I'm going to give you a few quotes that you can choose to reflect on using other parts of the text, as always, to support your point and also, hopefully, using examples from your experience this semester. You can chose to use these prompts or, of course, any other textual points/concepts that you want.
1. A rude shock or dissonance--may be telling us that something important is happening--that is not as negative as it feels. Noticing our fear and discomfort may help us to grow, stretch, learn:
"'Seize the moment' typically refers to a positive moment of opportunity, one not to be wasted. . . but [it dawned on me] that such a moment can come as a disconcerting shock, dissonance that might not feel good at the time. It is in these precious moments –when something shakes up us, rattling us from our resignation or depression, or galvanizing that vague sense that there must be more to life ––that we can break free of the cycle of fear" (161). (Or, if you don't see yourself as having been in that cycle, this is a moment that informs you, period.)2. Lappé was never saying that her message was one of lack and scarcity of power, instead, in the beginning of the book she was laying out, a "dangerously false premise" (178), a message that many of us receive on conscious and unconscious levels everyday that can rob us of our power and our desire to act (those of you who have remained untouched with power/sense of self intact, I am envious! If you don't see that any of this is true for your experience, then pick another quote). Now towards the end of the book, she writes:
". . .the most debilitating piece of the scarcity message is its insistence on the lack inside of us. A constricted self-concept drives the dominant worldview, reinforced not only by dominant political and economic theory, not only by incessant corporate advertising, but also by strains within many religions. . . From this premise of lack we are finished. We end up locked in a belief system that actually creates the very scarcity we fear. . . we're vulnerable to simplistic social dogma ––to 'isms' encouraging us to turn over our fate . . . Our planet's survival therefore depends onwhether we can break free–– whether we can affirm not the goodness of human nature. . . but the richness in human nature." (179-180).3. Contradiction: knowing=not knowing=knowledge/power=humility of not knowing= freedom to act:
"Real humility, I now see is admitting that it is not possible to know what's possible. And if this is true, we are free to go for the world we really want, unhindered by the false idea that we should calculate action based on probabilities of success" (217).
Please remember that all of these prompts and weekly assignments are also aimed at helping you write your final integrative paper. You have a body of work to now look back and draw on as you think about the shape and direction of that culminating paper. You might want to go peek at the assignment on your syllabus or on moodle so that you begin to be clearer about where we are headed.
Unrelated to prompt: here's the interesting event I mentioned in the title:
Cooking your food with the sun in South Africa
Imagine if you used the sun to cook your food instead of using the electricity or gas? Well, in the sunny balmy climate of Cape Town South Africa they are doing just that! On November 27, 2010, 1,000 people will sit down for a meal together that will be cooked exclusively with solar cookers. But before the community sits down to feast they will engage in an intergalactic photo shoot. They will create the above image out of the solar cookers and will have a 59 second window where the design will be photographed from a passing satellite.
People all over the world are joining this event in South Africa by donating $150 to buy a large solar for this event and as a permanent solution to carbon reduction in the Khayelitsha neighborhood of Cape Town.
Here is the deal in Khayelitsha, many residents do not have access to electricity and those who do generally can’t afford more than the government’s Basic Allowance of 50kW per month, which seldom lasts more than a couple of weeks. The rest of the month, and those households without electricity, people end up cooking with parffin, scraps of wood or other flammable and carbon-intensive materials. Energy is also very expensive in South Africa. The NGO, South South North, estimates that in neighborhoods like Khayelitsha 25% of a families income is spent on energy service. These cookers are an immediate and critical solution to the energy crisis in this community that also helps to relieve the financial struggles of local families.
Please email heather@350.org if you are interested in donating to the solar cooker project or would like more information.
This project is being organized by the Canary Project, an arts collective that has been producing art and media that deepen public understanding of climate change since 2006, as well as several South African NGOs.
