18 June 2013
Discussed Text: David Foster Wallace, "This Is Water"
“You’re reading.” I’m glad that now you are aware.
Most of the time, it’s so easy to get lost with the personal matters in our lives, may they be trivial or not, that we tend to forget that we are humans. We forget how to feel like human, how to act like human, how to live like human and how to be like human. Just to add, a philosopher once mentioned, “The unexamined life is not worth-living.” This is why in spite of many things that constantly push us to go with the demands of time, it is still essential for us to make time, not just to find time, in inspecting our own being.
In the first discussion we had with Dr. Garcia, I actually find two significant points regarding humans that are really fascinating, or at least, worth-discussing. One is that humans must be aware of their own awareness and this was basically the purpose of the first line. The underlying reason here is that by one’s being aware of his awareness, by one’s being conscious of his own consciousness, it takes that person to a perspective of understanding not of what he deals with, but a greater leap from there, of what he really is. It enables one to see himself in a stranger-like point of view wherein he can evaluate his own thinking, actions and emotions for better judgment, but more importantly, experience himself as a human, as a being united to his own. At a particular encounter, it may be a feeling that one’s soul departs from his own physical body, but once the soul gets back to that body, he will realize that he is, indeed.
Second is that humans are capable both of knowing and not knowing. Obviously, the “known” and “not known” form two different sets and the two together constitutes a bigger set of knowledge, or the universal set. If that universal set exists, then, we can define a particular complement set “not known” to the identified set “known.” This supports the idea of the intricate relationship between knowing and not knowing, one being the complement of the other. This allows a person to differentiate or identify the things he knows from the things he doesn’t know, which frequently, he’s not aware of. By knowing that there are things he does not know, he must not simply remain in that stage. He must keep on striving and yearning to learn more, for that will sustain his life.
Let me end this with an attempt to understand human itself. Being human is not an attribute or a truth implied right at the start of our birth. It’s not even a state that one must reach or at least, attempt to reach. Rather, being human is a process that one constantly experiences. One keeps on doing more, one keeps on being more while experiencing his sense of being and I guess that is what it means to be human. One dreams, one hopes and one lives—up to eternity.
I agree with the author in what he said that "being human is a process that one constantly experiences." Ultimately, our whole life, who we are, will be defined by the collective sum of our own experiences. These experiences enable us to reflect and in our reflections, it is crucial for us to seek and know both what we know and what we don't.
ReplyDeleteIn reflecting however, we will first have to take a step back, but at the same time, this is also what makes it possible for us to emerge triumphant, that is, having dove deeper into life.
Marika King PH101-A
"Most of the time, it’s so easy to get lost with the personal matters in our lives...that we tend to forget that we are humans." I agree, I find it very true that we tend to lose ourselves in the regularities and the routines of life. Sometimes we are dehumanized by what we do, following the same routines and the same schedules, that we forget the point of why we actually do them. This is precisely the importance of why we have to keep reminding ourselves that "THIS IS WATER", to be aware of ourselves and of the world around us because it is in this awareness that we see meaning despite living a routinary life.
ReplyDeleteThis awareness enables us to see ourselves not only as one existent being but as a being of mutual existence, to veer away from our "natural default setting" and to have an awareness of the world, of others, and also ourselves as part of that whole.
I also agree with how "being human is a process that one constantly experiences". To actually live is to lose ourselves in this world, as said by sir Earl,and
"To come face to face with reality and let it surprise you". I guess it is in this way that we let ourselves be defined by our experiences as we "lose" ourselves means to let ourselves "go", go and experience new things but at the same time have that awareness of what we're going through.
Frenchi Baluyot
PH 101 A