It’s, like, lower education – this is underground education, Sophia says. It’s an anti-university.
It’s about depth, Sophia says. It’s about being hidden. Just being allowed to do your thing. To pursue a thought for as long as it takes. To think the most important things.
They’ve gone underground to pose the really deep questions, Sophia says. To dwell with the fundamental books – ones it takes a lifetime to understand. Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Aquinas’s Treatise.
They have these study cells, Sophia says. The higher cells are for the more superficial subjects. The deeper ones for the more fundamental ones. And they go pretty fucking deep. And there’s a giant chasm at the heart of the campus, apparently. Like, some fissure.
The Abgrund, Helmut whispers.
Exactly! Sophia says. That’s what they call it! That’s where they go after they’ve read Schelling. And Heidegger’s lectures on Schelling. After they’ve read everything … The paragraduates –
Work in Progress 