If Goffman is correct then the world is merely a giant play in which everybody is an actor playing a part. The social world is merely the giant stage in which the play takes place and communication many times is just a script to make the play run smoothly. Thus Goffman uses a dramaturgical analysis as a way of understanding and explaining the theatrical representations which people use for themselves. People usually have fronts which are the characters a person usually shows to society, and then there is the back region which a person’s true self which is not usually shown (Wallace & Wolf, 2006). It is because people put on such facades that a dramaturgical analysis of characters is useful in understanding the social roles which people play in interactions such as the car salesman and the customer.
The used car salesman is a person whose front region is all that is usually visible. He gets into character as he goes to work, putting on nice dress clothes, usually wearing a tie. His hair is usually short and well groomed, to give the appearance that he cares about his looks as much as he cares about the car which he is trying to sell. He is usually a very charismatic person always smiling, standing up straight and appears to be a very outgoing man who just wants to be friends with everyone. His entire persona is very professional so that he can send out the image of being a credible person which customers can trust, and feel comfortable around. If he can succeed in this image then he will most likely be successful in his occupation of selling cars.
The customer on the other hand is a very casual man wearing jeans and a collared shirt. His hair is well groomed, and he stands up straight as he attempts to appear knowledgeable about cars and confident in the deal he wants. He does not want to appear weak, because then the salesman would walk all over him and he would not get as good of a deal. He attempts to be firm and indecisive about the car he wants so as to not give out the impression to the salesmen that he is too interested in the car. He knows that if he does that then the salesman will have the upper hand in their interaction. He then walks up to the salesman and shakes his hand and tells him about the car that he wants.
The salesman has rehearsed his script and begins to spit out the lines which he uses when attempting to make a sale. “Tell me sir,” he says, “what I can do to put you into this car today.” The two men begin negotiating as the customer says the type of car he wants and the price he would like it for. The salesman begins to explain the car which is on the lot as he hypes the car up to make it seem like a machine which the customer can not live without. Finally the salesman brings the customer inside the dealership and sits them down at a desk to discuss the final portions of the sale. As soon as the customer is inside the phone rings in the background. The salesman picks up the phone listens for a second and then turns to the customer and says “I’ve got Mr. Harris on the phone wanting to know if the car has been sold. Shall I say yes? (Wallace & Wolf 2006)” The customer then in fear of losing the car to someone else then says yes.
The salesman was using a script the entire time as he rehearsed the lines which he thought would sell the car in the end for him. He then used the telephone as a prop, in which he staged a fake conversation with a Mr. Harris in order to convince the customer that they needed to hurry and make the deal on the car (Wallace & Wolf 2006). This is a perfect example of the front which people put on to play a role when interacting with other customers. Once the customer and the salesman leave the area, they will go to their back regions in which they can then be themselves because there is no one around for them to role play around.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdelene: Whore or Apostle?
Mary Magdalene has been one of the most controversial characters in the Christian religion. She has been depicted as everything from the lover of Jesus Christ, to a prostitute in need of God’s redemption. In fact there is much confusion over the role she played with many people believing that the bible has at least three Marys and then many anonymous womyn. While at the same time there are people who follow the teaching of Pope Gregory I who proclaimed that they were all the same womyn and that Mary was merely an evil womyn who was saved by Jesus. Even recently there has been controversy over both the movie and the book entitled The “Da Vinci Code” on whether Mary was married to Jesus and if so is there a bloodline to Christ. So the history of Mary Magdalene must be interrogated to understand the role in which she truly played.
There are several womyn who are named Mary in the New Testament of the bible, so in order to understand who the true Mary Magdalene is, one must be able to distinguish her from the rest (Carroll 2006.) There is Mary of Bethany, who is the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who according to the bible sat by Jesus feet and listened to what he had to say while her sister angrily cleaned and got their home arranged nicely for Jesus’ stay (Carroll 2006). Then there was Mary, the mother of Jesus, whom is credited for being the virgin who gave birth via Immaculate Conception (Lester 2006.) Then there was Mary Jacobi, who was one of the womyn who helped Mary Magdalene and the other womyn with Jesus’ death and resurrection (Lester 2006). There was also Mary, Mother of John, and Mary the wife of Clopas, just to name a few other Mary’s which traveled in the same group, or was around during the same time frame(Carroll 2006).
