University Of Soul

Education is a distinction, a mark of excellence, an award. It guides us to areas of discussion, choice of jobs and companies, friends, colleagues, spouses, where we live and how we live. Often times it leaves us clinging to ideals that may lead us to wrong conclusions. But what is education? Is it the memorization of books, the quotes of professors or a shiny university brand stamped on our foreheads as if we are prime grade?

It is all of those, yet none of those. Inveterate institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge all have a pedigree in higher education. They have arguably produced some of the finest minds in the world in all fields of endeavor, but does an ivy league education have anything to do with education?

An education - a real education is not found in the hallowed halls of a building, it’s what we do outside of those walls that count. People spend countless hours and years educating themselves in what they think is truth, but education doesn't do anything except stop our real education. Do we even bother to question the curriculum of formal education? Don’t we question which strings are being pulled to get text books into schools? What percentage of truth is actually represented in books?

Education is marketed especially in America as “the be all and end all”, when actually it is more like “the end all.” Universities are businesses that exist to make profit. They don’t really care about our education unless it can generate more profits. To further this, they have created a permanent campaign of alumni to continually pour coinage into their coffers. Alumni parties, sporting events, T-shirts, sweatshirts and those little license plate frames that read the name of the school, all generate moolah. And in all of the effort to remember our schools, we forget our spirit.

Our spirits are being knocked down and stomped into the ground. They have been deep fried into not thinking about the big picture, but only a tiny piece of paper in comparison. What about out soul? What about putting as much time into the pursuit of happiness, being loving and sharing our future of love with someone we love?

Our soul is screaming at us, trying to get our attention, but we can't hear. It shakes us, but we can't feel. It stares at us, but we can't see. It tries to wake us, but we are asleep. We have lost our spark and can't get our spiritual engines to turn over. Our tires are stuck in the mud. We have to put as much time into our soul as we do education. Education is a lifelong synthesis. It encompasses everything we are.

If educational institutions care so much about the value of education, then why do they give honorary degrees to those who donate cash? Don't such degrees dilute the brand value of the university and thus the integrity of education?

The awarding of the honorary doctorates creates publicity and an opportunity to impress the famous, who will then create more skywriting when they give commencement speeches. If the recipient is sufficiently prestigious, this involves no reputational cost for the granting institution and it creates reputational benefits.

An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa (Latin: 'for the sake of the honour') is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived the usual requirements (such as matriculation, residence, study and the passing of examinations). The degree itself is typically a doctorate or, less commonly, a master's degree, and may be awarded to someone who has no prior connection with the institution. The practice dates back to the middle ages.

In the latter part of the sixteenth century, the granting of honorary degrees became quite common, especially on the occasion of royal visits to Oxford or Cambridge. On the visit of James I to Oxford in 1605, forty-three members of his retinue (fifteen of whom were earls or barons) received the degree of Master of Arts.

In 1985 Oxford broke precedent and refused to award Margaret Thatcher an honorary degree, as the school had done with previous Prime Ministers because they didn’t like that she cut funding for British universities. Cambridge University has given honorary degrees to Albert Einstein, Nelson Mandela, and Bill Gates. In 2001, George W. Bush received an honorary degree from Yale University where he had earned his bachelor's degree in history in 1968. They also gave one to Paul McCartney in 2008.

The University of California system gave 700 honorary degrees to former Japanese-American students, namely the ones who were placed in concentration camps during WWII. They thought this was the right thing to do to garnered them points with local Asian communities.

Is the acceptance of an honorary degree, no more than a less honorable lie? Why does anyone accept them if they know they haven’t worked for them? It is a false reward for ulterior motives. The universities cleverly use them as dangling carrots to manipulate and create artificial intelligence or unofficial intelligence.

What happened to the idea, that hard work is its own reward? Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.” Where are the ax sharpeners today? Are they hiding behind the lumberjacks ready to take credit?

We are not given honorary degrees by our higher authority without working. We are what we create, not what someone else creates for us. We can’t delete our karma because we don’t want it and inherit someone else's. We have to dig the holes and we have to fill them. We don’t get a gold medal for running a marathon without stepping foot on the field? We have to run, sweat, have sore feet, be out of breath and when we see the finish line, get our second wind and cross it with pride and accomplishment.

We learn through action - not intent. When a film director yells, “Action,” it means that he wants the scene to start filming. That means the actors move, the chase ensues, the helicopters fly, etc. If he just yelled, “Intent,” nothing would happen. The actors would just stand there and wait. That’s why it is called a motion picture because everything moves.

Education in soul is motion. Moving our brain cells beyond the page and cultivating new ideas, different spins, and not being afraid to have an opinion even if it is not popular.

Put time into your real education, the one that reaps the best rewards - knowing that you have done your best job and perhaps getting an honorary degrees just for being honorable.