School: Learning-Park
This School's Home Register First! Student: Enroll in Class Student: Enroll in WebCourse Lookup Password How to use this Site Search Resource Links Contact This School's Director Classroom Tools List Learning-Park Mission Learning-Park Journal		OUR MISSION: Realization of the Possibility of Becoming Human Many adults are coming to the understanding that the possibility of Becoming a Human Being is completely fulfilled by neither God nor Nature. For many people of Faith, the freedoms that coincide with life seem to implicate acceptance of responsibility and achievement of self-mastery. For those who ground themselves in Science, nature seems to develop man to a certain point of physical, emotional, and intellectual development--but no further. At that point, a partially-developed "persona" must begin to Become Herself/Himself if fulfillment as a Human Being is to be experienced. Invariably, this requires expenditure of differing sorts of effort. In other words, Becoming Human is not automatic; Work is required. Such work, we assert, is the foundation of Education. Conventionally, educational institutions have not presented the possibility of conscious evolution to those in their stewardship. Socialization (often confined to enculturation and "making-a-living") might be said to have been education's primary foci. Little attention has been given to the cultivation, first, of a balanced personality, and second, to refinement of Being. As evidenced by increasing interest in "self-help" teachings, adults are embarking upon various paths that promise achievement of fulfillments that are often so neglected during the course of ordinary schooling. Invariably, these self-help teachings initially involve the clearing of psychological obstacles to clarity; next, active energizing and balancing of various capacities (physical, emotional, mental) are sought; finally, continuous abidance in Purposeful, Self-initiated Being is attempted. Presentations of opportunity within each field of human endeavor, experimentation with techniques, and guidance through obstructing barriers are the stuff of which true education is made. Here, at Learning-Park.com, we acknowledge and support each field of human endeavor. Whereas we may speak of education as a "sprititualizing" process, we release spiritual sublimation from the proprietorship of religion. Moreover, we begin our work of personality-cultivation, -balancing, and -sublmation during childhood, within a developing framework of assessment of both suitability and ability. In all cases, we replace indoctrination with experimentation and verification. Whether as children or adults we center our attention on discoveries, disciplines, and vocations associated with "Authentic Interest." Authentic Interest is a term that goes to the questions: "Why am I here? What is the purpose of my life?" Assessment and nurture of Authentic Interest is lifelong, and never conclusive. Eventually, discrimination must be made that distinguishes between ordinary likes-affections-affinities, prurient attractions, and Authentic Interest. Authentic Interest always implicates successive and balanced engagements in the disciplines of action, restraint, and relaxation. Here, we attempt to continually assess Authentic Interest, and then try to provide "Learning Opportunities that Fit." We claim, with no inclination to justification, that Authentic Interest is ever revealed as more-beautiful, more-good, more-true, more-fulfilling, and more-creative. Similarly, we claim that Authentic Interest is evident when the sense of self ever-extends—through stages of identification with personal ego, with family, with group, with nation, and with humanity as a whole. We trust that as one assembles attention around Authentic Interest, attention is paid more often and more enjoyably. As the duration and quality of attention increases with respect to suitable "Objects of Attention," mastery increases. Eventually, Mastery leads to a sincere consideration of Self. Such consideration may lead to a Self-Realization that surpasses sensation, feeling, and thought.