Along with the womyn whom were named Mary, there were also several unnamed womyn that are discussed in the bible. These womyn were all identified as sexual sinners and it was the conflation of these womyn with Mary Magdalene which helped construct the myth that she was a prostitute. There was the womyn with the “bad name” which came with a jar of oil and cried at Jesus feet, while he was having dinner with a Pharisee. The Pharisee expected Jesus to force her to leave but Jesus said that it was her love which allowed her to be forgiven (Carroll 2006). There was then the womyn whom Jesus met at a well, and when he asked her for a drink she gave him one. Finally there was the adulteress which was brought before Jesus because the Pharisees wanted to see if he would condemn her, to which Jesus replied with his famous “Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone” (Carroll 2006).
While there was no credible evidence ever in the bible which could prove that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, that label stuck with her for centuries. It all started with a series of Sermons Given by Pope Gregory I in which he conflated her with the womyn with the “alabaster Jar” of oil, which he claimed she carried around for purposes of covering up the smell of her sexual acts (Carroll 2006). He also referred to Mary Magdalene as the womyn which Luke said was evil and Possessed by seven demons which Jesus cast out in a tale of redemption. This of course was only a myth because although the womyn who traveled with Jesus were claimed to have ailments, it was very common during those times for the people to blame sickness on evil spirits or demon possession. The truth was that she probably suffered from epilepsy, or possibly severe depression (Lester 2006). Pope Gregory I on the other hand claimed that it was seven demons which represented the seven deadly sins which were inside of her (Carroll 2006). This label was able to divert peoples attention and change the story of Mary from being one in which Jesus confided in her and that she was the womyn apostle which was given a special role over men, and instead turned into a story about the sinner who is forgiven by the grace of Jesus as testimony of God’s great mercy.
There was also another version of the story in which Mary Magdalene was actually the womyn who was being married to John at the “Feast of Cana, where Jesus famously turned water into wine (Carroll 2006).” Then when John saw the miracle, he left his wife behind to follow Jesus and to become one of the twelve disciples. Mary Magdalene was then extremely angered by this and began to prostitute herself to other men. She would then later appear in the bible as the womyn whom the Pharisees brought before Jesus while they were having dinner, and she sat there and kissed Jesus’ feet while pouring ointment on it. It was her love for Jesus while at his feet, which allowed for her to be forgiven and it allowed her to follow Jesus.
It could also come from the fact that the Catholic Church wanted a way to repress sexuality, by focusing on how Mary Magdalene became pure after she repented. The early phases of Christianity began to focus on sexuality being evil, and that served to reduce all womyn to the role of tempters. This stereotype was created as a way to keep womyn from playing an active part in the church. It was also important in upholding the womyn’s role in the church to being one of subservience. It was claimed that if womyn received to much power then they would bring down the church because the men would be tempted, or engage in lust, and thus sin. The church also had to reduce Mary then from the role of apostle to the role of the forgiven sinner, because it could then justify keeping womyn out of positions of power in the church, using the claim that Jesus only trained men, citing the fact that there was twelve apostles and that they were all men. This is also proven in how the church glorifies the Virgin Mary because she was pure and untouched by a man when she gave birth to Christ (Carroll 2006).
It is also important to take into account the time phrase of Christianity. The first period is that of Jesus life in which he taught men and womyn equally. Then there was the phase 35 to 65 years after his death when the scriptures were being written down which included the stories of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The final time period was after the bible was written, it was then controlled by the Catholic Church who had to read and educate the masses about the scriptures because during those times most Christians were illiterate. So even though Jesus’ teachings were against sexism, the church reverted back to the patriarchal notion of men being in power. Mary Magdalene, who was a powerful womyn which Jesus confided in, was looked down upon as merely a whore that Jesus forgave. This new twist on the story turned her into a “Manageable, controllable figure, and effective weapon and instrument of propaganda against her own sex (Carroll 2006).”
