A Revelation of Sorts
Today I accepted my destiny. I am ok with my major, i am ok with my position in life, and i am feeling good after a coma-like nap and a 'jacket potato bar' and blizzard night for dinner....
Somewhere around the 95th or 100th minute of lecture today in Geology i realized something. First of all, our professor was moving entirely too fast on a subject that has no bearing on my life or anyone else's life for that matter, and i achieved a sense of occupational nirvana:
I hate geology. I hate science. I hate math. I hate business. Why is it that our country/culture/world is preoccupied with gaining occupations driven by consumerism and production, when in the end, it's the so-called 'useless majors' that lead to real self-actualization. While the answer to the question is obvious, MONEY, our lecture on river beds today gave me a perspective that i've never had before.
How could devoting your life to studying the bedding and strata and superpositioning of rocks in a riverbed possibly help you achieve a better understanding of self. The sciences are, in effect, the gorging of knowledge- essentially, science and math majors are hell bent on finding out things that, at the bachelor's and most college levels, people already know and have known for decades, if not hundreds of years....
My English major- along with philosophy, and others- while called 'useless'- serves no purpose but to help me Bullshit at a higher level. But isn't that what self-realization is? I can't imagine a physicist going home and gushing over some new proof that he's been working on to his wife- "Honey, i've discovered the reason for my existance....etc", whereas at least in literature you can get an emotional jolt or jog a few distant memories.
Of course i'm being over the top (hyperbole again), but what is my purpose if not to figure out more about myself? Selfish? Maybe, but not as selfish or harmful as ignoring your own well being to become an accountant. (Seriously, does anyone really like math? This is a serious question that has been bugging me.....)
It's hard to really describe or acurately express exactly what i'm thinking- in many parts due to the fact that most of this rant stemmed from a hate of THE DEPOSITIONAL PATTERNS OF RIVERS DURING THE CENOZOIC ERA....
I guess i figure there should be more to life than hating your job or working towards the end goal of getting through the day without killing yourself. Why is it that people in society can't understand the redeeming value of literature, art, and music if it's the one thing that can separate them from their mindless, robotic, number-crunching, mechanical existance?
Maybe i just like to BS, but it seems like there has to be more to life than repetition and finite known truths.... Literature is creative, interpreted, personal- Even if this professor knew everything that there was to know about Geology- EVERYTHING- what would happen then? Would she quit her job and become a librarian? Maybe that's an interesting way to put it..... if science majors working towards a goal of complete knowledge suddenly found everything out about the universe, what would they do? Sit back, relax, maybe crack open a book.....
posted by Kevin @ 7:52 PM
3 Comments:
Thats why I love you.
Chalk one up for the art major too.
Justin
Hmmm, great post, extremely intriguing ideas, and here comes the science major with the exact opposite opinion.
Maybe life isn't all about self-realization. Or, even more than that, maybe some people achieve self-realization by studying the world around them. I can personally say that almost every day I sit in a biology or chemistry lecture, I'm amazed at how certain things in the world just work. Even when we don't really understand why, they work.
I couldn't disagree more when you say a physicist wouldn't gush about discovering a proof that explains his existence. To many, myself included, science is capable of establishing the entire reason we exist, completely independent of any religion or philosophy. Maybe we exist simply to fill a niche in this amazing universe, to serve some purpose greater than ourselves, just one extremely small but vital part in a massive machine. Whatever the reason, it's unfair to assume that scientists are simply "gorging themselves with knowledge" and that they don't gain any existential benefit. I suppose in some ways that is a form of philosophy, using science to realize yourself, in which case this argument is worthless, but either way, don't be too quick to judge something simply because you hate it. To each his own I suppose.
And I also wish you wouldn't consider science as uncreative. While it may not be as apparent as writing a sonnet or anything like that, the way life has the ability to adapt and adjust is one of the most creative things I can think. Life in any form is an amazing thing when you stop to think about it, quite far from stagnant and boring, as you seem to imply.
And this is only defending the science portion of your argument, I couldn't agree more regarding accoutnants. Who the hell would actually enjoy a life of that, but like I said, to each his own.
Either way, nice post, I enjoyed it, nice to wax philosophical on something I can actually contribute a bit of conversation too.
and now for booz's thoughts...and mind you it was my initial intention to respond in a more timely manner, but due to the fact that i'm in tanzania, was abruptly rendered helpless (aka: caught unawares in a cold dark alley with my pants around my ankels) when the power went out...such is life.
anywho, to be perfectly honest i feel smarter just knowing that i've kissed each of you...and have most likely also done so while naked. in truth there isn't much i can say; for an africana studies major who's only significant aspiration in life at the moment is to one day be the proud owner (or operator, in the event that one of you fucks stumbles on a bunch of money and decides to invest) of a juice bar, i'd say i fall somewhere comfortably in the middle...again with my pants around my ankles. and while it's true that being an accountant would most assuredly be the closest thing to hell any of us can imagine, who's to say that one's profession should define who they are in the first place? could it be that an accountant by day is a proud father, loving husband, youth basketball coach, PTA volunteer, and environmentalist by night? i think our main problem as "developementalists" is that we allow our "work" to define who we are, instead of letting who we are be reflected in our work, regardless of what it is.
that's enough bs though, my head hurts...and if we weren't all on different fucking continents i'd say we should slap eachother's assess and grab a beer...or a smoothie...but all the same, and like dan said, to each their own. thanks for the mind fuck gentlemen; good form.
in peace,
boozie
p.s. just letting everyone know now that i call an upstairs bedroom in baker...or maybe when considering all the copius amounts of sex i'll be having i should instead opt for a ground floor accomodation? whatevs...toodles!
p.p.s. being that this is your blog kevin, i love you and long for your touch.
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