Richard Rohlin on Homeschooling, Christmas, and Embracing a Deeply-Rooted Classical Education!

Episode Overview

• The episode features guest Richard Rohlin, a storyteller and Tolkien scholar, who shares his personal "remedial education" journey from a pragmatic, success-driven mindset back to a love for beauty, imagination, and wonder.
• The conversation critiques modern education's emphasis on "mastery," arguing instead for a posture of "understanding"—humility and awe before a subject—as the true path to knowledge.
• The concept of wonder is defined as a form of humility, and the speakers suggest the world is already enchanted; our role is not to create enchantment but to become receptive to it.
• True wisdom is likened to achieving a "beginner's mind," shedding pride to maintain a state of perpetual learning and openness.
• The discussion concludes that the most effective way to cultivate a wonder-filled life is not by inventing new family rituals, but by immersing oneself in the established, embodied traditions of the Christian liturgical year.

Key Concepts

• Parental Modeling vs. Curriculum: Children learn more from imitating their parents' genuine love of learning and wonder than they do from following a formal curriculum or direct instruction.
• Wonder as Humility: Wonder is not mere whimsy but a profound sense of humility and awe experienced when encountering something greater than oneself, be it in nature, art, or academics. This posture is essential for true learning.
• Mastery vs. Understanding: The modern educational goal of "mastery" fosters pride and a false sense of superiority over a subject. In contrast, true "understanding" requires "standing under" a subject with humility, which is the root of wonder.
• The Beginner's Mind: True expertise is not about conquering a subject but about returning to the humility and openness of a beginner. This is illustrated by the analogy of a martial arts master whose black belt frays over a lifetime, eventually returning to white.
• The World is Already Enchanted: The goal is not to "re-enchant" the world, but to cultivate a sense of perception that allows one to be enchanted by the wonder that is already present in creation.
• Tradition as the Source of Wonder: A sane and wonder-filled life is best cultivated by participating in the established, embodied traditions of the Christian faith, such as the liturgical calendar of feasting and fasting, rather than inventing new, bespoke rituals.

Quotes

• At 44:35 - "He made it okay for me to love beauty and to use my imagination as a Christian again, whereas I just hadn't been okay for several years." - The guest explains the profound impact of reading Tolkien and Lewis, which helped him reconcile his faith with his love for imaginative and beautiful things.
• At 57:04 - "Wonder is humility. It's a sense of awe, it's a sense of humility." - The guest defines wonder as the experience of encountering something too great to master, which cultivates a necessary sense of humility in the learner.
• At 60:43 - "Of course, the opposite of understanding something, right? To actually stand under it." - This quote highlights the etymological difference between mastering something (being over it) and understanding it (standing under it).
• At 61:56 - "It's not a matter of us re-enchanting things, it's a matter of just being enchanted by what is there already." - The speaker reframes the discussion, arguing that the world is inherently wonderful and the task is one of perception, not creation.
• At 81:44 - "Man has a body as well as a soul, and the whole of man, soul and body, is nourished sanely by a multiplicity of observed traditional things." - Quoting Hilaire Belloc, the speaker emphasizes the necessity of embodied, traditional practices for human flourishing.

Takeaways

• Prioritize modeling a genuine love of learning and curiosity for your children, as they are far more likely to imitate your example than to follow a prescribed curriculum.
• Foster true learning by approaching subjects with a goal of "understanding" (humility) rather than "mastery" (pride).
• Cultivate a "beginner's mind" by remaining open, humble, and teachable, recognizing that true wisdom lies in a perpetual state of learning.
• Rediscover wonder by immersing yourself and your family in the rich, embodied traditions of the Christian liturgical year, conforming your life to its rhythms of feasting and fasting.