Thursday, May 8, 2008

Something old...

Stick close for a moment, I know the sun is coming up and this little bit of respite from the dark will soon disappear until next time, but I have one other thing I'd like to share. You see, as I've said I've done journals before for classes, but I've never shared them. So I thought I might share this. It was done this year, and not only do I view it as an idea starter for some of you out there, but also it gives some insight into who I am. It's entirely self-indulgent and centered on me, but well, what else is this space but made from and about me. Enjoy!

The Native American ethos of unity without cohesiveness is something that I’ve pondered a lot and it makes me question a lot of the techniques and ideas that we as a society have often used and continue to use in our day to day lives. Constantly I question the directions I go in to determine that right course, that right moment in the motion of all things around me to move.

All of the classes I take I try to make a cohesive choice for them to interact. I tend not to take unrelated courses because they help me learn. I cannot learn without an overall view, and I know this isn’t the standard of how people learn. That’s a reflection of my own view.

Maybe I’m just wrong, or maybe I’m crazy, or maybe I’m a genius, all of those questions keep hounding at me but I never answer them or listen because of something that makes my view of the world slightly different than the norm. I don’t look at things as relation to myself; I look at them from the relation of an overall view of how the whole works. I have many selfish moments, don’t get me wrong. I’m a human being and have been taught through my culture that I am the most important person on the planet because of my uniqueness. It’s one of those strange paradoxes we teach children. You’re special, you’re just you, now be like everyone else.

I’m sure this is coming across as rambling so I’ll try to tighten this up into a point. I like the TV show Scrubs, and there is a scene where the nurses complain to the head of medicine that there is too much sexual harassment, and the response is ‘Let’s all have a big collective unbunching of your panties.’ That seems a rather offensive statement but let’s step back and look at it outside of that context.

The greater movement of society and people in general is a lot more than just any one person can see. Sometimes I catch glimpses, and it always strikes me with wonder and amazement. The one thing I do frequently see though is the strife and frustration that is created when someone tries to control something they can’t. This happens constantly. Do I think people should stop trying to change the world for the better? No, but instead I want them to focus on what they can change rather than the things they can’t.

Case in point: consumer culture. It bleeds into so many other things and is so pervasive that it can be a starting point for just about any social ill. Let’s just look at the case of poverty. We get people to rail against this culture saying we’re taking too much, we’re causing the poverty and ignoring it so we can stay comfortable. Why take this tack? No one wants to be uncomfortable, so rather than decrying them and trying to change something that can’t be changed, why not focus on the things that can be. A speaker, who I can’t remember the name of, here at the U of R said that if we as the wealthy industrial countries were to give up 1% of our wealth we’d virtually obliterate world poverty. He even gave methods to do it. Unfortunately he was virtually ignored by outside media.

I can’t even guess why but perhaps it’s because some people feel it’s not far enough, or they don’t believe something so simple can work. Either way, it brings me back to that elusive point. We need to collectively unbunch our panties. When we see something we don’t like the first response is oppositional. Why? That instantly sets up a fight for control. Let go, don’t force the issue, but instead correct the orbiting ideas that might help improve the situation.

And again back to that first idea. The concept that everything is part of the whole. It’s not as simple of a concept as most people assume it is. It’s not really a circle but that’s just the easiest way to visually represent it. It is the whole. There is no center, there is no place of power, there is no way to control the whole, it merely is. The whole. I guess I might be a bit blessed to be able to step outside of it and see that whole for a brief moment, and maybe that’s because of my own background and place in various different social and societal groups. To end this with a slightly sad and possibly whiney sounding statement: I just wish other people saw it too.

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