Eduction (also known as Edux) is a Theory of Humanity, Awareness and Reality that was developed by the physicist, Dr. Kent D. Lawson.
Dr. Lawson was concerned with what he saw as the rapid de-humanization of man, and he wanted to help people lead richer, more fulfilling and satisfying lives. To that end he developed his theories from processes he had developed and used for himself personally, and in his physics endeavors.
As Eduction (Edux) is not merely a simple, pop-culture answer to the complex issues of life, it’s not really easy to give a definition of it. Dr. Lawson was loathe to give definitions for it himself, explaining, rather, that it had to be experienced. Most definitions, even Dr. Lawson’s own versions of them, tend to be descriptions rather than outright definitions.
On this website, I will try to say as little about Eduction as I can, and instead quote Dr. Lawson as much as possible. That way I will not dilute the original material too much.
I will try to talk about the history of Edux, and how I came to put this site up, for anyone who is interested. That will be on other pages, or maybe on the blog.
Unfortunately, Dr. Lawson is no longer with us to guide me further with this website, but we worked on the Idea of it for years together, and I hope I can do him justice by using his words to help us understand what is essentially wordless.
In his own words, from a letter to a colleague:
Actually, there can be no definition of Eduction for me, it arose and developed out of a series of experiences that go back to early childhood. At least some of those experiences involved resistance to what I now call hyperrationalism and dehumanization, along with the realization that I was aware of ways anybody could avoid hyperrationalism, decrease dehumanization, enhance creativity, make contributions, and encourage and help others to do the same. Please understand that I’m saying this poorly, because by its very nature, it cannot be well said or described. It has to be experienced.
None the less, there were instances where Dr. Lawson attempted more of an explanation than a definition:
Preliminary Theory of Self-Eduction
by Kent D. Lawson
The term, eduction, derives from educere, meaning to lead out (in contrast to education-from educare, meaning to train), and now has the connotation of being a process of leading out that which is inherently inside another. We lead ourselves out, i.e., we become self-educting, when we make certain kinds of responses to our own emotions and perceptions, especially when our feelings or percepts differ from our own or others’ expectations. Each flash or prolonged surge of anger, frustration, embarrassment, depression, or other inner turmoil becomes an opportunity – an opportunity for growth of ourselves and for the growth of others, if we have learned how to use basic procedures of self-eduction. The same procedures can be used deliberately to motivate and enable us to work and live more effectively, whether we are students or teachers, wage-earners or volunteers, accomplishing more, with a greater sense of well-being and of satisfaction that we are worthwhile and that our lives do have a desirable impact.
The use of eductive procedures requires pre-eductive practice with the procedures in trivial cases, next, preliminary application of the procedures to our own interests, activities, and problems, and finally, the enablement of the self-eduction of others by means of our unique characteristics and abilities. The procedures, when applied to the academic field of physics, have led to an eductive theory of the physical world. When the procedures have been applied to the processes of the procedures themselves, an eductive theory of man has resulted. Using the two eductive theories together has generated a self-eductive theory of the universe–of the natural processes that go on within man, within the world, and between man and the world; and of the relationship between volitional eductive procedures and the natural processes. Knowledge of the theory–eduction theory, or self-eduction theory-is not necessary for elementary use of eductive procedures but is requisite for advanced use.
All of the eductive procedures are private mental manipulations that are either wordless or are various combinations of verbal and nonverbal mental activity. Pre-eductive practice in wordless mental manipulation begins with the registration of present perceptions and emotions, continues with the recall and the reliving of past perceptions and emotions, moves on to imagined perceptions, and ends temporarily with the imagined perception and feeling of one’s self in a variety of past, future, and present situations – one learns to see himself objectively at the time he is involved in a situation.
Pre-eductive practice of wordless mental activity opens the way to the preliminary practice of nonlogical and partly wordless alternation, correlation and reconstruction of concepts. Once the nonverbal bases of the conceptual and the un-rational development of the rational are realized, practice of pre-eductive inquiry and pre-eductive synthesis is possible.