Great response from Maggie to my post on what would happen to you if you couldn’t access the media (whatever you take that to mean) anymore:
I think that life would be less fulfilling. It’d be harder to find like minds to communicate on the level we pefer. I’d hate to be put in a situation where the most meaning conversation of the day would be about plumbing or the flavor difference of yellow vs white onions.
I totally get what Maggie’s saying here, because my own life has undoubtedly been enriched by mass media in all its many and varied forms. But at the same time, the world Maggie describes is oddly appealing. And I am inching ever closer to being really in tune with it, thanks to my new job pruning plants and similar activities.
Maggie’s comments combined with insights harvested from my job have made me keenly aware that there really are some brilliant people in the world who really do find meaning and value and beauty in questions like plumbing or the difference between onion varieties. Such things sound trivial and unimportant to people (such as myself) who are more accustomed (addicted) to scintillating sparkling ideas. But I’m beginning to realize that meaning and value are not linked to the novelty and brilliance of ideas, which is how I’d always operated in the past. Instead it comes from us, the people and we the people can apply and find that meaning and value in anything.
The question becomes though how to do that in a world where everyone is jaded, disenchanted, cynical - where everyone thinks they have seen it all and they are too good to sit down and really perceive the intricate beauty of plumbing systems or the subtle differences of color an underground vegetable can really have on a dish of food. And I can already hear people’s mental reactions to this line of thought - people who are/were like I am/was/am starting to not be anymore. It goes something like, “Oh no, now he’s just going to start talking about onions and other pointless bullshit like that. He’s buried his head in the sand for good this time.” And all I can say is, I’m hard at work on developing a more potent and useful way of talking about these new insights that I am gaining. Hopefully they aren’t just going to turn into the boring stand-by, “Love the simple stuff” type crap that everyone is used to and tired of hearing. It’s such a challenge to break through this cynicism so deeply lodged in not only myself but in everyone else. How do we just let it go and get done with it?
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4 Comments
There’s a lot to be said for gaining or having expertise and experience in a field and knowing how to approach and solve a problem related to your field of expertise. Given the plumbing example, while the topic as a whole doesn’t give off the impression of “beauty”, of course you can see the excellence in a plumber who knows his job and able to determine what needs to be done and how it should be done when presented with a problem of any level of complexity. It can be art/science in some cases if the problem is complex and the solution unique. Car mechanics for another example the same, or any number of topics. It can be very interesting, no doubt - if you have no interest in cars, then you see that work as a shitty endevour and usually you just want to know how much you will be gouged to have someone do it for you. But if, you were to look at the problem, investigate, research, and figure out how to fix it successfully, then it becomes an all consuming and interesting topic. And you sure get a sense of accomplishment that is very rewarding if you see any project like that through from start to finish. Like, building your own house out of the materials you find on the land. Wouldn’t that be a huge task to undertake and learn about, but if you did it, it would be something that you would gain a lot of experience and expertise, and a huge feeling of accomplishment.
I also find that the more you know about some topics, the more you can apply that knowledge or the theory of one field to other areas or fields and that makes them more understandable and interesting to you as well. Anyway, not sure if I am anywhere near the point of the topic but thought I’d pipe in with my 2 cents for the hell of it.
http://virtualschool.edu/mon/Quality/PirsigZen/
To know a lot about a little (if practical and helpful for your life) is better than knowing a little about a lot.
For myself, I undoubtedly fall mostly into category 2, and my head is full of junk.
“Drowning In Media.” DVD, VHS, CD, MP3, Internet, Cell Phone, Chat, Theater, TV, on and on and on…the mobile phone I have now plays decent quality videos and songs, allows emailing and chatting, it’s getting even more recockulous by the day.
One way to counter people’s cynical expectations: Don’t subscribe to cynicism.
Cynicism is the ultimate bandwagon that people want to join. I know people who are PROUD to be cynical. They don’t really know what it means to be cynical, methinks.
Some people mistake skepticism with cynicism. Once a distinction is made, they almost always say, “Oh, well I guess I’m a skeptic then.”
“Cynical chic” is killing the imaginations of people who should know better but don’t. Fight cynicism and you fight apathy.
Doesn’t cynicism mean you think everyone only acts for his or her own interest? What does this have to do with not taking pleasure in simple things? How does cynicism differ from skepticism? I don’t have the chance to check a dictionary at the moment, and somehow I don’t think a dictionary would be too helpful anyway.
I’ve tried to pride myself in being skeptical and, yes, often in being cynical as well (as defined above). The truth is I’m actually extremely naive. One thing’s for sure
– now I’ll definitely feel guilty whenever I get bored with anything. Sometimes I can actually be fairly good at taking joy in simple things like the flowers on the side of the road when I’m biking and all that, but I’ve got the attention span of a child.