September 2008 Archives

          After reading Maya Angelou's poem, I quickly recall the intense discussion that took place on Wright's book Simply Christian. Wright addressed the issues concerning different ideas of heaven, of which he shared and enlighteningly new way to look at heaven. I believe that the brave and startling truth referred to in the poem is the intersection between heaven and earth, that life after life after death that Wright wrote about.  There are key phrases used by Angelou that leads me to this belief.

Wright spoke of echoes of voices that served as sign posts to something greater than us. The beauty of the earth and how we long for it, a yearning for justice, a desire for spirituality, and the overall need for relationship are all sign posts Wright discussed. Angelou writes in the fourth line of the poem, "To a destination where all signs tell us, it is possible and imperative that we learn, a brave and startling truth." This more than any sentence encouraged my belief of what the startling truth entails. Farther on she emphasizes the beauty of the earth and what is to come, which will be far greater than what we can comprehend in the present, "Not the sacred peak of Mount Fuji stretching to the Rising Sun. Neither the Father Amazon nor Mother Mississippi, who, without favor Nurture all creatures in the depths and on the shores. These are not the only wonders of the world, when we come to it."

We discussed in class that the intersection between heaven and earth and the renewing that it will undergo when Christ returns. It is argued that it is not important to preserve the earth since God will make all things new when life after life after death begins. We are called to be good steward of the gifts we are given and the beauty of the earth with which we have been so blessed. Angelou's poem has a single line in it, which to me, gets to the heart of good stewardship in anticipation of the second coming. "...abide cankerous words which challenge our very existence. Yet out of those same mouths come songs of such exquisite sweetness, that the heart falters in its labors..." We are sinners and saints all at once. We strive to do that which would please God, caring for the earth, yet we are unable to do so and our hearts falter.

The correlation to Wright and Angelou is an enlightening one. I believe that this correlation would not have been so evident had I not been equipped to examine the arts like we have been doing. Angelou may not have been portraying Wrights insight of what heaven will be like, but for me, she embodied what I read in Wright. The message of hope and that brave and startling truth is clear when using to two writers to look at one another.

The suggestion that something has no logical purpose causes a person to pause and rethink what was just said. Rethinking the issue only causes more confusion which leads to frustration. The mind is flooded with so many thoughts and ideas that it is really difficult to pick words out which justly represent what needs to be said. Provided the statement, "This sentence serves no logical purpose", there are many problems that exist when it is examined. Although there are problems that exist, it very efficiently demonstrates the ideology of its source. Postmodernism could almost be defined by such a statement. Postmodernist would not tie themselves to any word or sentence that is definable because being defined would imply a truth. Absolute truth has no place in the post modern realm. Postmodernism aims at deconstructing present ideas and thought (one might call them norms) by introducing the idea that there are no truths. Truth becomes a subjective proposition and takes away any ground for conversation about truth away. The postmodern idea that a sentence could have no logical meaning is flawed, and through these flaws the sentence is suitable as an illustration for the topic.
                At the heart of postmodernity is a sense of irony. Writing a sentence with no purpose and then stating it, is self-defeating. An author puts a pen to paper with intent of some kind. The end result of whatever is written will achieve some kind of purpose, whether it was the intended purpose or not. The sentence in question serves a logical purpose simply by existing. It provokes thought about the idea of having no purpose. An essay is being written about the lack of purpose which the sentence is supposed to possess. The irony of making a statement of having no purpose is that purpose is indeed achieved once it is read. An individual now knows that the sentence was written to have no logical purpose. The irony of such a statement not only confounds the mind but is a true testament to postmodern thought.

                It has been established that truth and postmodernism do not have anything in common. The statement of something lacking logical purpose aligns with postmodern thought but clashes with postmodern ideology by creating a truth when it is stated. Truth is established by the way the sentence is worded. To say that "this sentence has no logical purpose" would in fact create a truth if it were correct.  If the statement can be proven to be incorrect, the particular truth of correctness is not established, but the truth that it is not correct has been. Rejecting modern thoughts and attempting to break the mold could be accomplished by such a statement "this sentence serves no logical purpose", but breaking one mold opens the way to another mold. The sentence is a trap to the postmodern thinker.

                The modern way of thinking has a well-established hierarchy whether it is in government, the general work force, or day to day interactions. The overarching idea of a hierarchy is that of authority. Authority establishes boundaries and limits to help keep order. Postmodernism discards any kind of hierarchy which sets each individual on an equal plane. Authority no longer exists when each individual has no greater say or importance than another. A problem arises when this idea of no authority and the sentence "this sentence serves no logical purpose" are considered together. Authority is implied in the statement when it is read. It is not open to suggestion but rather a statement of no purpose. This is authority, which keeps with the tradition of modern thinking, but demonstrates the postmodern push to reject that which makes sense by attempting to make non-sense statements that destroy truth.

                 Postmodernism takes that which is modern and adopts the opposing view. To make a statement without any purpose would be a postmodern way to reject modern ideas. "This sentence serves no logical purpose" embodies ideas of postmodernism but demonstrates some of them by going against postmodern thought. The irony expressed in such a statement is without equal. Postmodernism seeks to avoid definition, but finds no way to do so with such a sardonic statement.  Truth is denied as an absolute but is established when making a statement of irony like the one being considered. The greater theme, establishing that there are no absolute truths, does just as it would not want to by establishing a truth. Authority, like absolute truth, is done away with by postmodern but in a similar fashion fails at the hands of the principles it would uphold. As postmodernism becomes more of a norm by slowly undermining modernism, or the present norm, could something that goes against postmodern thought be postmodern? It would seem that since postmodernism embodies everything and nothing all at once, this could be an eventual happening. 

A young man wakes from his peaceful slumber, the sun light teases his eyes awake. The troubles of yesterday are gone. He looks to find his fair maiden, but she is nowhere to be found. This is not uncommon for her to be up as she works in the garden while the dew is still on the ground. This morning had a slightly different feel to it for which the young man cannot quite nail down. He goes to the window to find his love expecting to see her but alas she is not in the garden. His heart only flutters slightly for there are many other places she could be.

Dressing, he comes down from his chambers with a mission in mind; he only wishes to see his love. He searches the interior of the house, expecting not to find her but maybe some clue as to her whereabouts. Entering the living room, he notices that something is not right; everything is in its place. The living room, being the most lived in space, it is never clean. As he investigates further, he discovers a slight drop of something on the floor. As he bends down closer to see what it is, he realizes it is merely a drop of water from the plant nearby. His beloved had been up early tending to the other chores inside the house.

He heads outside to see what he might find.  To his surprise the shed is open and there are blood drips which lead from the shed and away from the house. The man is enraged. Someone has certainly injured his love and taken her away. He is certain that this has been done by those who wish to destroy his happiness and joy.  He jumps on his steed and darts off into the nearby forest where the blood trickles lead.

The man's head is filled with speculation and hatred. Fear for the safety of his bride and revenge mix into a whirlwind of emotions. He rides on faster and faster as the trail begins to fade off and he comes to a fork in the road. A rash decision must be made as he takes the right fork at unsafe speeds. He knows that this is the road which leads to despair and that down this road is where his destiny awaits him.