Trying to Understand
Jan. 19th, 2004 02:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xyzzysqrlSo there's this thing I've been musing over for the past couple of days, on and off. It's the major drive for me keeping an online journal at all, and I think I've recognized it in others as well. What's really brought it to mind is finding a place to download episodes of Good Eats. (When is this coming out on DVD? Is it already? Anyone?) Alton Brown seems to know this urge well, it's almost what he preaches.
What I'm talking about is something I've taken to calling 'documentation of process', although that is a rather cumbersome name. I'm just not sure there's a word for what I'm thinking of, so I'm going to try to explain the concept I'm thinking of here.
What I'm talking about is the idea that you can document the process of doing something, and that this can be more informative than just explaining how you did it. It's talking about why you do a thing a certain way, as opposed to merely explaining the method you use to do it. It's, to take the Good Eats example, explaining why you'd blend a single ingredient alone in a mixer for a while before adding the others, as opposed to simply saying you should and leaving it at that.
In other words, it's providing more information, and I can't help but see that as a good thing, but most books on doing things don't seem to take Why into account. Cookbooks, in particular, are happier giving you directions rather than a map.
This is how I try to write my journal. I try to give an impression of what I'm thinking instead of what I'm doing. When I do go into what I'm doing, I try to wrap my ideas around it and make them clear, if I don't just come out and say it. I post thoughts more often than deeds, because I find them more interesting. A map to my day, instead of a list of ingredients.
This is also the reason I -read- online journals. I like to know the way people think. It's important to me, because the human mind is incredibly mysterious and, if you'll excuse me getting exceptionally pretentious, I think we as a people are in a unique position here in the FUTU... uh, modern era. We have a massive outpouring of information, people telling their inner thoughts and feelings to the world. I feel oddly responsible to GATHER that information. I need to try to assemble some idea of how people think, and reading their thoughts, or at least their written thoughts, seems a logical step in that direction.
Now, the problem is that I don't feel like I understand people any better yet, but that's because I keep hitting people I don't understand the ideas of. If I can just understand the ideals of one more person, agree with them or not, I'm a little closer to embracing the rest of the world and making myself a more complete person.
Which, y'know, I can't help but feel is a good thing.
...Now, do I claim to understand MYSELF? Er, no. Sorry. I wish I did, but that's another part of the writing, probing my feelings, memories, and moods for a common thread and trying to get a perspective by leaving the moment written down and gazing back at it.
Here's hoping it works out.
What I'm talking about is something I've taken to calling 'documentation of process', although that is a rather cumbersome name. I'm just not sure there's a word for what I'm thinking of, so I'm going to try to explain the concept I'm thinking of here.
What I'm talking about is the idea that you can document the process of doing something, and that this can be more informative than just explaining how you did it. It's talking about why you do a thing a certain way, as opposed to merely explaining the method you use to do it. It's, to take the Good Eats example, explaining why you'd blend a single ingredient alone in a mixer for a while before adding the others, as opposed to simply saying you should and leaving it at that.
In other words, it's providing more information, and I can't help but see that as a good thing, but most books on doing things don't seem to take Why into account. Cookbooks, in particular, are happier giving you directions rather than a map.
This is how I try to write my journal. I try to give an impression of what I'm thinking instead of what I'm doing. When I do go into what I'm doing, I try to wrap my ideas around it and make them clear, if I don't just come out and say it. I post thoughts more often than deeds, because I find them more interesting. A map to my day, instead of a list of ingredients.
This is also the reason I -read- online journals. I like to know the way people think. It's important to me, because the human mind is incredibly mysterious and, if you'll excuse me getting exceptionally pretentious, I think we as a people are in a unique position here in the FUTU... uh, modern era. We have a massive outpouring of information, people telling their inner thoughts and feelings to the world. I feel oddly responsible to GATHER that information. I need to try to assemble some idea of how people think, and reading their thoughts, or at least their written thoughts, seems a logical step in that direction.
