8. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z WHILE NL culpable of wrongdoing 2 UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Monday, November 13, 1967 Knowledge not enough This is the land of instant knowledge. Here we have books and teachers storing the world's most advanced technical knowledge. Both impart only that: knowledge. The Free University's cry is this: Let us learn. They ask not to be programmed, but to learn the manner of learning. And is this less than fair to youths coping with sophistication? Is there nothing new under the sun for us? We live as sophisticates. And soon that is our identity. Everything is relevant, everything is knowable, and the value plane levels off. In The Preacher's perspective of ages, perhaps not. But for each individual, synthesis of the world's knowledge is a personal frontier. The superficial world is being revolutionized, day by day. Change is the watchword. For we live in a highly explosive age—the ages' impossible is within grasp, the end of ages not impossible. And the more we know, the more we are certain of nothing. "Mental illness is as common nowadays as a cold," they say. "Know thyself," the Greeks advised. "Broaden your mind; be an individual," the hippies say. "The best discovery is the discovery you make for yourself," Ham Salsich says. "The blessed life is rejoicing in the truth," Augustine said. "God is dead;" the sophisticates conclude. Where is truth? Where is wisdom? How many times do we find knowledge relevant to life, to experience in our lecture notes? How many times do we long to delve into an off-subject of significance only to us or to a few? "The Free University is enthusiastic," Salsich said. The classes are organized according to what the students and teachers want to talk about, to learn about. The Free University is joyful, idealistic, enthusiastic. Enthusiastic in a land where enthusiasm is reserved for football games. Once an elderly teacher, a spry, twinkling lady, exclaimed with a finger waving in the air, "What's wrong with today's youngsters is that they don't have enough time to build castles in the air." "The only realism is to be idealistic and then to work and hope till, by God, it becomes true," Salsich says. Yet how much idealism is there in facing the reality that people living in a dynamic society must have relevant educations to maintain their own stability? In the free mind, as in the Free University, knowledge is only the beginning.—Pat Prittt Letters to the Editor Hoax in Hoch To the Editor: I am referring to the film, Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out, which was shown in Hoch Auditorium on Nov. 9. Timothy Leary, the cellular saviour, working out of a very commercial bag, has turned out a colorful celluloid which belongs to the lower rung of cinematography. The production itself, relying heavily on the use of repetitive, superimposed, kaleidoscopical gimmickery, oozing liquid globules permeated by light, elongated or otherwise distorted phenomena and other notso-special effects, offered nothing new, except possible eye strain. However, such devices can be amusing in skilled hands. Since the lysergic launching pad is no stranger to erotic escapes, the appearance of a jeune fils san vetements, or at least semiclad, was in order, if not inevitable—a bit of salacious spice. The introduction of battle scenes followed by a display of military prowess, which today has special ramifications, was effective and, indeed, augmented the sophistry of Dr. Leary. Leary's lexicon, especially during the tense moments of inner travel was, without any mind-expanding, an illogical innumeration of terms gleaned from biology textbooks, science fiction novels, oriental chapbooks and religious data which came to him willy-nilly. With monstrous metaphors, baffling images and sensual symbols, Leary led us from the outer world to explore the inner world, to the source as it were. In theory. I must admit, it sounds attractive, for we are all explorers at heart. But exploration is an oversimplification, as is Leary's one-sided, semi-mystical description of the LSD trip. With this film he has taken the wind out of the psyche-delic sails. Walter Kolonosky Graduate fellow Letters to the Editor Ayn Rand hero in SDS? To the Editor: On pages 8 and 9, section B, of the Nov.3 issue of the UDK were interviews with three members of SDS. One of these people, Miss Kay Hedrick, claims to base her political and philosophical views on the philosophy of Ayn Rand. For the benefit of Miss Hedrick and of those who might be missed as the nature of Objectivism (Ayn Rand's philosophy) by Miss Hedrick's statements, I would like to point out a few errors in her thinking. "Ayn Rand's here's goal is reality," says Miss Hedrick. This statement does not make sense. The goal of Rand's heroes is their own happiness, which they achieve by never evading or faking reality in any manner. One does not seek to achieve reality. One identifies it and acts accordingly. Miss Hedrick claims that she found in the members of SDS "people who were the closest to the Ayn Rand heroes." I do not know any of the members of SDS personally, but I do know that no hero of Ayn Rand would sanction marching on the Pentagon with the goal of forcefully bringing it to a halt (at least not in today's context). An Ayn Rand hero would protest the draft on the grounds that is a most blatant abrogation of a man's right to his own life, so he would not protest it by using force. Miss Hedrick's major error is in thinking that a fully rational society would need no laws or law enforcement. There is no way in which she could integrate this belief with Objectivism. According to Rand: "... even a society whose every member were fully rational and faultlessly moral could not function in a state of anarchy" ("The Virtue of Selfishness," p. 112). Man needs objective laws and an arbiter for honest disagreements, and this necessitates the establishment of government. As for Miss Hedrick, I suggest that she check her premises and re-think her position. I sincerely think that she is doing herself and the philosophy of Ayn Rand an injustice by maintaining her present position. As for anyone who may be interested in or confused by this matter, I refer them to the works of Ayn Rand. Glenn Sutherland Highland senior Newsroom—UN 4-3646 --- Business Office—UN 4-3198 Published at the University of Kansas daily during the academic year except holidays and examination periods. Mail subscription rates: $6 a semester. $10 a year. Second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kan. 66044. 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