Immanuel Kant taught that enlightenment was a process, not a state, namely the process of thinking for oneself, and therefore living autonomously without submitting yourself to group-think and conformity with all those around you.
Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance from another…..Sapere Aude! (dare to know)….. Have courage to use your own understanding, that is the motto of the enlightenment.
This has to be what Epicureanism is about – – to think for yourself, to question the views of pundits and political leaders, and to be sufficiently well informed to be able to hold your own in any debate of discussion. Education in both the U.K and the U.S is no longer about this; it is about reaching practical benchmarks and achieving grades. The best way of getting those grades is to regurgitate the stuff you hear in class or in lectures. there are no (maybe that’s too strong – few) incentives to think original thoughts.
My parents were screaming about something every day. They are unhappy and still are. The best gift we can give our kids is a happy marriage which of course takes a lot of work. I think understanding how each of the parents lives were affected by childhood negatively and figure out where the bad behaviors come from is helpful. I know my husband and I can’t say well this is what my parents did in this situation because neither one of us had the appropriate example. I try very hard not to scream or yell at my family. I am responsible for my own happiness and not the kids or my husband. I think date nights with my spouse and keeping us first before the kids has really made a difference. As long as we stay away from trying to make the kids happy, things seem to go well. Otherwise the marriage suffers when its a child centered family. I wish my husband would be open to talking more about how we both need to handle things together instead of separately. We are a team and that’s hard to do when your spouse is used to doing everything without anyone elses advice or guidance. There is always something I am praying about.