In the early history of the US, a University education consisted largely of studying "the classics", which were the greatest and most influential books know at the time. While this tradition has noticeably decreased, I would like to ask the people of PM what they would consider a "Classical education" today. That is, what are the indispensable pieces of literature that have been published in the past 4 or so centuries? The ultimate goal of this thread is to construct a list of books that would comprise a modern-day classical education through literature.

William Blake - The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

This was written about 2.10 centuries ago, about moving away from the orthodox institutions, and into the true, unsoiled mystical experience.




The fox provides for himself, but God provides for the lion.
Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.
He who has suffer'd you to impose on him knows you.
As the plow follows words, so God rewards prayers.
The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.
Expect poison from the standing water.
You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.
Listen to the fools reproach! it is a kingly title!
The eyes of fire, the nostrils of air, the mouth of water, the beard of earth.
The weak in courage is strong in cunning.
The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow, nor the lion, the horse, how he shall take his prey.
The thankful reciever bears a plentiful harvest.
If others had not been foolish, we should be so.
The soul of sweet delight, can never be defil'd.
When thou seest an Eagle, thou seest a portion of Genius, lift up thy head!
As the catterpiller chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys.
To create a little flower is the labour of ages.
Damn, braces: Bless relaxes.
The best wine is the oldest, the best water the newest.
Prayers plow not! Praises reap not!
Joys laugh not! Sorrows weep not!

I think a part of what he is getting at (as he goes into in plate 10) "Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius."
As he says in plate 9, the Eagle is the genius, as would be the lion, apple tree, and horse. They do not institutionalize and restrain the expansive growth of the individual God Seed, or improve the system as some would call it, but instead they just flow with it (The Universe).
This is a very important thing for man to understand as Consciousness evolves. To be not self-determined because the moment you become self-determined you become other-determined, building a wall (reason) on your line of "logic" making a me vs everything that is not me situation.

The secret is to become Pan(spanning across)-determined. To live without reason, and just go with the flow. Don't worry about excess, just do it.
You live, you learn, you flow.

There are thousands of other ways to interpret that I'm sure.

Dictionary of the History of Ideas