Most people, always, ever, diminish the relevance of daydreaming. It sometimes appears to be a trait of adulthood. “Stop dreaming kid. Start working.” I remember having decided to get into philosophy just to prove my mom wrong. I’ll keep dreaming and, one day, you’ll see how good it was. She never thought I could make a living out of this. And it’s unfortunate that she’ll never get to see it. But I’m confident enough to think that, towards the end, she did. She happily accepted having lost the daydream match: fulfilling my dreams was not only possible but profitable.
It is with some mix of strangeness and anger, then, that get to see a substantially acute version of my mom’s disbelief among philosophers. They seem to have completely lost the capacity to imagine themselves doing something extraordinary. I don’t know if it is the direct contact they like to have with that dreary monster they call “the job market”. Perhaps it is their utter lack of understanding for the dreams of others, for there is, o there is, oniric envy. Don’t dare to have a dream for all the rest, who don’t want, or don’t care, or don’t have the courage to beget a dream, will crash it.
You’re, thereby, taught to stop thinking of philosophy as your way of freeing yourself from down-to-earth-ing attitudes. Don’t think of yourself as the next great, revolutionary thinker. You’re just daydreaming! I believe this general attitude is pitiful.
There are several reasons why daydreaming about your professional development is a virtue, not a vice. First of all, in the given context, it seems like a revolutionary thing to do. Not only will you be alone daydreaming on your own, but (as I said) you’ll attacked for your imaginative thinking. Second, it takes a lot of courage to daydream in the proper way. For it is not simply a matter of letting your imagination run wild. If you do it only once, you’ll get nowhere. Proper daydreaming is a long-term project. You must turn it into a self-sustaining habit or you’ll loose. Third, it takes a lot of patience and tenacity. Proper daydreaming comes with proper work and proper sacrifice. Proper daydreaming is not just imaginative thinking. Proper daydreaming is the ability to materialize your dreams, your long-conceived dreams, your long-worked-on dreams, your long-suffered-dreams, your long-aspired-for dreams.
Daydreaming will get you the only projects worth motivating you in extraordinary ways. It is, really, the only way you can end up doing something extraordinary. It’s a shame to see that philosophers have become such a down-to-earth group of non-imaginative individuals. It is sad to see philosophy loose its most important strength: its liberating force. I’ll keep fighting. I’ll keep defending my dreams. Even if “philosophy” will now be my foe and not my friend. One day, I’m sure, I will fulfill this other dream, just like I’ve been doing with all the others.
Don’t stop dreaming. Just start working on your dreams.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Obama
I'm politically, morally, and personally overwhelmed. Yesterday's victory was astonishing in too many levels. It was politically so, because of its social structure. No one can deny that Barack Obama won because of his supporters. We have witnessed what may very possibly be the most socially involving political campaign in history. Not thousands, or hundreds of them, but millions. As he himself put it, Barack Obama had an army behind him.
This changes everything I know about democracy. It does not seem to be anymore a matter of being charming enough to convince the majority. Rather, it seems to be a matter of having a big enough minority behind you to convince the overwhelmingly unconvinced. That’s how Barack Obama won Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, and even Indiana. He didn’t spend so much time there. He couldn’t have. But his minority army did, and they took long.
But not only. Obama’s victory changes democracy by solving one of its most accruciating problems: ignorance. As I said before, democracy does not work if your electorate is not well informed. I used to think of intellectual undernourishment, but I’ve learned a lot from this campaign. Academic maturation is generally good, but unnecessary. All that’s needed, all this campaign needed, was informational noursihing. How did the Obama campaign manage to overcome decades of ignorance and misinformation? The task was unsurmountable. If we look at it from a few years perspective, completely impossible. But the world has changed: internet is all over the place. Back in 2004 only 40% of americans had broadband. Now, as the Obama victory testifies, they are a majority. This is perhaps one of the most important political virtues of the Obama campaign: it’s management of internet resources. That’s how they built their army, how they convinced the unconvinced, and how they managed to overcome one of the most powerful obstacles among human beings: discrimination.
