Being in context …

… Longing for Home | The Russell Kirk Center. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Rather than idolize where we came from or where we are going, Esolen argues, nostalgia rightly understood provides the inspiration to appreciate and treasure the legacy of the past to the present, and provides a sense of value and meaning for the future. As Gustav Mahler put it, “Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.”

The point of a classical education is to acquire an experienced mind, a mind familiar with where we have been, in the hope if discovering where best we might go.