Astral Facts, February 2011



Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Figuratively Speaking

Often we hear questions about the arts and humanities – what role do they play? Why do we study the texts from literature, art, music, and such from the past?

Even though we may merely regard them as such, frequently the stories they tell are more than just a thrown together plot with action and exploding cars (Spike TV) or the emotional stress of building and/or destroying relationships (Lifetime TV) with stuff in between (the other channels).

In a recent Frazz cartoon in the daily paper on Feb 18th, (I haven’t reproduced it here because copyright laws are too complex for my simple mind, but here’s the URL: http://comics.com/frazz/), a student tells three others that he gets $5 for every A on his report card, but another student gets $10 for each one. The three students respond differently:

“My mom says learning is its own reward,”
“My dad pays himself $100 for every A I get,” and
“My mom pays me the same each year, but I have to get 15% more.”

 In the final panel, Frazz (the young custodian) asks “What did you learn?” and the student replies,

 “That Katie’s mom is still in school, Egan’s dad is a CEO, Isabel’s mom is a sales director, and why grown-ups don’t talk about their salaries.”

Like this scene, the “story” may be filled with information, but real “learning” occurs when we exercise critical thinking and analysis to understand what the details or information means and why it holds significance in application outside the “text” itself.

The repeated and familiar texts of a culture are vehicles that frequently illustrate and communicate thoughts and ideals that extend beyond each text itself. However, without a foundation of cultural literacy, the meaning may escape us.

This was brought home to me recently when a family friend mentioned someone had recently been offered a transfer away from his relatives to work in Hawaii, and the person had commented, “Don’t throw me in the briar patch! Don’t throw me in the briar patch!” Our friend thought that was a weird non-sequitur. When I asked my children to explain it, they were equally clueless.

So I went to the library and requested a copy of The Favorite Tales of Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris. A few days later over the after-dinner tea, I read aloud the story of “Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby,” but they still didn’t understand. So I got another version (Jump Again: More Adventures of Brer Rabbit), translated from the original dialect of the “American South” and we read “Brer Rabbit in the Well” followed by “Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby.” Now they get it!

In a recent column on the sports page of the Seattle Times, a reporter interviewed a former player from the Mariners now finally achieving some recognition with another team after many years in the minor leagues. Knowing that several other successful players have had such difficult journeys, the reporter asked the player whose life he most identified with. The player responded, “Odysseus!” Try as he might, the reporter couldn’t recall which team Odysseus had played for. (Perhaps associating it with Homer might not even help, for so many players have hit homers?)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/larrystone/2014280945_stone20.html

A few years ago, I heard a minister describe a retreat he had attended with other religious leaders, and at one point they were asked to identify which biblical character they most identified with. Many of them named various of Jesus’ disciples and noteworthy Old Testament figures. However, one of them said he identified most with Balaam’s Ass, which the minister found quite apropos.

I had to look it up (the minister’s intention for telling the story), and I have to say I see the connection in education as well as I encourage my students to get off the path that wanders into merely noting and remembering details and information.

Hopefully, we can have a citizenry that looks beyond the plot details of life and relationships rather than just living on the surface level of chase and action scenes, although taking a break  to watch a car exploding or Bruce Willis blowing away some bad guys can be relaxing!

Walter Lowe

Astral Facts is a monthly presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices.