Teaching/Enlightening

Yes, read literally, the Torah appears as the vulgar meanderings of Iron Age sexist, racist, fascist fanatics. And yes, the way orthodox Jews live, caught up either in personal and tribalistic gossip or in the seemingly meaningless excuse for seclusion and difference-- Halacha-- is profoundly disturbing. But, I keep coming back and sticking with the Torah and Judaism, because of those undeniably enlightening and enriching elements contained within them. 


For instance: when I realize that nearly 100% of the human populace do not think for one instance before they put food in their mouth, and then I make a bracha-- taking just those few moments to consider the miracle that lies before me, all of the awesome natural processes and immense human effort and collaboration that went into this food-- I cannot help but feel blessed that I have been given this unique opportunity to enrich my life experience, to elevate it to something beyond instinctual pleasure-seeking, to a realm where I can deeply deeply appreciate all that is given, and take that energy to give back.

Purpose

The word college derives from the Latin meaning 'colleague'. And what is a colleague, what is the original sense in which we can and should understand it-- someone with whom you 'choose together'. So, college then should be that place where we make choices together, where we discuss, form, and act out our ideals as a community. We try to build that elusive, ephemeral, ethereal body that binds us together merely on the basis of shared principles and acts. It's a lofty goal, but it's what makes us most human.

In my view, choices-- the expression of free will-- are what make us human. Once, I was walking to the bathroom to brush my teeth when I saw a candy bar on my desk, and the thought, the desire overwhelmed me-- instead of brushing my teeth and going to sleep with toothpaste residue on an empty stomach, I should eat that candy bar and fall asleep in warm, sugary satisfaction. And then I laughed, because I realized how ridiculous a proposal that was, but also how real and powerful it was. In abstract and hindsight it seems silly, of course you should brush your teeth, but in that moment I sought quickly to rationalize it away. What's one night without brushing going to do? Don't the gooey chocolate and caramel and momentary sugar high far outweigh any potential long-term gains of brushing?

But I continued to laugh, because it became so clear that this is the purpose of human life. No other creature on the planet faces these questions. Sure, there are reports of overeating in the animal kingdom, but for the most part, every other creature always does--and with tremendous vigor-- exactly what it needs to survive. Only humans place temporary pleasures before long-term gains. And it may seem mundane and ridiculous that our purpose should be to choose brushing our teeth over eating a candy bar, but I believe that's what makes us great. Because it is not the content of the choice that matters, but the fact that we can make it, that we could do otherwise, but we choose principles over pleasures. We choose what is right over all else.

So, that's how I think college curriculum should be oriented, so too in community, and in individual lives-- toward the understanding and enacting of good choices.

0 Kills. Let us go then.

Stating one's purpose in any endeavor is a courtesy not just to others but to oneself. It sets the framework of a clear course against which a person can be checked or check himself to stay on it. 

I often don't think clearly. I often don't write clearly. I often don't speak clearly. I want to improve my performance of those activities. Also, I would like to set down all of the scattered thoughts, writings, etymologies, experiences that accumulate in my life in one place. Also, I was born one day and I will die one day, and my life is, has been, and will be entirely unique in the history of this planet. I think it's worth documenting, at the very least, the parts which I find interesting and those which I think some of my peers in this epoch will or would find interesting. 

I've given this collection the title, Sight Celebration, because I honor ideas. The word celebration has the etymology of speaking praise of someone or something, but it also gives the impression of dancing around that someone or something, stoking its/their fire and taking that energy into oneself. That's what I do with ideas, which have the etymology, 'to see' specifically in the sense of a form or pattern, that is to me, seeing the unity of the world behind the chaos that often appears before our eyes. Sight, to my mind, always creates unity, it always either focuses on one object or it turns the scattered diversity before it into a unified whole. And this is what we do with ideas, we make the things of the world relatable to our unique human framework, we make what is beyond physical grasp sensible. And this activity almost always bears with it the attendant feeling that we as finite beings have touched infinity, that we've brought it into view, like lightning emerging from darkness. Ideas reveal the spirit of the world. And that's something that makes me dance. 

On a separate note, the word 'condition' comes from the Latin meaning say together, perhaps with some connotation of command or authority. And the OED says that this Latin definition already comprised our conventional understanding of the word as 'state of being'. So, we should understand a condition always as a saying together, as a truth that we attest to together. If I speak of the condition of my book as ragged, I'm speaking a truth about its being that only finds meaning in our mutual understanding of its raggedness. The word 'condition' tells us then that truth, understanding is always a communal project.