Historians today are finding the Gnostic texts to be quite fascinating as they portray Mary Magdalene in a different light, which is highlighted by the book of Mary which discusses the special role which she played with Jesus. Gnostics believe that Jesus spoke to Mary during his resurrection in a very special way. They believe that he did not speak to her in the physical reality or through hallucination or some other form of psyche, but instead he spoke to her in the nous, which is the finest point of the soul. It is the realm which is not constrained by the tangible material limits of reality, but it is not just the spirit, it is beyond metaphysical explanation and is a place in which God can directly speak to humans (Leloup 2002).
After she had this encounter with Jesus she went back to the disciples and told them what she had witnessed. She began to tell them of all of the special teachings which Jesus had spoken to her alone. She taught that the focus should not be on the death of Jesus, but instead people must focus on the way in which he lived. She claimed that Jesus existed inside of everyone and that they should focus on self-enlightenment to become the human which Jesus was. “It teaches people to free themselves from the dualisms that tear us apart and render us demonic. But rather than denying the body or matter , We must imagine our mutual ignorance transformed through the unexpected word into a loving friendhip (Leloup 2002).” After she finished explaining Peter became infuriated claiming that Jesus would not have trusted her with this information over some of the disciples. Levi then came to her defense claiming that Jesus loved Mary and that the two of them had a special bond, and that they should begin practicing the philosophy which Jesus gave to Mary. He then spoke out against Peter saying that he was being sexist for excluding womyn, and because of that he was being just like their adversaries, because Jesus believed in equality (Leloup 2002).
The Christian Canonical texts also hold the role of Mary Magdalene very highly for it is she who was the first to encounter Jesus’ resurrection. The bible says that she went very early to visit the tomb of Jesus, and she saw that the stone which was blocking the entrance had been rolled away. She later walked into the tomb where she had a conversation with two angels about how she was upset that they had taken her lord. While she was crying Jesus came to her, and witnessed to her. He then told her to go and witness to the other disciples what she had seen. This story proves that she had a special role in which Jesus trusted her to speak on his behalf to the men (Lester 2006).
The issue on what exactly the relation between Jesus and Mary were is very controversial and ambiguous. In the book of Philip which is a Gnostic text, he discusses the relationship with Mary and Jesus as being physical. He writes about how Jesus loved Mary more than anyone else and would also be seen kissing her on the lips. The story of Mary and Jesus encounter during the resurrection also hints at something physical, for when she saw him she ran and grabbed him, and then Jesus said to her “Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended.” This could mean that what was once between them physically could be no more after Jesus death. Many others believe that the reason that Mary Magdalene was Jesus confidant was because they were sexually involved (Leloup 2002).
