Fellowship of the Blog 2 - The Extended Edition

As I have mentioned before (See Fellowship of the Blog), I am a big fan of the read around activity because we are interacting with each other as a community of learners. Not only are we interacting, but we are seeing different perspectives of the content we have been studying all semester. For me, this read around has given me brand new outlooks on topics I have a tremendous level of interest in.

I have always been captivated by the idea of transcendence. A basic desire we have as humans is to feel like there is something more than our existence here. This doesn’t have to be anything huge. I get this feeling when I listen to great music or watch a film that truly moves me. We are taken someplace else by the things we love. There are other forms of transcendence as well. Prayer, dance, alcohol, and drugs are all vehicles that can take a person beyond the ordinary routines of life. So when I came across Amanda’s post about sweat lodges, I was immediately hooked. I learned that these lodges are used for many ceremonial and spiritual reasons. But, what struck me was the unknown. What happens in a sweat lodge? I don’t know but I definitely want to find out some day.

With transcendence and the unknown on my mind, I stumbled across Michelle’s post regarding dreams. Jackpot! Dreams have always intrigued me because they are such an unbelievable phenomenon. We are sleeping but our subconscious is still at work. Michelle brought up some interesting points about dreams being an outlet for our repressed thoughts and impulses. I found this to be a profound point because dreams are truly the inner workings of our mind venting when it thinks we aren’t aware. Another great thing to come from this post was that it made me think of the song, “In Dreams,” by Roy Orbison.

With Roy Orbison on the brain, I came across Cassy’s blog regarding Joy Harjo, land, and memory. Cassy brought up many great points in her post. But, one that stood out to me was the quote she cited from Joy Harjo’s introduction. It reads, “The poet cannot be separated from place.” This is beautiful statement because I know exactly what Harjo means. In my comment, I talked about how I returned to my high school recently and all of the emotions came back to me as I walked into the building. Even though I have been separated in time from that place, I have not been separated emotionally once I am on that piece of land.