A Written Dream

This Thanksgiving we took a trip down to McCall, ID, near Boise. My parents love listening to book on tapes everywhere we go so for this trip they chose a new Dan Brown book called Inferno. The book is about a genius who discovers the global issue of overpopulation and how our natural resources and physical space for living are quickly decreasing. This man is already famous for discovering several patents that increase the lifespan of humans. Ironically enough, he quickly sees that he should not have done this because now he is simply aiding the overpopulation issue. He takes radical, and quite frankly insane, action to stop this growing problem by developing his own "plague." The man Professor Langdon, from Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons is tasked with deciphering this man's clues by using Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy to find the plague and stop it from spreading. The poem is a journey about Dante's vision of the path while descending into hell, the period of purgatory, and ascending into heaven. It gave people the first interpretation of the journey and Dante became extremely famous for his work.

Now that you have a little background on the subject matter, I will explain my "written dream." I got home very late on Tuesday night and we left early on Wednesday morning so needless to say I was pretty tired on Wednesday. I started falling asleep a little ways past Missoula, but it wasn't a very deep sleep. I realized that I was waking up and falling asleep intermittently, but still following along with the book. It took me awhile to realize what was going on. I figured out that my ears were hearing the words through the speakers, and directing my dream at the same time. The destination of the dream was already decided and the author was guiding me on a visual journey. Now, I understand that while we all read we develop our own mental pictures of characters, scenes, and other parts of the book. This was different though. It was as if I was watching the movie, while still reading the book. I was not in control of the plot, but had full control of the picture in my mind. I had total freedom to shape these characters and the scene around them, but I wasn't even aware of what was occurring.

I'm astounded at the bounds of the human mind and its capabilities. It's interesting to think that we could sleep through Spanish lessons for a year and somehow in the process become fully fluent in Spanish. Obviously, there are logistical issues with trying to remain out of REM cycle so maybe this is not entirely possible, yet still an interesting idea. The idea raises the question of if our mind's capabilities are greater while we are dreaming than while we are awake. And maybe it would be worthwhile trying to record these dreams to interpret what direction to go in this world. Although, maybe this is getting us too close to knowing all the answers and like it says in Arcadia we lose all meaning once we have all the answers. Yet, as lost as I am in this large world it might not hurt to have a few more answers and a little more guidance. It was an interesting experience and I'm excited to experiment with it again as we set off for Minnesota at Christmas!

American Gothic

I have been looking at the painting, American Gothic by Grant Wood, for about fifteen minutes and the idea of referential mania continues to pulse through my mind. I have seen this painting before, but as Dr. Sexson said I haven't actually "seen" this painting before.

It is an interesting painting and I continue to ask myself questions about what every part of it means. Why is the man looking at the painter? Or I suppose the better question is why is he looking at us? And why is she looking away? How are they related?
Why are the blinds closed on all the windows? Why the pitchfork? Are there even answers for these questions?

Along with the theme of referential mania, there is an interesting pattern with the pitchfork. The pitchfork has three points branching from one common standard. Similarly, his overalls have the same pattern. It is also repeated in the windows and on his face. I did not see this pattern myself, but it is an interesting repetition if anything. The idea of referential mania can take over any piece of work, but maybe that is the purpose of any work of art, piece of literature, and physical structures as well. It is a true exercise of the brain and causes us to make connections through seemingly unrelated entities. For example, this painting could be linked to the Great Depression, since it was painted in 1930 and the look on their faces isn't exactly one of joy. If we weren't trained to look into the deeper meaning of works, then we would simply have a disturbing piece of art in the American Gothic. But, maybe there is nothing wrong with that.

Another interesting idea that comes from this painting is the theory that "a picture is worth a thousand words."

We talked about this picture in class and I think we could truly come up with a thousand words to describe what could be possibly happening in this scene. All of these words could be justified by the reactions of different individuals throughout this picture.The caption reads, "The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village."
This statement is almost entirely true. Obviously, we can never get rid of storytellers because the hold a crucial role in our world and a well told story can be much more vivid than a picture or painting. But simply from this picture I could make an educated guess at where this picture was, what tribe these people are in, and what the story being told is.

Dr. Sexson said something to the effect of "what you can remember, is what you can recreate." If this is true, does it mean that what you can create, is what you believe? I clearly have never met any of these people in the picture, but I can create an elaborate backstory for all of these people if I truly believe it is true. A lot of our early memories are fabrications of events that people tell us have happened. So these events didn't actually happen, but yet we believe they did so we can recreate them. So if we have the ability to do this, are we inside or outside of this box that inherently traps us and our imaginations?

