Fresh Poast

The best part of doing a blog for class is the first post because the first post is allowed to be as irrelevant as I want it to be. I dig irrelevant because irrelevant things are only that way until learning happens. This post is irrelevant because I don't know anything about the subject yet. So I get to make things up. I get to pear my memories with my thinkbrain and create a fruit basket. I also get to use my creativity to make thoughts and imagery and maybe, if there's enough content, weave some sort of narrative. Make thought into something palpable and enjoyable and organized. That's called alchemy. Alchemy is my favorite part of learning.

When alchemy is done by many different minds and is combined by alike notions, that's called hypertext. I learned that word last semester. It serves me well.

The bible is hyper textual. One piece relies on another for meaning while a single piece of symbolism or a single repeating number or a single repeating name holds a plethora of meanings. The people of old didn't have hyperlinks- what they had was their thinkbrains, their memories, and the word. The word had to link memory to thinkbrain and back again so each story had to bestow a meaning that resonated both emotionally and intellectually such that the reader could understand the meaning. It was like the bible was a game of semiotic ping pong, one idea being tested against another though some sort of link while the emotional core of the reader had to grasp the deeper meaning while at the same time bouncing the symbols against their prior learning. Now that I think of it, that process is called reading. Nevermind.

This blog is for a class entitled, "Bible as lit" which is going to be an awesome class. I am excited for this class. I am excited for this blog. This is the second blog I have created for a class. The first was for a class entitled, "Oral Traditions" where we studied tongues in a cunning manner. In that class, the teacher stressed a concept called erudition.

Erudition.

Somewhere it is written that erudition or being erudite or whatnot means to know a lot of things. But this is only a definition. The best part of the word, the part that exhibits the traits which make language more interesting to me than math, the "connotation", means, "to be better than everyone else through the possession of knowledge". Erudition is an important part of life. Knowing more than other people has healed diseases, won wars, cured neurosis, created neurosis, and cooked delicious meals. Erudition allows us to feel better than other people. And at these prices, a little elitism to sprinkle on my collegiate sundae is always a welcome thing.

So those are my modes for this class, Erudition and Alchemy. In the abstract, I want to create thought and then use that thought to influence, impress, and get me a job. Also, I hear that bible thing is kind of important to society or something. Might be worth learning about.

Whatever, this was all irrelevant, for now. I don't know.

Let's go get erudite together.