The issue on whether they were married on the other hand is also highly contested. Although they were very close Meera Lester (2006) argues that they were most likely not married because during those times a womyn was reffered to by her proper name, and then by the man in her family who was most important such as Mary, mother of Jesus. However for Mary Magdalene it was a completely different scenario for she is never referenced with a man. However, Jesus taught at many synagogues and temples, yet Jewish tradition considers a man as either not fully whole or as disobedient towards God if they are not married. Thus in order for Jesus to have taught he should have taken a wife, because without one he should not of been allowed to enter the holiest parts of the Temple (Leloup 2002). Also Jesus being married would also of been common if he was to take the role as the leader of the group, as well as if he was attempting to demonstrate on how to be the perfect man it would make sense for him to demonstrate how to be the perfect husband. It is also believed that Martin Luther, as well as Brigham Young both believed that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. Mary was very special to Jesus, she served as his confidant, and she was the apostle to the apostles, and this was especially rare during the era which she lived. She has been used as a tool to oppress womyn by reducing her down to a mere sexual object. She could even be viewed as a sinner by the men at her time who believed that womyn should not be allowed to read the Torah. Her important role with Jesus could very easily of made the disciples of Jesus uncomfortable because they might have been jealous in the knowledge which she was trusted with. Throughout all of the controversy however, Mary Magdalene is finally being honored for the important role which she played, and is contributing greatly to the feminist movement inside of Christianity. In fact her role as the apostle to the apostles is what is allowing the Catholic Church to consider allowing womyn into the clergy. Refferences Carroll, J. (2006). Who is Mary Magdalene. Smithsonian. Vol. 37 Issue 3, p108-119 Leloup, J. (2002). The Gospel of Mary Magdalene. Vermont: Inner Traditions Lester M. (2006). The everything Mary Magdalene. Massachusetts: Adams Media
Mary Magdalene has been one of the most controversial characters in the Christian religion. She has been depicted as everything from the lover of Jesus Christ, to a prostitute in need of God’s redemption. In fact there is much confusion over the role she played with many people believing that the bible has at least three Marys and then many anonymous womyn. While at the same time there are people who follow the teaching of Pope Gregory I who proclaimed that they were all the same womyn and that Mary was merely an evil womyn who was saved by Jesus. Even recently there has been controversy over both the movie and the book entitled The “Da Vinci Code” on whether Mary was married to Jesus and if so is there a bloodline to Christ. So the history of Mary Magdalene must be interrogated to understand the role in which she truly played.
There are several womyn who are named Mary in the New Testament of the bible, so in order to understand who the true Mary Magdalene is, one must be able to distinguish her from the rest (Carroll 2006.) There is Mary of Bethany, who is the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who according to the bible sat by Jesus feet and listened to what he had to say while her sister angrily cleaned and got their home arranged nicely for Jesus’ stay (Carroll 2006). Then there was Mary, the mother of Jesus, whom is credited for being the virgin who gave birth via Immaculate Conception (Lester 2006.) Then there was Mary Jacobi, who was one of the womyn who helped Mary Magdalene and the other womyn with Jesus’ death and resurrection (Lester 2006). There was also Mary, Mother of John, and Mary the wife of Clopas, just to name a few other Mary’s which traveled in the same group, or was around during the same time frame(Carroll 2006).
Along with the womyn whom were named Mary, there were also several unnamed womyn that are discussed in the bible. These womyn were all identified as sexual sinners and it was the conflation of these womyn with Mary Magdalene which helped construct the myth that she was a prostitute. There was the womyn with the “bad name” which came with a jar of oil and cried at Jesus feet, while he was having dinner with a Pharisee. The Pharisee expected Jesus to force her to leave but Jesus said that it was her love which allowed her to be forgiven (Carroll 2006). There was then the womyn whom Jesus met at a well, and when he asked her for a drink she gave him one. Finally there was the adulteress which was brought before Jesus because the Pharisees wanted to see if he would condemn her, to which Jesus replied with his famous “Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone” (Carroll 2006).
While there was no credible evidence ever in the bible which could prove that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, that label stuck with her for centuries. It all started with a series of Sermons Given by Pope Gregory I in which he conflated her with the womyn with the “alabaster Jar” of oil, which he claimed she carried around for purposes of covering up the smell of her sexual acts (Carroll 2006). He also referred to Mary Magdalene as the womyn which Luke said was evil and Possessed by seven demons which Jesus cast out in a tale of redemption. This of course was only a myth because although the womyn who traveled with Jesus were claimed to have ailments, it was very common during those times for the people to blame sickness on evil spirits or demon possession. The truth was that she probably suffered from epilepsy, or possibly severe depression (Lester 2006). Pope Gregory I on the other hand claimed that it was seven demons which represented the seven deadly sins which were inside of her (Carroll 2006). This label was able to divert peoples attention and change the story of Mary from being one in which Jesus confided in her and that she was the womyn apostle which was given a special role over men, and instead turned into a story about the sinner who is forgiven by the grace of Jesus as testimony of God’s great mercy.
