Sunday, March 7, 2010

Hands, March 7, 2010


I love personal agency as rendered before a vast sea of social constructs and adopted protocols. Personal agency allows for the continuous formation and re-formation of the self and its expression as individual as our own ways of processing the world.

Many would argue the point of habitus, of social reproduction, of our inability to see past (forget traversing beyond...ooof!) our own local mores and cultural constraints. While I do attribute a great amount of credit to the context in which we enact our multiple selves, to our environment, I would be remiss in not stating the power of the self. Now, the argument continues, personal agency is but a reflection of the social fabric with which we sew our lives, a construction adhering to arbitrarily enacted norms. Sure, but leave it to the unsatisfied, to the creative mind, to the critical thinker to step outside the established rules of play, and make the rest of us "sheeple" (as Dusan Writer quips) look around and concoct our own possibilities by merely seeing the dreams of others realized. Hey, at least allow me to fantasize herein, right?

And so it is personal agency that grants me a glimpse of the self, of myself, usually obscured by the daily progressions of quotidian crap. It is that very agency which allows me to find expression in the creation of interpersonal exchanges, in the conveyance of ideas (whether original or recycled), in the sharing of minds within whatever context I may be lucky enough to find a connection. So I extend my hands out to you in an attempt to connect, whoever you are, for it is all that I have to offer.

4 comments:

  1. When we want our child to explore living in other parts of the country, or we hope and help them travel around the world, or are thrilled they've joined the Peace Corps even though we worry about the risks --- we are feeling one of the expressions of what you've said.

    In the business world, various senior people are deliberately moved from place to place, or one part of the organization to another, to gain this greater agency. It is talked about as "experience" but the purpose aligns with what you've described.

    Timothy Leary? Someone's favorite mushroom? Ah yes, much the same. Why is drug use so common among artists? Yes, some is escape, but there is the 'mind expanding' side, isn't there?

    And anthropologists? Philosophers? Students of intellectual or cultural history? They are seeking to understand and see the possibilities. Their drive is both the 'research' and the writing (Note this Zola!), the story-telling, and yes at times the evangelism of helping others see the richness and possibilities that lay beyond existing perspectives.

    Children explore the world by playing games, learning and rehearsing actions for the game world. Adults do the same - witness the many people involved in World of Warcraft, EVE Online, Halo, Second Life, any in the Sims series, the Grand Theft Auto series, or the very broad appeal of the Wii. Note that some of these game environments are the individual in a fairly predictable solution path, while others are very fluid, unpredictable, social games and hence may offer greater frontiers for new agency.

    Thinking about all the above, and more, and the personal joys of what my personal explorations have yielded, I also note the huge forces that structure society, culture, religion, government, and all sorts of groups with informal and formal rules. In many ways they have been created to limit or direct agency. To make the behaviors of other predictable, and to help us predict how others will respond to our own actions, so that we understand the system within which we can exercise our own exploration, our own creativity, our own agency.

    These constraints in many ways speed and enhance the flow of our lives. We can take simple cues and understand what is meant; a cue evokes a entire range of understanding and memories in each of us, each of us different, but with sufficient commonality to help us live together and enjoy one another. A very simple example: what does the sound of a church bell on Sunday morning mean to you and to people around you?

    Those are the thoughts your Posting brought forth. The outreach of your hands caused me to fly a little higher, thinking about things I was taking for granted. Now I fly a richer person because of what you've said.

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  2. I just re-read your comment, my friend, and I find your words compelling now as I did then. March 7th was a fortuitous day, indeed, since I had time to do a little self reflection and found myself to be a very happy person. I am still smiling four months after writing this post.

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  3. And most importantly, it is a fabulous thing to have friends who allow us to find multiple forms of expression for our creativity.

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  4. A fortuitous day indeed, my friend. Thank you.

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