A Mind of Europe ****************************************************************************************** * A Mind of Europe ****************************************************************************************** Lukas De Coster (who wrote the following essay to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Er is an Erasmus student of Literature from the University of Leuven in Belgium. During the s of 2016/2017, he has been hosted by the Faculty of Arts at Charles University. His first e Erasmus took place in Dublin, Ireland. Here he pays tribute to the idea of Europe becoming education. Historically this was through the common use of the Latin language between scho shared idea of humanistic education joining the inhabitants of the Old Continent together, modern world has influenced the establishment of the Erasmus programme.      Being a Western Literature student, I have always hoped for a reunification of the Europea that existed long before the European Union came into being. Indeed, before the political which Europe has today, there was a much broader European tradition defined by Latinity. O on the times when there was no Schengen, of times before borders had to be crossed when tr European mainland, a period where society praised each other’s follies instead of drawing because of them. These times are not known to those of the 21st century living in a much m European continent. And what is worse, the separating of the continent throughout history the presence of the ‘mind of Europe’, a philosophy that has always been present and of whi remnants in the great works that form the European literary canon. It is because of this t literature student; to be able to feel as part of the European whole, rather than the inha its fragments. I was born in Belgium, and raised with the idea that I was a Belgian. In school we learnt and our teachers expected us to be able to apply this to a greater European context. Of co was valuable and we felt proud of our brave little Belgium’s history. Yet to me this was, the essence of what history should teach us. Also, the problem is not confined to the clas educational system is based upon a nationalistic conception of the European land. In geogr learns every European country and capital, in religion courses each country’s dominant rel taught, in language courses we focus on the language of one specific country: “French is t of France and in the UK they speak English”. As such, we typically still connect languages – an outdated conception which also serves to promote neo-nationalism, the biggest threat Europe is confronted with today. The ‘mind of Belgium’ amongst Belgian inhabitants is the constructions, which are rooted deeply in educational systems, society and, distressingly, The construction of ‘minds of Germany’, ‘minds of Greece’, ‘minds of the Czech Republic’, Sweden’, inherently causes a deconstruction of the ‘mind of Europe’ that once existed amon its inhabitants. Reconstructing the European mind might seem a utopian undertaking, but, in fact, there hav prominent scholars that have tried to stimulate European thinking by reconstructing a Euro tradition. In this regard, Erich Auerbach, Ernst Robert Curtius and T. S. Eliot have been figures.  Whereas Auerbach in his ‘Mimesis. The Representation of Reality in Western Liter Curtius in his ‘European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages’ sought to harmonize Europea indicating that European countries have a shared literary tradition, T. S. Eliot’s‘In Memo James’ claimed that “It is the final perfection, the consummation of an American to become Englishman, but a European – something which no born European, no person of any European n become”. Although Eliot had a shared agenda with Auerbach and Curtius when it came to reco European tradition, he expressed pessimism – usually stemming from the aftermath of the Fi of European reunification. As an American expatriate, he did not experience the shattering politics that divided Europe to the core and therefore, he claims, it would be possible fo a European, which would be a consummation to him, a final perfection. He imagined himself European than the Europeans. This perception is quite unsettling perhaps for it hints at a our common grounded roots. The question then arises whether the recent past weighs so much return to a mind of Europe has become insurmountable. Indeed, the leap seems large, maybe unachievable. But Europe has been taking measurements individuals have the opportunity to feel European, rather than Italian, Dutch, Croatian or The European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (Erasmus), for i to restore the European mind and bears the name of one of the greats of the time in which unified through Latinity. Interestingly, literary scholar Harold Bloom, in the appendices Western Canon. The Books and School of the Ages’, categorizes Desiderius Erasmus of Rotter 1467–1536) as a German writer. Bloom, using nationalities for his categorization, had to ‘ because the map of Europe did not look the same as it does today in the times of the famou However, the choice for Germany seems to be somewhat arbitrary. Erasmus was born in contem died in contemporary Switzerland and wrote in Latin. It would be a hasty conclusion, howev Bloom for a flawed categorization, because, as a matter of fact, it is simply very difficu Erasmus into a certain nation, proving that he was a European and not a German, Dutchman, whichever other European nation’s inhabitant. Especially for the last two centuries, Europeans have not been particularly good at embody Nationalism in the 19th century led to fragmentation and decline of the European mind and national self-determination is getting increasingly dominant on the continent. I refuse to individual must just accept this political development; one has the power to construct the mind, in which the fragments can coalesce again to form a whole. For me personally, a Euro goal of my first Erasmus exchange to Dublin, and remains the intention during my second Er Prague. This has resulted from, and greater motivated my readings of the greatest European Erasmus, even Shakespeare and Goethe. These are writers that not only attributed to cultur with a country; they transgress the limitations of borders and contribute to a common, sha culture. As this cry for a reunified Europe has included ideas such as a European literary canon, a for a shared European culture, and hence an implicit exclusion of all those who were born Europe, some readers might confuse my conceptions with Eurocentrism. My future vision of t not involve an exportation of culture, however, nor does it include any hierarchical world hint at a unified whole that is in constant communication with the rest of the globalized simultaneously consisting of an assembly of cultures whilst contributing to an overarching essentially multicultural and should sustain this identity – without forgetting the shared culture that has always existed. It is exactly this identity that should provide us with t required to be in that constant communication with the rest of the world; not as separate whole, but as a unified whole. Similarly, the European citizen, in embracing his or her ‘E will transgress national citizenship and become part of the greater whole. European citize essentially an intermediate step for every European to become an inhabitant of the globali For students, the Erasmus exchange is one of the best opportunities to enable them to feel although the programme has expanded and students are no longer restricted within only the the European message remains as strong as ever. It is for this reason I encourage my fello to take part in the programme. I tell them that they, just like me, will see how much Euro culturally. I tell them how inspiring the encounters with other Europeans will be and in d trying to contribute to the spread of the European message. But today we celebrate. We cel of developing European minds. Minds that, consciously or unconsciously, will decide on the common culture, our shared background. And in the meantime, I can only leave the reader my a deeply rooted identification with the land I inhabit; it is the final perfection, the co European to become… a European. Lukas De Coster