San Marcos High School - Crown and Sceptre Yearbook (Santa Barbara, CA)

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L Wise-Old Man Myth:Dealing With Life Life, for many, is an overwhelming journey - complex beyond recognition, and characterized by problems without forseeable solutions and actions without purpose. Ideally, students are taught in school to learn facts, figures, ideas and skills that will be of basic use to them in overcoming this complexity. That they sometimes don't recognize the aim of learning is understandable. Many classes have as their chief aim keeping students busy. On the other hand, students often do not want to learn the things that will help them handle the future. The wise are those who can see for themselves both this complexity and, in solving it, simplicity. Students and 't It .1 uw. gr,- niwbktraf , , ,- l l t l l l 1 t I l l l 1 I l l 1 Y' 1 wa-

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Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. -Tennyson Knowledge, when wisdom is too weak to guide her, is like a headstrong horse, that throws the rider. -Francis Quarles Ji-Ll .xg other people need a basis, somewhere to stand in order to gain a somewhat objective view of their world. Of great value is having a mentor, a personification of the mythic figure 'LThe Wise Man? For students, the teacher that is remembered is the one who, apart from instilling knowledge of a particular subject in his students, teaches them wisdom. Like Nestor in the Iliad, such a teacher is insightful and anticipates the problems of those he deals with. What must also be kept in mind, in Carl Jung's words, is to not pretend to understand the world only by the intellectg we apprehend it just as much by feeling. Therefore the judgment of the intellect is, at best, only the half of truth, and must, if it be honest, also come to an understanding of its inadequacy. The mythic figure of the wise man is aged to represent experience gained over the years. Jung would agree that simply living each day makes one wise in some way.