Dear Editor,
Only the socially-inept will revel in the social shortcomings and awkwardness of others.
In an age where our senses are constantly being bombarded by a proliferation of images, objects and stimuli from mass media and the wider environment, we are more susceptible now more than any other point in our brief history of being exposed to sensory overload. What, and how much we choose to consume, determines, in part, the quality of our experiences, either enhancing or diminishing our lives in the process.
Whether we choose to spend time reading Tolstoy's Anna Karenina or War and Peace, instead of being glued to a Smart TV, taking in the latest action thriller, we are consciously choosing the experience we want to have. Engaging in the former can provide us with a heightened moral sense which helps us negotiate complex ethical scenarios thus expanding our horizons and understanding of different social classes, and their accompanying values.
I cannot expound on the quality of the pleasures the latter provides, since I seldom watch TV, but if it does, I'm sure it doesn't have the same benefits as the former and other works of great literature.
If I choose to visit Izi, Avantika, Topper's, Lay Back Bar on Walter Plantz Square or Gracia's Bar in Sucker Garden, it means I am anticipating great conversation, good food that excites one's taste buds, good service and friendly staff. I have preconceived ideas of what I want my experience to be. My experience is likely to provide me with both sensual and mental pleasures, as being at one of these spots is both therapeutic and cathartic.
Whatever we choose to consume in the broadest sense of the word has consequences and implications for our overall well-being. The places we go to or frequent, the food we eat, the conversations we have, the thoughts we think, the friends we keep, the manner in which we entertain ourselves, all contribute to shaping and reinforcing who we are and what we become.
There are experiences that help to eject the undesirables in us, they refine our senses and free us from the impurities and defects we all share as human beings. For instance, being in the company and dialogue of persons from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, is an opportunity to celebrate and enjoy our diversity. The knowledge we gain based on personal observation and contact should serve to enrich our lives, making us wiser, more skilful and more tolerant.
Similarly, an experience of an evening spent dining on foie gras – the officially protected gastronomy patrimony of France and a low-hanging fruit for animal rights activists – while immersed in conversation that attaches great importance to differences of social positions, meanly and vulgarly admiring and imitating those of superior social position should not be construed as qualitatively superior to an evening spent campaigning against the manner in which the duck meets it demise.
Which experience would you rather have, as neither has any inherent higher value to the senses and mind? This is where the subjectivity of experiences comes in. We can choose to listen to Mozart or Vivaldi, or music that speaks to the anguished heart, musical language able to convey the most heart-rending emotions without ever transgressing the bounds of elegance, or we can choose to stuff our auditory bank with male, sexist noise that condemns and reduces women to objects of mere sexual gratification, something for the ego to possess, rather than truly liking her as a person.
We can choose to stimulate our creative imagination with images of a world with natural beauty which has not been violated, where money has no value, and possessions are deadweight, the person with the fewest possessions is the freest, or we can limit our creative, intellectual imagination with the intuitive certainties of our daily activities.
The more we read about religion, the more we realize that the mystics were all saying the same thing – enlightenment came from the extinction of desire. Desire didn't bring fulfilment, but only temporary satiety until the next temptation came along, and that was only if you were lucky enough to get what you wanted. If you didn't, you spent your life in unrequited longing.
So whatever path you choose on the road to enlightenment, or the food you choose to feed your spiritual appetite, be mindful of this. Experiences and matters of the senses and mind are highly subjective, and don't have the same appeal to all, but it is wise to give consideration to the quality of food we eat, our social circle, the thoughts and conversations we have, the judgments and observations we make, the places we visit. In essence, take notice of what your senses and mind are consuming, every waking moment of your life, as far as humanly possible.
Orlando Patterson
