I wish to praise a certain type of knowledge without using the same tired and sagging architectural metaphors for describing where our minds live. Let me describe a heaven for ideas. Here knowledge is crafted responsibly. Rather than praising it for it's height, we always praise it for it's weight. We are searching in the ground for something worthwhile. We are always playing in the sand. Cities consist of short structures with low ceilings and wide doors. It is here that philosophy lives. It resemble a city built by turtles.
With this ideal in mind, I find it responsible to first praise the sand in which I currently find myself playing. Here I make the following assumptions:
a. I assume the existence of a process within my being which seeks to defend and often conceal things from me. This we can call ego.
b. A being is able to conceptualize it's self. It can have a self-image, a representation of it's self, a sense of identity.
c. A being has no inherent purpose.
d. Meaninglessness is scary. The purposelessness of a being is also scary.
e. Finding oneself stripped of a self-concept can lead one to being anxious, to feel meaningless.
The incorrectness of any of these assumptions shatters the rest of the perspective.
We may now begin observing the two states of being. In the first, the being's self-concept is rigid. In this state he learns nothing, but acts and bends the world to his will. We will call this state 'imposing'. In the second state, his self-concept is vulnerable to change. Here he can learn and absorb from whatever is at hand. We will call this a state of 'exposure'.
No comments:
Post a Comment