Posts tagged Language
Aztec Crying Ritual.
Nov 16th
ticho kanih "We are crying"
The Mexica held a ritual in which group/communities of people would cry together as a way of group therapy. They would use this ritual as a way to bring themselves to a holistic balance. I found it important to communicate this message in relation to our current condition. It is important to see how other cultures use a natural bodily/spiritual function to reach a balance after traumatic/stressful/exciting experiences.
The western idea of crying is much more tainted by being associated with weakness and the feminine.
In this scene we see a group of men and women equally expressing an emotion that is as real and essential as laughing, and loving. Crying is not always bad but is sometimes essential to the cleansing of our inner selves.
-Vico
Viva Mexico! El gran dia de la independencia Mexicana!
Sep 16th
Happy Mexican Independence Day!
Remember that the struggle to true freedom is ongoing. La Conquista is still being sought. It is up to us all to pursue true freedom, happiness, and good health for all humanity and organisms around the cosmos. On day’s like these its good to reflect on where we have come from, what struggles our ancestors struggled through for our well being. I now better than ever understand what has happened… I can see the great strives we have accomplished as a society in these last 500 years or so but never the less I am painfully hurt by the scars of time that have not yet began to heal. Today as I reflect on the Mexican independence which is very dear to me I feel an inner struggle raging deep in my Soul. On one hand I am happy for the day when Dolores Hidalgo Declared Mexican Independence over the tyrannical rule of Spain… On the other hand I am sad to see the current status of most Mexican peoples who are at odds with an inefficient government that is still waging a race/class war on its people through ideological, spiritual, militaristic means. When I say most people that is exactly what it is. The rich and affluent in Mexican Society as in many “first world” societies do not need to worry about the problems most people in the middle to poor classes have to worry about, the reason being is that the balance is overwhelmingly tipped in their favor….
I am happy for the people of Mexico, but I am not happy about the current status of Mexican government for it shows to be no more than an extension of the colonial arms of Europe. I stand in solidarity with the Native, Meztisos, Caucasians, Blacks, Asian, & Middle Easteners who understand that we are all brothers and sisters in a struggle for a free humanity. I respect and honor the rights of all indigenous people’s of Mexico and all of the rest around the World, I believe they have a right to continue their traditions and culture as their ancestors did…As we continue to do. I believe in their autonomy and freedom from state sponsored persecution which they have suffered since the day Columbus set his eye sight on “America.”
So let me end with these words. May we continue to wage our struggle for independence from colonial forces that exist to this very day, so that maybe one day our descendants will be celebrating a true independence day.
Viva La Gente!
-Vico
Don’t forget where you came from.
Jun 27th
It’s interesting to think about our history…our roots. Where do we come from? how did we get here? Where will we go next?
history has been written by the Victors. Public education deprives the public at large from the information each and everyone should have access to. As I learn more and seek out the alternative history, my mind is beginning to understand that this so called freedom may not be any freedom at all. One cannot be free until one’s mind can be liberated from the constrains of perceived reality.
Set your mind free. Cast out the chains of colonialism and enslavement…seek out the truth for yourself, for that which is fed to you is nothing more than a formulated reality created with the intention to mislead you.
The conquest in not yet over… not yet complete.
Jacques Derrida: Deconstruction
Jun 23rd
“For Derrida, language or ‘texts’ are not a natural reflection of the world. Text structures our interpretation of the world. Following Heidegger, Derrida thinks that language shapes us: texts create a clearing that we understand as reality. Derrida sees the history of western thought as based on opposition: good vs. evil mind vs. matter, man vs. woman, speech vs. writing. These oppositions are defined hierarchically: the second term is seen as a corruption of the first, the terms are not equal opposites.
Derrida thought that all text contained a legacy of these assumptions, and as a result of this, these texts could be re-interpreted with an awareness of the hierarchies implicit in language. Derrida does not think that we can reach an end point of interpretation, a truth. For Derrida all text s exhibit ‘differance’: they allow multiple interpretations. Meaning is diffuse, not settled. Textuality always gives us a surplus of possibilities, yet we cannot stand outside of textuality in an attempt to find objectivity.
One consequence of deconstruction is that certainty in textual analyses becomes impossible. There may be competing interpretations, but there is no uninterpreted way one could assess the validity of these competing interpretations. Rather than basing our philosophical understanding on undeniable truths, the deconstructionist turns the settled bedrock of rationalism into the shifting sands of a multiplicity of interpretations.”
Language is the key to our understanding of the world. From knowing two languages I can clearly see the capping of our brain through the use of language. I can express myself in different ways depending on which language I am speaking (Spanish, English). I could only imagine the possibilities of thoughts if I knew more languages…
