Essay no. 2
by Christopher Brown
As a child entering puberty, I recognized the tomfoolery of man and his adult world.
Man, unlike child is willing to give up his imagination for the sake of 'industry' or 'practicality'. There is a better word to describe this 19th century ideal, but it alludes me.
This adult sacrifices the spirit of imagination for the 'practical' world he thinks he will enter in doing so—abandoning 'dreams' and 'imagination' in single, broad strokes. He does not see the necessity of 'waking dreams', nor the conception (notion) that the adult is merely the continuation—or extension—of the child. What is to the one must inevitably be to the other. The clouds of creation to go with the hand that hath the means to build the dreams to stone and iron—bring the clay to life in the kilns of fire.
Man neglects this and more.
He sacrifices his very essence, throwing away his very center—the locus of his power to reason. Our ability to model external creation is built upon our capacity to dream. What better way exists to strengthen that skill than through the waking dreams of youth? Why must this sport only be for children? Are not the 'sports' of youth made fully developed in adulthood? Do we not become fuller players of the great American pastime of Baseball? How then can one expect the art of imagination to be any different—follow any different a path? Would not this be asking us to do no less than go against our very nature?
Man (or very much so woman) is blessed with dreams of waking slumber. We can experience in our minds the worlds of plenty or few—explore all that is, could be, or never will be. That we throw this blessing away at a very youthful age to “fit-in” is madness. Parents tell their kids to “stop living in the clouds”, [through] that age old insult to Socrates by Aristophanes in his play The Clouds.
We somehow believe adulthood must be the absence of childhood fun as opposed to its fruition. Imagination is the blooming of a flower and the ripening of its fruit that we may all enjoy together.
Have we not reached an age where man is “mature” enough in experience to see the folly of Aristophanes and his peers? We need imagination and must look to our childhood to find it.
5 comments:
You make some really intresting points. It is very true that people expect you to throw away imagination and dreams and to be a good industrious member of society. Funny enough I think that america is much like Japan in that aspect. We may on the outside say oh we value individuality, but the truth is that people are expected to give up "childish things" and conform to the adult world. If you don't they look at you like your a weirdo. In Japan this is something that is overty expressed in America its subtly. Japan after all has the saying "If the nail sticks up hammer it down."
It's only the artist, the thinkers, and the autistic who don't conform to this. And this is where we get new ideas and things. It's like Temple Graiden said "If it weren't for Autism we wouldn't have the wheel." You have to think outside the box instead of conforming to societial expectations. And the imagination and creativity of Childhood should be valued not something to throw away.
strange not sure why it put me as unknown. 0_o
@Chris. Maybe, it thinks you are special and wanted the ideas to be 'mysterious', like that one gent I ran into at school. We had a long conversation about the contrast between 'conversation' and 'communication', where he emphasized his belief that 'conversation' is better than 'communication'. He never left his name, just so that the idea would remain central focus, and people would fade into nothingness--mysterious. :)
Or, it could just be some technology bug, or blogger/google/whatever is acting like a prat and wants to screw with you. :)
It's up to you what you believe. :)
I'm very glad to know my ideas sparked such a valuable response in you Chris. Thanks! :)
I must agree with your analysis that America finds this idea fearful. We consciously know that 'ye who fits in is ye who can't be original', but we value originality, yet not 'original people'. Isn't that funny?
We respect the new ideas when they become 'established', yet to have the ideas in the first place requires becoming an 'outcast' in the society. We truly must sacrifice ourselves for our innovation. Then, once we have done this and almost certainly died, some other 'established' twat, comes in, steals our glory and walks off with the paycheck and societal respect, because 'their ideas' seem so more 'reasonable' than the ideas of the person who originally spoke them. I think the phrase 'too far ahead for their time' probably says it all. Quite a sad thing really.
Then again, Postman informs us that too much change can lead to destruction of a society too. Right now we are in a period of great change, so much so that perhaps we are destroying ourselves right before our eyes and we don't even realize it.
It's an interesting idea.
I wonder if Japan is a far more ethical nation, because they at least are willing to admit how they despise nonconformity, whereas in America, we are lied to on a daily basis, because 'originality' is what greases the gears that makes society function, our economy grow, and allows the big fat banker to make a buck. Well, or the humble farmer too. It's complex...
Strangely enough in Japan it's considered outside as an adult you need to outwardly appear to conform but its ok to have a nonpublic self who pursues your passion. So its ok to go be a crazy otaku at home as long as your not that way out in public or at work. But not to say that the otaku get repect in Japan they are very much looked down on. You should read japanamerica how Japanese Pop Culture invaded America it has an intresting section about this subject. But intresting enough roland kelts says that this repression actually lead to the explossions of creativity that we see in Manga snd anime. This is beacuase in Japan its ok to express yourself as long as you try to fit in. Which might seem a strange a bit contradictory.
But yeah Japan and America actually have a lot of simillarities though expressed in different ways.
1. Both English and Japanese borrow heavily form other laungagues.
2. Both countries have indignous groups who were subjigated and pushed into a smaller area. And they were also heavily discriminated against.
3. Both Countires have tendancies towards Isolationist views
4. Both Sociaties want their people to conform and fit in
Those are the 4 points that stand out most after all the research i've done.
But yes there are many people who are ahead of there time. Sakamoto Ryoma, Nikolia Tesla, and many otheres. The Mad Scientist and the idealist and political disadents of the past were often just people who saw things differently. Soceity doesn't like to shift its paradims. Its sad even with Artist you see the same thing. So many og the great artist we appreciate today did poorly in life and died in poverty and now their paintings sell for millions and people flock to special exhibits just to see their works. Sadly people don't like to see new things just pop up but tend to stick with the tried and true.
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