Which takes me to the moral side of this. Almost a year ago I ended up teaching a course on sexism, racism, women’s rights, affirmative action and other contemporary problems. Most of my students where european american who didn’t believe there was racism in America. The few african americans couldn’t believe their classmates’ disbelief. And I couldn’t believe how uncritical, biased, and dumb a misinformed human being could look like. Yet I learned with my students. I had a better idea of what the sources of discrimination were, a better idea of what was hurting me so much of this country. This victory is not so much a lesson on the strengths of an internet-based-brilliant campaign, but on the ability of individuals to overcome their prejudices when properly informed. That, I believe, is more than just an awe inspiring result. It’s beautiful!
Barack Obama just won the presidency of the most powerful nation on Earth. He was educated in Harvard, the most powerful academic institution on Earth. He raised more than 600 million dollars for his campaign, more than both Kerry and Bush together four years ago. The wealthiest campaign in the history of the US. And he happens to be an african american. The most amazing thing here is not his demolition of the so called racial barrier, but they way he did it. He achieved all this and all he did was his homework. This personal lesson reaches every corner. Everyone undergoes her own pesonal battle. Do whatever you have to do and, most importantly, don’t give up. It is not enough just to have the will, nor to only act upon it. We need more: tenacity. Or as Churchill used to say, “if you’re going through hell, keep going.”
May I conclude by quoting today’s New York Times:
This changes everything I know about democracy. It does not seem to be anymore a matter of being charming enough to convince the majority. Rather, it seems to be a matter of having a big enough minority behind you to convince the overwhelmingly unconvinced. That’s how Barack Obama won Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, and even Indiana. He didn’t spend so much time there. He couldn’t have. But his minority army did, and they took long.
But not only. Obama’s victory changes democracy by solving one of its most accruciating problems: ignorance. As I said before, democracy does not work if your electorate is not well informed. I used to think of intellectual undernourishment, but I’ve learned a lot from this campaign. Academic maturation is generally good, but unnecessary. All that’s needed, all this campaign needed, was informational noursihing. How did the Obama campaign manage to overcome decades of ignorance and misinformation? The task was unsurmountable. If we look at it from a few years perspective, completely impossible. But the world has changed: internet is all over the place. Back in 2004 only 40% of americans had broadband. Now, as the Obama victory testifies, they are a majority. This is perhaps one of the most important political virtues of the Obama campaign: it’s management of internet resources. That’s how they built their army, how they convinced the unconvinced, and how they managed to overcome one of the most powerful obstacles among human beings: discrimination.
Which takes me to the moral side of this. Almost a year ago I ended up teaching a course on sexism, racism, women’s rights, affirmative action and other contemporary problems. Most of my students where european american who didn’t believe there was racism in America. The few african americans couldn’t believe their classmates’ disbelief. And I couldn’t believe how uncritical, biased, and dumb a misinformed human being could look like. Yet I learned with my students. I had a better idea of what the sources of discrimination were, a better idea of what was hurting me so much of this country. This victory is not so much a lesson on the strengths of an internet-based-brilliant campaign, but on the ability of individuals to overcome their prejudices when properly informed. That, I believe, is more than just an awe inspiring result. It’s beautiful!
Barack Obama just won the presidency of the most powerful nation on Earth. He was educated in Harvard, the most powerful academic institution on Earth. He raised more than 600 million dollars for his campaign, more than both Kerry and Bush together four years ago. The wealthiest campaign in the history of the US. And he happens to be an african american. The most amazing thing here is not his demolition of the so called racial barrier, but they way he did it. He achieved all this and all he did was his homework. This personal lesson reaches every corner. Everyone undergoes her own pesonal battle. Do whatever you have to do and, most importantly, don’t give up. It is not enough just to have the will, nor to only act upon it. We need more: tenacity. Or as Churchill used to say, “if you’re going through hell, keep going.”
