of the word education provide any intrinsic protection from fascist indoctrination? Taking the single sentence spat out on my computer screen at face value I'd say that education as such is the vehicle for indoctrination. 
Any process of receiving or giving systematic instruction is inherently laced with the intended purpose of the instructor. 

So back to the theory that education will protect against fascism. It seems based on an idea that Fascism is bad and Education is Good. That Education is the natural antidote to people falling for bullshit ideologies. But that's just not true. Education is not inherently good or bad. It's just a means to and end.

Thinking rationally about what education actually is I reckon that the old Bluestone College offered as valid an education as any other establishment dedicated to the task. The prison system is theoretically supposed to reform people who fall foul of the law. To Re-Educate them. I started to recall language I’d heard in movies and the news about a process of correcting the behavior of dissidents and dissenters who oppose the views and wisdom of State Authority. They called that Re-Education too. 
Back to my internet searching. Well it seems that Re-Education is quite a forceful method of Education. Using fear, pain, intimidation and brainwashing etc… to assist the student in achieving the learning outcomes. It seems ‘Education’ can come in many forms.

courtesy of genius.com

Back to the meme of the kid and the parent. I'm thinking about my children who are currently enrolled in primary education. I think about the announcements from our political leaders regarding amendments they have, and intend to make to school curriculum. The manipulation of history lessons, the denial of the Aboriginal Wars, overt nationalistic studies on the events of WWI and WWII. The normalization of military images… The suppression of agencies such as the CSIRO who have informed Australians about the state of our environment and the study of natural processes… On weighing up all these things I am convinced, that Education as such offers no protection from fascism or any other ideology! Education is a device and a tool, which has been used by the powerful subdue and convert otherwise free thinking people into compliant servants of the existing power structure. Right now it appears that the State is taking advantage of their power over school curriculum to push a fearful reactive capitalist nationalism which shames the weaker members of our society and demonizes vulnerable others. The current agenda will stifle natural inquiry! 
Regardless of the many good teachers, the curriculum has a big impact on the minds of the ‘educated’ and teachers are workers who can be easily dismissed if they fail to convey the approved messages.

Of course we can use education for what we believe are good ideals or purposes but it’s still just fixing in another person’s mind ideas we think they should have. Imagine if we were free to think?

Frankly I have very little respect for ‘Educated People’ they know too much and question too little. Personally I prefer the concept Bertrand Russell describes when he talks about thought: 

"Men fear thought more than they fear anything else on earth- more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible; thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. It sees man, a feeble speck, surrounded by unfathomable depths of silence; yet bears itself proudly, as unmoved as if it were lord of the universe. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world and the chief glory of man.

But if thought is to become the possession of the many, not the privilege of the few, we must have done with fear. It is fear that holds men back-fear lest their cherished beliefs should prove delusions, fear lest the institutions by which they live should probe harmful, fear lest they themselves should prove less worthy of respect than they have supposed themselves to be."

-Bertrand Russel

Chapter 35 of Jed McKenna's book Spiritual Warfare begins with this quote. I was listening to this on my way to work this morning and contemplating the use of Education to indoctrinate Australian society today...  Nothing like burning down the establishment starting work for the day.

Distant rumblings... calling through a dimly lit tunnel

A month or so passes without a word.

Too many things going on, I had nothing to say about it but I wanted to save this video somewhere I can find it again so I'll post a bit to fill you in on the month past... what I can recall...

 Just a quick explanation about the video... A year or so ago I listened to the three audio books by Jed McKenna. In the Book Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment, McKenna presents a pretty wild hypothesis about the book Moby Dick. The book had been sitting on my bookshelf for a couple of years, discarded barely touched from the University library, and had procrastinated about reading it.  Anyway about a month or so ago I started reading it and, with my experience of the story already heavily influenced by the mythical teacher McKenna I decided to accompany the book by listening to Spiritually Incorrect... again. Again it has blown me away!

Moby Dick is considered one of the greatest American books ever written and according to McKenna nobody really gets it. There are a plethora of descriptions of the book and explanations of the story but bugger all that gives any acknowledgement of McKenna's description of the story, which I reckon nails it! Why? Maybe it's just too bloody scary for most folks to consider. 

Coincidentally I recently turned the calendar on my wall over to April, two weeks after the fact, and discover the cryptic text 'callmeIshmae...'. The calendar is an artistic combination of sketches and words or some pages just a jumble of letters which come together to make an image. This one is of a guy (the Artist Kris) swimming in the sea and a giant octopus (with six tentacles, my kids have pointed out) the swimmer is sketched but the sea and the creature (the Muse) are made of a thread of letters...  I glanced at the image and the opening lines of the book Moby-Dick. "Call me Ishmael" leapt out at me.

MELVILL'S  Transformation

And what of the month that's passed?

Well back in March there was a major meeting at my work with all the big players. My old boss came back to town a little dismayed by the state of the organization... particularly that part he left in my hands. It's a part of the world that focuses on the metaphysical but requires considerable effort to prevent the ethereal aspirations of it's members from plunging the practical devices of money, property and various other required resources into a horrendous deficit. The fulfillment of the collective mission and dreams can occasionally be confused by personal ambitions. Anyway the whole arena is bizarre to me; convoluted and prone to all kinds of misinterpretation and mischief. We had a chat, it got a bit heated and I may have upset him by laughing at the absurdity of his expectations. Felt pretty good to be free of any sense of responsibility for materializing the ridiculous expectations of deluded power addicts.

The chain broke on my long bike as I was riding home from work. Bike's been sitting out the back for at least three weeks, I finally fixed it this morning and adjusted the gears and once again I'm happy with my bike. 

