Well, I'm glad you're questioning your existence, because, as Socrates is accredited to having said: "The unexamined life is not worth living." It is our nature to be critical and judgmental, isn't it? When you see the following letters, what do you read?opportunityisnowhere
Like most, you say to yourself confidently, because you've suspected it all along: "Opportunity is no where!" Ah ha, I knew it! I'll tell you now, it is this type of thought that is the true bane of existence! Ask yourself this question: "Why am I taking gen ed courses?" Answer it from this perspective: Opportunity is now here!
Paulo Coelho, in his novel, El Zahir, creates a world where writing can lead one into a state of either holiness or madness:
"Writing is one of the most solitary activities in the world. Once every two years, I sit down in front of the computer, gaze out on the unknown sea of my soul, and see a few islands- ideas that have developed and which are ripe to be explored. Then I climb into my boat- called The Word- and set out for the nearest island. On the way, I meet strong currents, winds, and storms, but I keep rowing, exhausted, knowing that I have drifted away from my chosen course and that the island I was trying to reach is no longer in my horizon.
"I can't turn back, though, I have to continue somehow or else I'll be lost in the middle of the ocean; at that point, a series of terrifying scenarios flash through my mind, such as spending the rest of my life talking about past successes, or bitterly criticizing new writers, simply because I can no longer have the courage to publish new books. Wasn't my dream to be a writer? Then I must continue creating sentences, paragraphs, chapters, and go on writing until I die, and not let myself get caught in such traps as success or failure. Otherwise, what meaning does my life have?
"Shaken by these alarming thoughts, I find a strength and a courage I didn't know I had: they help me to venture into an unknown part of my soul. I let myself be swept along by the current and finally anchor my boat at the island I was being carried toward. I spend days and nights describing what I see, wondering why I'm doing this, telling myself that it's not really worth the pain and the effort, that I don't really need to prove anything to anyone, that I've got what I wanted and far more than I ever dreamed of having.
"... couldn't I, just to free my conscience from these feelings of guilt, couldn't I at least write for half an hour?
"I begin out of a feeling of duty, but suddenly "the thing" takes hold of me and I can't stop... I am no longer in control of where I place my feet, the island is being revealed to me, I am being propelled along its paths, finding things I have never even thought or dreamed of.
"When I used to read biographies of writers, I always thought they were simply trying to make their profession seem more interesting when they said that 'the book writes itself, the writer is just the typist.' Now I know that this is absolutely true, no one knows why the current took them to that particular island and not to the one they wanted to reach. The obsessive redrafting and editing begins, and when I can no longer bear to reread the same words one more time, I send it to my publisher, where it is edited again, and then published.
"And it is a constant source of surprise to me to discover that other people were also in search of that very island and that they find it in my book. One person tells another person about it, the mysterious chain grows, and what the writer thought of as a solitary exercise becomes a bridge, a boat, a means by which souls can travel and communicate... I manage to look those people in the eye and then I understand that my soul is not alone."
So, what does it all mean? And how does this passage relate to gen ed courses? I see those courses as the islands we are swept away to- the destinations we thought had nothing to offer us. But then, we succumb to the current and go with the flow, maddening though it may seem, and start to realize, I mean truly experience the old adage, that life is not about the destination- it's about the journey. One day, the therapist looks into the eyes of a patient who is clearly swept away at sea, and what the therapist thought was a "solitary exercise becomes a bridge, a boat, a means by which souls can travel and communicate." The patient looks into the therapist's eyes and is comforted by the sensation that "my soul is not alone."
Gen ed courses simply create a common culture by which we can all relate on a deeper, more profound level, regardless of the illusion we have created that we are going to arrive at some destination one day, and that any part of our experience will actually be irrelevant.
Paulo Coelho, in his novel, El Zahir, creates a world where writing can lead one into a state of either holiness or madness:
"Writing is one of the most solitary activities in the world. Once every two years, I sit down in front of the computer, gaze out on the unknown sea of my soul, and see a few islands- ideas that have developed and which are ripe to be explored. Then I climb into my boat- called The Word- and set out for the nearest island. On the way, I meet strong currents, winds, and storms, but I keep rowing, exhausted, knowing that I have drifted away from my chosen course and that the island I was trying to reach is no longer in my horizon.
"I can't turn back, though, I have to continue somehow or else I'll be lost in the middle of the ocean; at that point, a series of terrifying scenarios flash through my mind, such as spending the rest of my life talking about past successes, or bitterly criticizing new writers, simply because I can no longer have the courage to publish new books. Wasn't my dream to be a writer? Then I must continue creating sentences, paragraphs, chapters, and go on writing until I die, and not let myself get caught in such traps as success or failure. Otherwise, what meaning does my life have?"Shaken by these alarming thoughts, I find a strength and a courage I didn't know I had: they help me to venture into an unknown part of my soul. I let myself be swept along by the current and finally anchor my boat at the island I was being carried toward. I spend days and nights describing what I see, wondering why I'm doing this, telling myself that it's not really worth the pain and the effort, that I don't really need to prove anything to anyone, that I've got what I wanted and far more than I ever dreamed of having.
"... couldn't I, just to free my conscience from these feelings of guilt, couldn't I at least write for half an hour?
"I begin out of a feeling of duty, but suddenly "the thing" takes hold of me and I can't stop... I am no longer in control of where I place my feet, the island is being revealed to me, I am being propelled along its paths, finding things I have never even thought or dreamed of."When I used to read biographies of writers, I always thought they were simply trying to make their profession seem more interesting when they said that 'the book writes itself, the writer is just the typist.' Now I know that this is absolutely true, no one knows why the current took them to that particular island and not to the one they wanted to reach. The obsessive redrafting and editing begins, and when I can no longer bear to reread the same words one more time, I send it to my publisher, where it is edited again, and then published.
"And it is a constant source of surprise to me to discover that other people were also in search of that very island and that they find it in my book. One person tells another person about it, the mysterious chain grows, and what the writer thought of as a solitary exercise becomes a bridge, a boat, a means by which souls can travel and communicate... I manage to look those people in the eye and then I understand that my soul is not alone."So, what does it all mean? And how does this passage relate to gen ed courses? I see those courses as the islands we are swept away to- the destinations we thought had nothing to offer us. But then, we succumb to the current and go with the flow, maddening though it may seem, and start to realize, I mean truly experience the old adage, that life is not about the destination- it's about the journey. One day, the therapist looks into the eyes of a patient who is clearly swept away at sea, and what the therapist thought was a "solitary exercise becomes a bridge, a boat, a means by which souls can travel and communicate." The patient looks into the therapist's eyes and is comforted by the sensation that "my soul is not alone."
Gen ed courses simply create a common culture by which we can all relate on a deeper, more profound level, regardless of the illusion we have created that we are going to arrive at some destination one day, and that any part of our experience will actually be irrelevant.