There was also another version of the story in which Mary Magdalene was actually the womyn who was being married to John at the “Feast of Cana, where Jesus famously turned water into wine (Carroll 2006).” Then when John saw the miracle, he left his wife behind to follow Jesus and to become one of the twelve disciples. Mary Magdalene was then extremely angered by this and began to prostitute herself to other men. She would then later appear in the bible as the womyn whom the Pharisees brought before Jesus while they were having dinner, and she sat there and kissed Jesus’ feet while pouring ointment on it. It was her love for Jesus while at his feet, which allowed for her to be forgiven and it allowed her to follow Jesus.
It could also come from the fact that the Catholic Church wanted a way to repress sexuality, by focusing on how Mary Magdalene became pure after she repented. The early phases of Christianity began to focus on sexuality being evil, and that served to reduce all womyn to the role of tempters. This stereotype was created as a way to keep womyn from playing an active part in the church. It was also important in upholding the womyn’s role in the church to being one of subservience. It was claimed that if womyn received to much power then they would bring down the church because the men would be tempted, or engage in lust, and thus sin. The church also had to reduce Mary then from the role of apostle to the role of the forgiven sinner, because it could then justify keeping womyn out of positions of power in the church, using the claim that Jesus only trained men, citing the fact that there was twelve apostles and that they were all men. This is also proven in how the church glorifies the Virgin Mary because she was pure and untouched by a man when she gave birth to Christ (Carroll 2006).
It is also important to take into account the time phrase of Christianity. The first period is that of Jesus life in which he taught men and womyn equally. Then there was the phase 35 to 65 years after his death when the scriptures were being written down which included the stories of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The final time period was after the bible was written, it was then controlled by the Catholic Church who had to read and educate the masses about the scriptures because during those times most Christians were illiterate. So even though Jesus’ teachings were against sexism, the church reverted back to the patriarchal notion of men being in power. Mary Magdalene, who was a powerful womyn which Jesus confided in, was looked down upon as merely a whore that Jesus forgave. This new twist on the story turned her into a “Manageable, controllable figure, and effective weapon and instrument of propaganda against her own sex (Carroll 2006).”
Historians today are finding the Gnostic texts to be quite fascinating as they portray Mary Magdalene in a different light, which is highlighted by the book of Mary which discusses the special role which she played with Jesus. Gnostics believe that Jesus spoke to Mary during his resurrection in a very special way. They believe that he did not speak to her in the physical reality or through hallucination or some other form of psyche, but instead he spoke to her in the nous, which is the finest point of the soul. It is the realm which is not constrained by the tangible material limits of reality, but it is not just the spirit, it is beyond metaphysical explanation and is a place in which God can directly speak to humans (Leloup 2002).
After she had this encounter with Jesus she went back to the disciples and told them what she had witnessed. She began to tell them of all of the special teachings which Jesus had spoken to her alone. She taught that the focus should not be on the death of Jesus, but instead people must focus on the way in which he lived. She claimed that Jesus existed inside of everyone and that they should focus on self-enlightenment to become the human which Jesus was. “It teaches people to free themselves from the dualisms that tear us apart and render us demonic. But rather than denying the body or matter , We must imagine our mutual ignorance transformed through the unexpected word into a loving friendhip (Leloup 2002).” After she finished explaining Peter became infuriated claiming that Jesus would not have trusted her with this information over some of the disciples. Levi then came to her defense claiming that Jesus loved Mary and that the two of them had a special bond, and that they should begin practicing the philosophy which Jesus gave to Mary. He then spoke out against Peter saying that he was being sexist for excluding womyn, and because of that he was being just like their adversaries, because Jesus believed in equality (Leloup 2002).
The Christian Canonical texts also hold the role of Mary Magdalene very highly for it is she who was the first to encounter Jesus’ resurrection. The bible says that she went very early to visit the tomb of Jesus, and she saw that the stone which was blocking the entrance had been rolled away. She later walked into the tomb where she had a conversation with two angels about how she was upset that they had taken her lord. While she was crying Jesus came to her, and witnessed to her. He then told her to go and witness to the other disciples what she had seen. This story proves that she had a special role in which Jesus trusted her to speak on his behalf to the men (Lester 2006).
