Here's how I understood Eben's cryptic aphorism: The image of who you might be becoming is more important than the reality. You will become something you can envision rather than something you want to be. I think the key word here is "envision". It's as if we're striving for some ideal that isn't our own and we don't really understand but we can kind of visualize. Some sort of life where we wear the perfect suit and do big important things for big important clients. Perhaps Prof. Bobbit (for those of us that had him for Legal Methods) will introduce us to his class some day in the future: "Here is Patrick Cronin. He went to Columbia Law School. He was editor of the Law Review and graduated at the top of his class. He then went to work for... where he did really smart and important things". Perhaps this fuzzy image of what we could be is what Eben's mantra - "You have to know what you want, and how to get it" - is supposed to dispel. By coming here, we expose ourselves to the risk that we'll follow this mirage to god-knows-where, but if we went somewhere less prestigious we wouldn't have that opportunity and we could concentrate on what we want and how to get it.

The fuzzy image is certainly appealing to me - but from a purely practical perspective, I don't think that it does me any good. In fact, it mostly produces despair. I didn't go to Yale or Princeton, nor will I ever. My thesis was not directed by Richard Rorty. Charles Black was not my mentor. I'm already lagging far behind the image. But, if we do away with this image, then maybe we'll actually get down to doing something that has value in the world and is satisfying to us. I suppose that's why we need to clear ground before we can figure out what we each want to do.

On another topic, I too think that its a mistake for Columbia not to alert admitted students to the possibility of attending this course. When I came to the admitted students day I was already pretty sold on Columbia, but if I had sat in on this class I think I would have been even more sold on the idea. Sure, its not for everyone, and I think it would be a mistake to only offer this class as representative of most of the classes here - but there's no danger of that happening. As is it, I think that the fact that this class exists says something about Columbia that would be appealing to some admitted students. At the very least it shows that we are confident enough to criticize ourselves and that part of the 1L year is conducted in a healthy and vibrant intellectual environment. [Perhaps some of us would take issue with the "healthy" part of that last sentence, but it would be hard to argue that the class isn't "vibrant"].

-- PatrickCronin - 28 Mar 2009