For my weekly writing spot on this site, see the One-Minute Mystic, with a new meditation posted every Monday. Also see The Village, the story of Misty Longings, England's most beautiful village, posted episode by episode earlier this year.       Free schools?     Free school dinners used to speak of poverty; now they speak of adventure. But how just free are our new free schools? The Russian emigré P.D. Ouspensky once wrote a book called Tertium Organum. It's possible you haven't read it. It translates as The Third Canon of Thought and was an ambitious work claiming to be 'a key to the enigmas of the world'. After it was published, Ouspenky showed it to his mentor the colourful G.I. Gurdjieff, who responded with this remark: 'If you understand everything you have written in your book, I take my hat off to you.' It sounds like a compliment at first, but on reflection – and knowing Gurdjieff a little - I sense it's something else. The suggestion between the lines is that even though Ouspensky knew it all, he probably didn't understand it all – and it's understanding that matters. The wider implication of Gurdjieff's words is that knowing and understanding are two different activities, which made me think of the government's passion for free schools. On the knowing level, it's all tremendously exciting. Fearless faith groups, passionate parents, terrific teachers and tried and tested trusts freed at last to follow their dreams. What's not to like? And at such short notice – some only given the go-ahead in July – oh, what a summer! The search for premises in ex-libraries and church halls; the smell of wet paint as decorators moved in; the ordering of books and the laying of carpets as the clock ticked towards September 5th. And would the interactive whiteboards arrive before the first child stepped onto the fresh door mat? But excitement at the knowing level is never enough. If exciting educational ideas were the future, our education system would be flying high. We are not short of bright people with stimulating ideas about the education of children – and a good number are currently heads in the state system. Of training days with inspirational speakers, there is no end! But ultimately, ideas must live not in the sky but on the ground and this is where their power fades. On the ground, where daily we need to cope with our odd selves and with other damaged people, knowledge counts for nothing and understanding, for everything. And though free schools might be free from local authorities, they are not free from this awkward human factor. Beyond the smoke and mirrors of their declared wish 'to drive up educational standards,' the government's serious intent with free schools is ideological: to further diminish the power of local authorities and the unions. Riding on the back of this intent, local groups with various agendas have seized the day and set off on their own adventures. Good luck to them all. And good luck to the state schools who've been sweating over the educational hot plate for rather longer. If they understand what they profess knowledge of, then I take my hat off to them. More writings © Simon Parke