real
A couple of weeks ago, I took a short road trip with a friend, a rhetorician, who told me how he had dismantled a piece of propaganda, not by arguing against the actual thing it was promoting (a screed on the horrors of illegal immigration, if I recall correctly), but by taking it apart rhetorically, showing the flaws in the arguments (non sequitors and the like). I should add the propaganda was one of those forwarded e-mails we all seem to get from certain friends and/or relatives.
Anyway, after his careful dismantling of the argument (without taking sides in the argument), he received the response that he wasn't living in the real world. The implication was that with all his education, he had lost touch with the reality this forwarded e-mail was clearly exposing.
The details of that particular story aside, I've pondered this for days now. What is the real world? I admit, I find my grasp on the concept to be slippery at best. Setting aside political views, let's just look at one simple way reality is very different to different people, yet very much a way of life on this big ol' planet.
I live here in the U.S. of A. where, I heard on the radio a few weeks ago, that the average citizen uses over 100 gallons of water per day. Per day. I heard that and it seemed just ridiculous. Impossible. How could I possibly be responsible for using 100 gallons of water each day? But as I added it up--showers, clothes and dish washing, food prep . . . not to mention the amount I just drink everyday . . . it still seems unlikely, but I suppose it could add up. (I now feel better about never washing my car.)
There still exists, in some parts of the world, communities that must walk to a central well or river or cistern of some sort and carry the day's water back to the home. How much water can one person carry? I'm guessing between 10 and 20 gallons. I've carried two 5 gallon buckets full of water at one time, and I can't imagine someone being able to carry much more than that for a very long distance.
So, just that as a base measurement of reality . . . which circumstance is more real?
Given the economic strata that I hold here in this country, I've looked at the way some people live and think they exist in some fairy tale world. There are families of 4 living in 20 room mansions not that far from me, and look forward to a time when I might be able to afford a second bedroom and move my home office out of the living room.
But I suppose those lives lived in opulence . . . really, is their circumstance any more or less real?
There are many, much more complex ways this has been rattling in my brain. Lies and "realities" we present to people who then live in a world not quite as real as it might be if we told the truth. The unrealities we continue to create and present because it's easier than exposing the real circumstances. For some reason, people seem to find me a good place to tell about their extramarital affairs. I wonder, then, about the reality of the spouse, who thinks he or she is in a monogamous relationship.
Those sorts of things.
I've seen different fiction writers talk about writing stories as a way of organizing and making sense of the real world. I suppose that's true . . .
I'm not sure I have a point. Except maybe to pay attention to other realities, to not assume ours is the only one, that anyone living differently is out of touch with reality. Maybe I meant to say something about discounting someone else's viewpoint as not in the real world is to miss out on the many ways reality can be experienced, is to cut oneself off from compassion for others, is to disregard others' concrete experiences as somehow unworthy of consideration. I probably had some sort of point about those sorts of things.
I suppose I'll continue to ponder this. If I come up with anything more lucid, I'll try to write about it.
Does anyone out there read Sojourners magazine? The current issue has an article about fiction writers, Barbara Kingsolver among the more prominent featured. In some way, I think of that article as having something to say about fiction as arranging--and transmitting--reality so as to foster intimacy between diparate folk. Kingsolver said somethign about that intimacy being the opposite of war.
I'm feeling particularly inarticulate about all this. I suppose that can happen when discussing reality. Feel free to comment and help me arrange my thoughts more thoughtfully.
~~~~~~~~~
While writing this, I was reminded of a couple of lines from the late great songwriter, Mark Heard:
To the poor we are swaddled in riches
To the rich we ain't nothing but poor
http://mhlp.rru.com/we_know_too_much.html
Maybe I'm trying to get at something about perspective . . .
Anyway, after his careful dismantling of the argument (without taking sides in the argument), he received the response that he wasn't living in the real world. The implication was that with all his education, he had lost touch with the reality this forwarded e-mail was clearly exposing.
The details of that particular story aside, I've pondered this for days now. What is the real world? I admit, I find my grasp on the concept to be slippery at best. Setting aside political views, let's just look at one simple way reality is very different to different people, yet very much a way of life on this big ol' planet.
I live here in the U.S. of A. where, I heard on the radio a few weeks ago, that the average citizen uses over 100 gallons of water per day. Per day. I heard that and it seemed just ridiculous. Impossible. How could I possibly be responsible for using 100 gallons of water each day? But as I added it up--showers, clothes and dish washing, food prep . . . not to mention the amount I just drink everyday . . . it still seems unlikely, but I suppose it could add up. (I now feel better about never washing my car.)