What Makes Things Memorable in The Magus and in This Class

I have been thinking a lot lately about what makes experiences, objects, and different people more memorable than others of similar kind. It seems that almost anything Dr. Sexson speaks is memorable to almost every one of us. How can one person be so influential that we absorb every word he speaks like it's the very mixture of nitrogen and oxygen we breathe in each day? Quite honestly, the only reason I'm in this class is because of a memorable talk he gave to my orientation leader class. He spoke of the very topic that I am writing about. He walked in and said, "How can I come into your class for 50 minutes, and deliver a speech that you will actually remember?" He then proceeded to talk about possibly taking little pieces of our ear lobes just so we would never forget the day Dr. Sexson came to visit us. It certainly would have been memorable, but not the most pleasant of experiences and I probably would not have associated the greatest memories with him as an individual. (Yikes!)

I started thinking about memorable experiences in my life and the main one I can think of that truly relates to The Magus, is my initiation into the Sigma Chi Fraternity. I clearly cannot speak extensively on the content of our initiation process and the details of it, but I can talk about the feelings that come along with it. Our initiation is part of our secret ritual and is not be shared with the general public, although I often question that. If this is such a memorable experience, why wouldn't we want to share it with the world so they can experience what we all get to? It is a full week of activities and events that build character, leadership, and outlines an extensive amount of time for introspection. I often wonder if our society was mapped out in such a manner, if the general population would become essentially a perfect society. Obviously, this is a hyperbole and would never be possible, but nevertheless it would be extraordinary for everybody to delve into this experience. I remember being frustrated, excited, exhausted, vibrant, discouraged, and inspired all at once. You become very comfortable with looking inside yourself and trying to dissect each of your inherent flaws and finding ways to stitch them into the ideal picture of yourself. Some might take this "ideal picture" as sculpting yourself into a perfect person. I take it as molding yourself into the exact person you strive to be, and the exact person that Sigma Chi strives to make you into. Sigma Chi was founded on concrete principles of friendship, justice, and learning. Men of Sigma Chi are not to stray from these principles, and it is hard to forget them after a week of such an immense amount of emotion.

Now, I know this is hard for others to understand because the major stereotype of fraternity men is a group of drunk college students chasing after women. If only we could teach everyone about our fundamentals and initiate them into our prestigious organization. An initiation is something that will never be forgotten. Why? It is simply because they are like nothing else anybody will ever experience and this is the experience that Nicholas had in The Magus. He was put through events that were like nothing he had ever experienced, so it is clear that this was a memorable experience for him. This is the exact way I feel in this class, everyday is a new memorable experience and Sexson and Fowles have discovered the perfect way to do this.

Quality...Can It Be Measured?

The idea of quality is such an ambiguous description of any object, process, or idea. Can we really define anything as quality? It is extremely easy to call something quality, but do we have any reasoning for that? Quality is strictly dependent upon the "quality" that we define other things around us by, so does this mean that quality is our restraint in defining each other's limits. If it were not for the idea of quality, we would have no bounds and hence we would have no limits in our being. We could constantly expand to new, unexplored areas because the greatest lengths to which we could achieve, simply would not exist.

I believe that Robert Pirsig had this exact idea in mind when he took the approach to destroy and cut through conventional answers. I believe that if you are constantly worrying about what others will think of your response to a question, and question its "quality", then you are only inhibiting your imagination. We need to break out of these typical answers that people continue to give to the typical questions and break through the bounds of what is already considered "high quality". One experiment that would be interesting to employ in classes would be to answer all questions by posing another question. It would open up the realm of conversation to an entirely new level, and raise intellectual conversation to a new "quality."

Pirsig was "interested in science as a goal in itself, rather than as a way to establish a career." I think this is how the dynamic of a college education has shifted so drastically in recent years. Why are we giving up four years of our life to simply get from Point A to Point B? Pirsig realized that if he continued to pursue science and explore its depths to a greater extent, the subject of science would essentially explode into a new dimension. Pirsig realized that several scientists limit themselves through their number of hypotheses, and discovered that for any given experiment there are actually an infinite amount of hypotheses. He even became obsessed with the idea to the extent that he was expelled from the University of Minnesota, but was he expelled simply because his idea of quality didn't meet their grasp on quality?

 

 

This plaque is in our library here at MSU, on the first floor at the entrance to the stair case, and I noticed it shortly after reading the wiki page about Pirsig. It has an interesting quote on it that says, "In the high country of the mind one has to become adjusted to the thinner air of uncertainty..." Pirsig realized that it may be uncomfortable to walk outside the teachings of conventional thought, but it is quite possible. He described his time teaching here at MSC as an "unpleasant experience," due to the teaching philosophy of the college. Maybe it is the universities in this world that are holding back this concept of quality and now we have trapped ourselves within this figurative box.

