September 2008 Archives

            Maya Angelou's "A Great and Startling Truth" seems a very appropriate choice for our class.  Since August, we have been studying ways of knowing, which can also be described as a quest for truth.  

            The "great and startling truth" as Angelou conveys it in her poem is that everything is up to us.  She notes that people are cruel, using vivid depictions of war and terror.  The section that affected me the most was the section, "And children dress their dolls in flags of truce/When land mines of death have been removed/...And childhood dreams are not kicked awake/By nightmares of abuse," (26-32) because it reminds me of so many of the stories I have heard and videos I have seen of children in Latin America and Africa who live in fear because of land mines and other dangers in their homelands.  I always have wanted to help these children, so this section of the poem was particularly meaningful to me. 

Angelou, after depicting humanity as cruel, suggests that although humans are acting cruel right now, when we realize the truth that it is up to us to change the world, we will do so.  "When we come to it," is a repeated throughout the poem until the end, where she says, "We must confess that we are the possible/We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world/That is when, and only when/We come to it" (75-78).   When she speaks of "it," she speaks of the realization and responsibility to make the world better. 

This poem seems very inspirational and should not be ignored, but it is not exactly in agreement with what we learned in class.  We learned about truth--various types of truth, how to determine truth, and sources of knowing.  We learned how truth can be subjective, relative, objective, or absolute.  Although many people may agree with Angelou's truth, it is still very subjective because it is her opinion and her truth.  Others may disagree with her, but it does not matter to her because it is based on her individual self.  Her truth is not absolute.  The problem with Angelou's poem is that it talks a lot about what people can do, but it never mentions the absolute truth behind her subjective truth--God.  The absolute truth is that God created humanity, and God is in control of humanity.  Although he does give us the responsibility to live on earth, he also gives us the power to help others and the strength to fight the evil in our world through faith. 

The poem also hints at the idea of a heaven, but it does not go into great detail.  Angelou may have meant that the earth will be like heaven when it is peaceful.  This is somewhat similar, but extremely different to what we learned from Simply Christian.  In this book, N.T. Wright introduced the idea of heaven coming down upon the earth.  In his theory, earth and heaven become fused together to create a new kingdom.  Angelou calls earth a "small and drifting planet" numerous times, but as we learned that will certainly not be the case when heaven and earth combine to create the new kingdom of God.

                The sentence, "this sentence serves no logical purpose," is a wonderful illustration of postmodernism.  Not only does the sentence embody the postmodernist idea that everything is in the eye of the beholder, but it represents postmodernism further by contradicting itself.  

                Before addressing the sentence, it must be made known what postmodernism is.  As the class discussed, postmodernism is a movement in response to modernism which started in art and architecture but moved into other areas of study.  It is characterized by an attention to others, especially the marginalized, and has an emphasis on what is perceived by an individual rather than a group's perception.  Postmodernists are skeptic about what is considered the truth; they are suspicious of meta-narratives that groups may have.  They believe that the meta-narratives are bad because there is not one story that unites people, but each person has his or her own story.  Postmodernists are also very strong believers in consumer capitalism because they think that the power of choice makes everything fair. In the arts, there is a huge emphasis on subjectivity and impressionism, fragmented forms, discontinuous narratives, and random collages of different materials.  There is a tendency toward reflexivity toward the production of the work of art, and a rejection of formal aesthetics for minimalist designs.  There is also a rejection of the difference between high and low.

                Because of the skepticism that exists among postmodernists, they believe that everything can and should be interpreted by an individual in order to avoid oppressing meta-narratives.  In postmodernism, every person has his or her own truth. For the purpose of explanation and examples, two characters will have the opportunity to display the postmodernist ideals.  In example one, Ben and Jerry sit near a campfire.  Their conversation drifts from the day's events to their appreciation of the fire, and then they start to discuss the fire's purpose.  Ben says very matter-of-factly that fire is very useful because it can be used for heat.  Jerry, however, argues that the most important use for fire is for light.  Although the two men have differing ideas, in postmodernism they are both correct because they create their own truths.  The same can be said for other discussions these men may have.  For instance, the men start to talk about technology next, which starts another debate.  Jerry says that he believes that the best technological advancement in all of time was the invention of the Internet, because it made it easier for people to communicate with one another and also provided a network for research that previously had not be available.  Ben, however, thinks about a time period much earlier in history and says that the invention of the telephone was clearly the best technological advancement in all history because it provided people with the ability to communicate more quickly than they could previously, and that was the most important thing to think about.  One might wonder which of the men is correct in this situation.  Although through the modernist belief one of the men would be considered correct and one would be considered incorrect, the postmodernists would say that both men are correct because they are creating their own truths according to their own perceptions.

                Because of the idea that everyone has his or her own "truth" according to his or her perceptions, the real truth is lost.  Truth becomes meaningless because everyone has a different idea of what truth is. Ideas of what is moral can be very different, and even can become corrupted.  Actually, almost everything can lose meaning for this reason, and life can get quite confusing.  It would be almost impossible to completely think like a postmodernist, because humans get so many of their opinions and ideas from others. 

