The oppoiste of war isn't peace, it's creation

Both Alyosha and Enjolras have brought up topics that I find fascination, love to ponder, and could discuss for hours, and they know it. However, I also am going to wait to broach the almost limitless topic of music.

I have been indoctrinated at various points in my education, and some of you know by whom, to believe that every conflict, every relationship, every moment in History can be explained in terms of economics. While I do not completely buy this, Enjolras's lament over the lack of creativity in today's society instantly made me think of Marx's theory of the worker and the effects of the industrialization and modern economics on the theory of the person.

Now don't worry, this is not going to turn into a complex discussion about economic theory. Marx, however, believed that people did not work to live but rather lived to work--humans by definition were workers, cogs in the economic machine. This idea has been so integrated into modern thought that many politicians and economists, in America at least, would be horrified if they realized they had bought a piece of Marxist philosophy so whole heartily.

This is one of the primary things that has removed the idea of creation from everyday life. A single person is rarely responsible for a product from start to finish anymore. Instead, they are another point on the assembly line, mass producing identical products that are devoid of all craft. Work, the act of creating something and of providing for yourself and your family has a salvific value. The shift from people as craftsmen to people as workers has done its best to remove the human dignity and the value of the product.

In particular, this is can seen in the arts, where it is almost impossible now to earn a living do art for arts sake. There is no obvious economic value in painting pictures, writing poetry, or composing music so these have been subordinated to other ends. Now if you want to study art it is usually in terms of a career such as graphic design or interior decorating.

Creating something for no commercial purpose does, like Enjolras said, bring a certain amount of satisfaction. More than that however, by creating something is a way for man to imitate his creator-it is a form of prayer and something that so desperately needs to be reclaimed in modern society. So bake an pie, knit a sweater, paint a picture and when ever possible support those who are craftsmen rather than huge corporate chains.

the answer is blowin' in the wind

Sorry Aloysha, I am not going to talk about music, not yet anyways.

Yesterday the weather was very angry, or at least frustrated. The wind seemed like it was trying to blow the world away and at the time this seemed like an excellent idea. I felt trapped in the details of life. I had to go to work, then spend hours doing homework when all I really wanted to do was go for a walk, in the wind and dancing leaves, and then curl up in bed with the The Graveyard Book. But I did not think my Professors would agree that this was an acceptable alternative.

I felt like the windstorm, angry at the world, trying to it blow away, destroy it. The wind has a freedom that is too often lost in everyday life. And I'm free, like the wind, like I'm gonna live forever. It's a feeling time can never take away. It's so easy to get sucked into a routine and have your life consumed by details. This goes back to the idea of contemplation that Aloysha and Robert Owen Hood have been talking about. It's not always that we don't appreciate the beauty around us or know that it's there, although sadly this is often true, but that we don't have time for it right now.

One of the problems with the modernity of our lives is how much it removes us from our world. It is easy to live out a day without any interaction with nature. Our technology, our cities, our advanced methods of transportation all make our lives more convenient, but in the process make it easier for us to take for granted things like trees, grass, the smell of a forest or the sound of water trickling down rocks. We have to designate time now if we want to experience this, have to go out of our way, and too often our busy lives make this difficult. And so we do it less, forget it, and replace it with television.

But there is another component to this, one I think was more related to my frustration the other day. I wanted to destroy because I felt I could not create. There is not any time in my life right now to devote to creating anything. Cooking, gardening, knitting, all simple acts, but each has a product. I am spending so much time studying and advancing my mind that sometimes I feel like I am not utilizing it. This raises the question is there a practical aspect to contemplation? I do not think there has to be, but I think man requires this, needs to feel he is contributing to the earth in a somewhat tangible way. There is a satisfaction in being able to look at something and know that you made it. Ultimately this is realized in art. Man attempting to perfect his creations, achieve a better painting, a more beautiful song, each reflecting his world, himself, his humanity.