day no. 16,772: baby formula

"The great intellectual tradition that comes down to us from the past was never interrupted or lost through such trifles as the sack of Rome, the triumph of Attila, or all the barbarian invasions of the Dark Ages. It was lost after... the coming of the marvels of technology, the establishment of universal education, and all the enlightenment of the modern world. And thus was lost-or impatiently snapped-the long thin delicate thread that had descended from distant antiquity; the thread of that unusual human hobby: the habit of thinking." — G.K. Chesterton

The marvels of machinery that could think for us; mandatory, State-manufactured education; and the hubris of modernity conspired to cut the ancient cord of contemplation, concentration, and cogitation.

Free thinkers were convinced that it was a promotion to be freed from thinking. So much, one might say, for this free thinking you promote. If it could not defend itself against invasion, perhaps it wasn't cut out to be all that you claim for it. Fair enough. Yet, those hucksters who marketed the madness of modernity show just how powerful creative thinking can be. They introduced a new idea. The problem was that this new idea put an end to other ideas. When creativity is that corrupt, it stifles creativity. That's a kind of creativity that kills the creative process.

“There is a thought that stops thought. That is the only thought that ought to be stopped.”  — G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

The grace of God contains every kind of industrious, fruitful creativity. The image bearers of their Creator God ought to employ their creative talents accordingly. Yet, creativity without anything to corral it, can become corrupt rather quickly. (Romans 1:30, "inventors of evil.) But God did not make mankind creative in order to watch them invent themselves to death. No, it was for the fulfillment of the cultural mandate in taking dominion and subduing disorder wherever it is found.

"The chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild." — G.K. Chesterton

The goal is for good things to go about with liberty, not to go feral. The untamed, wilderness was to be domesticated so that tame wildness could be free to play at home. But that kind of discernment requires deep thinking. It cannot be obtained by merely letting loose whatever bonds you find or opening any gates you happen to come across.

Hebrews 5:14

Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Discernment can be learned, but it must be disciplined. The goal of education used to be to help the mind learn how to chew solid food, now it labors to limit the brain's taste to baby food. Keeping minds immature is their move. It is their formula of their success, their baby formula so to speak.