Interesting exchange. I think I am about to dive into some hot water.
Here goes. Some of it reminds me of something Jane Austin wrote in
Persuasion. People defend, she said, what they already believe.
Sometimes I think that just because a person knows a lot he or she is not
necssarily open to knowledge. One of the difficulties is to make too much
of one's accepted way of knowing to the point it may dull one's
receptivity to create inspiration. It's okay to gather as much as you can
from a traditional method for acquiring information, but you shouldn't
expect that all knowledge can come only from this source. Otherwise, you
are displaying a "close openness" to new information which may challenge
your certainty about what you know and how to get to know. Our knowledge
sources and the meaning of our experiences are changing constantly. Too
often there is a stubborn resistance to accepting knowledge sources other
than those currently accepted. That is, one of the factors complicating
the problem of knowing is scholastic rigidity and exclusiveness, to reject
out of hand ways of knowing in which you are not trained and with which
you do not feel comfortable. To be sure, it's tough to ask someone to
examine knowledge from any source, especially if it raise questions in the
field that one claims to know. I guess the only way we can identify a
heretic is if the wrong person promotes it.
Make it a good day.
--Louis--
Louis Schmier [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of History www.therandomthoughts.com
Valdosta State University www.halcyon.com/arborhts/louis.html
Valdosta, GA 31698 /~\ /\ /\
912-333-5947 /^\ / \ / /~\ \ /~\__/\
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