That Anyway, Is What I Have Learned

Knowledge is nothing until it is reflected on. Figures and facts are nothing more than information without the effort to draw upon past experiences to apply them to future situations. You must experience the knowledge for it to become useful and memorable. In classes, we are force fed information that we have to memorize. We have learned to take mental not of any points the professor prefaces with “know this for the test”, while tuning out anything that accompanies “this is extra”. But that isn’t learning—that’s cultivating the ability to fire particular synapses in the brain in response to particular stimuli in order to regurgitate an answer. What we have experienced in this class is the ability to forgo the cookie-cutter model for learning. We’ve had the opportunity to reason, reflect, rant, and revive our learning attitudes by having free reign for what we get from the material.

Where does this reflection lead us? It takes us through a metamorphosis. Reflection reveals the essence of who we are: layers and layers of mythological levels. These levels are formed by our past experiences. But as we add more experiences to our lives, we change into someone different. Wendell Berry puts it well as he says, "The past is our definition. We may strive with good reason to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it. But we will escape it only by adding something better to it." Reflecting on what we have learned allows us to become something new. The end goal of reflection is to become who we want to be.

Persephone experienced a lot of reflecting during her abduction. “The Pupil lost herself when her pupil saw its own reflection in the pupil that reflected her looking at a reflection of a reflection of a man who lost himself by looking at a reflection.” This is broken down on page 209 of Calasso. In this dizzying encounter with reflection, she reflected on two things. One, infinity was revealed to her—the reflection gave her knowledge. Second, the reflection gave her a new perspective—“she saw herself in the eyes of Hades—reflected to render the perspective of the one filled with desire—and she realized she wanted to be carried off to feel the gaze of passionate covet again.”

Reflection is the basis for gaining knowledge and perspective. It prompted the fate of where Persephone would go and who she would become

So what does this reflection mean for us? Where do we start? We have to determine where we came from. In studying the creation myths, it’s clear that each culture has defined where they have come from as the basis for who they are and where they are going. In every story, there was once conviviality where things were excellent. Nearly every story contains the idea of some deity. I did an extensive research project last year and concluded that a dependence on a higher power is actually programmed into our very essence. So where did we come from? What is the etiology of us?

In order to figure out where we are now, we need to figure out where we are going. What does the apocalypse look like? How does what we do now affect what happens when the veil is lifted and what was unseen becomes seen?

Where are we now? We have been initiated into a state of conflict. How does our current state of conflict reflect on our future? How will we use our conflict to become the person we want to be? We reside in a state of indifference, where no one cares about what comes next except for the next vacation days, the next promotion, and the next set of privileges. We need to live in the now by reflecting on our past and looking to the future to become who we want to be. And that starts now, pal.

Ultimately, where we once were, where we are now, and where we are going encompasses our worldview. It defines who we are and who we want to become. So the basis for reflection and the goal of learning should be to discover ourselves and how we fit into the bigger picture of existence. This class has given us the opportunity to think outside what we are told to think—to reflect on what we want to reflect on.

What else can we get from reflection? We can reminisce. Reminiscence invokes powerful emotions. Last Thursday, as Dr. Sexson was telling his story, a reflection was invoked. It had nothing to do with the story, but rather the way it was told. It brought me back, with such realism due to the emotions I experienced, to when my mom would read to my brother and me when we were kids. It was an emotion of memorable peace and enchantment.

Our narrator in The Storyteller experienced a reflective emotion such as this as he went from painting to painting in the art display of the Peruvian jungle. It brought him back to all the conversations he and Mascarita had together.

So reflection, besides invoking the power of knowledge and perspective, brings about strong emotions. These emotions define our memories which define where our story has come from.

Our lives need more reflection of experiences and less regurgitation of facts. This reflection is what defines our story (past, present, and future), our legacy, and our myth.

That anyway, is what I have learned.