I think that a lot of people go through times where there are plenty of opportunities that they come across and then they decide not to take them. But, before I make a choice to let it pass by I think about all the possibilities that could come after it. One example would be my trip to Montana, every time my cousins went they always had fun and I finally got the opportunity to go with them. The only thing that was holding me back was the medicine that I have been taking. It made me sick and I had to boil it and then drink it. The medicine would have been a hassle just to bring with me. However, I really thought about it and I realized that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and my medicine shouldn’t hold me back. "'Seize the moment' typically refers to a positive moment of opportunity, one not to be wasted. . . but [it dawned on me] that such a moment can come as a disconcerting shock, dissonance that might not feel good at the time. It is in these precious moments –when something shakes up us, rattling us from our resignation or depression, or galvanizing that vague sense that there must be more to life ––that we can break free of the cycle of fear" (161). If we just let moments that could change our lives pass by, we really wouldn’t have a meaningful life. Everything we do has meaning and some opportunities may be good or bad, but we could always try. “The ground shakes. One is forced to look more deeply” (158). It takes something serious to happen to us to change our way of living and sometimes its makes it much better. Once you have come to a realization of something epic, you look more into it and incorporate it to our own self; we think what could we do about it? or how can we fix it? Sometimes I wonder how can I change my way of thinking to make myself want to go to school and to get an education. I look at those who started with nothing and have nothing, only wishing to go to school. I want that mind set and it only takes failing an exam to make someone realize that they have to step their game up and start studying more. We need those moments to wake us up from our daily lives and actually look at what is really going on in the world.
ReplyDeleteWe Learn, and then we Choose.
ReplyDelete-Courtney Russell
The influence that one projects upon their environment is immeasurable. No one knows who observes, talks about, or feels the effects of one’s actions. Once this realization is accepted, a decision must be made to either become generally active or generally passive in life. Obviously passivity is the more common decision made by those with the opportunity to ponder this conundrum in the first place. So why be active at all? That might require direction of thought or the development of a moral framework, which takes effort and fills one’s days with new and challenging knowledge.
Being active in the world with the knowledge that the legacy of your actions may not even be realized by one person requires humility and humor. Unlike passivity, which often calls upon the basic skill of pessimism, action calls upon one’s capacity to be simultaneously honest and hopeful. One must accept the possibility of failing, prepare to succeed, and allow goals to broaden, narrow, and progress when necessary. Passivity and action are philosophies to be adopted, and as I choose to define it, passivity is the personal adoption of stagnancy. Even if one makes the decision to observe and absorb a situation rather than change it, that person is choosing to learn and not shutting out the possibility of growth. Conversely, nonstop action can lead to carelessness, selfishness, and quite possibly maliciousness as byproducts of neglecting one’s environment.
Want to Break Free
ReplyDelete"Real humility, I now see is admitting that it is not possible to know what's possible. And if this is true, we are free to go for the world we really want, unhindered by the false idea that we should calculate action based on probabilities of success" (217).
This world in which Lappe speaks of that recognizes her defined true humility seems boundless. It is a world with limitless possibilities and an ever exploration further into life. It is not an exploration in which we look for a definite ending but knowing the ending does not and is not tangible. There is always more, for we know not the limits.
I like to think of this as when we talk about our universe. We know of the solar system that contains the known planets and their moon companions. We know there are our own galaxy and other galaxies beyond that. Beyond much of that is the unknown. Unknown in recognizing that there is much more to know, whether or not something is beyond.
Limits are self-inflicted boundaries. When we shed the ego we are able to overcome the self and push beyond our talk of limiting. We become unbound to what we know but are grounded in our truth.
Prompt 3: We can do it!
ReplyDeleteThis class has shown me that even when we think we can’t change things…there’s always something we can do. It has also taught me that education is power, and if we don’t learn and seek to understand the problems in our society we will never be able to help fix them. “Real humility, I see now, is admitting that it is not possible to know what’s possible. And if this is true, we are free to go for the world we really want, unhindered by the false idea that we should calculate action based on probabilities of success” (217). Growing up we are taught that only the powerful and rich can fix and change things and that we can only have as much success as our family or friends. But that statement just is not true. If we do not put our success in a box, anything is possible. It is “the very complexity of our magnificent brains [which] make us vulnerable to the power of ideas-including those ‘big ideas’ shaping an entire social order, those mental maps are powerful enough either to stunt us or to free us” (218). We have the power to free us of our “social maps” and do something. I think Nike has the best motto: “Just do it”! That is all we need to do. Mankind needs to just have the desire and want to help and create a better world and it would just happen; if people worked TOGETHER. Change does not happen over night, but if people work collectively and have a greater goal, anything is possible.
I do agree that noticing our fear and discomfort may help us to grow, stretch, and learn. Although noticing our fear and discomfort is the first step in the right direction, I believe that it takes more then just that.
ReplyDelete“In these moments of dissonance, fear can always stop us dead in our tracks, for it has become the “emotional plague of our planet,” …. To break free, we must understand how we arrived here, and to do that, we have to reach back in time. Way back.” (165)
The way I have been brought up and my culture has a lot to do with my fear in speaking up for my thoughts about things and what I believe in. That fear creates this disconnect when I am in a confrontational decision or speaking my mind. When I was raised, as like most Filipino families, my parents had always told me to avoid confrontation at all costs and to just mind my own business. Since that is how I have been raised for the past 21 years, it is hard to break that habit over night. I have to reverse my way of thinking and teach myself that it is ok to voice my opinion and to stand up for what I believe in even though it might cause some conflict. From there I will be able to grow and learn more as well as be able to make a difference in our society today.
