Bailey Stephens
Dr. James P. Oliver
Phil 1030-011
Final Blog Post Essay
The gentle snow fluttering by my window was unusual for the last day of November in this part of Middle Tennessee but I didn't really mind the weather because I was too busy enjoying my steamy hot chocolate with marshmallows, my favorite fuzzy blanket, the small fire in the hearth that I was curled up next to and the enthralling philosophy book that was drawing my attention away from the spectacle that Mother Nature was providing just outside. After all the excitement of the Thanksgiving holiday and all the online shopping of Black Friday, I was really enjoying my long, quiet day engrossed in the pages of Why Grow Up? by Susan Neiman. As the sun was just starting to fade on the horizon and the snow was finally accumulating enough to just cover the ground like a lacy blanket, my eyes started to droop and eventually close...
As the black limousine approaches the curb at the Nashville International Airport, the snowy weather has been replaced by the brilliant sunshine of a warm Tennessee Fall midmorning. Even though it had rained just a few days before, now the autumn leaves were in full color, making it hard for the passengers to want to board a plane to go back to their homes. When the driver comes around to let the passengers from the car, the young girl enthusiastically jumps up from her seat and offers a hand to the distinguished-looking, middle-aged female riding beside her.
Young Girl: Oh, let me help you, Dr. Neiman.
Susan Neiman: Thank you, young lady. You have been a great help during this conference. Dr. Oliver is lucky to have found such an able assistant in you.
Young Girl: Thank you so much for the compliment! I am glad you enjoyed your visit to MTSU. The MTSU International Philosophical Symposium was so fortunate to have so many distinguished speakers and attendees this year. I do hope that you will be able to join us next year for the sixth annual conference.
Susan Neiman: I would not dream of missing it. I really appreciate the southern charm of Murfreesboro. It reminds me of my childhood in Atlanta. And I also love the thoughtful discussions that the many attendees bring to the Philosopher’s Walks each evening.
Dr. John Kaag and PBS host Kurt Anderson appear from around the other side of the limousine.
John Kaag, smiling: Yes, I would have to agree with you. We Peripatetics know how to have a good time.
Young Girl: I am glad that the event went well too. If you will please follow me, we will pick up the boarding passes.
The group heads off to the ticketing area, followed by the chauffeur lugging all the baggage. In only a few minutes, the entire group emerges from the check in desk with boarding passes in hand.
John Kaag: Wow, that fast! BNA is truly one of the best airports in the nation. They were so efficient, it looks like we have some extra time on our hands.
Kurt Anderson: You know what? We should head to that Starbucks that you took Nigel, Julian, and me to when we first arrived at the airport. I could use another black coffee before the flight.
John Kaag: I agree that you can’t trust the airlines to serve a decent cup of joe. You all know the old joke, “What’s the deal with airplane food?”
Susan Neiman: Good point. Alright then, show us the way. At least, I can look forward to better refreshments when I catch my connecting flight to Berlin at JFK. At least, Lufthansa serves a good German stout.
Group heads off again, this time to the airport Starbucks. The philosophers grab a table while the young girl obtains the drinks and pastries yet again and they all sit down at the Starbucks.
All, Smiling: Thank you for grabbing some refreshments!
Kurt Anderson, (addressing the young girl): So, did you get that midterm essay completed for Dr. Oliver that you were working on last time?
Young Girl: The paper turned very well, thank you for asking, and I am already starting to plan my final essay.
Susan Neiman: Oh, this sounds interesting. Tell us more.
John Kaag: Definitely! We got some time to burn and you know that we are always ready for a philosophical discussion.
Young Girl: Well, Dr. Oliver gave us three things to consider: What does it mean to grow up? Why should we? And finally, What makes life worth living?
Kurt Anderson: Well, you are certainly asking the right people this question. (Motioning toward Susan Neiman) Especially since my personal favorite book from Susan was her classic book “Why Grow Up?”.