Now, the problem is that I don't feel like I understand people any better yet, but that's because I keep hitting people I don't understand the ideas of. If I can just understand the ideals of one more person, agree with them or not, I'm a little closer to embracing the rest of the world and making myself a more complete person.
Which, y'know, I can't help but feel is a good thing.
...Now, do I claim to understand MYSELF? Er, no. Sorry. I wish I did, but that's another part of the writing, probing my feelings, memories, and moods for a common thread and trying to get a perspective by leaving the moment written down and gazing back at it.
Here's hoping it works out.
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no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 12:08 am (UTC)But I think there's a big flaw here. You're trying to understand -people-. Not a person, but -people- as a whole. And... in my way of thinking... it's impossible. Think about it. How many different people are there on LJ alone? And any one thing that appeals to one, may disgust another to the point of hatred.
As a whole, the only thing I think can be accurately said about all of humanity is that it is uncatalogable, unknowable to any within its midst (as all of us, unfortunately, must be), and totally unpredictable.
Now if you want to understand a specific person, that is much easier. While LJs are an invaluable tool, yes, talking to them and asking questions, I think, will reveal even more. Especially if you know the right questions to ask. And yet...
Tell me, Gordy, do you think you know me fairly well yet? I know you read my journal fairly often, and we even talk pretty often. We've known each other since.... Let's see. Before Anthrocon 2000. But I asked a question on my journal pertaining, if not directly to me, then indirectly to me, and stumped you entirely. And yet, I think you know my ideals and viewpoints better than many do and most ever will.
I don't think you were being pretentious. Yes - the human mind is an incredibly mysterious thing - but that's not changed for millenia. And it's not going to anytime soon. Science can explain the physical reality of what goes on where, but they can't begin to tell you the why of it. Philosophers can give you lecture upon lecture, but how to learn from someone who knows little to naught of what he speaks?
No, you are not responsible for gathering this information. You do not work for the CIA, and even THEY suck at it, so it wouldn't be much help if you did. LiveJournal helps us document it, but on the whole, how long can that last? Years? Decades, maybe? Lifetimes? And there's no way any person, ever, could read all of what's on here ALREADY, let alone the millions, billions, trillions of posts that may come in the future.
And to understanding yourself, let's look at this realistically - does anyone, up to their dying moments, truly understand themselves? Rarely, perhaps - nothing is absolute. But at large, they build illusions about themselves that they carry through their life, changing this, refusing to realize that, and so on. As an example... say something. Then record yourself saying it, and listen to it. Doesn't sound at ALL like you, does it? But it is you.
I wish I could be more optimistic, sqrly, but your goal of this particular knowledge is one like my own for lycanthropy - if it's going to -ever- happen, it will likely only do so after we die, when we are in a place where our minds rule, not our bodies.
And as a final note - While I like Aura, somehow, I find 'A Stray Child' much more appropriate to this...
"If you are lost in the way -
Deep in an awesome story;
Don't be in doubt and stray,
Cling to your lonesome folly...
Now you're too close to the pain,
Let all the rain go further;
Come back and kiss me in vain,
Mother, oh do not bother...
Hear the chorus of pain,
Taking you back to proper ways;
It's so easy to find,
If you could remind me...
Now, you are lost in your way,
Deep in an awesome story;
So, I will find you again,
Kiss you for lonesome folly..."
Why? I can't begin to say. Perhaps because I think this is your lonesome folly - and lost in an awesome story I think you are. And yet, were you not - were you to give up your quest in the wake of the pain it will cause, and go back to the 'proper way' of thinking as decreed by any number of men for thousands of years - you would not be you; and you would not be so close to my heart, dear friend.
Good luck in your quest.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 07:40 am (UTC)And Kudos for realizing you don't understand yourself. I don't believe people ever fully can understand themselves, and I take it as a sign of naivete to some degree when someone claims that they always understand why they do things.
Good luck with understanding people though. So many of us defy comprehension. Did I sound bitter just then? :)