Is our way of thinking a result of our generation? As a post-modern generation, are we really more comfortable living in the gray?
Perhaps I'm more modern than post-modern, my preference is to state absolutes. Life in the gray bothers me. It has to be this way or that, don't leave me hanging in the middle ground.
Sophie's World is a book by a Norwegian author, about a girl's journey through lessons in philosophy. It's fuelling my journey through the history of philosophy. The book starts with the philosophical debates of Socrates, Aristotle and Plato (as opposed to the Disney dog, Pluto - inside joke) and then proceeds through Jesus, Paul and St. Augustine. Most of their statements were absolutes, which I believe is a result of their mental gymnastics. They wrestled with what they saw, felt and perceived. And they taught.
I'm currently wrestling with this thought - why does everything need to be resolved? Experience is teaching me that when I place expectations on my relationships, they are not as rich. Perhaps it's my natural male instinct to be visionary - look into the future, imagine things as they should be, put goals in place, have a timeline and plan.
No, here's another thing I learned today about relationships - if it fits in a mental spreadsheet, with logical conclusion, it leaves no place for the unexpected.
I'm moving past my notions of post-modernism and modernism, putting Socrates and Aristotle to rest. I love surprises. I'm going to let life surprise me, rather than trying to box myself and those I meet.
P.S. - You'll note that the conclusion for this post is an absolute too ;) It's like telling a bird to stop flying...
