Attending the University of Nebraska

For that year and the following summer, college held my full attention. The following year we moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where I entered the State University as a full-time student. But here, I find it strange once more, that a past experience has left me with so little to remember. I believe it was Carl Jung who said, "Nothing influences our lives less than our intellectual ideas." I am glad I allowed my subconscious room to work this out though, because some of what I am presently writing is quite interesting to me, even if it is not all that earth shaking to the reader. The point is: quite often, the story behind how we came to do something is more important than what we actually did. Then, too, following your life, step by step, from the inside to the outside is not only revealing, but extremely health giving. It has been long known that constipation or the accumulation of toxic waste in our physical body is not only harmful to our health, but also the major cause of many of our illnesses. The same is true of our minds, and personally, I tend to believe that all physical ills are preceded by some form of mental or spiritual illness. This is most definitely true in my present illness of C.O.P.D. or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

What does, then, influence our lives if neither college nor intellectual ideas have any lasting effect upon our permanent state of consciousness? I don't know, and frankly I have never thought about the subject in quite this way where I point blank asked the question—"what were the major influences in your life, and what role did college play in the drama?" It might be of interest for me to simply look back and search my mind for any remaining evidence of those days at the University.

The first thing I remember is how little it cost, back then, in comparison to what it costs today. I remember precisely, because as a married veteran I received $135 from the government, and that was enough to pay my tuition, buy my books, pay for an apartment, buy our groceries, and still go out on the town and get drunk. (Actually, I didn't drink very much or often at the university. I did smoke.) My wife says it doesn't seem possible, until you add up the facts—tuition, $80 per semester; books, $25 per semester; apartment, $35 a month; groceries, $15 a week.

The next thing I remember was the one time I cheated on my wife. It was with a girl at the music college. The affair only lasted one evening, so nothing terrible happened. Still, it is quite revealing that I should remember the event and not remember anything of real importance about the class we both attended. Like Carl Jung said, "Nothing influences us less than intellectual ideas."

Moving on, I can only remember one particular professor who taught, gave, me a valuable lesson that I have used over and over throughout life, and interestingly, it came in the form of a parable he told in an economics class. As I recall, it was a story about these islanders who lived in a tropical paradise, where all their needs and wants were given by nature in abundance.

Feedback Page

CONVERSATIONS

My Earliest Days

Recollections of WWII

Music Touches Me for the First Time

The Grand Island Experience

Individual and Collective Error

Pain - Notes