Second nature, firsthand

Enough of that, what are some more cool things we can talk about? We could have daily lessons on botany, that’s a much too forgotten subject anymore, and one whose I absence I feel keenly. Each day we could discuss a different plant, if possible one that grows on the school property so we could go out to look at it. We could talk about its relations, varieties, properties; what animals eat it; when it grows and dies; how it has been associated in folk or classical thinking. We could have a school garden, each class could be responsible for a row; this would introduce discussions about agriculture, its history, the division of labor and rise of free trade, or at least a measure of security, with surpluses, the domestication of animals, the idea of private vs communal property or no property, the fortified city and government; about the weather and seasons, the world being round, the different climates, the layers of soil, geology, ice ages and catastrophes, evolution; and after the harvest, whole new discussions about food and medicine, cuisine, thanksgiving, rituals and religious beliefs, health and diet, fermentation and preservation, table manners.

Between the garden and the school, there is almost nothing important the students would not learn. The garden encompasses so much, and the rest may be brought up in terms of a contrast—its symbol being the wilderness, and anterior to both of them the sea, the waters. Hunting and gathering, shamanism, parallel universes, migrations, cave paintings, in-groups, speech, song, and written language, fishing, life expectancy, traditions, and as with the civilized societies, always going back to the myths, not merely describing, but telling the stories they told.

And asking questions: is it possible to go back? At what point is it impossible? Is this sin? Is this ignorance, innocence, experience, dread, what? Have you heard of the gypsies? Of the dreaming? Why would some people become monks while others were Vikings? What is the value of a material object? Of money? Of honor, or integrity? Do you ever think about death? There are so many things to talk about.