Earlier this morning, I had this really good blog post I was typing up– I had been for the past week or so until my computer suddenly refreshed and then BOOM all 1000 plus words were gone.
My anxiety quickly settled in as I realized I wasn’t going to recover all of the brain power and thought I put into that. I skipped the gym, called my dad (the tech guy) and groaned in my anguish.
Nothing was working.
Poof, I started to redirect my thoughts [after an hour of panic, recalibration and extensive research on recovering blog posts that are autosaved and then suddenly vanish] into how can I make this a part of everything I had just lost [also restarting in Google Docs where I know I won’t lose my material].
And I think I totally found a way I can link it.
This originally crafted blog post was titled “Christianisms” but I think a better title for it is “Title To Be Determined.”
Now, as this correlates in with my previous posts, as I like to keep this blog in continuation with my passion for the English language and the roadways it takes us in our daily banter and interactions with the world around us, it brings me back to frameworks of thinking and “schemas” or “schema theory.”
My personal favorite way to find pathways of language is in how we interact with religions or beliefs and then how I relate it to the way I think and perceive/believe.
For me, I grew up with a Christian family, in a predominantly Christian environment through and through. Currently, I do not uphold these beliefs as I have been on a path of deconstructing and reconstructing what it is I believe or how I choose to see the world through my experiences.
Christianity is mostly just that. Experiences. Right?
The Bible;
a combination of ancient experiences predating most things on the earth here today, all written by many different people having those experiences, written by various and numerous authors over an extended period of time…
-my definition and many others’
Now, speaking in a historically accurate manner, the Bible has been interpreted by various clergy and Kings —basically those in hierarchy with the Patriarchy over the previous last thousands of years…
Now, factor in the language barriers, the lack of education [pretty much everyone and all women], the various gaps in history and cultural changes, the dark ages [almost zero exchanges of information for almost 1000 years until the Renaissance], power of authority during translation, varying perspectives of God, slavery, persecution of those outside of the Church, and the Industrial Revolution to name just a few of the things to consider when thinking about the Bible or Christianity- basically, what it is today.
These are all valid experiences right? But could we possibly know them to the fullest (let alone partially) —- all the experiences and truths occurring over that period of time in history? They only are valid experiences from what they tell us. But, we are also part of those interpretations and experiences because we are the result of them. The way you think about that man taking his dog out for a walk or the way in which you greet a stranger in a grocery store to how you think about politics— it was all crafted from those ruling empires thousands of years ago.
*Take a quick look at what societies we are living in today
I know, a lot to take in, but each piece of our languages and interactions we use and showcase throughout our current culture is influenced from all of that and what was popular throughout the years coming into our current one.
Now, translations are made so we can better understand something, so in doing so, we can grasp the meaning and picture the best way we can ---what is being communicated to us. We then bring forth that exchange into our next experiences and so forth. [We do this without thinking.]
This is language and language influences everything around us.
Now—Coming into my previous blog post and tying up my brief lesson and introduction, BOOM my post was gone. I was left to pick up what I had been going off in my head and my thought processes after I couldn’t access what was already written.
Naturally, it’s never going to be exactly the same, minus the fact I decided to add to it. That’s exactly a representation of the Bible/ Christianity in a lot of ways— and what's funny or just actually natural, is that I am using language to do it.
BOOM – what did you just think of? I’d bet money it was about me losing my blog post. That’s exactly the point I’m trying to prove. You automatically related that word, after hearing it in its context (the one I gave it), to a loss of something, when really this word outside of my little post could be used in several different ways, it just depends on which one you’re talking about, right?
It could be a loud explosion, could be a gun, could be something bad right? Could be a firework or just an expression someone uses to scare someone else.
You know what’s interesting? I could have felt sorry the whole day, focusing on the reality of my lost words– spending so much time focusing on what I had originally said, in the past, only to lose sight of what I could be recreating right in front of me. Feeling like that can keep you stuck and you can waste a lot of time deciphering previous thoughts and meanings instead of understanding ideas as pathways to new ideas.
Instead, I decided to write a better argument for my point and discovered a whole new meaning of how we as people of the English language interpret the world around us.
Now, if you didn’t relate the BOOM to me losing my blog post, you will now. It’s just that easy to translate information and make it into something else. I find this a lot within the Christian perspective of things.
Relating this to my original blog post, [as I am sure you’re curious about that post as I have mentioned it so many times now], I wanted to examine “Christianisms” briefly and then tie it into my thoughts about language and “schemas.”
To me, Christianisms are what I like to call these sneaky Christian thoughts, ties, and religious context that creep up on me day to day. It’s a Christian thought process or “schema.”
Each day I find something that I used to think about when I was walking in the faith, it might just glide by me in my mind or jump out depending on how attached I used to be to those frames of thinking. Sometimes, I don’t even realize I’m doing it.
Note: Some Christians may argue this is the Holy Spirit, but alas it's just schemas.
When you deconstruct from a way of thinking, it's tough. Sometimes it’s easier when something traumatic happens, but it will still always linger. It’s a part of our experiences which therefore translate into our language and how we communicate.
Anyways, moving into my point on thought processes, I was looking on Facebook at an old memory post that popped up from around quite a few years back. I was inquiring about an odd dream I had [context not important] and I was shocked at how many commenters had really well written and thought-out translations or meanings to the many symbols [internal and external attributes] of the dream. There were two that stuck out to me; one where the commenter related my dream to my internal battles and how it affects my external environments/ how to make sense of it to make it better. The second commenter found symbols related to the external issues in the world and how I could help.
Both of these commenters were taking these symbols in my dream and using a language that spoke to them and how they assumed my language. No one was necessarily right or wrong but both could be either or and both could be neither. There are so many possibilities, as it is a dream and only the dreamer can maybe know what it means. Only the dreamer can know their own metaphors and interpretation of the dream as well as the language the dreams say, as what they will be able to uncover—unless they look externally for new information and experiences. In accessing this external atmosphere so to speak, one can then widen their language and perception to discover a new part of themselves. We do it anyways, whether we want to or not, but we choose where we get our information from.
It’s the same with the Bible and Christianity, the religious organizations are constantly looking for ways God speaks to them [Christianisms], right? But, they keep it in alignment with the Bible, and/or to relevant teachings. The Christian community is always looking for ways to back up their texts just like I was looking for ways to back up my lost blog post. I’m not saying it’s wrong or right, but it’s all perspective. Now, I don’t not believe in a God or Universe or Higher Power, but when it’s limited to all the other experiences and interactions I have coming into my life, I want to broaden my language, not keep it to only a few–pushing away anything new.
Language taught me that in a way, language is happening constantly all around us at every second. Even our interactions with ourselves affect us on such a high scale. When you speak negative words to yourself, it doesn’t make you feel better. When you laugh more, it uplifts your lows. Everything around us influences us and we decide what we allow and what we don’t.
In this life, we are always looking for a title or a purpose, well most of us are, so it’s only natural for us to cling to a frame of thinking we feel comfortable with. But, the reality is we don’t have a secure “anything” as death or unexplainable circumstances are evitable and it’s out of control or our “schema.” When things go outside of our frame of thinking, our world crashes down and we feel insecure and we label it. That’s the game of life, but the only constant is how we choose to handle it and make use of these changes to create better changes.
Anyways, that’s it for now. I hope this was food for thought!