Baraka

As we sat by the "big tree," discussing David Abram's book and the connection between an ant, and a human and everything in between, all I thought of a film that I recently got in my possession, Baraka. The title is translated to mean "the thread that weaves life together." The film goes from pan-shots of natural landscapes, to an airfield, to members of the Maasi tribe to animals. There is not a single word spoken, minus some chanting. The point of this film is to show that the world is all connected, no matter where, or who or what we are. I feel like that Abram's would find the film as a spiritual companion of his book, at least up to the point that we have gotten up to.

Abram's stories are written in similar fashion that Dillard's are, and because of such, I felt the same moment of WOW. He has had some crazy life experiences and has a way of words to share them. One of my peers though expressed some discomfort with Abrams though in that he is looking at the world with a universialist view and they felt that it was unfair. They were not happy about the handling of the ants and Abrams experienced it in a less than respectful manner (I am probably not representing this conversation well, but I tried my best). I personally know nothing in depth about religions in that region of the world, so I am not going to comment on it. But I do see the argument that this person present as a valid one.

I have enjoyed the connection that Abrams feels with his surroundings. He seems to understanding of the spirits. His experience of the cave, it would take a special mindset and openness of the surroundings to feel that. On page 22, I thought it was interesting on how he said that we have to escape the way we see things in our modern technological lifestyle and go out and isolate ourselves to see the world for what it is. We will also find ourselves in these moments too. Jack Kerouac wrote once that

“No man should go through life without once experiencing healthy, even bored solitude in the wilderness, finding himself depending solely on himself and thereby learning his true and hidden strength.”

This is in complete agreement with when Abrams when he talks about shutting ourselves off to other voices but our own, and the best place to make this separation is in nature, in solitude. I was glad to see some redemption in that he respected the voices of the animals even if he (or we) can not necessarily hear them. We should not rule out the voices that we are not able to hear. It is too ignorant say that they have no voice. We used not to be able to understand outer space, but in 1969 we put a man on the moon. So we should accept there are things we don't understand but still exists.

On page 33, when he talks about the life and the world's life being intertwined, I could not agree more. Our perception on everything comes from us first. Everything we do affects the way we see, read, deal etc. We are the only one who can really understand the world that we experience. No one can truly say that they see the world I do, unless they have experienced everything I have. There might be some overlap but we are all unique. This is expressed later when Abram talks about the life-world and how different cultures = different life-worlds.

It was really interesting to hear Sam and Fabio talk about their journey's post Guilford, especially in comparison to Andrew Breuing (Bru) and the other recent alum (I am blanking on his name). Fabio was able to start with what he wanted to do right out of the gate, even getting a head start while at Guilford. There was a major contrast between what happened with Fabio and Bru. So I thought that was pretty interesting. I have to agree with a good number of my peers on some of the frustration that was expressed from the Sam and Fabio talked. I definitely felt angst even as I have started the job application process only a few weeks ago. It reiterated a lot of what people who I have talked to about jobs have said. When Sam and Fabio talked about the importance of networking, I thought to myself "friend speaks my mind." I have been trying to network like crazy. I am trying to find a job before graduation, so I have a destination of where to go. Where my parents are, I have a distanced relationship with. I have grown up with a messed up version of what home is to me. I frequently don't know where home is for me. So I am hoping that where I find a job after Guilford becomes my home.

I thought what Fabio said about living below your means was really interesting and good advice especially in this economy. This is not the time to be flashy in our lifestyles. I don't want to generalize but I do thinking that being at Guilford does help us understand that message better than possibly at other schools. Our core values promote this message. For as much as people did not take Sam's advice, I thought and appreciate that his definition of success was heavily focused on his individual happiness. I think that this is important and apply it to my own life. A lot of Guilford would probably agree this. I also love his baseball analogy. I am a lover of baseball and that the idea of hitting .400 (4 out of 10) is almost guaranteed to get you in the hall of fame is deeply applicable to life. Success is always come with some failures, because without the fails in life, we never get true perspective.