{"id":26335,"date":"2020-03-11T22:18:49","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T05:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=26335"},"modified":"2020-03-12T12:49:01","modified_gmt":"2020-03-12T19:49:01","slug":"i-feel-therefore-i-am","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/i-feel-therefore-i-am\/","title":{"rendered":"I feel therefore, I am. (sentio ergo sum)"},"content":{"rendered":"

First Pain<\/strong><\/p>\n

Summer Camp was a wonderland for me as a kid; it holds some of my first and fondest memories. The early 80s, I was free to fly. I wasn\u2019t held back from any place, unless it was after bedtime and I ran like the wind everywhere I went. To the field to play soccer, to the beach to find limpets, to the pool for cannonballs, everywhere running. There was a tradition at Summer Camp that at the end of the week, when the bus full of campers was leaving, the staff would gather to wave goodbye and they would chase the bus down the steep hill to the main road. It was a hot summer\u2019s day at the end of a great week at camp and I thought it was time for me to join in with the charging parade of staff, the famous bus pursuit down that very steep hill to the main road. Everyone was running so fast; I was about five years old and my little legs just did not go quite as fast as they needed to go. At full tilt and on a significant downslope I dove and slid. No shirt on for the heat, I slid on my chest on the gravel for a meter or two, sliding on dry pavement. This is my first memory of physical pain. The pebbles took a while to pick out.<\/p>\n

Yearning for being<\/strong><\/p>\n

The older I was, the more it seemed that my parents wanted to hold on, to control. It seemed like they were trying to protect themselves as they sought to keep me from harm. Perhaps, my tears as a child were to blame?<\/p>\n

It is difficult to control that which does not want to be controlled. As a teenager, I did not want to be controlled. I wanted to be free to fly like I did as a little kid. Even, to get hurt and to feel the pain of plucking out the pebbles embedded by a major fall. I would scream for space, reiterating with the hope to be respected, \u2018Let me figure it out for myself.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018This book is about wisdom and its opposite.\u2019 [1]<\/p>\n

This is the opening sentence of the introduction to Lukianoff and Haidt\u2019s collaborated work, The Coddling of the American Mind<\/em>(note: the opposite of wisdom is either \u2018folly\u2019 or \u2018stupidity\u2019). A book considered \u2018despite its title\u2019 to be in the genre of \u2018self-help\u2019, Haidt and Lukianoff target themes and explore stories to do with \u2018safetyism, the language of microaggressions, identity politics and intersectionality\u2019 [2]. The authors use Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) as a method through which to identify the issues and to perceive best navigation through such life-inhibiting attitudes or approaches as these.<\/p>\n

Hydra rise<\/strong><\/p>\n

Being risk averse has not been my inclination. Certainly, for those who struggle to keep life simple, free from failure and harm (life whereby the pursuit for achievement and progress is only justified by in being along the the easiest, safest way of least resistance), anything presenting a challenge to balance or that would increase the possibility of losing control or becoming vulnerable is avoided at all cost. Nassim Taleb, in his book Antifragile<\/em>, writes \u2018antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better\u2019 [4]. Taleb considers the robust as like the phoenix, through death rising up the same while those who have become antifragile as a hydra, when attacked and one head is cut off, two heads grow up to take its place. Haidt and Lukianoff determine that a seemingly ever-deepening emphasis on safety within a culture, one that has advanced \u2018so far that it equates emotional discomfort with physical danger is a culture that encourages people to systematically protect one another from the very experiences embedded in daily life that they need in order to become strong and healthy.\u201d [1]. In other words, we need to be presented with the possibility of problems and, even to be struck by the problems. This, in order for our growth; the \u2018breaking down\u2019 gives opportunity for the \u2018rising up\u2019 stronger (a little more versatile\/antifragile) than before.<\/p>\n

Has the concept or idea of Liberation Theology been at least downplayed (at most, extinguished) out of a political concern for social, economic and\/or religious \u2018safetyism\u2019? How do people feel when they hear the name Carl Marx? Marxism is considered risky for a number of reasons, all of which I don\u2019t even presume to know. I do know that Marxism is not all bad and, all of the good of it I don\u2019t presume to know. I could say the same for Capitalism however, my reference point for Capitalism is far more informed and viewpoint far more negative than positive (over time, in my opinion, Capitalism is the riskier choice). And, the further into this discussion I press, the less safe I feel.<\/p>\n

Romero<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, why might I feel this way? Perhaps, it is that \u2018reason\u2019 will become the focal point of attack or that \u2018fear \u2018could spur a violent rebuttal. And, what if I dropped a quotation of Archbishop Oscar Romero into a conversation on Christian \u2018safetyism\u2019?<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who, in the biblical phrase, would save their lives\u2014that is, those who want to get along, who don\u2019t want commitments, who don\u2019t want to get into problems, who want to stay outside of a situation that demands the involvement of all of us\u2014they will lose their lives. What a terrible thing to have lived quite comfortably, with no suffering, not getting involved in problems, quite tranquil, quite settled, with good connections politically, economically, socially \u2013 lacking nothing, having everything. To what good? They will lose their lives.\u201d [4]\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Education real<\/b><\/p>\n

Fear runs rampant in our world; and, unfortunately some use our proneness to fear for self-centred leverage for certain propaganda (consider Brexit, the COVID-19, the narrative of the media and the stock markets; consider Capitalism). So, what if we were to take a deep breath and learn about fear, the impact of it and the way that our fears can be played with the intention of manipulation? The last sentence rounds up a solution to the problem, \u2018This is a book about education and wisdom. If we can educate the next generation more wisely, they will be stronger, richer, more virtuous, and even safer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1] Lukianoff, G. and Jonathan Haidt. The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure.\u00a0<\/em>US: Penguin Books, 2018.<\/p>\n

[2] \u00a0Weigel, M. “The Coddling of the American Mind Review – how Elite US Liberals have turned Rightward.”\u00a0The Guardian<\/em>. Last updated: 20.09.1018. https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2018\/sep\/20\/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind-review<\/a><\/p>\n

[3] Healy, B. “Who’s Afraid of Liberation Theology?” Links: International Journal of Socialist Renewal<\/em>. September 2006.\u00a0http:\/\/links.org.au\/node\/528<\/a><\/p>\n

[4] Taleb, N.N. Antifragile: Things that Gain From Disorder.<\/em> US: Random House, 2012.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First Pain Summer Camp was a wonderland for me as a kid; it holds some of my first and fondest memories. The early 80s, I was free to fly. I wasn\u2019t held back from any place, unless it was after bedtime and I ran like the wind everywhere I went. To the field to play […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","cohort-lgp10"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26335"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26341,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26335\/revisions\/26341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}