Pacifica Stories

Raphel's School of Athens, a masterpiece of Renaissance art located in Rome's Vatican Museum, depicts great thinkers of classical antiquity. In the center, we see Plato and Aristotle. Plato's hand is pointing upward, depicting the heavenly realm, while Aristotle's palm is down and extended out, depicting the physical world. At Pacifica, we look for answers in all places, both temporal and eternal. We are having a Great Conversation. 

The School of Athens, by Raphel

The Pacifica community is involved in the Great Conversation founded on the academic virtue of intellectual hospitality. It requires us to learn and engage the voices of the past and voices different from our own. Whether that be diverse authors from the ancient world, streams of thought from the 20th Century, or words of wisdom from grandparents, the key is to understand and soak in other points of view. It is common today to dismiss the voices of others. Voices not our own or voices of the past are often dismissed as old, wrong, or offensive. It is not to say all voices or older voices are always correct; they often miss the mark. However, there is great value to other voices. There is a standard of truth that exists, and we must pursue it wherever it may be found. Often, we find what is true, good, and beautiful outside of ourselves. As we humbly listen to others and practice intellectual hospitality, our community displays a key academic virtue necessary for growth. Humility and the ability to listen are necessary for learning. Without these attributes, we are talking to ourselves and are closed off from learning. We call it intellectual hospitality or intellectual charity. It is a key academic virtue at Pacifica and sets the stage for what we do. It is essential in honoring others and developing our own voices.

Too often, we practice, as C.S. Lewis puts it, chronological snobbery, whereby we dismiss anything that comes before and anything that is not ours. In the Great Conversation, we first listen to the words of Plato, Christ, St. Augustine, St. Monica, William Shakespeare, Mary Wollstonecraft, Abraham Lincoln, Friedrich Nietzche, Karl Marx, Dorothy Sayers, and Zora Neale Hurston, among others, seeking to understand while crafting our own voices. Pacificans pursue truth without fear. We engage in all ideas in an attempt to be fair-minded and intellectually honest and gain from those who are further ahead. This approach equips us with the intellectual tools to engage all of life and flourish. We are not seeking agreement but truth. As we charitably engage, listen, honor, and think, perhaps we might contribute something of our own voice to the Great Conversation.

A few years ago, a Pacifica student who was strong in Christian faith went off to UC Berkeley. After the first year, he called me to let me know that he was thankful for his Pacifica education. He told me that both of his freshman roommates were atheists. At Pacifica, he had read and studied the works of prominent atheists Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzche, & Sigmund Freud. All seniors take a class in modern philosophy where they essentially walk through the ideas of atheism. It is not our goal to promote atheism but for our students to engage and understand a strain of thought in our society. While he was taking modern philosophy, he was also taking a class focused on St. Augustine's Confessions. He was getting both sides of the conversation: Theism and Atheism. His roommates were astonished that, as a Christian, he had read works counter to his position and that they were familiar with. They were also a bit embarrassed that they hadn't read any Christian works. They asked the Pacifica alum for a list of works they could read that would give them the Christian perspective. He shared Augustine, Lewis, and more. That year at Berkeley, in a dorm room with new friends, they had robust conversations about important topics in life. It was fair, honoring, robust, and good. They learned more from each other without necessarily agreeing. It was charitable and honoring. It was a Great Conversation.