May I conclude by quoting today’s New York Times:
OBAMA
Monday, November 03, 2008
Confesiones, Aprendizajes y Remordimientos
En ocasiones busco los títulos por oído. Como si el tema lo dictara el sonido. No es que no sepa bien de qué pienso hablar. Sé, al menos, suficiente. Aún así, el nombrar resulta ser siempre arbitrario. No parece requerir explicaciones. Causas hay, siempre. ¿Por qué no simplificarlo todo? ¿Por qué no escribir de ballenas sin que se oiga el mar? El tema está ahí, siempre. Ese mar profundo. Esa duda. La duda. Incertidumbre, temor, pena, intranquilidad. Todo.
Y comienzo. Hace casi cuatro años decidí emigrar. Aunque, en realidad, ponerlo así es un poco engañoso. Da una impresión de comprensión que nunca existe. Lo que decidí, realmente, fue hacer algo que desconocía. Después de cuatro años me permito narrar una vez más la historia. La llamo migración, no quiero llamarla exhilio (he ahí otra decisión).
Hace unos días tuve la fortuna de volver al centro. Extrañamente, aunque en realidad no tanto, el centro no es el mismo. Me rodean las mismas emociones, la misma amistad, la misma confianza que tenía antes de partir. Pero no las mismas personas. Al parecer he cambiado lo suficiente para encontrar otro centro. Me siento tranquilo.
De jueves a domingo participé en la primer conferencia profesional de mi carrera. Todo lo anterior fue sólo un juego. Y aunque en realidad todo es igual, mi actitud ha cambiado. Acepto lo que soy y lo que hago. Me gusta. Me apasiona. Reconozco mi inmadurez y recibo plenamente mi ignorancia. Ahora, sin embargo, no hay ansiedad. Ya tendré tiempo para madurar y deshacerme de confusiones. Ya vendrán más aventuras.
Hace cuatro años decidí también el lugar. Con la misma ignorancia y la misma aventura. El lugar resultó no ser ideal. Las relaciones fueron complicadas y por ello mismo ventajosas. Todo parece indicar que he sobrevivido una prueba innecesariamente complicada. Tiene sus ventajas. No obstante, ayer reviví directamente mi ceguera. Un admirable profesor ha acompañado mis pasos desde ya hace años. Cuatro años pasaron antes de encontrarlo, una vez más, en el camino. Me recordó que seguía esperándome. Recordé el error en mi decisión. Ahora que tengo más información, tal vez pueda decidir mejor. Ha dejado una sonrisa en mi rostro.
A veces me cuesta trabajo aprender de mi mismo. Pienso bastante y hablo más de lo que pienso. Inevitablemente digo tonterías. Pero en ocasiones, raras, lo sé, suelo escupir consejos y estrategias útiles. Por desgracia yo mismo no presto oídos a lo que digo. Tal vez esté mal acostumbrado a escuchar más información prescindible que otra cosa. En fin. Demasiado contexto. Lo cierto es que llevo cuatro años trabajando para un proyecto desconocido y me tranquiliza pensar que al fin tengo cierta idea de lo que estoy haciendo. No se trata de encontrar, si quiera, la historia más satisfactoria. Pretender acercarse a la verdad, y no la verdad misma, no es arrogancia ni pedantería. Es un simple error de método. Como buscar la cura para el cáncer en una enciclopedia. Si la filosofía es lo que hacen mis profesores y amigos, entonces consiste en algo más. Algo bastante distinto.
Sospecho, ahora, que la filosofía lleva una descripción laboral que no compagina de manera obvia con su comportamiento. Se busca la respuesta adecuada a problemas complicados. Pero lo que se hace, a final de cuentas, es ofrecer historias interesantes con beneficios fundamentalmente estéticos para su realizador. Llevo meses pensándolo. Creo estar decidido a llevarlo a cabo. No habré de hacer más que lo que mate el aburrimiento de la manera más eficaz. La historia satisfactoria no será sino la que resulte más interesante, más atractiva, más provocativa, menos normal, menos sensata.
