Pieces

I don't know what it really feels like to have a broken heart. But I do know what it feels like to have spaces inside - places without answers. I'm not sure how to explain it other than it feels a little bit like feeling hungry in your soul. It sort of makes you want to cry, but it also feels real and honest and so worth it. I think those places, those spaces without answers, are the gift of mortality - they are the part of humanity that makes this life different from those before or after it. The spaces without answers are where we build who we are.

reflection and protraction - American Government #1

In my wilderness writing class, we've been discussing that experiences become meaningful when they are reflected upon and a realization is made - the person who writes the essay has become more illuminated in some way than the person who had the experience. Without this, the essay becomes meaningless; the writing style and form of an essay is not necessarily separated from the content, and so without a new understanding the essay is trapped by the same flaws causing the tension in the essay.

My RMYL professor intentionally paralleled this concept when he discusses that an experience only changes a person's life (or is even memorable) when several key elements are in place - that final essential element is (surprise surprise) reflection. Hence, if you climb Mt. Mckinley and overcome personal demons but don't think about it afterwards and come to a greater understanding of your experience, nothing that happened to you will make a difference.

Interestingly enough, in my American Government class we talked about the fact that one of the things that makes the United States constitution different from everything before it is the requirement for a protracted political debate. Without this extended process (or reflection), national policy quickly enters dangerous territory. Politicians (and incidentally voters) make choices that do not make use of their experience and ability to reason. 

I've found the principle of reflection and protraction to be true in my college experience -  most of the time. I see how on a large scale reflection is absolutely vital, but individually I sometimes feel that thinking less is more - it would be helpful to worry less and move forward more.