 

Even with all these realizations of Pirsig's, is it possible to define quality? I think with the answer to this question, I agree with what Brooke stated in her entry. Quality is simply in the eye of the beholder. Everything contains some amount of quality, but the degree of quality will always depend on the individual judging the quality.

Displaced Fairy Tale: Beauty and the Beast

Theresa and Charlie were happily married in a small apartment tucked back into the busy streets of New York City. It was a charming apartment on the 4^th floor of a rustic building and yet retained an unexplainable elegance and beauty. Charlie worked hard and provided for Theresa so that they may enjoy the pleasures of life. One day Charlie was cooking dinner and Theresa began to complain, which sparked an argument. They fought for several minutes and amongst the exchange of insults Charlie lashed out and pricked Theresa with the cutting knife he had in his hand. He was so astounded at his carelessness and actions toward his wife he instantly ran out the door. Theresa did not hear from him except for a box full of all of the cash he had saved in his banking accounts over the years and a letter that read, “Theresa, this will allow you to live a life full of joy.”

Theresa was wandering down a dark alley behind some shops in the city a few months later on her way home. She noticed a man sitting on the pavement, leaned against a brick building, and looking down at his hands. This was by no means atypical of this particular alley and it was a fairly common place for vagabonds to linger. Something was different though, and she paused at the end of the alley. She thought deeply about what seemed so familiar and why she had noticed it. Had she seen this man before? Was he simply just one of the regular beggars who populated the alley?

She decided that she had to know the identity of this man, so she turned around and slowly approached him. He appeared withdrawn from reality, like he was completely unaware of his surroundings, but yet it seemed to be a withdrawal in which he was maintaining full concentration on something. What could he be so focused on?

            “Excuse me, what is your name?” Theresa said.

            The man didn’t look up, he just continued to look at his hands, and gruffly grunted, “Chuck.”

            She replied, “Chuck, have we met before?”

            “You may have known someone like me, but I am no longer the man I once was,” he answered.

She noticed a softness in his voice, a tenderness, a comfort that she had been missing lately. She talked to the man for about an hour, but he never revealed why he was there and what had happened. She continued to visit him over the next week and they shared meals, stories, and he always had something for her that he had found that day. She noticed he always looked at his hands and she never had a clear image of his face. He had a thick beard, kept his hood up to fight off the October chill, and never looked her in the eyes.

She finally decided one day that she would find out the true identity of Chuck, so she sat down next to him as she usually did on her visits. She asked if she would ever see his face and he brushed it off by changing the subject to the trinket he had found in the alley earlier that day. A few minutes later she jumped up, pulled back his hood, and gasped at the sight of who she found. The mysterious man was her husband Charlie!

Theresa was so flustered on why he left and why Charlie had abandoned her entirely with nothing but his life’s savings. He explained that he couldn’t bare the fact that his wife had been injured by such a monster, and he knew she deserved better than him. She begged for him back and they both knew that the love was still in their hearts, but how could the trust be restored.

He told her that if she forgave him, he would come back home and be with her. He knew that there was no way she would ever do this, but nevertheless she returned the next day and forgave him. He still refused to come home with her. She returned the next day, the day after that, another day, and finally on the fourth visit he agreed to come home. They were in love again and their life was once again perfect, and soon after they gave birth to their daughter, Joy.

The Past Possesses the Present In "The Swimmer"

"The Swimmer" is a story of Neddy Merrill and what appears to be just a description of a journey across the country surrounding his home. As the story progresses, you begin to realize that this is the retelling of his life and how he has fallen from his great status. The man used to be strong, rich, powerful, and most importantly he believed he was much better off than his neighbors. Isn't this what everyone strives for is to be better than the man standing next them? It feels good to see physical evidence that you are in fact better than other people. This physical evidence can come in several forms like wealth, looks, body physique, property, and several other areas of our life. I mean without this, how are we supposed to know who is the best? How are we to know who has "made it"? It seems like this has been a reoccurring theme in history that has brought cities to ruins and death to an absurd amount of people. The mere jealousy of others leads people to make irrational decisions, all for what? Some status amongst their peers?

If you relate this theme back to "The Iliad" you can see that Homer's themes outline some of this story. Paris has to have the most beautiful woman in all the land. Agamemnon has to have the most land and conquer Troy simply for the fame of conquering Troy. Achilles has to be known as a great warrior and fights even though he knows it is prophesized that he will die in the battle. The theme continues with other characters and there is this constant battle spurred out of lust for women, land, and fame. Similarly, Neddy felt that he had attained more than his neighbors and would even go as far to refuse invitations to their houses.

