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Wil Franklin's picture

Delineation and judging?

The science mind/english mind dichotomy brings up several more general issues for me.  All of which I still have many questions.  One version of this issue happened many years ago sitting with some friends watching the surf we had just played in for hours.  In our exhausted state of euphoria one friend started waxing poetic about the mystery of ocean waves - the giant Pacific type that roll out of the vast expanse to curl perfectly along the coast etc, etc... just as if they wanted us to play on them.  As the consummate scientist (read - know it all back when I was 18 years old) I began to demystify the phenomena for my friends beginning with high winds and  a large fetch, etc, but was quickly silenced as a cold, joyless cynic who knew not of beauty and the divine - being 18 yrs old and we all liked to chide each other rather hard.  In any case, this to me, illustrates 1.) the view of scientists as joyless, lab coat wearing scrooges, 2.) the tenacity of humans to cling to certain myths, and 3.) the problem of delineating and circumscribing anything new.  The third issue is of particular relevance to our morning discussion.  I think, and I still have many question here, once something is named/delineated/circumscribed it becomes NOT something else.  Once there is something and something else, the human mind or perhaps more precisely, the limbic/emotional parts of the human mind adds value to it.  I think (what do you all think) that we cannot escape this.  As an individual all things start with us as the origin, meaning all understanding becomes colored by who we are, our past, our prejudices, our starting assumptions and thus, we every so subtly (sometimes not so) judge.  I don't think however, we have to leave it at that. I do think we can realize this about our nature and begin to reconstruct our understanding - consciously not placing value on what has been delineated.   Or am I fooling myself to think that I can hold two discrete objects (sometimes in opposition, sometimes not) in a valueless void?

I guess I am interested (at least for sake of argument) in challenging Paul's claim that we can be different without judging? Are we first and foremost emotional beings? If so, can an educator set up joyful experiences with "other", such that "other" at least becomes colored with a positive emotion?

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