Two questions have arisen for me from the reading I’ve been doing.
It seems that the current accepted view that we are entirely constructed by our surroundings is similar to the Judaeo-Christian concept of predetermination, God sets out our path so all things happen as they were meant to happen. But it seems to me, both completely take away any responsibility we may have to think for ourselves and choose. It struck me as odd that there would be this same constraint from two different and possibly mutually hostile systems – faith and science.
However, the argument that we can choose even though we have been constructed seems to me to be suspect because any choice would be a constructed choice and predictable based on the recognition that we have been totally constructed by society. The very fact of our construct means our choices are not our own either.
So what is our own?
The other thing which has crossed my mind is from contemplating this quote by Deleuze:
‘I am forever unfolding between two folds and if to perceive means to unfold, then I am forever perceiving with in the folds.’
The very nature of the fold means that not everything is immediately knowable and shift happens because the folds move. So this would point to a shifting context too. ‘Perceiving with in the fold’ would naturally include a perception of context.
How do we find our center when everything shifts?
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It is summer holiday season in France and I have been doing a great deal of mindless, almost Zen, activities like ironing sheets, and making beds. This is the kind of stuff that runs through my head at times like these. I know, I need to take a pill and lie down, don’t I?
