Ralston Essay: Quick Answers to Prompts.

• High Appetite for Deep Meaning
• Only cures I had found were prayer, reading great things, and work.
• So I tried to make my work, my quest for meaning through exposure to Culture, the acquisition of Skill, and the resulting creative fruit.

• I love Intensive Learning:
• VMA
• Latin Summer Self-Study
• I want to read the Great Works in their original languages.
• Latin and Greek are the first two I am trying to acquire as i read through American and English Literature.
• One part of this dream, that I always thought unfeasible would be to learn the languages and read their books in the places of their origin. This would give me the opportunity to study Ancient Greek in Greece.
• I love the values of Ralston. I love their taste. I have listened to many of the podcasts episodes. Every time I feel invigorated, fulfilled, and bettered. That is a much different feeling than I have left many of my university lectures with. Which is why I stopped going to class for the most part. And took on the challenge of Educating myself. I really look forward to laving some of my education in the hands of people whom I really trust.

• Reading many shallow self-help books: always oriented towards the goo and virtue and truth and beauty. Have always needed these things and hungered and thirsted for the, more than the other people around me.
• How to read a Book and Western Canon opened up a world of Great books to me.
• Iliad and Odyssey where the first books I read on my great books list. But I soon after decided even this wasn’t enough for me I wanted to read them all in their original languages too.
• This led me to finding the YouTube channel of Pr. Alexander Arguelles.
• Harold Bloom: Poet’s sculpt with meaning
• The Holy Bible
• Where I learned to Love to read deeply.
• Where I learned that words could fill one’s heart
• Where I got fluency in reading many literary genres.
• Where I began to love writing, whether my prayers, or my thoughts, feelings, and interpretations inspired by what I had just read.
• Emerson and Whitman
• Really gave me the freedom to trust my daemon and resolve to follow my interest and spark.
• Really helped me see that the formation of character is all that matters.
• Gave me a sense of pure power and good feeling that has invigorated me on my journey.
• Given me a faith in Fate in conjunction with Will.
• Has filled me with meaning more than anything in a season where I most desperate for it.

• Tell the story of my time at LSU.
• Language, Literature: Because every human must speak and communicate and I find these the thing I am most interested in. Wan to take Language to an art form.
• I want to do all basic human things exceptionally well.
• Art: Because I want to be an Artists
• I have much more breadth than depth and am sorry for it.
• Tell of my big intellectual projects that i have been thinking about in the background for many years:
• The Great Books List
• The basic Skills and Fields of Knowledge important to be taken to Arts for greatest human life experience List.
• Led to my intense study of Library Cataloging systems
• The Ultimate Common Place Book for maximum learning and creativity
• Led to my experimentations with notion To put all of this work into one easily navigable place. This has lead to Autodidact and my website.

What is your interest in and aptitude for pursuing this demanding graduate program?

I have high appetite for meaning. Words are meaning. I have found searching though the greatest things ever written I can find sustaining meaning.

Explain why the content, theme, or overall curricular approach is especially attractive to you.

I am somewhat obsessed with the concept of a classic education. I was introduced to this originally through Mortimer J. Adler’s How to Read a book. Also Harold Bloom’s Western Canon. But I was interested in this long before that too. In high school, I would listen to this podcast Interitas or something. I have always been interested in the ancient Romans and Greeks. I have always been interested in Ancient history. In high school I would constantly be reasearching great books list. I have always loved reading. It started with self-help but very soon afterward I already was recognizing that these books were much more shallow than the Bible I grew up on. I had a deep longing for meaning. I needed books of sufficient depth. It really does feel like this is the path I have always been on oddly enough.

Describe the formative aesthetic or intellectual experiences that have inspired your passion for the study of the humanities. If you describe such experiences, you are encouraged to be specific, identifying what particular works of philosophy, literature, art, or music have been meaningful for you, and why.

The Bible. Growing up on Biblical Literature I know this is what formed my love of reading and writing. To have words that impacted your life and filled you. To have words that could guide you and be applied. To have Poetry to speak to you current situation. Emerson and Whitman as of late. The Idiot was the first piece of Literature I kind of read after my decision to read great books. This didn’t satiate me because I felt it wasn’t good enough to read works not in their original form.

