Friday, May 26, 2006
Aaaaaaargh
It's 3.45am and I'm starting to get the feeling that I may have understimated the amount of revision I had to do for the exam which starts in, oh, 5 hours and 45 minutes. Bother....only one more philosopher to go....then sleep...or I may just bash through and rest after 2 hours of Philosophy exam. Oh well, back to Soren Kierkegaard...
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Exams.........
Well, I've had two exams so far and, I hesitate slightly to say, so far so good. The first one wasn't amazing, but then I only need a pass; and the second one was, I think/hope, quite good. It's largely philosophy exams from hereon in which means two hours instead of three, shorter essays, but, it must be said, alot more chance of going off on irrelevant tangents.....oh well, back to Ethics & Values revision, just four more exams to go.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Vacillation
An experiment in writing:
He held the knife, tip quivering, over his upturned palm. The temptation, yet at the same time horror, was overwhelming. He was left in tortuous limbo. Fascination and something like pain filled his stomach. No, not pain exactly. More, a vacuum, yes, an emptiness in the pit of his stomach which had little to do with hunger. A yearning? Perhaps that would be a better word. Not that any of this occurred to him at the time, for his entire being was focussed on the juxtaposition of blade and flesh. So close, yet so far. So close…but he knew he would never have the courage to do it; and it was this knowledge that brought the painless, discomfiting, desire for an instant of action. To bring his right hand down; to turn his hand against himself, against its very mirror image. Truly there he would find self-negation, there to truly realise his being: An internal consummation in coming full circle on the path of identity. In piercing himself he would find out his true being, his true ‘I’.
Yet he does not, cannot, will not, and knows he never will. He continues, imprisoned in himself, for evermore, as the knife drops from his shaking hand.
He held the knife, tip quivering, over his upturned palm. The temptation, yet at the same time horror, was overwhelming. He was left in tortuous limbo. Fascination and something like pain filled his stomach. No, not pain exactly. More, a vacuum, yes, an emptiness in the pit of his stomach which had little to do with hunger. A yearning? Perhaps that would be a better word. Not that any of this occurred to him at the time, for his entire being was focussed on the juxtaposition of blade and flesh. So close, yet so far. So close…but he knew he would never have the courage to do it; and it was this knowledge that brought the painless, discomfiting, desire for an instant of action. To bring his right hand down; to turn his hand against himself, against its very mirror image. Truly there he would find self-negation, there to truly realise his being: An internal consummation in coming full circle on the path of identity. In piercing himself he would find out his true being, his true ‘I’.
Yet he does not, cannot, will not, and knows he never will. He continues, imprisoned in himself, for evermore, as the knife drops from his shaking hand.
© Alan Bowden, 2006
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
I'll be back....
Wow, it's been a while since I posted here...around two months in fact. I've been very busy recently. In fact, I'm still run off my feet with exam revision (I now officially hate anything to do with New Testament criticism...) so I can't guarantee when the next post will be. It will probably around 1st June as my last exam is on 31st May.
On the plus side, I've got permission to switch my degree from Joint Honours Philosophy & Theology to Combined Honours in Philosophy, Theology, and History of Art. It may not seem the same but the modules will be almost completely different. Hopefully: Philosophy of Mind, 'Theory, literature, and society', Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics OR Aesthetics, Science and Theology, Introduction to Modern Art.
Right, back to revision before yet more lectures...why are they trying to teach NEW stuff less than a week before exams? Madness....
I'll be back.
On the plus side, I've got permission to switch my degree from Joint Honours Philosophy & Theology to Combined Honours in Philosophy, Theology, and History of Art. It may not seem the same but the modules will be almost completely different. Hopefully: Philosophy of Mind, 'Theory, literature, and society', Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics OR Aesthetics, Science and Theology, Introduction to Modern Art.
Right, back to revision before yet more lectures...why are they trying to teach NEW stuff less than a week before exams? Madness....
I'll be back.
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