I saw an old friend the other day and we got to talking about the shifts
in our lives over the last decade: completion of dissertations, birth of
children, and a few other things. He used the term "initiatory
experiences" to indicate those events that couldn't be explained
properly in language: one has to live through them to understand them,
or more correctly one has to live through them to understand those
events not as objects for analysis but rather as lived experience.
I likened it to the perfrct example of Derrida's concept of differance
-- that slippage in language that prevents us from ever achieving a pure
transparency in communication. There is always something that escapes
definition. Which is not to say we shouldn't try to explain or
understand these experienced; it's just that we're better off
recognizing both the necessity and impossibility of our task.
We humans love cathartic experiences and arduous challenges that cannot
be understood outside their experience: running a marathon is not simply
the act of running twenty-six miles, right?
20 October 2006
Life and how to live it.
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3 comments:
I *heart* Catharsis.
We should make t-shirts, Cuff.
I don't think it's just catharsis that's redemptive or transformative. Bliss, boredom, even the passing of time, can bring a new depth to a person's perspective, a leap in self understanding (therefore compassion for others) and greater self esteem. Initiatory experiences are the way people acquire wisdom.
The urge to climb Mt. Everest or run a marathon is an attempt to recreate the drama of birth, the very first, and arguably the most powerful initiatory experience of life, at least that's my theory.
Great post. Thanks for making me think.
Oops. Should have been:
Initiatory experience is the way people acquire wisdom.
I hate typos.
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