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.