August 19, 2012 by Erin

Allusion

Well, I can’t think of a better way to end Blog Wars 2012 than with a guest post from one of the more insightful people I’m honored to call “friend.” Kelcie brings both intelligence and warmth to any conversation, and her thoughts here on the beauty and complexity of being human are no exception. I will also add my hearty recommendation that you read Marilynne Robinson — one of several artists who have been added to my list of “favorites” after Kelcie’s endorsement.

In considering my topic for a guest post on Act IV, I knew it needed to be a reflection of the robust dialogue that exists between Erin and me. In my opinion, one of the best things about living with Erin was that we stumbled into, pursued, and initiated really great conversations with each other at least once a week. My life was – and is – enriched by the talks we have about faith and humanity and redemption and creativity. Often, these conversations are inspired by something we have read or watched recently. Today, I read something that struck me as both profound and relevant to some of the topics that have been floating around on our blogs over the last week.

Marilynne Robinson is one of my favorite writers, and I am currently reading through her book of essays, When I Was a Child I Read Books. This afternoon I read an essay titled: “The Human Spirit and the Good Society.” In this essay, Robinson decries modern reductionist definitions of human nature, saying that they discount the very thing that distinguishes humankind: our complexity. She argues that humans undervalue themselves and others because we have been taught (primarily via attitudes and accepted norms and other indirect mechanisms) that human nature is comprised primarily – or even only – of a detached self-interest that acts toward survival.

But this hypothesis explains less about us than it illuminates. There are so many things that this survivalist perspective fails to address. If the essential thing about human nature is survival, then why do we dance? Why do we give to people who could never repay us? Why do we feel pity or empathy or compassion? Why do we create? Why do we (and all humans across history) feel a beautiful smallness when we look at the starry night sky? Why do we make friends with people who make us laugh and marry people we love if our only motivating force is utilitarian?

Robinson suggests that we know much less about ourselves (as humans) than we generally admit. We probably know much less about everything than we generally admit. I want to reject simple definitions of things that are not simple. I want to embrace the fact that I know so incredibly little – not as an excuse for ignorance, but as an abandonment of presumptuous rigidity. Here’s to honest searching, thinking, questioning, and learning; and here’s to embracing the mystery.

#Blog Wars 2012#Guest Posts