Habrá que dejar de pensar que uno piensa mucho lo que hace, para comenzar a aceptar que uno siente más de lo que cree.
Y comienzo. Hace casi cuatro años decidí emigrar. Aunque, en realidad, ponerlo así es un poco engañoso. Da una impresión de comprensión que nunca existe. Lo que decidí, realmente, fue hacer algo que desconocía. Después de cuatro años me permito narrar una vez más la historia. La llamo migración, no quiero llamarla exhilio (he ahí otra decisión).
Hace unos días tuve la fortuna de volver al centro. Extrañamente, aunque en realidad no tanto, el centro no es el mismo. Me rodean las mismas emociones, la misma amistad, la misma confianza que tenía antes de partir. Pero no las mismas personas. Al parecer he cambiado lo suficiente para encontrar otro centro. Me siento tranquilo.
De jueves a domingo participé en la primer conferencia profesional de mi carrera. Todo lo anterior fue sólo un juego. Y aunque en realidad todo es igual, mi actitud ha cambiado. Acepto lo que soy y lo que hago. Me gusta. Me apasiona. Reconozco mi inmadurez y recibo plenamente mi ignorancia. Ahora, sin embargo, no hay ansiedad. Ya tendré tiempo para madurar y deshacerme de confusiones. Ya vendrán más aventuras.
Hace cuatro años decidí también el lugar. Con la misma ignorancia y la misma aventura. El lugar resultó no ser ideal. Las relaciones fueron complicadas y por ello mismo ventajosas. Todo parece indicar que he sobrevivido una prueba innecesariamente complicada. Tiene sus ventajas. No obstante, ayer reviví directamente mi ceguera. Un admirable profesor ha acompañado mis pasos desde ya hace años. Cuatro años pasaron antes de encontrarlo, una vez más, en el camino. Me recordó que seguía esperándome. Recordé el error en mi decisión. Ahora que tengo más información, tal vez pueda decidir mejor. Ha dejado una sonrisa en mi rostro.
A veces me cuesta trabajo aprender de mi mismo. Pienso bastante y hablo más de lo que pienso. Inevitablemente digo tonterías. Pero en ocasiones, raras, lo sé, suelo escupir consejos y estrategias útiles. Por desgracia yo mismo no presto oídos a lo que digo. Tal vez esté mal acostumbrado a escuchar más información prescindible que otra cosa. En fin. Demasiado contexto. Lo cierto es que llevo cuatro años trabajando para un proyecto desconocido y me tranquiliza pensar que al fin tengo cierta idea de lo que estoy haciendo. No se trata de encontrar, si quiera, la historia más satisfactoria. Pretender acercarse a la verdad, y no la verdad misma, no es arrogancia ni pedantería. Es un simple error de método. Como buscar la cura para el cáncer en una enciclopedia. Si la filosofía es lo que hacen mis profesores y amigos, entonces consiste en algo más. Algo bastante distinto.
Sospecho, ahora, que la filosofía lleva una descripción laboral que no compagina de manera obvia con su comportamiento. Se busca la respuesta adecuada a problemas complicados. Pero lo que se hace, a final de cuentas, es ofrecer historias interesantes con beneficios fundamentalmente estéticos para su realizador. Llevo meses pensándolo. Creo estar decidido a llevarlo a cabo. No habré de hacer más que lo que mate el aburrimiento de la manera más eficaz. La historia satisfactoria no será sino la que resulte más interesante, más atractiva, más provocativa, menos normal, menos sensata.
Habrá que dejar de pensar que uno piensa mucho lo que hace, para comenzar a aceptar que uno siente más de lo que cree.
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