Okay, Same?
My fellow Nerd Herd,
While reading book three of Augustine's Confessions, I couldn't help but feel like he was speaking directly to me. I don't know if any of you experience what he is talking about but I imagine it would be hard for you not to. Especially being a freshman in college, I think the fact that Augustine is talking about seeing everything around him and being "in love with love" I found it extremely relatable. It is very interesting to see how while everything around us might be changing from decade to decade and century to century, human emotion is one thing that seems to be translatable across all time periods. I know something that I struggle with is seeing all of the things people are feeling around me and being too empathetic, which he talks about with the theatrical performances. That can translate to watching a sad movie on Netflix and crying about what is going on with the characters, whom you've never met and are fictitious. I know that I typically will watch sad movies when I myself am at a sad point in my life just so I will feel what I am supposed to while watching. This probably sounds ridiculous but I find it easier to emote upon fictitious things like books and movies rather than the real life events happening to me.
I think Augustine speaks clearly to the people like me in this aspect. To understand that this book was written 1700 years ago and is still applicable to our lives is one of the main reasons that I love literature. Augustine expressing his empathy for everything around him and his confusion for his own actions of misplacing his emotions makes him seem all the more real to us today. So with all of that being said, my question to all of you is are you Augustinian is the fact that you feel what everyone around you feels and place your emotions into fictitious things? Or are you 100% yourself in your own emotions and empathies?
P.S. I commented on Kayla and Donald's posts.
While reading book three of Augustine's Confessions, I couldn't help but feel like he was speaking directly to me. I don't know if any of you experience what he is talking about but I imagine it would be hard for you not to. Especially being a freshman in college, I think the fact that Augustine is talking about seeing everything around him and being "in love with love" I found it extremely relatable. It is very interesting to see how while everything around us might be changing from decade to decade and century to century, human emotion is one thing that seems to be translatable across all time periods. I know something that I struggle with is seeing all of the things people are feeling around me and being too empathetic, which he talks about with the theatrical performances. That can translate to watching a sad movie on Netflix and crying about what is going on with the characters, whom you've never met and are fictitious. I know that I typically will watch sad movies when I myself am at a sad point in my life just so I will feel what I am supposed to while watching. This probably sounds ridiculous but I find it easier to emote upon fictitious things like books and movies rather than the real life events happening to me.
I think Augustine speaks clearly to the people like me in this aspect. To understand that this book was written 1700 years ago and is still applicable to our lives is one of the main reasons that I love literature. Augustine expressing his empathy for everything around him and his confusion for his own actions of misplacing his emotions makes him seem all the more real to us today. So with all of that being said, my question to all of you is are you Augustinian is the fact that you feel what everyone around you feels and place your emotions into fictitious things? Or are you 100% yourself in your own emotions and empathies?
P.S. I commented on Kayla and Donald's posts.
Now that you put it that way, I think I understand what is being said. I too find myself in love with love in that I am always looking for something to pour myself into. Just recently I found myself almost in tears over a beloved fictional character. I don't believe this to be a bad thing, however believing that the grass is greener elsewhere is. Empathy is good, greed is bad. Thinking that things or people can make your life better is an incorrect thought process. Instead learn to be content in what you already have.
ReplyDeleteGray, you really said it in this blog post. Sometimes it can be altogether too painful to think about and react to real life. By watching characters in movies or TV shows we feel as if we can relate to them and sympathize even though they aren't real. Your question though about being yourself in your emotions is really good though and I am struggling with it. Part of me says "yes! of course, my emotions are mine, why else would I feel them?". But another part is questioning if sometimes feel things out of a sense of obligation to feel that way. For example, sometimes if I am at a funeral but I don't cry I feel bad and think that I am a horrible person for not crying, but am I really? No, of course not. Regardless of my true emotions though, as a human, I have a need to fit in and think poorly of myself when I don't. So I don't really know the answer to your question, but thank you for asking it because it needed to be asked.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree and feel what you wrote on. I kind of wrote on the same thing about how we are in love with the idea of love and about using others emotion and pain to our personal use. But I can definitely relate to what you and Augustine are trying to express. I to have also have a hard time dealing with emotions. Recently, I've had to watch a sad movie just to actually get myself to cry so I could feel some fort of relief (sorry if this is TMI). But to answer your question, I agree with Zelda. I feel my own emotions, but in certain situations I have gotten sad or upset for someone else or because it is the appropriate response to certain situations. You have honestly made me look at the chapter different than when I first read it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that people tend to feel like those around them. In my sociology class, we are learning about how people tend to act like others there age and type because we are programmed to try and fit in. I can't say exactly that I dont try and feel like others feel, however I do know that sometimes I tend to handle things differently then most. Like you said, sometimes you try and watch movies to make yourself express the emotions you feel. I completely relate. I find myself doing this too.
ReplyDeleteI think deep down we all just want someone or something to love and to love us back completely and fully. We idealize it so much that it becomes expected, and if we don't stumble across it at some point then we feel as if we have failed or missed out on something that everyone else seems to find so very easily. St. Augustine truly provoked a lot of thought straight out of book three's gates! Great blog, G!
ReplyDeleteThis is so true. I especially agree with the whole freshman in college part of this. I think that the "newness" of college itself plays a role in loving the idea of loving something. All the newness of everything around me always makes everything seem so good even if it isn't because, like Hannah said, I think everyone has a desire to love and be loved by something/someone.
ReplyDeleteI agree he is very personal with. his audience. i talk a little about this in my blog. that aslo, i think, is part of how we as christians listen to testemonies. we listen to man and hear God.
ReplyDeletespencer wood