Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Medium is the Message

When Simon ‘says,’ everyone toes his line. Between the lines of what is said, the one who plays Simon maintains a center that decides what the rest do. Invariably, there are the occasional funny ones lagging behind who do not follow what Simon says and as a result get shoved out of the game, away from the center. It is interesting how children’s games such as ‘Simon says’ capture what the not-so-childish often indulge in when it comes to, “Scripture says”. A mode of thought, action or way of being takes on an inflection of authority when introduced by “Scripture says.” More often than not, our embedded-ness in a scriptured world makes us react accordingly.

Scriptures invariably evoke images of written texts along with notions of sanctity and reverence. However, on noting that Jews and Christians shared a common written text but had different scriptures, a keen observant concluded that scriptures are not texts. Rather, scriptures are relational in that they express a subjective perception of one’s relation with an ‘other’ realm—often, this ‘other’ is qualified as transcendent, God, or even the self. If one were to move beyond the written texts, scriptures may include other modes of expressing that relationality. Oral traditions, traditions, performative arts, songs and even iconography could replace the written text as ‘scripture.’ One often hears prescriptions dished out with, “This is the way it has been done” which suggests a paraphrased ‘Simon says.’


Additionally, our inv
estments in the construction and maintenance of order at the center activate these various media to function as scripture. Without this investment, Simon could go on issuing empty commands but his relevance lies in the order that the commands construct around the figure of Simon—the center. Ordered and structured, the center determines the uniformity and conformity of its constituent members, which explains why the few who lag behind get shoved away from the center; them ‘funny’ people. In complying with what Simon says, those who do conform invariably consolidate the center. On the other hand, the ‘funny’ people often languish at the margins or occasionally attempt to destabilize the center or even prop up alternate centers. Remember the occasional ‘spoilsport’ who, when eliminated from the game, would try all means to slyly inch her way back or gather a few friends and try to start another game on her terms.

As dissonant as an oil rig is when one thinks about scriptures, a wholly new window opens up when one sees scripture not so much in its contents but in its form. It is one among many other windows into what makes us tick as individuals and as a collective. That we often collapse it into concretized ‘books’ and then re-designate these ‘books’ by the shorthand ‘scriptures’ only sophisticates our fixation with a very human phenomenon. On a stretch, when oil producing bodies sneeze, that the entire world coughs is more intriguing because of the highly scriptured textures of these bodies whether they be located in Texas or the Arabian peninsula. Such sweeping observations definitely need qualification but the point should not be lost. Broadening our understanding of scripture might help us understand ourselves a little more.

16 comments:

JOe blow said...

Serious professor discourse here
"DR. K.K." Am I reading paragraphs out of a book, text, article here? ~CGU shining through~

Philo said...

PDG: I had a whole lot of stuff lodged upstairs: the upward spiral in gas prices, Wimbushianisms, order and power and tried to weave a thread through all of them. What came out was a little pedantic but I think i can elaborate on them in the next post.

Anonymous said...

dont take this otherwise, philo, but i just didnt get the message. mebbe too serious for me ;)

Philo said...

CS: thanks for pointing that out. I guess this makes the proposed next post rather moot.

Anonymous said...

well well... ce n'est pas incomprehensible mais aussi n'est pas bedtime reading! good stuff!
as for my comments hmmm.. here they are as they came:
1)if your take gets deciphered back in Miz, well you know what you are going to be labelled!:)
2)wondered who your audience was... could it be yourself???
3)if the process of Hindu social formation was taking place in Miz, your style of writing would definitely qualify you as a Brahmin!
4)All scriptures have been used to subvert status quos or to re-ify them in the contest for power. How does one see the objective amidst reflexive subjectivities...ca c'est la probleme!
..thats all i could think of!

Anonymous said...

after reading jayeniu's comments, just had to go back and read the post again :)
still didnt really get the message, but i'm getting there. the next read should do it, methinks. also think jayeniu hit the bullseye when he (she?) says 'if the process of Hindu social formation was taking place in Miz, your style of writing would definitely qualify you as a Brahmin!' :)
another thing noted on my second reading was the sentence: "Remember the occasional ‘spoilsport’ who, when eliminated from the game, would try all means to slyly inch her way back or gather a few friends and try to start another game on her terms" - just wondered on the use of she/her and why not she/he and her/him. is there a message there? not that i'm a feminist, i'm not even female! :)
good stuff all the same, i think...

Philo said...

jayeniu: "...mais aussi n'est pas bedtime reading." The construction process was même moins d'une muse d'heure du coucher. Thanks for the perceptive comments and i was aware of the consequences if it were indeed deciphered, ergo, the carefully worded style which seems to obfuscate rather than convey. And yet, i don't think it was ideologically loaded so much as trying to see differently. This particular way of looking at things is fraught with non-committal postures and hence 'La probleme'. Kya kare...I have to think more on them.

Philo said...

CS: The 'her' was more intentional than an inclusive accommodation of the rather clumsy his/her or him/her. I guess all of us invariably make those choices. And then that 'Brahminic style'(Im still smiling at the tongue in cheek :) that was added; I guess it's just not a blog style. But thanks again for making the effort to read on.

JOe blow said...

Man, you guys are all nerds!...lol...(feeling inadequate here).

Mizohican said...

Hahahaha! lolz @ pedougogics. I too must admit, this is way above my level of understanding and thinking... *illusionaire then puts on a sad frown*

:-(

Reminds me of those tough RC (reading comprehension) tests we have to undergo to get into the premiere B-Schools...

Philo said...

Illusionaire: Thanks for lightening upwhat has turned out to be an unintended-ly serious affair.

Puii-Mac Lover said...

Wow..Your a good writer!

Philo said...

Thanks Puii for stopping by and also for your generous comment.

Anonymous said...

Guteness! You in hibernation, or what?

Anonymous said...

Well said.

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