Connection in an isolating age

The title to my post is a lyric from a song in the musical Rent.  It popped into my mind because the performer really accents the word in the song, but now I see that it is a perfect title for this post.

I think we live in an isolating age where it is easy to seemingly connect with people from the comforts of our own home and behind the safety of a computer screen.  It is so easy to isolate ourselves from the world without feeling isolated.  However, what kind of connections come from these means? 

Now, I am going to put on my "old person" hat and talk about "back in the day" when in actuality "back in the day" was not that long ago.  It started with the walkman, the disc man and now the I-pod.  I often took public transportation to school and would see many people immediately put on their headphones upon entering the bus or L.  They immediately shut themselves off from the rest of the people in the car.  Yes, there are people reading or doing homework on the subway, but they are not cut off from everyone else.  You might think, music relaxes me, entertains me, I don't need to connect with anyone else on the train and I agree with that.  It is just an observation and what I beleive headphones have come to symbolize.

Today, I see people walking in a store, down the hallway at school, almost anywhere with their ear buds hanging around their neck.  It is as if they need the comfort of knowing they can shut out of the world at a moment's notice.

Maybe I am reading too much into this.

Going back to "Two Bodies," we are just a wave in a vast ocean.  Just a stone in a desert.  Just a spark flickering in the night for a brief second.  It is hard enough to make a connection, let alone a meaningful connection amid a world so big.  Maybe we should allow ourselves to be more open to the opportunity.  True, the waves might crash and destroy or the spark could start a fire, but something good could come out of it as well.

Did anyone read this far?  Did I start to ramble?  Possibly.  I get going sometimes.

Blog Post Assignments

Here is a place where you can look to get the topics for the blog posts. 

1. Elaborating on a statement from the anticipation guide.

2. Initial thoughts/reactions to existentialism thus far.  Anything you feel strongly about?  Agree and disagree with?  Please reference something from the article or power point.

3. Comment on "connection" in our world.  To each other, to our world.  Is it authentic and genuine or not?

4. At some point during your reading of the first part of the novel, comment on the experience of reading this, the character,  or even a quote that interests/intrigues you.  Please specifically reference something from the novel.

5.  Offer a theory as to why Meursault killed the Arab.  Your answer must make sense in the context of the novel.

6. Respond to one of the presentations.  Did it make you see something in a new way?  Did it make you think of something else?  Can you make any connections to anything else?

7. FINAL BLOG POST FOR EXISTENTIALISM!  Don't forget to do this longer, more formal, reflective post.  Reference your handout for details.

Questioning

This is not my first experience with existentialism, but I find myself getting wrapped up in it each time I teach it.  I like how it encourages, rather requires an individual to continually search for meaning and purpose.  We are responsible for finding our purpose and can't depend on others to do it.  For me, that doesn't mean that we are prohibited from looking to others for advice or influence.  I also don't think finding meaning and purpose is impossible, I like to think it means that you don't have to settle and no one should make you feel like you do have to settle for anything you don't truly beleive or want.

Has anybody seen Revolutionary Road?  It came out a few years ago and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.  It takes place in the 1950's when conformity was all the rage.  Have the house in the suburbs, take the train to the city for work, the wife chats with the neighbors while taking care of the kids.  The Kate Winslet character was unhappy with her life and she thought her husband (DiCaprio) would be the one to provide the purpose she was looking for.  She settled for this life thinking that it would bring her something it never would.  She hated her life.

Existentialism demands that we decide to make our life meaningful.  It tells us to take action.  I am not sure if this is what the founders meant, but it is how I take it.  They would have to accept that since I am supposed to be creating my own truth and meaning anyway.

Anticipation Guide

"Truth" is no more than a human fabrication.

This is a toughie.  There are many things that we know to be true, but I wrestle with the question how do we know they are true.  People tell us, we read information, we see something for ourselves, but still, how do we know something is true?

We can look at this simply: we know that a rose of a certain hue is red because we were taught at a very young age what the color red looks like and how to identify it.  If someone were taught from a young age that the "red" rose is actually brown and they identify it as such then that is truth to them.  Are they wrong? According to everyone else.  Do they have mean parents?  Yes.

We can look at this in a more complex way, thinking about the article I asked you to read.  Existentialism grew out of scientific advancements because science was proving things that people couldn't understand and shook their idea of reality.  Wait, there were big scary lizards running around the earth?  They were here millions of  years ago?  What?! Imagine what this initial discovery would have been like for some people.  Their idea of history and world was shattered.

So what is truth?  Do we make it up?  I think we make assertions based on what we know, what we have been taught, and our experiences.  It is our truth, but I am not sure if it is the truth.