The issue on what exactly the relation between Jesus and Mary were is very controversial and ambiguous. In the book of Philip which is a Gnostic text, he discusses the relationship with Mary and Jesus as being physical. He writes about how Jesus loved Mary more than anyone else and would also be seen kissing her on the lips. The story of Mary and Jesus encounter during the resurrection also hints at something physical, for when she saw him she ran and grabbed him, and then Jesus said to her “Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended.” This could mean that what was once between them physically could be no more after Jesus death. Many others believe that the reason that Mary Magdalene was Jesus confidant was because they were sexually involved (Leloup 2002).
The issue on whether they were married on the other hand is also highly contested. Although they were very close Meera Lester (2006) argues that they were most likely not married because during those times a womyn was reffered to by her proper name, and then by the man in her family who was most important such as Mary, mother of Jesus. However for Mary Magdalene it was a completely different scenario for she is never referenced with a man. However, Jesus taught at many synagogues and temples, yet Jewish tradition considers a man as either not fully whole or as disobedient towards God if they are not married. Thus in order for Jesus to have taught he should have taken a wife, because without one he should not of been allowed to enter the holiest parts of the Temple (Leloup 2002). Also Jesus being married would also of been common if he was to take the role as the leader of the group, as well as if he was attempting to demonstrate on how to be the perfect man it would make sense for him to demonstrate how to be the perfect husband. It is also believed that Martin Luther, as well as Brigham Young both believed that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. Mary was very special to Jesus, she served as his confidant, and she was the apostle to the apostles, and this was especially rare during the era which she lived. She has been used as a tool to oppress womyn by reducing her down to a mere sexual object. She could even be viewed as a sinner by the men at her time who believed that womyn should not be allowed to read the Torah. Her important role with Jesus could very easily of made the disciples of Jesus uncomfortable because they might have been jealous in the knowledge which she was trusted with. Throughout all of the controversy however, Mary Magdalene is finally being honored for the important role which she played, and is contributing greatly to the feminist movement inside of Christianity. In fact her role as the apostle to the apostles is what is allowing the Catholic Church to consider allowing womyn into the clergy. Refferences Carroll, J. (2006). Who is Mary Magdalene. Smithsonian. Vol. 37 Issue 3, p108-119 Leloup, J. (2002). The Gospel of Mary Magdalene. Vermont: Inner Traditions Lester M. (2006). The everything Mary Magdalene. Massachusetts: Adams Media
Sunday, March 18, 2007
The self as abstract
The self does not exist, it is not a tangible concept, and it is nothing more than an abstract machine created by western metaphysicians. The self is nothing more than a group of connections between machines of infinite difference. While people may have bodies, it would be quite reductionist to say that the body or mind is the self. Life is composed of desiring machines, partial objects which connect with one another. The eye which connects with a hand, a mouth, an ear, each of these connections produces something. What is produced is life, sound, language, emotion, the body. Everything is constantly in flux, a person is much like a river, although it appears the same, it is always different and always changing.
Rilke is correct in his assumptions that the face is a mask and that the body is merely a costume, however he engages in his observation from the wrong starting point. Much like a scientist needing a microscope to understand what an organism is made up with, which examining the so called self, it is imperative to examine not only the body, but the pre-human, as well as the virtual (e.g. thoughts, emotions). It would be incorrect to assume that there are such things as dualisms, especially between the mind and body. In order to understand the self one must embrace the paradox that everything is interconnected, yet at the same time it is infinitely different. There is no such thing as a universal body, or mind, although there may be similarities which are visible to the eye, or in their function, they are never going to be the same.