"Real humility, I now see, is admitting that it is not possible to know what's possible. And if this is true, we are free to go for the world we really want, unhindered by the false idea that we should calculate action based on probabilities of success" (217).
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, it is good to be aware of the probabilities of success, but not be bound and limited to it. I find it important to not quantify one’s hope based on their probability of success in each of the decisions they make. It is also important to sense fear, the danger and the risk of every action, and find the courage to use it as an opportunity to struggle forward.
The closing chapters of Getting a Grip 2 have been inspiring. I feel very much like Frances Moore Lappe, as if I knew her. She wrote this book with much more experience around her belt, yet with the very same message that I have been driven by for the past few years. Some of these messages are: 1. to remember that one’s acts, the smallest and the largest, all ripple and that it affects one’s environment, from its people to nature itself. 2. It is important to find value and empowerment in one’s self even if one does not agree with the established, dominant authority. One person is a part of the whole and makes up the whole no matter what, and one voice matters. One voice ripples.
On page 176, Lappe talks about seven ways to rethink fear. She and I share a lot of the same views on fear. One of her points was to rethink the old thought of fear “If I’m really myself, I’ll be excluded. If I break connection, I’ll be alone forever” into “To find genuine connection, we must risk disconnection. The new light we shine draws others toward us, and we become conscious choosers”. I find much strength in being true to one’s self and not compromising it by trying to hold on to friends who might not accept certain aspects of one’s self. One’s true self is more important that satisfying others’ preconception of one’s self. This is important for us, as people and as members of our community. As an artist and an activist, I find being genuine essential to expression. It is for example, what makes writing powerful. It is what makes my public life full of meaningful relationships, at least, I would like to think so. My humanity is what can move and inspire listeners and observers of my art.
"Real humility, I now see is admitting that it is not possible to know what's possible. And if this is true, we are free to go for the world we really want, unhindered by the false idea that we should calculate action based on probabilities of success" (217). When I read this, I had some wavering feelings. I agree that it truly is not possible to know what is possible. When we assume an event will take place, there are many factors that may affect the outcome you would expect. The chances of these factors actually happening may have a good or bad chance, but it is still has a chance of happening and that is it is possible to know what’s possible. However, I do believe that calculating actions based on the probabilities of success is not a false idea. I think we are still able to go for a world we want even if we knew the probability of success. It all comes down to the will power and passion a person has for the world they want to obtain. A person may have a low probability of success for something, but they can still thrive for it. If a person has enough passion, they will still take action despite the odds being against them. After all, it is not possible to know what is possible.
ReplyDeleteBack when I was a freshman, I took attended a break-dance workshop because I had some interest. After the workshop, I found my self to have a low probability of getting good at it because I had very bad stamina and lacked the strength. Years later, a friend tried to introduce me to it and I gave in. I had the same problems as before but my willpower was different. I had a whole new passion for the dance. I kept practicing everyday, learning new moves and worked my body to the limit. Today, I don’t look like such a stiff when I’m on the dance floor. Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get (Gump). It is not possible to know what’s possible but it never hurts to think about it either.
What is truly possible?
ReplyDelete“First remember that we don't need confidence in success...We need only to believe in possibility.”(216)
I agree with this quote because even though I don't always follow it, it is a quote that people really should follow. Almost all the big moments in history have shown an example of this. People coming together not knowing whether or not they will be successful, but doing what they believe in because they believe there is a possibility, not matter how small, of them being successful. I feel like after reading this quote that this is something I should follow more in my life. I know I'm one of those people who like to over analyze things and am one of those people who likes to try and calculate the chance of success before I try something. An example I can clearly remember about how I overcame this was the very first time I went snowboarding. All my friends I went with had been going for years and were a lot better than me and able to go down a lot more difficult trails. On the third day they were going to go down one of the most difficult trails on the mountain and asked if I would like to give it a try. Now I could of thought about my chance of success of making it down. It was one of the most difficult trails and I didn't have near the experience needed to go down, but I didn't let it stop me because I knew it was possible to do, and I was able to do it. I had a great time doing it and looking back on it now it was a great experience and was glad I didn't think about the chance of me succeeding because I probably would have passed it up and missed out on a great experience. It just shows you what people are possible of, even against the odds.