The idea of this blog is to voice any and all areas of my ignorance. Astronomy, history, languages, biology, politics, theology, etc. -- anything I recognize as a dark spot in my mind, I'll post here.
Why?
Two reasons.
First, admitting and then broadcasting my ignorance cultivates humility; and humility is key to spiritual growth. I, like many people, glibly devote so much of my blogging to announcing what I think, presumably because it's what I think I know. How sobering it is to devote whole blog to what I don't know! If I were really alert and honest, this blog should quickly swell to tenfold the size of my other writings. Hence the title: mounting ignorance.
Second, while I must face my vast ignorance, I won't wallow in it. By posting quandries here, I am genuinely seeking knowledge. Hence the title: mounting ignorance [to overcome it].
The format of Scandendum Inscitia (ScIn, "skin") is as follows: I'll provide a context for my ignorance and then lay down my ignorant query (INSCITIA). Then I may or may not offer some thoughts about how to resolve my ignorance (COGITATIO). Either way, the post will end with space for readers, or my own subsequent learning, to resolve my inscitia (RESPONSUM). (I'll transplant the responsa into the post from emails or comments readers offer.) Hence, this blog in no small way depends on readers willing and able to help me mount my ignorance. May my inscitia yield unto God's sapientia.
Finally, I resist the common stereotype of the Middle Ages as a dark and mindless, as a dead and lifeless, age. The longer one studies that era, the more one is impressed, even stunned, by the medievals' voracious desire for learning. Plus, if you read St. Anselm or other medieval giants, you can't miss their humility. While they may pontificate and explicate about the highest mysteries, they all the while make it clear they do so as weak and ignorant mortals walking by the humble light of fides quaerens intellectum (faith seeking understanding). Given my sympathies for the Middle Ages, and given that age's utterly Latin composition, I hope to use Latin frequently here at ScIn in a true medieval, voracious and humble pursuit of sapientia. Besides, using Latin here will help me maintain and regain my middle-school Latin.
INSCITIA:
Have I left anything out?
RESPONSUM:
INSCITIA:
Where is my Latin wrong?
RESPONSUM:
2 comments:
Elliot! You know that distance MA you're pursuing is worthless in Taiwan. You should drop the whole thing and apply to Fujen. They should be able to get a government subsidy for you, and it will cost you nothing.
Michael
Hmm, an alluring idea. How could I have forgotten the news I heard two or so years ago about massive, gooey "foreigner subsidies"! Thanks for the lead, Michael, I'll sniff it out.
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