If you fast forward from ancient times to Europe in 1939 you find a very similar theme. Hitler begins marching his way across the world to make Germany the most powerful force on the planet. He segregates those of "lesser" status and purposely leaves millions of casualties in the rubble. All of this death and destruction was in the pursuit of power and the "Arian" race. The thirst to be the best has provided a toxic potion, and people fall for the allure of its taste in any day and era. Society's members continue to make the same mistakes over and over, when in reality they should reach for humility and contentment.

I believe Dale Wimbrow envelops this theme in his famous poem "The Man in the Glass." One section that demonstrates how life should be lived states,
"When you get what you want in your struggle for self,
And the world makes you King for a day,
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself,
And see what that man has to say."
This simple stanza says that at the end of the day, at the end of your life, the only person's opinion that matters is your own. The past even possesses the present in this poem with the metaphor of a "King" and how some days you feel like royalty with all the power of the world. The idea of a King goes back to ancient times and has always been a sought after position of great power and control. However, whether you become a "King" or not you must remain true to your values and beliefs. If you cheat your way through life with deceit, betrayal, and selfishness you will be awarded a final reward of "heartaches and tears."

Another way the past possesses the present in this story is through "The Odyssey." Neddy takes on this journey home that symbolizes Odysseus' journey home from the war. As Neddy travels through the countryside he realizes "that the hospitable customs and traditions of the natives would have to be handled with diplomacy if he was ever going to reach his destination." This emulates Odysseus and how he had to face several challenges on his way home including accommodating to the customs of all the foreign lands he entered. Also, as their journeys continue they grow tired and weaker which symbolizes the passing of years of their life. They used to be strong and powerful, but as they continue to travel the adversity and challenges begin to physically wear on their bodies and minds.

The past is evident throughout this story in several other ways, and just like all literature it shows how the past and mythology is present in all stories.

Romance in Literature

I found it interesting in class on Tuesday how Dr. Sexson spoke about the link between literature and romance. Now the average connotation of romance, as he mentioned in class, pertains to movies, romantic novels, or the daily interactions between couples. I think there is some deeper meaning when it comes to the connection between literature and romance.

Reading is more than the act of comprehending words on a page and acquiring knowledge. There is a certain attraction the reader develops for a piece of work, an emotional attachment. This romance is ever present in literature, mythology, and especially fairy tales.

I believe this romance actually stems from fairy tales. Some of our fondest memories as a youth are when our parents would read us bedtime stories. As children this is one of the moments when our Attention Deficit Disorder ceases, and we attain that true focus that everyone seeks. For a short time, our imaginations can roam free in this mystical world. They read to us about castles, dragons, pirates, and even things we could have never imagined. A child's imagination is one of the most fascinating things that I have found. We originally develop love for our parents and family, then we develop loves for the things they do and share with us. Hence, this love expands to fairy tales. Then it expands to longer stories. The love grows towards novels. And the love continues to grow to every piece of writing we read. We are trained to love literature because we inherently love our parents.

Mythology contains a vast amount of romance and we as readers cannot help but fall in love with the stories, their backgrounds, and the characters. These stories are then expressed through us. I believe these stories are rooted in us without our conscious being ever being aware, and Dr. Sexson even said it makes up our nervous system and biological makeup. We are living these mythological stories throughout our daily life, and I haven't even been aware of it throughout my life!

It doesn't matter what book, novel, or fairy tale you read, you really cannot help but develop this emotional connection to it. Quite frankly, without this emotional tie to reading I don't think anyone would enjoy reading. Yan Martel spoke about not being faithless and always be sure that you believe in something. I firmly believe that this is how everyone needs to live their life. The ability to connect with anything spiritually and emotionally is what makes up our true character. An individual cannot help but instinctually follow their heart. If we don't have anything to believe in, then what is the point? Why are we here?

One of my friend's grandfathers left behind this wonderful saying that I live my life by,

'Follow your heart,
Let it soar,
Don't hold back,
Just do it.'
-Angus Roderick McFarland Spencer

It is such a simple phrase, but yet so elegant and full of emotion at the same time. The act of following your heart is so simple as well, and it is almost impossible to thwart any mission it has set out to accomplish. The feeling of surrendering to your own heart and letting it lead you on your life journey is the purest form of ecstasy. This is how mythology lives within us, by following our heart, and letting what fills our bodies take us on our journey through life.

Follow your heart...Just do it.