Not much to really report. We played a game of Angel yesterday, involving OMNI Investigations, based in Seattle. It was a silly, camp and ultimately fun game. I went to another job interview, that seemed to go well - here's hoping that all will be well in the world - and received my Extramural materials from Massey University.
I'm planning on studying a Bachelor of Communications while working, and it looks like it is going to be fun. :)
Of course there are some strange issues I have with the Creative Writing aspect. I'm keen to develop and improve my skills, and there will be some short fiction work that will definitely help with my work on project WC, but the convenor of the course sounds a little pretentious. So I'm a little cautious about the practical side of the course.
Essentially he seems to think that the only thing that counts as literary is writing about real people in real situations, and that any popular fiction or genre writing will inevitably be formulaic and unworthy. Which is pretty pretentious. I challenge him to read such works as "The Alchemist's Apprentice" by Jeremy Dronfeld and say that.
Either way, I'm looking forward to the courses I'm going to be doing. Yay me! :)
I've been thinking a bit about what people were saying yesterday regarding my comments on humanity, it struck me that someone used the term "human nature."
Being the post-existentialist that I am, I don't buy into that excuse. See, human nature is a myth. Really. It's a habit we've picked up over the millennia to avoid taking responsibility for our choices. Why do I say that, well because it all has to do with that thing - Free Will. Free Will is essentially the ability to ignore our instincts - or, more accurately, it means we have the ability to make choices that might go against what we naturally feel.
I do believe that humanity started off a Tabula Rasa and that as we've developed socially we have heaped definitions onto our nature. It is human to define ourselves, and we have constantly added to that definition. The problem is that we haven't removed anything in the process. Which is why now, more than ever, people suffer from self-doubt and confusion - we literally have confused ourselves regarding what it means to be human.
When really, what it means to be human is that we can be whatever we, as individuals and as a species, choose to be. If we want to all get along and be satisfied - the potential is there. But the problem with that whole view is that we then become responsible for all those choices. I guess this is why I like the game Unknown Armies - because it is actually built on that idea.
Now, before you start hammering at me about instinct and nature etc, let me remind you that I said humanity began as a blank slate. But now, millennia down the line, we have given ourselves a definition. We now learn from each other what human nature is, and because people say such things as "it's human nature to be greedy" or "it's human nature to be self-serving" - we buy into it. This makes it even harder to break out of that, because there are literally thousands of years of developed social behaviour that supports such claims.
Until Humanity cottons on, we're never going to get out of it, unfortunately.
The problem lies in that some people don't want to get out of it- why rock the boat when things are working for you. They don't see the greater potential, they don't see how everyone benefitting is going to be a good thing.
And this "they" is not some organised conspiracy or group of rich-elite. It's also the guy on the construction site, or the librarian or even the social worker who volunteers their time.
Seriously.
Because some of us don't care. Some people are happy just living their lives and aren't interested in some greater scheme - which I find disappointing, but I understand where they are coming from. It's easier to not care about such things, because if you were to care - what are the actual chances of seeing the results of your efforts? I'd say they are probably pretty slim. It is highly unlikely that you could undo thousands of years of built up assumption simply over night.
And that also makes me feel a little sad.
So I take the approach of many existentialists - I try to be the model of what I feel I should be. Because as long as I do a good deed, or show that I care - then I am still helping to define something positive about humanity. And just maybe by setting that example, others will realise they can do it too. Who knows, maybe in a hundred years time our efforts will make the world and humanity just a little bit better than it would have been without that effort. Maybe in another hundred thousand years, humanity may slough off all the detritus of definition that clings to it at the moment.
Just something to think about. :)
Love and Huggles
Conan
Currently Reading: Angel the RPG
Currently Playing: Fireborn - Rememberance; Unknown Armies - To Go
Mood: Good, maybe a little flirty... :D
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