Education must lead us from the irresponsible opinion to true

The words of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe resound like the voice of an ancient sage, declaring not merely the duty of the teacher, but the very path by which humanity lifts itself from darkness into light. Education, he tells us, must lead us from the shadows of irresponsible opinion into the brilliance of responsible judgment. What is this but the eternal struggle of mankind? For the untutored mind clings to rumor and impulse, like a sailor lost in the fog, while the trained spirit learns to navigate by reason, discerning truth from falsehood, order from chaos.

This teaching springs not from idle speculation, but from the architect’s own soul. Mies, master of form and space, understood that just as a structure must rise upon sound foundations, so too must the mind be shaped upon the solid ground of discipline. To build without order is to heap stone upon stone without meaning; to think without judgment is to squander the very gift of reason. Hence he warns us against chance and arbitrariness, for these are the enemies of creation. Only through rational clarity and intellectual order does the human spirit ascend to its highest works.

Consider the story of the philosopher Socrates, who walked among the Athenians like a gadfly, questioning the unexamined opinions of men. His fellow citizens believed they knew what was just, what was noble, what was true. Yet when pressed, their words collapsed into contradiction. Socrates exposed the danger of opinion without discipline, and by leading them toward inquiry, he sought to guide them, as Mies describes, from materials—mere words and assumptions—through function—reasoned debate—unto creative work, the birth of wisdom itself.

And let us not think this principle belongs only to philosophy. The scientist who gazes through the lens must first master the elements of his craft. Galileo did not simply chance upon the stars; he disciplined his mind, ordered his experiments, and so his sight pierced the heavens. The painter too, before he dares creation, learns to hold the brush, to mix the pigments, to master light and shadow. Without discipline, the canvas is but chaos. With discipline, it becomes revelation.

Mies himself built according to this law. His buildings, austere and noble, rose from the principle that form must follow function, that clarity must govern material. He taught that architecture is not the indulgence of whim, but the harmonizing of stone, steel, and glass into a unity of purpose. In his vision, discipline did not shackle creativity—it liberated it. For when the student is led along the road of form and function, the spirit becomes free to create works of eternal beauty.

What lesson then shall we draw, O listeners of this teaching? That the soul must not linger in the ease of opinion, nor yield to the seduction of arbitrariness. Instead, it must submit to the fire of discipline, endure the long training, and walk the path of order. For only when the vessel has been shaped can it carry the divine flame of creativity. To leap into creation without training is to spill the fire and be consumed by it; to endure discipline is to hold the fire and illumine the world.

Therefore, let each one of us take this teaching into the fabric of daily life. When confronted with a problem, do not rush to the first thought that flickers in your mind. Train yourself to pause, to weigh, to reason. When faced with knowledge, do not scatter your attention upon fragments, but seek the order that binds them. And when you yearn to create—be it art, invention, or wisdom—first walk the humble road from material, through function, until you are ready to give birth to creative work.

In this way, we honor the wisdom of the ancients and the clarity of Mies. We rise above the realm of careless chatter and enter the kingdom of true builders—builders not of houses alone, but of judgment, of spirit, of civilization itself. And so, my friends, let us choose the path of clarity over chaos, of discipline over impulse, of creation over destruction. For in this lies the greatness of man, and the eternal triumph of the mind.