II 19I liked it so much in college when my Modernism class and my Mysticism class started to meld. Though we discussed Modernism in at least three of my English classes, I had yet to pinpoint the essence of the era for me. It wasn't just esoteric or pedantic; it wasn't encased solely in those five dollar words that I still have to look up to make sure I get their flavors just right. In studying some Christian, Jewish, and Hindu mystical texts and doing a little soul-searching at a new church, and reading a bit of Robert Pirsig, I suppose, I figured out what I could finally consider the most important and vital part of Modernism. It was all about the distance between subject and object. Is our reality subjective or objective or both or neither? What exists beyond that? It brought me back to semiotics and semantics from a previous class. What makes a thing? How can one define something. Does everything have to be dichotomous, a proton and an electron? Must everything have an opposite or an inverse? Or can something just be (but then it reverses and not to be). I'd be interested to see a culture whose language has no signifier for negation. How do they live? How do they think? Yeah, everybody's gotta eat, maybe have two sticks to rub together and a place to stay out of the sun and the rain. But how do they interact? How do they see the differences between people, the Ons and Offs? Or do they see that we're all just varying shades of gray. Our differences certainly make us beautiful and unique, and "there would not be a perfect likeness of God in the universe if all things were of one grade of being" (Aquinas). Must these differences be dwelled upon in negative lights, or are those lights just consequences of the Knowledge? Do our binary brains come from The Great Fall or Sin or knowledge? Discerning can be a great tool, but to what end. Thinking helps us to survive to a point, and it sometimes helps us to enjoy the world we're in. I've said it (and many things) before: one cannot both Think and Feel at the same time. Just as one cannot Think and Be at the same time. At what point do we truly meditate, contemplate, Just Be?
So... that was the culmination of my undergraduate experience. That and some Kick-Ass friendships.
Comments (8)
I'm not absolutely certain, but does not the word "sin" come from the Latin, which comes from the Greek and from a word meaning "error". I prefer the word "error", because it allows for the frailty of being human. I don't think the Fall from Grace as a single event happening in some paradise lost, but an individual one, experienced by each in a moment when the ego takes over and errors quite overrule. I see the return of Grace as a moment when the ego is laid waste before the Mystery~and acknowledgement of the Mystery is the first step in releasing expectation and Just Being. We can find out many things about the workings of the Mystery as a species, but in the end, the Mystery remains.
I blather. Too much Chai this night. Great post~
Blessings~
Also, that photo is pretty nice.
You took more from your undergrad than so many people I have known. You took it into your own life and consciousness in a meaningful way. I am told that is what successful learning is but so rarely does it seem to manifest. It is great to read.
You do provoke thoughts about what I m currently teaching too. The philosophy class so far has dealt this concept in terms of perceptions and how we perceive but not so far as into what actually is. We'll get there I hope at least a little.
My friend who does a Sunday Buddhist meditation tells me that it is the specific point of the meditation to "just be." I have not thought hat I have the patience, but you get me thinking it might just be worth a try.
Dear Emily,
This is not at all like any of the other entries, and that's why I like it. I almost want to get started with a philosophical discussion. When I was in college, I took far too many English lit classes. (the comaparative lit courses were the best) and while I did take a bit of psychology and sociology, I never got into philosophy, or religion. I studied on my own later in life, but sometimes I miss the fact that I wasn't involved with a good set of friends discussing philosophical conundrums. Thinking always gets in the way of pure emotion, but it also counters it and helps to stop pure emotion from causing lots of problems in society and life.
Thank you for participating.
Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool