Week Four's Blogs

I know, I know, some really dense material you had to wade through for this week’s reading, but I absolutely loved reading through your blogs. Most of you enjoyed Pearce’s insights, and it’s amazing to see all of the different aspects each one of you decided to focus on. As Suset said, it’s rather like a Thanksgiving feast – where to start?
Blake gave us a nice synopsis of all three chapters (a difficult feat since they’re so jam packed) and raised the nurture vs. nature conundrum which (I think) was one of the major themes in the reading.
Ubersuck (who is this, by the way?) introduced Pearce’s theme of the importance of language as “like a whisper amongst the shouting” – ooh, lovely turn of phrase!
Josh S reminds us of the positive thinking theme he already discussed in class (I thought of Josh as I read certain sections of this piece) and leaves us with the quote, “Anything capable of being thought of can be true.”
Ben, a confessed skeptic when it comes to all of this, ends his thoughts with a good point – cigarettes burn – but makes the argument with circular reasoning. And because some people (like Wilbert) have first-hand knowledge of circumstances where skin doesn’t burn, we know we can escape from that “circular trap” - “A change of world view can change the world viewed” (Pearce 4).
Many of you made great connections with movies that represent some of these ideas: Tyler with The Matrix, Ashley with the Jewel of Nile, and Carolyn with The Village. Carolyn’s analysis could easily be developed into a great paper for the next writing assignment (nicely done Carolyn), as could an analysis of any of these texts.
Allison’s detrimental treatment of the book, The Secret, is probably warranted. I haven’t read it, but have heard of it, and I agree Allison, it sounds like a commercialized version of some very profound ancient wisdom. Maybe you should give your mom Pearce’s book for Christmas. For those of you interested in a more scientific, less philosophical, but more popular style of book on the subject, try Lynn McTaggert’s The Field. She’s a journalist who researched these topics extensively, and who provides some very credible scientific sources for her findings.
Gunnar, thank-you for providing the image and the vocabulary to describe some of the frustration in trying to fully digest this reading. I looked up “Asymptote” in the O.E.D. The definition: “A straight line which is continually approached by a given curve but does not meet it within a finite distance.” Whoa! (How do lines approach curves, anyway? ).
Last but certainly not least, I have to mention Mr. Lance’s blog. His quote from Pearce – “A mind divided by choices, confused by alternatives, is a mind robbed of power.” Perhaps ASC’s help to take away those choices (or should we call them distractions) so we can begin to focus on more important aspects of our world. Mr. Lance also refers to government and big business as one in the same, an idea which Pearce alludes to later. Mr. Lance's “haven to prison” is also an insightful idea. Thanks for the zeitgeist link. I know you mentioned this movie before. I think it’ll be on my weekend watch list.