About three weeks ago I booked two tickets to Bali and back for me and one of the kids. Booked them on a whim with no regard for carbon emissions or environmental impact...  Just booked them because they were extremely cheep and I've gotta go! I'll reconcile my conscience later. Maybe my Greenie friends can help me rationalize when they get back from climate change talks in Europe or Melbourne or wherever they happen to be this week. ;)

A couple of weeks ago I made an urgent trip to Melbourne to visit my mum. She had some stomach problems and it sounded serious. I booked a flight and flew down there on the same day I heard of her illness. Got off the plane at 6:30 am at Tullamarine and walked 12 km through farmland and across small creeks and the Maribynong River valley.
It was magic to just walk. I had a single carry on bag with an improvised strap, a pair of shorts, t-shirt and thongs and a print out of directions from Google maps to guide me. The air was cool and I felt so free just wandering along roads that nobody ever walks. I passed a taxi depot with 100s of cabs, dilapidated farms on land set aside for the next freeway or factory outlet, stands remnant woodland, barely a blur of green to drivers but amazing pockets of nature to me on foot. I passed a mist covered dam with ducks, it was probably full of yabbies, if I had time I could have scored a feed. I saw a yellow rubber duck in the middle of a cow paddock, fog emitted from my nostrils and mouth as I walked, the sky was becoming light, the air was cool I walked comfortably without a bead of sweat. magpies swooped and watched me from their positions on a single power line in otherwise empty fields.

As I crossed the Maribyrnong I discovered a couple of large carp which had been caught and left to dry, getting closer to suburban Keillor I passed a strawberry farm, further on there were tomato crops full of ripe fruit ready to pick... I was tempted. By the time I arrived at my sister's I felt calm and content. My ankles were sore, I'm out of shape, but I seriously considered walking the next 25 km to my parents place on the other side of town.

Walking to my sister's place I listened to the audio CD of Spiritual Warfare. It is a kind of selfish, self indulgent trip listening to Jed McKenna. I suppose it's Nihilism but I don't really know anything about that so I can't say for sure. At times like these people will usually turn to their faith. Faith Works, no doubt about it. But somehow I am comfortable contemplating absolute nothingness! Somehow contemplation of absolute annihilation of the Ego and all it's jingle jangle attachments sets me at ease in times of stress. It's bleak but it's OK. As I walked I focused on my breathing. I walked and breathed and appreciated the novelty of being on the road/path alone, no one to tell me go this way or that way, no one to tell me No, you can't.

I felt right about going down there. Before I arrived mum had been admitted into hospital, while I was there she had a couple of days of tests, two days after I left she spent 10 hours on the operating table! Bowel Cancer! One week ago we had no idea! There's not much more that can be said about it really.

When I got back to Darwin I was exhausted and had a cold. I lay down on the tiles in the bedroom and rested for two whole days. Thinking of mum's illness I remembered the Chi'Kung I used to do. I thought to myself  it would do her and Dad wonders... I started that deep diaphragm breathing and continued for two whole days, off and on. I got up occasionally to eat or stretch my legs but that was about it. Two days passed, I woke up on Monday morning and went to work. I could have stayed there on the floor breathing for the rest of the week. I felt centered, unhurried, not perturbed by anything. Mum's operation took place while I was lying on the floor (meditating?) my mind blank.

  

A whole bunch of weird stuff has happened lately, mostly too weird to tell. Including having a couple of bikes stolen from the back yard by punk kids... All it amounts to though is that life is changing. I'm not sure what into so I guess I'll just try to breath on it.

Blank

It's tricky and uncomfortable to be dragging my ass through what can only be described as a half-assed attempt to strip bare the shrouds of a false existence! I'm hoping the journey out of attachment might be something like riding an eternity on the diamond tip of a turntable needle, trip trip tripping and scratching it's way across an old vinyl record! Will I hear the same song a million times before the grooves dissolve and I'm released from the first track of this LP?

I went back to work today but couldn't shift gears... I think I need to just sit down and do nothing! The desire for this doesn't come to me very often but when it does I know I should, 'not' act on it. The thing is that I'm spoiled for work and and I'm worried I might sabotage the whole situation just to get out of it! I can't force myself to care about what I am supposed to 'be' or 'be doing!' With no time for me or to myself, barely even for for my own thoughts, bit by bit life has collapsed from deliberate action back down to automatic behavior, reactions, duties and an inner refusal to comply or accept any of these things!
It's quite maddening actually.

Last night I gave in and watched the latest version of Moby Dick on video (OK I know they're called DVDs now but what's the frigging difference?) I had refused to watch it until I'd finished reading the book but I figure it doesn't matter at all. How can that book be translated into a film? It can't fit in a film! OK I saw the characters, the boats, the chase and even a strange version of the whale. Ahabs words are there but the desperately wild madness of what he's saying can't be bound in the film and neither can a film contain 'who is Ishmael?' This might never be revealed the way that Jed McKenna describes but his character did have rather creepy detached lack of presence in the story.
I think watching the film only set me up for chasing whales when I should have been preparing to re-join the world of work! The problem is that when you're considering life as an illusion it's hard to find anything that can scare you back into caring about the consequences of taking a mental excursion.

Half Assed! "Strike through the Mask?" Not likely! I'm just poking at it like a 'Hand puppet of Maya!'

How will we do this tomorrow?
Maybe I'll just look for a new job or something... Or maybe I should stop listening to crazy bastards who think they've attained enlightenment, it just gets me crazy and I'd probably be better off spending my nights stacking shelves at a supermarket somewhere with Heavy Metal music in my headphones!

Goodnight.