Monday, October 08, 2007

hermenuetics

so today, bill told me that:

"you don't get to decide what is significant in your life..."

i cried...

posted by Monica @ 8:27 PM   7 comments

7 Comments:

At 8:13 AM, Blogger Karen Wagner said...

I don't know as I agree with him. I may decide that something is significant in my life. It may be a smile, a hug, a note or something that the giver will never know impacted me deeply.

 
At 11:09 AM, Blogger bcdees47 said...

This was a great point in class yesterday. I could tell it bothered you when he said it and that you spent the rest of the hour wrestling with it. I can definitely see why the statement can cause some uneasiness - we like to think of ourselves as free, autonomous agents who can choose to think and believe anything we like. But, is this really how we experience the world?

Take, for example, my Nalgene bottle that I bought at Target a few months ago. I bought it because I decided I needed to drink more water, but didn't want to waste plastic bottles. I cannot simply decide that this bottle is significant to me. It may have a particular purpose, it may be useful, but it doesn't mean something to me in the same way, say, Kellie means something to me. I can't choose for the bottle to become significant. I can, however, engage in activities that might cause this bottle to become significant for me. For example, say I take the bottle on a memorable hiking trip. Suddenly, the bottle has significance for me insofar as it reminds me of that trip. Or, better yet, say I get lost on the hiking trip and am alone, without another source of water for days, and for that time, the water bottle is my lifeline. From now on, that bottle has great significance for me.

My point is that our sense of the significance of things is born out of the trajectories of life. We can make decisions that influence what things and which people become significant to us, but we can't just decide to make something significant.

 
At 3:08 PM, Blogger Monica said...

i am totally kicking pappans ass when i see him again...

karen, i totally get what you are saying...

dees, i know that at the heart of what bill is saying is right...i just think of all the times that i have spent thinking that something is significant- and maybe it wasn't all along....or, i find that in the grand scheme of life, something other, moving to bring about the significance of anything to me at all is humbling...i get the trajectories...it's just humbling to stop and think of all that adds up to bring something to my presence and therefore elicit a response from me that it is significant...i think :)

 
At 8:47 PM, Blogger bcdees47 said...

I think humility is the key word here. I feel the same way. Believe me, these kinds of things get to me, too.

 
At 6:52 AM, Blogger Karen Wagner said...

If an ass had facebook, wouldn't it then be called "assbook"?

 
At 7:54 PM, Blogger PPC Young Adults said...

IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We all love you.

 
At 5:33 AM, Blogger Monica said...

thanks!! i am off into the wild west...carrie is going with me so i am sure the trip will be well documented :) peace to all this week as we await d-day on monday....:(

 

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