Rilke is correct in his assumptions that the face is a mask and that the body is merely a costume, however he engages in his observation from the wrong starting point. Much like a scientist needing a microscope to understand what an organism is made up with, which examining the so called self, it is imperative to examine not only the body, but the pre-human, as well as the virtual (e.g. thoughts, emotions). It would be incorrect to assume that there are such things as dualisms, especially between the mind and body. In order to understand the self one must embrace the paradox that everything is interconnected, yet at the same time it is infinitely different. There is no such thing as a universal body, or mind, although there may be similarities which are visible to the eye, or in their function, they are never going to be the same.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
The Shadows Called Life.
For many years of my life I lived much like the prisoners in Plato’s cave, perceiving the shadows which dance off the wall to be the universal truth of what reality is. Growing up in a small town in conservative Oklahoma, I was constantly spoon fed information such as the belief in god, support for American jingoism, or that Columbus discovered America. Then as I got older I began to discover that the information that I was receiving from the so called enlightened people, was really serving as a blinder, preventing me from ever truly experiencing the beauty of the world. It was at that moment when my chains were snapped and I stepped outside to see the sunlight outside of the cave.
As I stepped out I embarked on a strange and wonderful journey. With Deleuze and Guattari I made myself into a body without organs, saw the connection between the wasp and the orchid, and loved life like the cat and the baboon. I climbed upon icy mountain tops, surrounded myself with goblins, and danced with the gods with Nietzsche. Ward Churchill taught me that my native heritage should be first priority, because I was standing on blood soaked land and that I am privileged to be attending a university which teaches from an epistemologically flawed viewpoint. After acquiring the knowledge I attempted to come back and let the others know what I had seen and done.
Like Plato’s prisoner and Zarathustra I announced to the people around me what I had learned on my Journey, only to be laughed at, and met with extreme violence. My parents scoffed calling me an idiot for my tattoo’s representing my stolen heritage. The religious right responded angrily at the pronouncement that God was dead, and that it was all of us who have killed them. They did not understand, nor did they care, that this did not mean that the pronouncement would only allow for a pure form of Christianity based upon the teachings of Christ, as opposed to the absurd dogma which the church abides by. It was then that I learned that Deleuze was right; the masses do desire their own repression.
I do not believe in truth, the world is not static; it is in flux and in a state of constant becoming. The moment that God died, everything became equally valuable or valueless (who really knows, or cares) there is no single interpretation which is the universal. There is no longer a transcendent to regulate and dictate how the world works or functions. Since I believe that I am in flux I refuse to regulate myself to a meaningless abstract label, and say that this is what I am. For now I am a rhizome, uprooting the verb “to be.”
As I stepped out I embarked on a strange and wonderful journey. With Deleuze and Guattari I made myself into a body without organs, saw the connection between the wasp and the orchid, and loved life like the cat and the baboon. I climbed upon icy mountain tops, surrounded myself with goblins, and danced with the gods with Nietzsche. Ward Churchill taught me that my native heritage should be first priority, because I was standing on blood soaked land and that I am privileged to be attending a university which teaches from an epistemologically flawed viewpoint. After acquiring the knowledge I attempted to come back and let the others know what I had seen and done.
Like Plato’s prisoner and Zarathustra I announced to the people around me what I had learned on my Journey, only to be laughed at, and met with extreme violence. My parents scoffed calling me an idiot for my tattoo’s representing my stolen heritage. The religious right responded angrily at the pronouncement that God was dead, and that it was all of us who have killed them. They did not understand, nor did they care, that this did not mean that the pronouncement would only allow for a pure form of Christianity based upon the teachings of Christ, as opposed to the absurd dogma which the church abides by. It was then that I learned that Deleuze was right; the masses do desire their own repression.
I do not believe in truth, the world is not static; it is in flux and in a state of constant becoming. The moment that God died, everything became equally valuable or valueless (who really knows, or cares) there is no single interpretation which is the universal. There is no longer a transcendent to regulate and dictate how the world works or functions. Since I believe that I am in flux I refuse to regulate myself to a meaningless abstract label, and say that this is what I am. For now I am a rhizome, uprooting the verb “to be.”
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