Postmodernism contradicts itself because of one of its most prevalent ideas.  Most postmodernists would say that there is no truth, but just saying that is a contradiction because stating that there is no truth is a statement of what is true.  Postmodernists also claim to be accepting of everyone's truths, but that is also contradictory because they do not accept the truths of those who practice modernism. 

The sentence, "this sentence serves no logical purpose," is like postmodernism because  it embodies the idea that "truth" is in the eye of the beholder; it is up to the reader to interpret the sentence and decide whether or not it is truth. Ultimately, it is like postmodernism because the sentence does contradict itself.  While it may not have been created with the intent of being purposeful, the class' analysis of how it is like postmodernism gives it purpose.  This makes the sentence extremely contradictory, just like postmodernism is extremely contradictory in its statement that there is no truth, which postmodernists accept as "true."

 

So this song was about loss of friends to AIDS, but for some reason in my head it was Western? I'm not really sure.

The time is sometime in the past in the western area.  After a long day of work in the fields, the workers are returning home.  A worker comes into his home, where he is greeted by his wife.  She asks about his day politely, and then asks serious questions about money that makes the man mad.  She apologizes.  The man and woman argue a bit about finances until they hear someone at the door.  It is a man from the bank telling them they owe money.  The wife reminds her husband to be nice, but it is pointless.  The man is furious that the bank sent a collector to his house, so he yells at the man from the bank as the clock strikes.  The argument between the husband and the man from the bank intensifies until the husband strikes the man.  They start to fight, continuing for a while.  The wife leaves the porch, afraid of what will happen.  They start a commotion, and many townspeople come to watch.  Some decide to join in, causing a gigantic riot.  All of the sudden, the rioters stop and realize what has happened because of their craziness--someone is dead.

    It's very easy to notice what the sun does for the earth.  It's very helpful.  It gives nutrients to plants and light to people.  It can be used as a source of fuel.  Most importantly, it is a source of warmth.  Not only is this beneficial to tourists on a tropical island who want to soak up some rays, the sun's heat is the reason life exists on the earth.  If it were not for the sun, the earth would be completely frozen.  This would make life impossible due not only to the lack of heat, but the lack of usable water that is necessary for human life.

            Even though the sun is so valuable to humanity, most people take it for granted.  They don't realize all that it does.  For most people, the sun is just there--a part of everyday life.   The power of the sun isn't too obvious unless one is to start directly into it, which can damage a person's eyes.  It's easier for people to just enjoy the effects of the sun without thinking about it.

            As it is easy to see the effects that the sun has on the earth, it's also very easy to see what theology does for the planet.  Just as the sun helps the earth, so does theology.  Theology can help explain life's unanswered questions, give hope, and serve as a moral guide for many people.

            However, talking about God can be very difficult.  God is so mysterious to people, so people have many questions that often go unanswered.  It is nearly impossible to understand God's greatness, so it often gets overlooked.   On an everyday basis, God's power isn't too obvious when people get caught up in less important things.  It's easier to enjoy what God gave the world without thinking about all He has done for humanity.

Wright made a lot of sense with his metaphor of staring into the sun. This is because the sun and God can be seen as similar.  In fact, some Native American tribes and even ancient people worshiped the sun because of its godlike qualities.  It is probable that the people who worshiped it experienced its goodness, but they probably never fully understood it.  In fact, they probably knew less about the sun than most people do with modern scientific studies.  These people had the same experiences with their god that modern day Christians have with theirs.  They understood that the sun was brilliant and powerful, but they never understood the extent of that power.  Likewise, humans cannot understand God by simply living in his kingdom.  In order for one to understand God, one has to be brave enough to probe deeper into theology and "stare into the sun."

            While Wright had his good points in creating this metaphor, it can also be a bit problematic.  Staring into the sun can harm a person's eyes, but exploring theology generally doesn't hurt people; it helps them.  Also, when a person stares into the sun, that person then understands the great power that the sun has, but this is not the case with God.  Even the most experienced theologians cannot truly understand God and how powerful he is, because they are humans who are incapable of comprehending God's magnitude.   

            Whether or not Wright's metaphor of staring into the sun is a useful metaphor of studying theology, it encourages readers to consider Christian theology on a deeper level.  Many of his concepts are very intriguing, especially the idea of "life after life after death."  At times, people just accept others' ideas about God's Word and don't think for themselves.  This is clearly not the case for Wright, and that is very admirable.  Most Christians believe in what Wright calls Option One, where God exists everywhere, or Option Two, where God lives in heaven, which is far away from earth (60-63).  This is clearly not the case for Wright, who influences readers to think for themselves.  His concept of heaven descending to become one with the earth create a new "life after life after death" shows that the Bible can be interpreted in different ways, and that it is up to an individual to decide what is the truth.  This writer was very intrigued at his concepts, although at first they seemed a little bit odd.  The idea that the Bible is not something that is supposed to necessarily be taken word for word is an idea that Wright impressed through his metaphor of staring into the sun.  If one just looks at the effects that theology has on humankind, much of the meaning is missing.