Is the humanities really a luxury? The fact that we have the time or the "leisure" of critically exploring thought, is that something that we feel like we have to justify?
Why are the humanities important?
Behind the humanities is something soft and intangible. It is what drives civilization beyond the base. But can one really say that it is a luxury? But then again, isn't first-world civilization precisely that? We live in relative luxury, despite people having to work every day to get by. "Getting by" can still mean that we have food, shelter, running water, electricity, relative security, and, of course, an Internet connection.
Can we really get away with saying "it's important; you really can't see it"?
One of the best cases I've read on the defense for the humanities is that with the humanities, we would lose the ability to think critically. I think that by extension, because critical thinking is essential to survival, the humanities become essential.
Can the fight for equality, social justice, and all the problems of the world exist without the humanities? I would argue that the very movements that we go through stem from the thinking that is done in the humanities.
And yet...
Something about fighting for something intangible makes me uncomfortable. I feel like I'm grasping at straws, even if I know that they exist and they are important.
Society or perhaps the confines of my own mind has made me believe that somewhere and somehow, the things that I do and the things that I think are important to living are not "worth" it, that there is something fundamentally wrong with exploring the depth of nature, the mind, the human condition, the intellectual. Or whatever you want to call it. Or whatever you want to romanticize it to.
Whatever you may think "it" to be.
What is it that we do? What gives it meaning? What makes it important?
Does there have to be justification?
What is the use? Should there be a use? To say that it is simply an exercise of the rich is to forget that entire movements have been forged from these "idle" thoughts and explorations of the beautiful. Entire civilizations have changed and the very foundation of the way society works has been shaken.
And yet...
Perhaps I'm too stuck on the tangibly utilitarian. If the palpable output of the humanities is an argument that the people in the past have done things that were interesting or revolutionary during their time but means nothing during ours, then what of it?
I don't think I'll ever get a pretty answer out of this. But I still feel that there is merit and worth in exploring the humanities.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Pictures
We try to capture moments of our lives or moments of beauty through pictures and it is never enough. The image we capture becomes an object that is distant from what we felt at the moment. We forget that memory captures best what pictures cannot. The moment into memory becomes the experience again. By absorbing all of that single moment into the memory of our senses, we can recreate the beauty that we so fruitlessly try to capture in a still image.
Friday, October 2, 2015
The clutter of one's past
I scrapbook or try to.
I feel like I have some kind of inherent desire to hold onto the past. Perhaps to record it so as not to forget it, which I often do. However, this desire to save everything ends up taking up space and I guess I ended up with this thought:
We clutter up our lives with things of the past and with it comes all the accompanying burdens that occupy both physical and mental space.
Perhaps I need to let go of things or just learn to throw my shit away. Honestly now.
On a completely different note, I've been watching a lot of TV shows lately. I think perhaps I need human interaction. Oddly enough, watching TV in some odd way seems to satisfy this desire (if it indeed is something that I feel like I need. I've come to realize that it's an unfulfilling waste of time because it's incredibly passive. TV allows people to be social without the risk and trouble of having to actually be social and deal with the navigation required for such endeavors.
I should get out more.
I feel like I have some kind of inherent desire to hold onto the past. Perhaps to record it so as not to forget it, which I often do. However, this desire to save everything ends up taking up space and I guess I ended up with this thought:
We clutter up our lives with things of the past and with it comes all the accompanying burdens that occupy both physical and mental space.
Perhaps I need to let go of things or just learn to throw my shit away. Honestly now.
On a completely different note, I've been watching a lot of TV shows lately. I think perhaps I need human interaction. Oddly enough, watching TV in some odd way seems to satisfy this desire (if it indeed is something that I feel like I need. I've come to realize that it's an unfulfilling waste of time because it's incredibly passive. TV allows people to be social without the risk and trouble of having to actually be social and deal with the navigation required for such endeavors.
I should get out more.
Friday, September 25, 2015
Complicated texts and EDM
Shakespeare and other complex texts are to beginning readers as EDM is to me.
There are layers of beauty and harmony that I don't quite see (and perhaps don't agree with ^^;;).
It could be an acquired taste but in parsing out the beauties of it, one can learn to appreciate it for more than just noise.
There are layers of beauty and harmony that I don't quite see (and perhaps don't agree with ^^;;).
It could be an acquired taste but in parsing out the beauties of it, one can learn to appreciate it for more than just noise.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Reactive versus proactive
I suppose another way to look at it is defensive versus offensive.
One can react to life and what it has to offer.
Or one can be proactive about the factors that one has control over in life.
Why is being proactive so difficult?
One can react to life and what it has to offer.
Or one can be proactive about the factors that one has control over in life.
Why is being proactive so difficult?
Monday, August 24, 2015
Why I want to teach writing
...and why I write, really.
"We share the powers of language to express emotions, to inspire creative thought, and to change perceptions of the self and others. We share the power of language to transform thought and being." (Murphy 16)
Writing is so much more than a means of communication. Writing is the medium by which we grow to understand ourselves and our history. From reading the past and reading the present, we are able to understand where we come from and where we are. Writing stops time in its permanence.
In its permanence, writing also changes people. One piece of paper can change the entire trajectory of history. Martin Luther's 95 theses changed Christianity forever. The American Declaration of Independence started a war that eventually led to the creation of the most powerful country in the world.
With one paper and one idea (or many ideas, in some cases), the world as we know it changes.
"We share the powers of language to express emotions, to inspire creative thought, and to change perceptions of the self and others. We share the power of language to transform thought and being." (Murphy 16)
Writing is so much more than a means of communication. Writing is the medium by which we grow to understand ourselves and our history. From reading the past and reading the present, we are able to understand where we come from and where we are. Writing stops time in its permanence.
In its permanence, writing also changes people. One piece of paper can change the entire trajectory of history. Martin Luther's 95 theses changed Christianity forever. The American Declaration of Independence started a war that eventually led to the creation of the most powerful country in the world.
With one paper and one idea (or many ideas, in some cases), the world as we know it changes.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
The importance of wanting to learn
"Was wanting all that was necessary for doing?" - Ranciere in The Ignorant Schoolmaster
The desire to learn and improve is probably the best vehicle for learning. Anyone who wants to learn can. Anyone who wants to improve will. The question of how quickly or how much the person absorbs will differ based on previous experience and a certain amount of talent, but the fact that a person wants to changes the game.
Take the most talented person who doesn't care to learn. They'll most certainly get something but they will not fully utilize the talent they have.
Take someone with no talent whatsoever. With hard work, perseverance, and the drive (i.e. desire) to learn, the person will probably perform as well as, if not better, than the unmotivated and unengaged talented person.
Hard work and perseverance are talents in and of themselves and it's amazing how far it'll go with someone who wants to learn and improve.
This goes beyond the classroom to pretty much all aspects of life. If you want to improve at something and you work at it, you will improve. That's really all there is to it.
The desire to learn and improve is probably the best vehicle for learning. Anyone who wants to learn can. Anyone who wants to improve will. The question of how quickly or how much the person absorbs will differ based on previous experience and a certain amount of talent, but the fact that a person wants to changes the game.
Take the most talented person who doesn't care to learn. They'll most certainly get something but they will not fully utilize the talent they have.
Take someone with no talent whatsoever. With hard work, perseverance, and the drive (i.e. desire) to learn, the person will probably perform as well as, if not better, than the unmotivated and unengaged talented person.
Hard work and perseverance are talents in and of themselves and it's amazing how far it'll go with someone who wants to learn and improve.
This goes beyond the classroom to pretty much all aspects of life. If you want to improve at something and you work at it, you will improve. That's really all there is to it.
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