VISION STATEMENT: Integral Education for a New Man and a New Humanity
The Kolbe Foundation was incorporated in 1997 as a non-profit educational foundation committed to integral education and to a new humanism, that is, to a new man and a new humanity.
NEW MAN
By new man, we mean each individual person formed in the image of God and cognizant of this dignity. A new man is one who is in communion with others because he is first in communion with God and himself. He is fully aware of his vast human potential and has respect for the freedom he has to develop this potential in a life long pursuit of happiness.
A new man is one who stands in awe of the vast cosmos a panorama displayed for the joy of his senses and the challenge of his intellect. Over and above this vast panoply; he stands even more in awe of his own human nature and therefore seeks to know himself.
In the process of self knowledge he becomes aware of his unique composition as a being with body and soul having vast physical and spiritual potential related to the mystery of who each one is as a human person made in the image of God but requiring an unfolding in the continual and integrated process of human growth and development.
A new man is a loving person who has knowledge and understanding of his human nature. This knowledge begins with his anatomical structure and physiological processes. He masters and enjoys the experience of his emotional life and understands the relationship it has to his mental and spiritual life. He is aware of his powers for memory, imagination, rational thought and the volition of his will. He understands the the interiorization of culture and socio-cultural development as well as the need for political participation as fundamental parts of human development.
In short, a new man is an integral being composed of physical, emotional, spiritual, volitional, socio-cultural, political and aesthetic parts properly balanced and united in an integral whole appreciative of the freedom to pursue happiness.
NEW HUMANITY
The freedom for pursuit of happiness is almost meaningless without a new humanity or a concomitant socio-cultural system in symbiosis with man’s physical and spiritual needs. By this we mean political and economic structures directed by constitutional laws based on the deepest truths about man and society. They, therefore promote participation, provide a living wage, and assure the universal distribution of property and the opportunity for all people to freely pursue their human destiny.
On the horizons of the 21st century we find an alienated and expectant humanity ready and looking for change. Realizing that the twentieth century culminated with the dissolution of socialism/communism and with liberal capitalism severely weakened by an increasingly unsustainable debt and an even greater lack of confidence in the liberal market, world leaders are looking for alternative social structures more in tune with promoting the dignity of the human person.
Thus, a new humanity is a diverse and united global community providing political and economic justice necessary for authentic human development. The two, new man and new humanity necessarily go together; one is not conceivable or sustainable without the other. It is with this understanding of integral humanism that we advocate a new educational paradigm: integral education.
INTEGRAL EDUCATION
The Kolbe Foundation is committed to a new and integral humanism which requires as a corollary a new and integral education which endeavors to properly understand and contribute to the unfolding of human potential and authentic human development including each of its fundamental parts: intellectual, moral, physical, cultural, social, aesthetic, and spiritual.
BROWSING THE WEBSITE
The Kolbe Foundation is itself an integral educational foundation based on sound educational theory and practice. We are concerned with philosophical principles but never in isolation from application in the real world of educational practice.
However, if we do not get our educational theory correct we are bound to go wrong in educational practice. Consequently you will find both philosophical and practical educational materials on this site.
Every school and college requires a curriculum. In this regard, The Kolbe Foundation has developed The Greatest Books of World Civilization as a program of adult education and as a suggested core reading for a Catholic liberal arts college program.
THE GREATEST BOOKS
The Greatest Books are a compilation of 101 of the world’s greatest authors. The books represent a life long learning program consisting of knowledge garnished from the world’s greatest teachers comprising a universal sum of acquired wisdom.
Supplemented by Great Books
