Thursday, October 24, 2019
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Reading Response: "Cowardice" by Abdeslam Boulaich
1st read: This must be a Mogrebi Koan.
2nd read + several days marinating: It it a greater evil to lie to get into heaven or to resist lying, yet doom people to eternal damnation? Either way you're lying. Why not get into heaven in the process?
2nd read + several days marinating: It it a greater evil to lie to get into heaven or to resist lying, yet doom people to eternal damnation? Either way you're lying. Why not get into heaven in the process?
Friday, October 4, 2019
Reading Response: "This Way For The Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen" by Tadeusz Borowski
Although not on the syllabus, the title intrigued me, so I started reading it. As I feared, it was about what I expected. Borowski captures what I'd expect hell to be like. Not because of the inhumane conditions for oneself alone, but because treating others inhumanely is the only way to survive. I'm sure others have captured this sentiment, but with Borowski, it is not-stop. It seems every last scrap of humanity is stripped from him and the disembarking passengers, at his forced bidding. He mentions kindness a couple times, but it is only through lying to the travelers; he hides their future from them, giving them some hope. I'm not sure what kind of gift this is.
The incessant inhumanity is akin to beating a human until there is nothing left, even the bloody pulp is reduced to tatters, then a bloody stain, then nothing. Like roadkill, the cars keep coming, and those who are destroyed are forgotten. I suspect that writing his story was therapeutic, but that he struggled with these thoughts until his early death. His story, while capturing the insanity and monstrosity of the camps, also helps record the desperation and fear of the victims. I cried while I read it. I am glad I did.
I recently watched a video interview of a woman with schizophrenia, and she said that some of her hallucinations include a clown (not unlike Stephen King's It) and the girl from The Ring. I'm curious if she had seen these films (wouldn't seem wise to me) or if she absorbed these characters through cultural osmosis. I've not seen either one, but I'm familiar with both. Even more so than these filmic characters, I would expect the inhumanity in Borowski's story to populate my worst nightmares. There is the Buddhist guideline of feeding your brain with only the healthy stuff; once it's in there it doesn't come out. But for now, educating oneself in our inhumanity to each other is a necessary part of losing one's innocence. The trick is turning it into fuel to move yourself and society forward rather than fuel that consumes and destroys you.
Here's another great video from the same YouTube channel. Very humanizing and encouraging. It is great to see good, kind people. It makes me hopeful.
The incessant inhumanity is akin to beating a human until there is nothing left, even the bloody pulp is reduced to tatters, then a bloody stain, then nothing. Like roadkill, the cars keep coming, and those who are destroyed are forgotten. I suspect that writing his story was therapeutic, but that he struggled with these thoughts until his early death. His story, while capturing the insanity and monstrosity of the camps, also helps record the desperation and fear of the victims. I cried while I read it. I am glad I did.
I recently watched a video interview of a woman with schizophrenia, and she said that some of her hallucinations include a clown (not unlike Stephen King's It) and the girl from The Ring. I'm curious if she had seen these films (wouldn't seem wise to me) or if she absorbed these characters through cultural osmosis. I've not seen either one, but I'm familiar with both. Even more so than these filmic characters, I would expect the inhumanity in Borowski's story to populate my worst nightmares. There is the Buddhist guideline of feeding your brain with only the healthy stuff; once it's in there it doesn't come out. But for now, educating oneself in our inhumanity to each other is a necessary part of losing one's innocence. The trick is turning it into fuel to move yourself and society forward rather than fuel that consumes and destroys you.
Here's another great video from the same YouTube channel. Very humanizing and encouraging. It is great to see good, kind people. It makes me hopeful.
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