"Love, passion, and purpose are provable only to ourselves, within our own minds." Sometimes I feel we have taken away the permission to feel and gain our own individual knowledge and experience with an expectation to instead connect with the flow of current, less resilient, humanity.
“ I felt convinced that I should be committing a grave offence if I did not take it upon myself to devise some means of bringing them to the knowledge of God.”
Ah, the old “bringing christianity to the savages” rationalization for genocide and territorial conquest. It’s a thing.
Right…it’s fascinating to me how that mentality exists now as it did then, but also the modern spins of different doctrines- e.g., capitalism, democracy…
Damn good essay. The contrast between Hiawatha and Champlain's sense of certainty versus todays paralysis by analysis really hits. Spent some time in the Adirondacks last summer and had similar thoughts about the layers of history beneath the surface. The idea that trying and failing is what converts belief into knowledge is something I've been grappling with lately, especially watching younger folks struggle with infinite options but zero conviction abotu which path to take.
Two points about the younger folks. With those infinite options, they also tend to think trying isn’t necessary and they can experience the world through the screen. Seeing is different than trying. Second, the chemical feedback we/they get from watching curated videos then dulls our thirst for experience.
Our perception of science and technology stands squarely in the way of the momentum of certainty and purpose. We think our knowledge is vast. Science should teach us that for any relation we can replicate, more questions are created than answers given. Our ignorance dwarfs our knowledge.
The certainty and purpose of Hiawatha and Champlain were in the face of the unknown, where courage and conviction were powerful and effective.
Youth today fear speaking out with unique ideas, unconventional goals and unpopular views because their peers think we already know everything--that there are no horizons of discovery left. They fear being singled out. They are uncertain. They don't want to take risks.
We need to support inquiry of the unknown, unconventional and unpopular. And we need to embrace that our ignorance is far greater and more vast than what we can ever know--and to be certain and purposeful in pursuing our goals nonetheless.
"Love, passion, and purpose are provable only to ourselves, within our own minds." Sometimes I feel we have taken away the permission to feel and gain our own individual knowledge and experience with an expectation to instead connect with the flow of current, less resilient, humanity.
Excellently said, Stacy. This is a heady territory of thought that I enjoy and I’m currently parsing out the pieces.
I appreciate your insight.
“ I felt convinced that I should be committing a grave offence if I did not take it upon myself to devise some means of bringing them to the knowledge of God.”
Ah, the old “bringing christianity to the savages” rationalization for genocide and territorial conquest. It’s a thing.
Right…it’s fascinating to me how that mentality exists now as it did then, but also the modern spins of different doctrines- e.g., capitalism, democracy…
Thank you for reading, Baird.
Damn good essay. The contrast between Hiawatha and Champlain's sense of certainty versus todays paralysis by analysis really hits. Spent some time in the Adirondacks last summer and had similar thoughts about the layers of history beneath the surface. The idea that trying and failing is what converts belief into knowledge is something I've been grappling with lately, especially watching younger folks struggle with infinite options but zero conviction abotu which path to take.
Two points about the younger folks. With those infinite options, they also tend to think trying isn’t necessary and they can experience the world through the screen. Seeing is different than trying. Second, the chemical feedback we/they get from watching curated videos then dulls our thirst for experience.
Thank you for reading.
I read this 4 times over a few days.
Our perception of science and technology stands squarely in the way of the momentum of certainty and purpose. We think our knowledge is vast. Science should teach us that for any relation we can replicate, more questions are created than answers given. Our ignorance dwarfs our knowledge.
The certainty and purpose of Hiawatha and Champlain were in the face of the unknown, where courage and conviction were powerful and effective.
Youth today fear speaking out with unique ideas, unconventional goals and unpopular views because their peers think we already know everything--that there are no horizons of discovery left. They fear being singled out. They are uncertain. They don't want to take risks.
We need to support inquiry of the unknown, unconventional and unpopular. And we need to embrace that our ignorance is far greater and more vast than what we can ever know--and to be certain and purposeful in pursuing our goals nonetheless.