fourth chunk

Forth chunk

My reaction to Lang before starting this unit was that I felt he was saying some very insightful thoughts. His ideas were not shocking to me because I’ve read articles dealing with similar topics, however he was the first to discuss alienation to such a degree.
My reaction to Lang now that I’ve done this unit is that of understanding. As I said before, I got what he was saying. I recognized his theory for what it was and then carried on. But doing this unit really brought it home for me. I gained a deeper grasp of his words.
I believe that Lang’s point of our forgetting of childhood – not only the content but also the flavor is for the most part true. The nature of memories is that they become blurred and muddy over time – a form of mental corrosion. We are then left with bits and pieces, sometimes not even sure if they really happened or if our minds had created it for no apparent reason. I myself have memories of dreams that seemed so real that the barrier between real life and them has broken down. And this is how it is for my childhood. I am certain of some memories in their realness, yet there are others that I have to question.
Pictures play a great role in helping keep a hold of memories. They serve as great anchors of thought, allowing us to recapture what was lost. I remember, as a part of this project, going through boxes of pictures with my mother. Almost each one seemed to bring back a memory of me from the deepest depths. Her face just lit up. Yet for me, only a few really brought me back to an event, but I was able to remember little chunk of things in the pictures be it a toy or a place, so everything was not to dead and dull for me.

Sensory Awareness - First Draft

When I was taking part in the various sensory awareness exercises, my attention was brought to many new experiences. For example, during the exercise in which we had to find our way back to the class blindfolded, I noticed how many other senses became enhanced when we lost the use of our eyes. My ability to hear took its place as my main source of information, along with my memories of the area I was in. In addition, there was a nagging feeling I had. I was more aware of things around me just from their relation to my body, however even if nothing was near me, it merely felt like I would walk into something. It is hard to put into words but it was as if the air was more active and my skin was noticing the signals. The last item of interest was that I felt some sort of tingling in my eyes. In addition to this, either in my mind’s eye or in the back of my eyelids I swear I saw when I paid attention, little golden sparks dancing around. I’ve noticed them before, and they only seem to be there if the tingling sensation is present. And as many times as I’ve seen them, I never really stopped and asked why they were there. I suppose that I just looked over them as useless information.
After doing the sensory awareness exercises, I do find Laing’s points to hold true in many aspects. It is very important to be in the here and now. This has the potential to greatly increase the value of our lives. However, I also I think that there is a greater advantage to be gained by having enough wisdom to know when to be physically aware and when to be the so-called “floating mind with a body”. In the world that we live in, there are times and events that call for certain responses from us mentally. For example, school. Some activity need for you to physically aware but the majority of them calls for us to be making good use of our mental being. Even as I am righting this now, I can feel some parts of my body, but overall my awareness is rooted within my thoughts. But in times when one is just walking down the street or waiting for something, it may be better just to relax and take in all that is around you, instead of just being trapped in your head.

Relection on Normal alienation from experience

I personally find what the author of this piece is saying to be true. We are all taught to focus on only a few things in life, thus causing us to lose sight our what we can feel. Now that I'm in between being a child and an adult I do see me losing parts of myself. But from what I've noticed taking place I must ask this question: How do we go about regaining what we've lost? Especially when we are constantly bombarded with the forces that caused us to be this way in the first place. The best answer that I've been able to create on my own is that we must consciously take a step back, and remind ourselves to look at whats around us. And then, after we've done that, we must try our best to analyze what things truly are. But of course, this is easier said than done, and we can never fully grasp reality to its fullest degree, but at least we've done something rather than nothing. If we do this we've taken the first steps. And if enough of us do this, we may be able to give this world a better version of ourselves that it so readily deserves.

“We act in accordance to how we see things thus if our experiences are destroyed, our behavior will be destructive.”

This is the line that I feel that, if for nothing else, must be understood by all those who reads it. And it acts as the back bone to my statement above. It is the reason why shifting our outlook on the world is so important. Because how we act and what we do relies so much on what we perceive, changing perception affects everything with our lives. Hence why one must make sure that they are aiming for something more positive in order to receive positive thoughts and actions. If not then they are only leading themselves down the ladder that should be meant to climb upward. For as bad as we are now, we've yet to yet rock bottom, so we must keep our heads at least above water and keep moving forward to prevent that.

Summary of Normal alienation from experience

The task is to notice and understand the world around us in its entirety. But we can't do this. We only can grasp bits and pieces of what is really there.

Adults have lost their awareness of their inner thoughts. And in terms of the body, they keep enough sensations to move correctly and to allow the most basic feelings for survival. But from that they have nothing else. So much so, that much extensive levels of un-learning is needed for anyone who wishes to see the world a new.

The way that things are now expresses a sad destruction of our experience, the consequence of the separation from our experiences. “What we think of as normal is nothing more than a creation of repression, denial, and many other actions of demolition.” And its this kind of “normal” that tends to look down on others. The normally alienated people, because they act like everyone else, is labeled as sane, while others outside of this are bad or mad.

“The state of being asleep, unconscious, of being out of one's mind, is the state of the normal person.”

We act in accordance to how we see things thus if our experiences are destroyed, our behavior will be destructive. We also will have lost our true self – our humanity. People can destroy humanity in each other because we are not separated from one another. Every action we do to others changes them in some way.

We act on what we see the world as, and this rule is even true when things conceal themselves from us rather than shows us its true colors. We are not capable of thinking about the actions that are bringing us to this dangerous thin line. We are less than what we can be because what we think is smaller than what we know, which when it boils down to it, is smaller than what really is there.

However, there is a chance, a possibility when a new baby is born. A retrieval may take place. Every new kid is a new light that can stand out in the darkness. Who are we to say that it is hopeless?