The Happening - Christian Callaghan

 What is the happening? As defined by Professor Reddick it is an event that is currently occurring which has some sort of significant meaning to us which will show itself at a later time. 

It is being present in the moment and inhabiting the environment around yourself or it might be with company which can only be attributed as the happening if they are also in the moment. One way in which someone can identify themselves in a moment of happening is by attributing an interlocutor to the situation as a helpful reminder. In Professor Reddick's example he used the idea of a bird watching over him and his students as they cowboy camped on a beach. What is the happening in this situation? It is the watching bird. What did it want? Was it a territorial thing, was the bird simply watching over curious as to what the people were doing on the beach or was it some other concept that attributed to the bird's desire to view the humans? The bird was spectating the happening in which there were humans interacting with the moment on the beach. To the bird this moment could have just been another passing time, but it could have also been the happening - we will never know. A personal anecdote and example of this is a fan at a football game. For me I am watching a game that I will likely forget about a month from now; it is something that will have very little significance to me. However, for the players on the field it might mean the start of their career or the end of it. They are in the happening and I am their interlocutor. This moment for them means much more yet I am there to spectate and imagine how they would feel and interact in their happening.

In simple non confusing terms, the happening is a moment in time that has a weight on the individual interacting with the moment. Is this moment a happening? We won't know until time passes and this moment gains significance.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Collective Unconscious and the Importance of Ego (Serial Experiments: Lain) - Carter Jobe

I just finished watching the short series Serial Experiments: Lain and was inspired to write this blog about the many spiritual inuendos that touched me throughout this experience, along with elements I found relevant to this class. There is an underlying element of the Jungian collective unconscious throughout the show, and it is represented by the Wired, a mix between the internet, a higher reality like a heaven, and a connection between all people and the world around them. The antagonist, "God", aims to deplete everyone's ego and superego along with their bodies, diminishing everyone into a digitized version of the collective unconscious. Humanity would become one, and there would be no sin or differences. Certain characters throughout the show commit themselves to this idea and rid themselves of their burdens to become a part of the wired.  Lain herself is compelled to do the same at one point. In the climax of the show, Lain claims that we don't need our bodies,...
Read more

Kip Redick Example Post

  Page 4 Michael Taussig would suggest Juan's understanding of the meaning of a place emerges out of the process of an imitation of all the “differences” that we discern there. We mimic (in language and action) the full range of sounds, movements, and other sensory perceptions that come to us from the more than human world.” It’s hard to put a place that strikes us as sublime into mere words; we can try to describe it as a feeling and try to put language to that feeling, but sometimes the feeling of the beauty of nature or the power of a sacred space is too big to try to translate or make sense of. Would every place and experience be subjective, and would the discourse be the same? Would the mountain top make me feel the same as another? Or does my personal experience with the natural world and divine keep it intimate/ unique, or would my experience be relatable enough? The author uses the messiness, ambiguity, and mystery of people's deeply personal experienc...
Read more

Dante's Inferno, a pilgrimage through hell

 Dante Alighieri was a prolific author of the 13th century. He wrote many pieces, but one that he is most well known for is his book Inferno. This book follows Dante as he travels through the seven rings of hell, he is guided by his now dead mentor Virgil. This book was the first piece of media from this time period to really explore the idea of what hell would entail. Each ring is split into level of sin, it starts with purgatory, an eternal waiting room for people who are between heaven and hell. The first ring is the tamest, with the least appalling of the eternal punishments. The last ring is for only the most atrocious of sinners and hold the worst punishments.     Dante travels through hell as a living man, so he has no fear of being tortured  as he journeys deeper into the pit of mans greatest threats. Dante begins cautious but excited, he has been given an opportunity of a life time, to document such a prolific place that is so deeply rooted in the core of so...
Read more