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March 11, 2005
Basic Human Needs - Understanding
Fundamental | Being | Having | Doing | Interacting |
understanding | critical | literature, | analyse, study,meditate | schools, families |
I have understanding coming out my ears. Or, at least, the opportunity to expand my understanding. Let me briefly categorize the ways I understand (not necessarily in order of importance):
School – for all my bitching, this year has been full of personal growth for me. The program itself has been less than engaging, but the frustration with the structure/content of the lectures and assignments have sparked many, many fruitful conversations with classmates. These conversations have had a ripple effect that has come back to me time and time again. And even the structure—yes, I'll admit it—has allowed me the time and space to think about thinks independently. I definitely have a different perspective on life because of this graduate degree and its effects.
Volunteering – although I haven't devoted much time to it lately, I have found volunteering to be highly complementary to my understanding. Volunteering for the Saratoga Foundation for Women Worldwide has allowed me to pursue a topic I have long been interested in (but never done a lot of work on)—women's human rights. Even better, the project work was flexible enough to let me be even more specific—I wanted to look at human rights in
Blog – perhaps more than anything else, the act of keeping an online journal has increased my capacity for understanding. Just the routine of sitting down—to note the events of the day, to explain my frustrations and victories, and to chronicle this amazing Swedish adventure—has been eye-opening. I feel like I am more likely to be conscious of my actions and their motivations when I journal, and the added accountability of a public journal has brought additional benefits.
Writing Club – having just finished a meeting with the members of my little writing club, I am full of enthusiasm for group writing. Over the past month, I have had multiple interesting, deep, contrary, and wonderful conversations about life's big issues. Just tonight we covered the concept of leadership (Is it intentional? Can you choose not to be a leader? When is the burden too much?), the theory of non-violence (Is it better to life according to your principles or to get something accomplished? What if people's lives are at stake? Are there situations where violence really is justified? If so, doesn't this condone the idea that violence is acceptable?), bread-making (Laura made an excellent "health bread" to contribute to the evening's meal), the reality of common-space living (how do you deal with different standards of cleanliness), circadian rhythms (why do I stay up until 4 a.m. when Laura gets up at 6:30 a.m?), and others. I love being able to have these stimulating conversations and then spend time thinking about them independently, only to come back and discuss them together at a later date.
In short, this year has been replete with understanding. I will be hard-pressed to find a situation in June that allows me to have this much time for reflection. I will have to carefully consider my options in regard to this basic human need.
