The book categorizes human beings from plants and animals by acknowledging the fact that man can think, reflect and speculate with reason. Thus Alberto Knox’s claim that our “ability to wonder about the world” declines with the passing of the time must have been used figuratively, not literally. We cannot just simply “lose” the faculty that characterizes human beings. Assuming this is true, I find myself agreeing with Knox’s statement more than not. The world is a habit. Although everything in it evolves, the world will always be more or less the same. Just as it is difficult for one to stop habitually biting his nails, it is difficult to question and challenge the world we are so accustomed to.
Surely, we can still inquire and hypothesize about the world’s big questions if we sought to. But do we really want to? Our faculty of wonder is undoubtedly within our capability, and it always will be as far as we are concerned, but our zeal for wondering seems to diminish with age. With growing age comes mounting duties and diminishing time. It is no longer the question of “Why does Dad’s mustache turn spiky each morning? How can butterflies have such diverse patterns on their wings?”. It is now instead, “Will I perform well in IB Diploma to get myself into a University of my choice?” or “What do I want to be in the future? How am I going to manage my life once I become an adult?”. Pressure from the society forces us deeper into the element of work and competition and withdraws us from the art of mere wondering.
Unless we become independent and immune from society’s influence, we will most likely find ourselves almost indifferent to “what the world is and how it came into being”. We human beings instinctively prefer the shortcut through the challenges life poses against us. It is just so much easier to accept the fact that we somehow ended up in this mysterious creation of land and to keep up with the fast-paced life, we must put all our efforts into day-to-day occasion. Family. Friends. Education. Financial success. These matters, although obviously rather trivial than the enigma concerning the origin of the world, are very significant concerns in our lives. As we grow up, these matters seem to augment, both in seriousness and incidence. Before we know it, our “everyday affairs” revolve in our minds ceaselessly, thus any “astonishment at the world gets pushed into the background”.
Although I am slightly ashamed to admit, I do not remember myself getting extremely engrossed and absorbed in the “most vital…most natural of all questions” in the last five years. Interestingly enough, however, I do remember the first time I discovered that every man is mortal. This new understanding was nothing but a frightening shock to me. I recall crying to sleep, fearing that I would wake up to find my parents no longer alive. Once I confessed my emotional fear to my Mom, she gently explained the natural process of life and death. My anecdote is similar to that of Thomas and his Mom that Knox explains. Whilst “Mom has learned that people cannot fly” and therefore reacts to her flying husband with a fright, young Thomas merely watches and exercises his faculty of wondering with no special thought. I think this example serves as an epitome of the functioning of human nature.
As Knox says, we “never got to the bottom” of life’s big questions, “although there is a solution somewhere”. After many historical philosophers’ attempts to search for answers, we are still lacking a satisfactory answer. Perhaps this is why most of us would prefer to “crawl deep into the rabbit’s fur” and even deeper in as we get older. We are preoccupied with other things in life; we take things for granted and try to make the best out of each day we get out of this world, even if we do not know how the days to live are being offered to us. With that said, it would be safe to conclude that I agree with Knox's suggestion that most of us choose to walk around the borders of wonders about the world instead of going through them.
Surely, we can still inquire and hypothesize about the world’s big questions if we sought to. But do we really want to? Our faculty of wonder is undoubtedly within our capability, and it always will be as far as we are concerned, but our zeal for wondering seems to diminish with age. With growing age comes mounting duties and diminishing time. It is no longer the question of “Why does Dad’s mustache turn spiky each morning? How can butterflies have such diverse patterns on their wings?”. It is now instead, “Will I perform well in IB Diploma to get myself into a University of my choice?” or “What do I want to be in the future? How am I going to manage my life once I become an adult?”. Pressure from the society forces us deeper into the element of work and competition and withdraws us from the art of mere wondering.
Unless we become independent and immune from society’s influence, we will most likely find ourselves almost indifferent to “what the world is and how it came into being”. We human beings instinctively prefer the shortcut through the challenges life poses against us. It is just so much easier to accept the fact that we somehow ended up in this mysterious creation of land and to keep up with the fast-paced life, we must put all our efforts into day-to-day occasion. Family. Friends. Education. Financial success. These matters, although obviously rather trivial than the enigma concerning the origin of the world, are very significant concerns in our lives. As we grow up, these matters seem to augment, both in seriousness and incidence. Before we know it, our “everyday affairs” revolve in our minds ceaselessly, thus any “astonishment at the world gets pushed into the background”.
