I have always had a lot to say within the confines of the infinite space that is my mind. As a kid, no more than twelve years old, I would think for hours on end about everything. However, as a pre-teen, ‘everything’ usually meant school, embarrassing parents, girls, boys, and BFF’s. It normally took something of great mental importance for me to actually put pen to paper and write out everything I was thinking/feeling; and, of course, those things of great mental importance always appeared to me in the form of sexual frustrations (totally normal for a boy in junior high, right?).
Eventually, these sexual frustrations were replaced in high school by thoughts of possible occupations in the future. Needless to say, I had loads more fun writing about occupational daydreams than the sexual nightmares which eventually molded me into the (not really) devious college boy I am today.
After graduating high school, I began attending the liberal arts college which currently rules my life. I have only experienced one full year of college life so far; but I must say, my entire outlook on the true values of life have totally evolved and expanded from the tiny little perspective I possessed in high school. Which brings me to the purpose of this blog: I simply want to share with you all the thoughts which have flooded and transformed my mind since I first began this liberal arts experience. I wish to drag you along as I attempt to create coherent sentences out of the countless piles of ideas and views my head gives birth to at an hourly rate. Won’t you join me?
In this first attempt, I would like to ramble about how quickly man’s opinions are subject to change, both general and individual. On a personal scale, I have noticed that my own opinions concerning someone or something are usually influenced by those for whom I hold a high regard (e.g., my father, my professors, my role models). Yet, my opinions have also been affected in the past by personal experiences. Still more, my opinions have been changed simply by watching certain global/ heightened events occur. As more natural disasters transpire, my view of the planet as a place of naturally-occurring order and justice is increasingly eroded by a steady stream of illogical instances.
Christians, on a larger scale, tend to change their opinions in accordance with a trial and error system. I have observed, with African American Christians at least, that a significant number of beliefs which were faithfully upheld in the past have been cast off as archaic. The belief in dancing and music as an instrument of the Devil was adhered to by many Christian denominations in the past; now, hardly anyone adheres to that belief. In fact, I think modern Christians have become more secular than ever when compared to their earlier counterparts. I think this is the result of realizing how pointless and barbaric many of their beliefs actually were. (beliefs are really just widely-held opinions to me).
Man has used a judgment system throughout his existence as a tool for development. This tool helps him decide whether gravity is a friend or foe; if cooked mammoth is healthier than raw mammoth. But this tool has been employed so consistently over the thousands of years that it has become more-or-less a subconscious function. I think opinions are the conscious leftovers of an adaptation that has become almost entirely instinctual. The opinion is essentially the ‘appendix’ of the psyche. I am not saying opinions are useless, I am saying they are the remains of something that was once used to cement our dominance over the Earth a very long time ago.
Well, those are all my ramblings for today. Remember, these ideas are just the births of a very promiscuous brain. I do not claim paternal responsibility for any of them.
