Education is that process by which thought is opened out of the soul, and, associated with outward…things, is reflected back upon itself, and thus made conscious of its reality and shape.  It is Self-Realization…He who is seeking to know himself, should be ever seeking himself in external things, and by so doing will he be best able to find, and explore his inmost light.

~ Amos Brown Alcott, The Journals of Bronson Alcott, p. 43 (quoted in Bauer, The Well Educated Mind, p. 43)