"To experience something that is outside order and ordinary - which we can call extraordinary. There is an unquestioned human appetite for intensity, and though we can exist without them, intense emotions make us feel we are living." (pg.134, Dissanayake)
Can we go a moment in our lives without seeing countless examples of the quest this? When does our personal appetites become fulfilled? Only when we learn to see the extraordinary everywhere; the phenomenal odds that came together to create the everyday does that appetite begin to be sufferable. Awe takes understanding and for this reason I love to learn. Spotting the extraordinary “requires prior familiarity with the elements”; you have to be aware of how far something has gone to appreciate the state it is in.
In my constant search for intensity, my goal is to try everything, learn everything, and be aware of everything that I can so that my appetite for intensity can be fed though never sated. I am not looking to be all knowing, to know the intimate details of the universe. My goal is to just to be knowledgeable enough to appreciate the world around me. I've been lovely teased for being "naturally high". Its not my body chemistry that creates that state however, its curiosity. Experience is just a type of learning. Thrill does not end with the experience; the thrill is revived whenever the memory of that experience is triggered. Trigging that neuron network that life has laid is art’s goal, life’s goal.
Every time I see a well-executed pole vault I feel awe.
Every time I see a plant grow in the direction of the sun, I feel awe.
When I see a ceramic piece, I understand the journey it has made and feel awe.
It is physically induced empathy.
I think that learning is one of the most important thing that one can do. I myself have an appetite for learning, that feeling of learning something new is amazing you can feeling from your head to your toes. And you are never to old to learn! People are discovering and teaching new things everyday. I completely agree with you that knowledge is very important to appreciate the world and its creatures.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that you try to appreciate something everyday. I too hope to find something positive daily however it's sometimes hard. I thought it was really beautiful that you find yourself in awe just looking at objects that most take for granted.
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