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learnteachArchetypes, Masks, and Robots
Some recent comments have been dancing together in my mind; I've decided to mark the steps with the inky feet of this journal.
Seder Feast (Passover) talks quite a lot of freeing ourselves from Slavery, and how the face and form of slavery change. Right now, I see a slavery of fear and consumerism, the combination in America being that we have the best possible life, and it will be lost to us if you don't fight for it. We don't have the best possible life (unless, of course, you're Doctor PanGloss) and it can't be taken away in the way that's being sold to us.
But the archetype of a Jew revealed in the Seder feast, that of someone who remembers the past but questions it, and the present, and challenges assumptions, is a great thing. What are the archetypes of Americans we should have, to replace the fearmonger's images of the nooclear family?
This is also brought up by reading a british author, Tim Moore, who has written a hilarious book about travelling to Santiago with a donkey ( Travels with My Donkey: One Man and His Ass on a Pilgrimage to Santiago
Tim Moore ) (He's a very prolific travel writer) wears the mask and meets the archetype of the Brit: unassuming, worried about how he'll do and how he'll get on, but unswerving in the face of hardship and quietly triumphant over his pint and pie. Also, poking fun at everyone and everything. It's a brit trait--what traits do Americans have?
Well, American travellors are "ugly". American politicians are worse. I shudder to think what American clutchyer looks like to some. And it's not our actual culture and cultures, it's the images of them that we allow our media to present. Recently, again, I was asked where all the gangbangers were--this was California, right? (Oh, for the days of surfers!) Had I ever seen a shooting?
*****
Beyond archetypes, which one may strive to imitate in some way, are all the masks we wear. We make the masks from our learning, from our imitation, from our need to fit in, to grease through society without having to explain every 10 feet that we're not that strange. It's a trait learned in childhood, between teacher's expectations and the brutal pecking orders of the playground. Between the storytelling you hear and the dreams you have, you take on the mask of a role or hero to emulate them, and to eventually absorb some of their traits. (nb: Obviously, I need to go read Joeseph Campbell some more.)
So we make masks to emulate the archetypes we chose, or are presented to us. This is one of the bases for the SCA, where you can become a different person, and for Burning Man as well, where you don't have to wear your "normal" mask because normal is so different there. (Someone said recently that there are no rules. You wear and present what you like. Some actions are prohibited, but there's a lot more freedom in masks.)
As I work with people who are working this out, mainly in the schools, you can see the enducements that some masks have. Be popular, get attentions. Be good, get reward. Be bad, get attention and some "off limit" behaviour is allowed. Be moody, and get some respect. Be a geek, a jock, a stoner (get some space), a ...whatever.
Note that I don't deny authenticity in personality, but the facets of your personality that you choose to show are as much a mask as any artificial one. It's masking in the sense of engineering or etching: chosing what patterns to reveal.
There's more here, still dancing.
*****
Robots. We put masks on robots; they don't have enough patterns to really chose, but are getting more complicated. They also don't have good chosing mechanisms, yet. Robot fighting (battlebots) is developing this, as are all the high school robot classes.
I want some robots--some "independent mechanical slaves"--to be parts of some of my masks. I want my email robot to be able to phone me if the message is important enough, although now he does a very good job of sorting the mail. I want a webspider that finds things I want to know, without telling the robomaster
(google) every keystroke I've typed into my various machines. I want a robotmusicmaster that listens to the radiowaves and presents music to me, and also to my friends if I chose. (I want to make a waltz hat for burning man: transmitting dance music from a tophat construction. )
It's not that far from now. Gotta make it happen.
Some recent comments have been dancing together in my mind; I've decided to mark the steps with the inky feet of this journal.
Seder Feast (Passover) talks quite a lot of freeing ourselves from Slavery, and how the face and form of slavery change. Right now, I see a slavery of fear and consumerism, the combination in America being that we have the best possible life, and it will be lost to us if you don't fight for it. We don't have the best possible life (unless, of course, you're Doctor PanGloss) and it can't be taken away in the way that's being sold to us.
But the archetype of a Jew revealed in the Seder feast, that of someone who remembers the past but questions it, and the present, and challenges assumptions, is a great thing. What are the archetypes of Americans we should have, to replace the fearmonger's images of the nooclear family?
This is also brought up by reading a british author, Tim Moore, who has written a hilarious book about travelling to Santiago with a donkey ( Travels with My Donkey: One Man and His Ass on a Pilgrimage to Santiago
Tim Moore ) (He's a very prolific travel writer) wears the mask and meets the archetype of the Brit: unassuming, worried about how he'll do and how he'll get on, but unswerving in the face of hardship and quietly triumphant over his pint and pie. Also, poking fun at everyone and everything. It's a brit trait--what traits do Americans have?
Well, American travellors are "ugly". American politicians are worse. I shudder to think what American clutchyer looks like to some. And it's not our actual culture and cultures, it's the images of them that we allow our media to present. Recently, again, I was asked where all the gangbangers were--this was California, right? (Oh, for the days of surfers!) Had I ever seen a shooting?
*****
Beyond archetypes, which one may strive to imitate in some way, are all the masks we wear. We make the masks from our learning, from our imitation, from our need to fit in, to grease through society without having to explain every 10 feet that we're not that strange. It's a trait learned in childhood, between teacher's expectations and the brutal pecking orders of the playground. Between the storytelling you hear and the dreams you have, you take on the mask of a role or hero to emulate them, and to eventually absorb some of their traits. (nb: Obviously, I need to go read Joeseph Campbell some more.)
So we make masks to emulate the archetypes we chose, or are presented to us. This is one of the bases for the SCA, where you can become a different person, and for Burning Man as well, where you don't have to wear your "normal" mask because normal is so different there. (Someone said recently that there are no rules. You wear and present what you like. Some actions are prohibited, but there's a lot more freedom in masks.)
As I work with people who are working this out, mainly in the schools, you can see the enducements that some masks have. Be popular, get attentions. Be good, get reward. Be bad, get attention and some "off limit" behaviour is allowed. Be moody, and get some respect. Be a geek, a jock, a stoner (get some space), a ...whatever.
Note that I don't deny authenticity in personality, but the facets of your personality that you choose to show are as much a mask as any artificial one. It's masking in the sense of engineering or etching: chosing what patterns to reveal.
There's more here, still dancing.
*****
Robots. We put masks on robots; they don't have enough patterns to really chose, but are getting more complicated. They also don't have good chosing mechanisms, yet. Robot fighting (battlebots) is developing this, as are all the high school robot classes.
I want some robots--some "independent mechanical slaves"--to be parts of some of my masks. I want my email robot to be able to phone me if the message is important enough, although now he does a very good job of sorting the mail. I want a webspider that finds things I want to know, without telling the robomaster
(google) every keystroke I've typed into my various machines. I want a robotmusicmaster that listens to the radiowaves and presents music to me, and also to my friends if I chose. (I want to make a waltz hat for burning man: transmitting dance music from a tophat construction. )
It's not that far from now. Gotta make it happen.
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no subject
Date: 2006-04-19 10:54 pm (UTC)Different set of questions, honestly.
Date: 2006-04-20 01:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-20 01:42 am (UTC)it has a door on either side
several window frames hover throughout
the views thru them are never what one expects, never direct
scattered on the floor are unmatched puzzle pieces
bits of broken mirror
which go together?
which edges will cut?
what view will inspire?
terrorize?
the paths thru the room are infinite