Knowledge and Understanding as an End

I would encourage all students to look at your education, not only as a means to an end, that is to say, getting a degree so that you can get a good job or do the work that you love... but to see education also as an end in itself, that is to say, the subjective joy that comes from a realization or understanding an aspect of reality or truth.

-Laurence

Neil deGrasse Tyson Talks About UFO's and Our Discomfort with Ignorance

https://youtu.be/69qYusZyLrs

Ernest Becker on Going to the Source for Wisdom

Taken from, The Denial of Death, xx

This is a great point of wisdom. To get the best understanding of a person's philosophy, read their actual words and ponder the message yourself, coming to your own conclusions as to its value.

-Laurence

Ernest Becker on Why Death Troubles Modern Man

Taken from, The Denial of Death, x ii

This is an interesting observation, especially with the rise of neo-atheism, it will be interesting to see if the denial of death increases within the culture. Perhaps a return to ancient traditions, even while opposing modern conceptions of truth and reality would alleviate modern man's anxiety in considering his inevitable fate.

-Laurence 

St. Augustine of Hippo, First Developmental Psychologist

Taken from, The Confessions, Book 1, 8

This text is written in the context of a monologue, and some would say dialogue, with Augustine's God. He is recounting his experience in his early childhood and trying to make sense of his development. Much of the work of Psychology is the reflection of ideas as it applies to your own experience of the world around you and the bidirectional interaction between the two, the self and the environment.

-Laurence