What does it mean to be a goat? Perhaps someday I'll know. What does it mean to be a human? As far as I'm concerned, everybody has their own internal driving forces. Motivation can come from anywhere and anything thanks to our big brains. I feel that humans are questioning by nature, and since we can study our own behavior this questioning has multiplied exponentially, as has our population. This is another part of being human; groups.Group dynamics within society shapes the ego, and being human also includes a balancing of multiples mental perspectives between individuals and their ideas of themselves. Men and women are genetically equals, but society grooms us to be different. The idea of one's self built up over time through interactions with others is constantly being cross referenced with our memories and our present situation. We're constantly comparing ourselves like sneetches.
"Our insistence on cognitive knowing may already have robbed us of some of our capacity for being human."
-THE CREATIVE IMPULSE
You can only bottle so many fireflies before the jar seems like the only source of light. Ego can water down true knowledge, or even completely eliminate the option for personal growth. The thing is, humans desire the ability to triumphantly declare, " I know what I'm talking about." It gets harder every year for humans to have a true connection of know, since language is made up of symbols. We have this symbolic limitation cap placed upon our expression, which is on the whole, highly functional and effective for it's purpose. In order to regain our humanity we need to continue to ask questions.
I agree with your statement that men and women are genetically the same, and we are shaped to be who we are "supposed to be". Opportunity should be equal for all humans no matter how sure or confused they are of their gender. The line " the idea of one's self built up over time through interactions with others is constantly being cross referenced with our memories and our present situation" is really interesting to me. It's awesome to think of humans like rocks or tree trunks, that we can only gain substance through sheer time and that outside factors influence our growth. The Doctor Suess reference (I hope) was fun. Some of the sentences didn't make very much sense to me-- like "it gets harder every year for humans to have a true connection of know, since language is made up of symbols". Overall, the post was insightful but I wish you had elaborated a bit more on some of your ideas (such as the fireflies in a jar metaphor).
ReplyDeleteGarrison, I enjoyed your incorporation of levity as a part of your post; the humorous moments, involving the "sneetches" and "goats", helped develop your style and allowed me to connect more with your reflections. However, I disagree with some of your statements, specifically about men and women being “genetically equals”. While I do believe that men and women should be considered equal entities in society, they are genetically and biologically distinct, in ways that transcend the obvious genitalia. In fact, when discussing the men and women in his "Right/Left Brain" section of the Alphabet versus Goddess, Shlain states that women are endowed with 10 to 33 percent more neural matter than men. Also, there are many hormonal differences, such as testosterone and estrogen levels, which cause men and women to genetically differ. Also, even though I agree with your notion that ego can "water down true knowledge", that was not what I interpreted the quote to mean. I think it portrays "cognitive knowing", not as insistence on a specific idea, but rather the conviction on the linear (left brained) thought process. Finally, I wish you had explored the artist prong of the prompt, because I think that you could provide compelling insights from your musical background. (Also, good job with grammar and mechanics!)
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, I enjoyed reading your post; it was well said. I totally agree with most of your ideas, especially how you included the value of groups in your meaning of humans. I always thought (being human of course) that our grouping system was actually an oddity compared to other species. You also said that society "grooms us to be different." That is rather fascinating that you would think that way for this assignment. Usually, people who are asked the question states the obvious and references mainly our human culture from Prehistoric times, but you focused directly on today's standards. Not that there is anything wrong with that, in fact, it is actually very intriguing; like a fresh new look at an old piece of art. The only real concern I have with the post is the last paragraph. I can tell you have many ideas you wanted to put into this but had difficulties organizing them into a single paragraph. All in all, you did a good job; you gave very compelling ideas and you've grabbed the readers attention by using your friendly and relating tone. The only thing to work on in the future is organizing your key ideas into a single paragraph so that the reader wont be too confused jumping from idea to idea.
ReplyDeleteYou and Peter are right. I did try to fit more than I should have into this post. It makes me happy that you guys looked deep enough into my post to realize this, and tell me about it. I've always been questioning and trying to rethink my writing voice, so I'm glad you found it entertaining. I wanted to have a lighter mood since I felt kind of somber reading others, now I don't mean that they weren't well crafted and informing. But now that I think about it, I could have written a more serious post.
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