Although I am slightly ashamed to admit, I do not remember myself getting extremely engrossed and absorbed in the “most vital…most natural of all questions” in the last five years. Interestingly enough, however, I do remember the first time I discovered that every man is mortal. This new understanding was nothing but a frightening shock to me. I recall crying to sleep, fearing that I would wake up to find my parents no longer alive. Once I confessed my emotional fear to my Mom, she gently explained the natural process of life and death. My anecdote is similar to that of Thomas and his Mom that Knox explains. Whilst “Mom has learned that people cannot fly” and therefore reacts to her flying husband with a fright, young Thomas merely watches and exercises his faculty of wondering with no special thought. I think this example serves as an epitome of the functioning of human nature.
As Knox says, we “never got to the bottom” of life’s big questions, “although there is a solution somewhere”. After many historical philosophers’ attempts to search for answers, we are still lacking a satisfactory answer. Perhaps this is why most of us would prefer to “crawl deep into the rabbit’s fur” and even deeper in as we get older. We are preoccupied with other things in life; we take things for granted and try to make the best out of each day we get out of this world, even if we do not know how the days to live are being offered to us. With that said, it would be safe to conclude that I agree with Knox's suggestion that most of us choose to walk around the borders of wonders about the world instead of going through them.
4 comments:
Thank-you, Karen, for posting such a thoughtful, honest, and perceptive first response. From its title (I love it!) to the very REAL examples used (e.g. biting nails, IB/Higher-ed. concerns), you drill down clearly and convincingly to the heart of this task, the novel, and, arguably, the ToK course itself: can innocence and experience cohabitate within one person? Your post goes a long ways to answering that -- thank you, once more, for contributing to the discussion.
I don’t see how wondering about the IB Diploma could be compared in terms of zeal to the variegation of butterflies. I believe that at their time they are both conducted with equal eagerness.
By the way, could you explain what is the “art of mere wondering”? I feel that everything we wonder about has motivation behind it. Whether it comes from yourself or society should not affect the quality of “wondering”.
“We human beings instinctively prefer the shortcut through the challenges life poses against us.” True. It is much more fulfilling than the hardest path through life.
“After many historical philosophers’ attempts to search for answers, we are still lacking a satisfactory answer.”: I also agree.
“most of us choose to walk around the borders of wonders about the world instead of going through them.”: Actually we all go in, test the waters, and come out depressed, because we "lack a satisfactory answer"
"It is no longer the question of “Why does Dad’s mustache turn spiky each morning? How can butterflies have such diverse patterns on their wings?”. It is now instead, “Will I perform well in IB Diploma to get myself into a University of my choice?” or “What do I want to be in the future? How am I going to manage my life once I become an adult?”." - That's so true. We are so concentrated in our own lives that we don't seem to have the time to 'wonder' about the world itself.
Also, your title "We would rather walk around the art of wondering than through it.". I half agree and half don't. It's like we start walking through it but half way, we turn back and walk around it instead because we realise that our wonders are answer-less.
James, I fully agree that the wonderings about the IB Diploma and butterflies are both conducted with equal eagerness and curiosity. However, I have only chosen those examples to highlight the immense difference between the areas of concern of a child and a teenager entering adulthood. I could have certainly used other examples, but they will, at the end of the day, draw a very clear line between the wonderings of people of a wide age gap (which I have intended to emphasize in my blog with my butterfly and IB example).
By the term “art of mere wondering”, I mean the act of inquiring the world we are living in. I apologize for not making my point clearer than it should be. The demand of the society is getting higher and expectations are being raised. In this merciless world of competition for victory, I strongly do feel that the society plays a very big role in affecting our quality of wondering. The society makes us feel as if we should all be doing the same thing, such as, work hard to achieve what we deserve. Amidst the heated race society pushes us into, do we really get the opportunity to sit back and exercise our ability to question the world? I think not.
Finally, I agree with your last comment concerning us going into the “wonders”, testing the waters and coming out depressed. We are obviously hungry for some real answers, but we are always left unsatisfied. But I wanted my title to underscore my overall view, thus made it appear more biased than I have intended to.
Post a Comment