Week 6 Readings

Hope this picture makes everyone laugh as much as I did. I don't think Emerson or Thoreau would have really appreciated its humor...but hey, it's my interpretation right?

When we really boil it all down this week was all about individuality in the sense of the word being at constant odds with our human tendencies to constantly imitate. At least that's what I have walked away with. I personally got more out of the Emerson reading, which is atypical because I usually just drink in Thoreau like it's Arizona Iced Tea. Why do we imitate? It it easy? In theory being "yourself" would seem to be what is easiest--wouldn't it? Or is "being yourself" hard? Does thinking for yourself mean that you have to take time out of your day to create original thoughts? More time than it takes to watch TV and have someone else give them to you? Or should it just happen authentically? I think it is easy for us to have our own original, authentic opinions but it is hard for us to own them--to stand behind them. Emerson says, "A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages," what he is describing here is the very heart of the problem. We do have original thoughts but everything else in this world clouds our ability to recognize them. We get so caught up with trends and flashing lights and celebrity gossip that when we discover something really, truly great for ourselves it is sometimes difficult to recognize that it even happened.

The facilitation group did a great job of pointing out this idea in the movie clip from Hot Rod. It was far easier for the guys in the movie to name "partying" as their main hobby than it was to actually put themselves out there and cite what they really enjoy at the risk of being ill-perceived. Emerson states that there "are voices which we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world." Why are we so wrapped up in how we are perceived? Emerson also tells us that, "he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion"--why is it that our own being tends to be what we are most hesitant to be fully true to? Why do we associate so much shame so readily to ourselves? I think that these sorts of questions are impossible to answer and I could think myself in circles for hours on end trying to come up with an "original" answer. I suppose I could go to a psychologist or a therapist and pay them to come up with the answers for me, that would be the human way wouldn't it? They would feed me a bunch of bullshit for my check rather than actually thinking and giving me a straight answer too...again, so fitting.

In class we focused quite a bit of discussion on the idea of intuition. Which brings me to a classic (at least in my book)Watch this Jewel video, which I think actually ties all of our material in together quite well. [Who would have thought that Jewel would have pulled ideas from Emerson and Thoreau?!] Obviously, the video is done as a parody. She is talking about following your heart and trusting your intuition yet she is doing everything she can to "cash in" to what everyone else is doing. I think Jewel has created a video in reference to the Thoreau quote, " I seek rather, I may say, even an excuse for conforming to the laws of the land. I am but too ready to conform to them."

We have our intuition, our conscience, our Jiminy Cricket, that gut feeling. It should be easy to listen to and follow, right? But yet it must not be because so many of us don't so much of the time.

Emerson tells us that the ultimate source of truth is within ourselves though we are usually not in-touch enough with ourselves to recognize it. Although, I loved the essay I found it to be quite repetitive and somewhat redundant, as if Emerson was trying to hammer his idea into his readers' heads. This ends up being a somewhat humorous idea...think, think, think for yourself...but read my essay with my ideas about just how it is that you should go about thinking for yourself.
I really loved Thoreau's idea of perfecting society without actually reforming society itself. He thinks that if we were each to reform ourselves, to create more complete and righteous versions of our current selves, that society would then also correct itself. His idea reminded me of a willow tree--you can cut their branches off as much as you like, even chop them off at the trunk, but they are hardy and will always grow back. Trying to get rid of the tree without attacking its roots is completely pointless. Hence, the reason society is in such bad shape is because its people are a hot mess--untangle the mess and suddenly society functions a whole lot better. I think he is onto something here. Too bad it is completely impractical--hot mess doesn't even begin to describe our society or some of the people existing within it (just check out an episode of Hoarders!).

What will I walk away with?
Calm down. I have recently found, with the help of my spiritual center, my boyfriend, that if I just stop trying to make other people happy then I have time to breathe; and when I stop trying so hard to be the person I supposedly want to be, the real, genuine Kailey comes out. It's all so much simpler this way. My mind is so much clearer these days. I think this is what these men were trying to get at and it resonated with me well.

Quotes I loved but couldn't squeeze into my rant:
If a man is thought-free, fancy-free, imagination free, that which is not never for a long time appearing to be to him, unwise rulers or reformers cannot fatally interrupt him.
Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.
-Thoreau

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of our own mind.
Every decent and well-spoken individual affects and sways me more than is right.
Truth is handsomer than the affection of love. Your goodness must have some edge to it--else it is none.
A man must consider what a blindman's bluff is this game of conformity.
-Emerson

Yoda is Emerson! -Suzanne