There still exists, in some parts of the world, communities that must walk to a central well or river or cistern of some sort and carry the day's water back to the home. How much water can one person carry? I'm guessing between 10 and 20 gallons. I've carried two 5 gallon buckets full of water at one time, and I can't imagine someone being able to carry much more than that for a very long distance.
So, just that as a base measurement of reality . . . which circumstance is more real?
Given the economic strata that I hold here in this country, I've looked at the way some people live and think they exist in some fairy tale world. There are families of 4 living in 20 room mansions not that far from me, and look forward to a time when I might be able to afford a second bedroom and move my home office out of the living room.
But I suppose those lives lived in opulence . . . really, is their circumstance any more or less real?
There are many, much more complex ways this has been rattling in my brain. Lies and "realities" we present to people who then live in a world not quite as real as it might be if we told the truth. The unrealities we continue to create and present because it's easier than exposing the real circumstances. For some reason, people seem to find me a good place to tell about their extramarital affairs. I wonder, then, about the reality of the spouse, who thinks he or she is in a monogamous relationship.
Those sorts of things.
I've seen different fiction writers talk about writing stories as a way of organizing and making sense of the real world. I suppose that's true . . .
I'm not sure I have a point. Except maybe to pay attention to other realities, to not assume ours is the only one, that anyone living differently is out of touch with reality. Maybe I meant to say something about discounting someone else's viewpoint as not in the real world is to miss out on the many ways reality can be experienced, is to cut oneself off from compassion for others, is to disregard others' concrete experiences as somehow unworthy of consideration. I probably had some sort of point about those sorts of things.
I suppose I'll continue to ponder this. If I come up with anything more lucid, I'll try to write about it.
Does anyone out there read Sojourners magazine? The current issue has an article about fiction writers, Barbara Kingsolver among the more prominent featured. In some way, I think of that article as having something to say about fiction as arranging--and transmitting--reality so as to foster intimacy between diparate folk. Kingsolver said somethign about that intimacy being the opposite of war.
I'm feeling particularly inarticulate about all this. I suppose that can happen when discussing reality. Feel free to comment and help me arrange my thoughts more thoughtfully.
~~~~~~~~~
While writing this, I was reminded of a couple of lines from the late great songwriter, Mark Heard:
To the poor we are swaddled in riches
To the rich we ain't nothing but poor
http://mhlp.rru.com/we_know_too_much.html
Maybe I'm trying to get at something about perspective . . .
posted by Neil Ellis Orts at 7:41 PM
2 Comments:
Due to my lack of a good Christian upbringing, yet my undying love of Jesus Christ Superstar, this is about all I got...:
Mary Magdalene:
Sleep and I shall soothe you
Calm you and anoint you
Myrrh for your hot forehead
Oh then you'll feel
Everything's alright
Yes, everything's fine
And it's cool and the ointment's sweet
For the fire in your head and feet
Close your eyes close your eyes
And relax think of nothing tonight
Judas:
Woman your fine ointment
Brand new and expensive
Should have been saved for the poor
Why has it been wasted
We could have raised maybe
Three hundred silver pieces or more
People who are hungry
People who are starving
Matter more than your feet and hair
Jesus:
Surely you're not saying
We have the resources
To save the poor from their lot
There will be poor always
Pathetically struggling
Look at the good things you've got
Think while you still have me
Move while you still see me
You'll be lost
And you'll be so sorry when I'm gone
Mary Magdalene:
Sleep and I shall soothe you...
Close your eyes
Close your eyes and relax....
I miss Mark Heard. He was way too honest for the Christian music labels, so he had to start his own (Fingerprint). I wish I had seen him in concert before he passed away. His music is being kept alive by some "Americana" artists, Buddy & Julie Miller, as well as Pierce Pettis, who always includes one of Mark's songs on each of his CD's and in each of his concerts. I always get a little choked up when Pierce sings one of Mark's songs. Bruce Cockburn wrote the beautiful song "Closer to the Light" about Mark's passing.
I do wonder sometimes if I live in "the real world" - or at least the world others inhabit. The very conservative fundamentalists in my family inhabit a very different world, one based on fear, "patriotism," and the need to assert Christian triumphalism. My mom recently told me about an email she got from some Christian ministry telling her to boycott Wal-Mart because "they're rolling out the red carpet for gays." No self-respecting gay (myself included) would ever set foot in a Wal-Mart, so I'm not sure what the boycott is about.
The world I live in is informed by things like Sojourners and NPR. I buy most of my groceries at a Whole Foods Market or my local organic food co-op; my family can't fathom why I would pay a little extra to buy organic, or even why I recycle. They're totally mystified at my desire to buy a hybrid car after I've driven my little pickup truck another year or two. I'm totally mystified by their reverence for George W. Bush or the fact that their world is informed by people like Bill O'Reilly and James Dobson. We live on the same planet but we inhabit very different worlds.
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