Susan Neiman: Ah, Kurt, you have no reason to butter me up. But, yes. I think that this topic is so very important that I spent years researching and writing about it. The first thing that I would say is that the world lies to you about the value of growing up and in many ways devalues adulthood. They emphasize childhood, youth, and staying young. Their iconic hero of that ideology is Peter Pan. Society also sends us lots of mixed messages. It tells us to grow up and get serious at the same time it paints adulthood as a dismal place to be (WGU 193). Up until about age thirty, most people can’t wait to get a little older to reach some arbitrary milestone and then after that people can only dwell on the past, wishing for their younger self. What you should understand is growing up will never be complete. It’s the work of generations (WGU 195). You take all your experiences and continue to learn as you grow older. So, in a nutshell, growing up means realizing that no time of one’s life is the best one (WGU 202). Maturity is realizing that every time of your life contains some of the best times of your life and that it is up to you to make those times and to appreciate them in the moment as well as in retrospect.
John Kaag: Well said. My Hero, William James, said “the greatest use of life is to spend it on something that will outlast it” (SSHM 169). We all have free will and we should use it to make life worth living. His philosophy suggests that you remain attuned to experiences, attitudes, things, and events that will make up your life (SSHM 171). The meaning of life comes from growth and adaptation (SSHM 173). James would tell us to “Be not afraid of life (SSHM 131). If him, pragmatism is about life and its amelioration, which means the act of improving it or making it more tolerable. As we grow more mature we should seek authenticity (SSHM 151). Maturity involves being responsible enough to come to terms with one’s actions and owning up to them (SSHM 152).
Kurt Anderson: I don’t know if most Americans have the ability to grow up anymore since they seem to each live in their own individual fantasyland. So many of them are suffering from Kids “R” Us Syndrome. I think that American adults have come to think more fundamentally like children, and that is problematic (FL 406).Maturity is being able to wait to get what you want. Psychologist Jean Piaget believed that as children grow adulthood because their thinking becomes reasonable and rational rather than magical ( FL 407). If American adults cling to childlike beliefs then they are missing many important parts of a mature life (FL 408).
Young Girl: Thank you all for your wonderful insight. I have so many ideas running through my head. I can’t wait to get home and get started on paper!
Just then there is a murmur of excitement that sweeps across the Starbucks. The group turn around to see none other than music stars Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton walking towards their table.
Dolly Parton: Hey girl! I heard you needed some advice on your midterm essay and we thought that would drop in to help.
Miley Cyrus: Yeah, I don’t know why you are asking philosophers when you could talk to song writers instead.
Young Girl: I guess this is where I ask you to pinch me so I know that this is a dream. So many famous people would never talk to me at one time so this can’t be real. I guess I had better wake up and get back to work on my paper before Miley starts telling me how to grow up.
Your fire & hot chocolate are the very picture of what the Danes call "hygge" ("a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being")...
ReplyDeleteAnd your essay continues the feeling. Well done!
(I met Miley when she was still a toddler, btw... but I probably told that story at some point during the semester.)
Thank you. No, I haven't heard the Miley story yet. What was it like?
ReplyDeleteAndreais Crockett’s Final-Post Blog Assignment/8Dec20:
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting…I went to sleep thinking about this assignment and who I would be having this conversation with. Before I dozed off I reread some quotes and pages from Susan Neiman’s ‘Why Grow Up’, and John Kaag’s ‘Sick Souls, Healthy Minds’ books and was still clueless on the last author, and still where and how I was going to conduct this meeting; along with the third philosopher I was going to have this conversation with. I decided to lay it down for the day, then immediately went to the Youtube channel; to let it provide me the answer I was seeking for. I ended up watching the W.E.B. Du Bois ‘How W.E.B. Du Bois Changed Forever the Way Americans Think About Themselves (2000)’.I dozed off half way into this documentary, then began to dreaming about, how, and where I could conduct a ‘face-to-face’ with great authors and world acclaimed philosophers. In this dream I ended up being at a writer’s guild USO tour; dated back in May 2003 during the Iraq war incident, and I was on my way back home from this incident. The location was at the BWI (Baltimore/Washington International) airport, on 31May20. Once we landed, I knew I had a 4-hour layover, so, I directly went to the USO to make a few phone calls, eat, etc. Once arriving I noticed a lot of people in there, which isn’t weird for traveling at such a large airport. Once I got inside of the USO center, I asked the rep managing the customer service counter what was going on. She replied, it was a book signing performed by profound Philosopher writers (Susan Neiman, John Kaag, W.E.B. Du Bios). Therefore, since I had this rare occasion to speak face-to-face with these great authors/philosophers, once I made it to the front of the line to purchase/have them sign my books, I chose to ask and discuss the following below:
Me: How are all of you doing and thank you for signing my books. My name is Andreais, and I’m currently attending college and plan on taking Philosophy II soon to help complete my degree. Before I leave after the signings of your books, can you all ask me a few questions, just to get your point of view?
