page 173, The Summer Tree

[threeplusfire]

There are kinds of action, for good or ill, that lie so far outside the boundaries of normal behaviour that they force us, in acknowledging, that they have occurred, to restructure our own understanding of reality. We have to make room for them.

Comments

[reive.livejournal.com]

It occurs to me that on the macro, world level, the nature of these events is about destruction and on the micro, personal level these events are about creation.

Which says something about our species perhaps being packed too tightly togther to know what to do with itself.

[ex-candles994.livejournal.com]

I think people are ingrained by society to not think of the good of the whole but fashion their lives this way, without perhaps even knowing it. Then placing importance on money, status, family so that the individual will feel self worth in an amount that will guarantee further contribution to the whole (taxes, consumption, procreation). At least as far as the Western world is concerned, of course. There are those of us who would do anything (and do, regularly) to escape the vicious cycle of meaninglessness.

[reive.livejournal.com]

What I was thinking of when I wrote this, and I was waxing poetic in the extreme last night, is that events that have changed our perception of what is possible on the macro scale have been shit like 9/11 and wars and assassinations, whereas, on the microlevel someone reads a book, sees some art -- that is, is exposed to something that exists only because its creator was incapable of bowing either to convention or its wisdom -- and redefines how it is they can be.

[ex-candles994.livejournal.com]

Hm, but don't you think (and I was waxing poetic last night as well) that society amply supplies doors of escape along with the aforementioned doom and gloom (wars, famine, religious fervor, terrorism) in the way of MTV, pop culture, sitcoms, advertising, fashion, and the like? Certainly 9/11 must have converted *some* of these sorts of people into the sort that may someday learn to look within for answers, rather than escaping into the empty, faux, heartless world all ready to accept them with open arms. But I do believe even more people will miss the point entirely, be completely unaffected by 9/11 and all that's happening in Israel now and go about their lives, or if they have been affected they'll do what they know best.. more visits to TRL and more posters made for Carson Daly.

Redefinition, I think, is something that comes naturally to people, but they're browbeaten into submission to the point where they've forgotten how to and comfort and security (homeland security?) becomes more important than exploration and discovery.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I think it's crucial to being alive and conscious, that we recognize the power of such acts, for good or ill, to shape the world. How would we live, if we didn't?

[ex-candles994.livejournal.com]

Hm, I think there are certainly levels of life and consciousness, some having to do with cognizance of the world around you, and of course those having to do with your own being. Sometimes one can develop faster than the other and this is what you end up relying on the most. Some can't watch the news for it's too depressing. Some need to watch it to feel that connection with the rest of the world or else the solitude of their own mind will turn on them. I suppose it's different on a person to person basis.

Re:

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Funny you should say that. Because that passage obliquely references an act that is both destructive and creative, in that it takes on life and completely removes it from time and space so that another life may be strengthed.

[ex-candles994.livejournal.com]

Great quote.

Re:

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Isn't it? I had forgotten just how good these books are.