Give a clear sense of the breadth and depth of your various interests.

I really am just obsessed with understanding how to live a good life. A life of true wisdom. I am obsessed with discovering all the things that every human must do. Then doing those very well. These include diet and exercise. Relationships, work. Then, if every human must have a work I have been very obsessed with discovering my true calling.

This includes being an artist being a teacher. being creative. Reading great books and learning great language. So fitness language learning, reading, making videos as of right now.

Examples of significant academic or intellectual achievements.

The coolest things I think I have done in this regard is I helped make Professor Alexander Arguelles’ Youtube videos for 5 months.

Firm evidence of both your ability and determination to meet the considerable challenges that this program of study will entail.

Based off my academic record it may not appear that i have the work ethic or determination. But I do. Explain how I have always been determined to be a educator once after my first few semesters on campus I felt I wasn’t learning any of the things or values I wanted to learn. I reslved to never go to class and only do the bare minimum to pass. I resolved to educate myself and begin working on my own creative and self-educative projects. Talk about teaching Latin and building my ultimate reading list and stuff and how all of this has turned into my huge endeavor.. Autodidact.

Offer any other details that you consider relevant to your application, including how this degree will fit into your overall academic or professional trajectory, or how it will otherwise answer to your defining commitments, convictions, motivations, and—especially—aspirations.

Ralston’s values are perfectly in alignment with mine. Classic and respecting of the past, but not rigid and formal to the point of stagnation. Ralston is doing something new and creative and I am sure it will be successful because it is building on the rock of truth goodness and beauty. They are the only school other than Hillsdale which I believe I would want to be educated by right now. Ralston is one of the only school that I find to be doing interesting things.

It will fit into my overall educative scheme because it will help me learn and study and ancient Greek which is one of the languages I really desire to learn and am already studying a bit.

It fits because I am really after growth and challenge and learning things at a fast pace but still deeply. I like how Ralston’s prgram is only a year with the greek intensive section.

Secondly I really like ralstons taste. I can not say the same for my time at LSU i trust that all assigned work will be good for me and my soul. I trust Ralston as a guide for me through the world of culture. There taste very much alignes with mine and the self-educative curriculum I designed for myself will be accompplished further and enhanced by my time at ralston.

Despite my imperfect grades at LSU if you could see how I spent my time I am sure you would find it worthy of Ralston. i spent all of my hours in the library or or at Cafes reading great works and writing. and building my own creative visions. I was focused much more on building a wise and good foundation for a life here at lsu rather than making perfect grades. My formal education took a back seat to building my own vision for my self-education and creative projecs.

Since the study of the Greek language will be an integral part of the MA, you may also wish to describe your aptitude for the study of Greek, your successful acquisition of other second languages, or your interest in classical culture more broadly.

Talk about my time with linguag latina using the comprehensible input method, my familiarity with Athenaze and and my comfort pushing myself to learn classical unspoken langauges. My already familiarity woulf good ancient greek resources. and my comfort with the challenge of fast paced self-tuition in classical languages.

Finally, you are encouraged to include anything else you consider important to share with us.

I think if i share my latin experience.

My hate for learning bad things and so my desire to teach myself.

I am always trying to experiement and be on the cutting edge learning the things I want to leanr in the best ways.

Talk about my experience with VMA.

My time working for Alexander Arguelles.

My irreverence for Institutions and my goals simply to learn the best things in the best ways.

I think Ralston will perfectly align with my values and ambitions.

The hand of Fate in my life. How when I first heard of Ralston I was in Landsace Architecture. I never thought I’d be graduating in Liberl Arts at the time. Now I feel that has given me the perfect preparation for Ralston because it gave me the opportunity to teach myself Latin in an intensive manner.

How I have gathered many of broad experiences in my time here at LSU, Premed, LAndcape, Engineering, Latin, Film. Mnay of travels through Europe and the states, and many great books read. All of this has made me a person with. a vibrant mind ready to do the deep and difficult thinking that RAlston will requie.