Susan Neiman: Sure, what’s on your mind and what are the questions.
John Kaag: Same here, what would you like to know?
W.E.B. Du Bios: Young brother, it would be my pleasure.
Me: This first question is for all, so, I’ll begin with Mrs. Neiman, then Mr. Kaag, and lastly Mr. Du Bios. What does it mean to grow up and why should we? Also, what makes life worth living?
Susan Neiman: Good question Andreais. I believe that “Growing up means realizing that no time of one's life is the best one and resolving to savor every second of joy within reach. You know each will pass, and you no longer experience that as betrayal.” Also, if “Freedom cannot simply mean doing whatever strikes you now: that way you're a slave to any whim or passing fancy. Real freedom involves control over your life as a whole, learning to make plans and promises and decisions, to take responsibility for your actions' consequences.”
Lastly, why growing up, it’s simple in my eyes. It’s “Being radiantly alive to the world to the world and it’s possibilities, equally open to learning from an ancient test or a taxi driver, able to acknowledge the depths of the very concrete evils that a promote the world, and still rejoice in every bit of beauty that comes their way; to know that difference between poetry and kitsch is finer than often supposed, and to reorganize it all the same (Why grow up, pg. 194, paragraph 2).
Susan Neiman Quotes (Author of Why Grow Up?) (goodreads.com)
Me: Nice Susan, what about you John on the same questions?
John Kaag: I’ll like to begin by stating from my book ‘Sick Souls, Healthy Minds’ pertaining to this question…” If one’s theory of mind runs counter to evidence and experience, it’s best to consider altering the theory from the start. Consciousness is not congeries of sensations that some. It also is not some thing of which one could be fully aware, as we sometimes refer to being: self-conscious”. Instead it is a seamless movement, always in the middle of things—what James famously termed “the stress, consciousness.” ‘To paraphrase, I believe Kaag believed once a human become conscious and learn to adapt, control personal thoughts, etc. they have matured, thus becoming an adult’ (Sick Souls, Healthy Minds, pg.100). Therefore, I believe the following “When you come to the end of life, all you have are the middle years, those fallible middle years that you haven’t spent altogether wisely.”
ReplyDeleteAmerican Philosophy Quotes by John Kaag (goodreads.com)
Me: Nice John and thank you for your comments. Mr. Du Bios what are your thoughts on the questions I’ve asked your counter partners?
W.E.B. Du Bios: Young brother, my thoughts and philosophy on these topics will be differently because I grew up in a different time and philosophy on human growth; especially, for the African-slave descendants that grew up in America. The following is what I believe it is what means to be grown up in America as a so called Black “Strive for that greatness of spirit that measures life not by its disappointments but by its possibilities.” So as why we should continue this way of thinking is because “Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest and the playtime.
TOP 25 QUOTES BY W. E. B. DU BOIS (of 148) | A-Z Quotes
W.E.B. Du Bios: I know we all didn’t have a lot of time to really discuss these topics, but Andreais what are your thoughts on the questions that you just asked us?
Me: Respectfully, it was a just a surreal opportunity to meet and greet you greats. Prior to speaking to you all, I felt I was super solid on philosophizing life. Y’all make me feel like I don’t have a clue; however, my last professor Dr. Olive at MTSU stated in one of his first lectures that everybody is a philosopher in their on right, as long as they think out the issue, and there’s no wrong or right. So, by stating that, I believe as long as a person tries and improve daily on personal, family, job, and have an awareness on politics; while striving to make positive changes, and improving, then they are grown. They want to be because life is difficult and with all the changes occurring, so, we as people have to ensure we’re whiling to adapt to these changes without drastically changing out lives for the negative. Also, when I do something selfless, that helps somebody’s life without much thinking, nor, wanting anything in return, then this makes me know/realize that I’m doing the right thing. For me, at the end of the day, it feels good and right to do the right thing, Regardless of the person’s ethnicity, gender, sex, etc. We are all one race (Human) so when an individual want to continue to use the racists, sexists, and status card; then they are the ones who are unhappy nor have grown up. Anyways, I really appreciate the quick and most needed conversation, thank you and I can’t wait to read your books during my Philosophy II class.