Randy Singer, our pastor, is also Randy Singer, the novelist. Last week he attended a Michael Hauge writing conference, and this morning he shared one concept from that seminar with us (which I'm paraphrasing heavily, so don't blame Michael or Randy for what follows): Identity versus Essence.
In the beginning of most successful films, you see the protagonist in his everyday Identity, just fitting in, going about their regular life. Wesley (the Man in Black) (Princess Bride) is a farm boy; Korben Dallas (Fifth Element) is a cab driver; Thomas (Neo) Anderson (Matrix) is a programmer; James (J) Edwards (Men in Black) is a cop. And then something happens--they meet someone, or learn something, which awakens a desire. At that point, the protagonist has to make a decision--is he going to hide in his Identity, or show his Essence? The Identity is safe, but unfulfilled; the Essence is unsafe, but fulfilled.
What would you do, down the Rabbit Hole? Who are you, really? If you didn't "have to" do what you're doing now, what would you be doing now?
Edit: every good story also has a villain--the one who, when given the opportunity, becomes a rapist or killer, a slanderer or adulterer, or just pointlessly self-destructive. But we're going to focus on the Good, so if you post an answer, let's assume you're going to be a hero.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
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5 comments:
Please tell us what the rabbit hole is. The desire that is awakened is dependent on the nature of the rabbit hole you're descending.
Granted, you're going to respond differently upon opening your front door if what you find is a horde of zombies, or a scantily clad slave girl, or an alien offering you a position as a star fighter pilot, or a dying man with a briefcase full of cash. But does the event that makes you realize "I'm a hero" have to be that obvious? It might be "great, I'm turning 40 tomorrow" or "congratulations, son, on getting your own place" or merely waking up one morning and saying "I am sick of going to work at that place, what I want to do is...."
I'm going to take a stab at answering this. Unfortunately I think that I can't really directly answer your question because I don't have quite the same paradigm that you've presented with respect to the definition of self or essence.
I believe that I'm the sum of my decisions. Sartre (I think?) said we are the sum of our experiences, but I take that one step back, I decide to leave the house for work at 7:45 or at 7:30 what I experience that day follows from decisions I make. I make those decisions based on a synthesis of logic, emotion and experience. But at the base I am the sum of the decisions I make, even when the decisions are made in full knowledge or in the absence of knowledge or anywhere in between. Events just present me with a point of decision an inflection point in the development of me if you will. Take the zombie example, do I decide to be a hero, a victim or even a heroic red smear?
My decision.
The results affect ME.
So to answer your questions at the end of your post.
What would I do down the rabbit hole?
I'd make decisions based on the experiences I've had and the decision's I'd made to that point.
Who am I really?
The sum of my decisions and the experiences that follow from those decisions.
If you didn't "have to" do what you're doing now, what would you be doing now?
Whatever I decide to do.
Bugbear has crafted the most roundabout unfulfilling answer in the history of answering internet troll questions....
What would I do down the rabbit hole?
I haven't the faintest idea. It would be dictated by the nature of the rabbit hole. In any event, I'd try very hard to stick to my ethical standards of conduct.
Who am I, really?
I think this is a quote which sort of defines what I'd wish to be:
[b]"Tell them, that from this place we will deliver notice to the parliaments of conquerors that a line has been drawn against the darkness. And we will hold that line, .. no matter the cost."
-- Sheridan to Rangers in Babylon 5:"The Long, Twilight Struggle"[/b]
whereas what I actually am is an aging, perplexed semi-professional who is confronted by the reality of a life that has somewhere gotten away from him, but he can't put his finger on just when or where that occured.
If I didn't have to do what I'm doing now, what would I be doing?
Since our fates are largely dictated by pragmatic concerns, I'm not sure what I'd be doing differently.
I mean, if I had all of the requisites needed to make it so, I'd either by voyaging around the world and enjoying all of the peaceful and tumultuous natural places of the planet as well as the historical sites or else I'd be somewhere fighting against the many clear evils I see in the world. But I'm not even entirely clear on what all those requisites would be, only that I lack many of them.
The motivational speaker/success coach Tony Robbins (of Personal Power, Unlimited Power and other similar themed works) speaks of finding your passion.
I think there are some of us in this world that have a single, driving passion. Once they find this passion, they throw everything they have into pursuing it. They may or may not achieve, but they automatically rise above mediocrity for having striven to do great things.
I, on the other hand, find myself a creature of peripatetic interests; I can be interested in sailing one day, woodworking the next, a new computer technology the next, and a bit of world history the next, etc. and so on.
It isn't that I have an inability to sustain a longer interest in any of these things - I do have a longer interest in all of these things. I have too much interest in too many things. Most things in this world are a wonderment to me and I want to learn more about them. I have a finite span and so I come and go in interests in waves... revisiting some every few months or years... others never again.
I think my "Essence" would be one of curiosity and a desire to know much about many things. Some of them are things that are practical and hear and now, others esoteric, philosophical or spiritual.
I think the only other facet of my true essence is my inability to abide the evils of man. Genocides, ethnic cleansing, repression, atrocities, lies and propaganda, enforced ignorance... these really bother me and some part of me wold like to be out on the front lines of the fight against these evils.
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