Humanities lead to wisdom
Albert Einstein said, "When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking." One of the brightest scientific minds in history valued fantasy, perhaps more than his great powers of observation and logic which led to the theory of relativity and other basics of modern science.
Perhaps he was saying that higher thinking requires both. In this age of incessant, instant, but unverified information and declining readership, that's less obvious than it once was. The brain like any other body part atrophies from lack of use. Einstein expressed that "use," to be efficient, meant all aspects of thinking.
Yes, science and math are vital subjects. They provide the foundations not only for knowledge, but how to acquire more. The process of logical thinking works best when one is conscious of each step and skillful at testing them.
OK; so we have knowledge. What to do with it? Enter the humanities (Einstein's fantasy, a.k.a., creativity) and voila: knowledge can become wisdom.
Call them all expressions of life, but literature, psychology, history, religion, jurisprudence, philosophy, and the arts - learning in these areas makes knowledge useful. They provide breadth for analysis: what it's worth; what can or should be done with it, and why.
A good story in any medium is more than entertainment. It expands life experience beyond the individual's world into a universe limited only, as Einstein suggested, by the reaches of fantasy.
Einstein wasn't the only scientist who understood the humanities' value. In the Canadian Arctic, government scientists now rely on (surprisingly accurate) traditional Inuit stories to supplement weather predictions data in a changing climate.
"With the Inuit, it's much more of an experiential issue, and I think that fundamental difference brings a completely different emphasis both in defining what the important scientific questions are, and discerning how to address them," University of Colorado researcher Elizabeth Weatherhead told Science Daily in April 2010.
Experiencing life, truly experiencing what we learn as we learn it, is no less vital to wisdom than are calculus and chlorophyll. Data are the seeds; logical analysis, the nurturing soil; but without the breadth of the sun's perspective, there is no growth. In the humanities lies perspective, a skill which takes a lifetime study to develop.
The founding legislation for the National Endowment for the Arts grants (e.g., the Idaho Humanities Council, whose annual Coeur d'Alene dinner is Friday) in 1965 stressed "democracy demands wisdom and vision in its citizens." Wisdom and vision are increasingly difficult to gain in a society where conclusions are made from blogs, scanned headlines of Google searches, and Facebook posts; where opinions are formed in less than five minutes and based on opinion.
In such a world it takes a determined effort to develop wisdom.
Sholeh Patrick, J.D. is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. E-mail sholehjo@hotmail.com