The School of the Free Spirit

I was reading an article about Frank Lloyd Wright and an item caught my eye. Wright and a Japanese collegue worked together on a girl's school in Japan called: The School of the Free Spirit...

Now, I'm not sure what the ciriculum was, not sure if the place lived up to the name, but I thought, it sure beats St. Joseph's, which was the name of the grade school where my budding little spirit was "tenderized."

My Catholic upbringing wasn't exactly Guantanamo Bay, but there was much pain and guilt and suffering and gnashing of teeth; at least allegorically. It became clear that something bad happened a long time ago, and somehow (oh the mystery!) I was responsible too, and someone was keeping track of all sins mortal and venial and one day (gasp!) there would be a Judgement.

Now I don't know if I ever really bought any of it...I do think I've developed a finely-honed conscience (maybe this is Sister Mary Aquanata's shining success!), but the guilt I now sometimes feel, is mainly for things I've done today or yesterday, not some existential guilt for crimes committed thousands of years ago...

Anyway, all of these thoughts emerged as a result of a conversation I had yesterday with a fellow-traveller, another "recovering Catholic," who carries many of the same scars from our experience at psychological/spiritual boot camp...

The School of the Free Spirit...this is the school I'm enrolled in now!