Saturday, October 28, 2017
Context In More Than One Context
By: Donovan Baldwin
We all know it's easy to take things out of context, and, yet, hard at the same time.
We see a statement, an action, an event, as a discrete item and judge its "badness" or "goodness" based on some immediate evaluation. Yet, that event is formed, defined, and assigned value by the context in which it occurs.
Most of us get that, and, after the heat of the moment is past, we can step back, as it were, and see things as part of a larger whole.
However, we sometimes forget that our own evaluation is formed dependent upon a context of our own, one which is a part of us at all times.
What we have lived, experienced, learned, right or wrong, is going to influence our evaluation of that statement, action, or event. My life as a boy, roaming the woods along the edge of Pensacola Bay, swimming and snorkeling in the Sun, in Florida, has had a lifelong impact on how I view the world, for example.
Even "where" and "when" we have lived, in addition to "who" we are, has its impact on how we see and evaluate everything around us...including our own beliefs as well as the thoughts of others.
I think most of us can agree on some basic "bad" things...murder, theft, intimidation by violence, yet, many of the bad and good things we see daily are defined by our "contexts", by our "contextual apprehension" of what is being said or happening around us.
I read a lot about "mindfulness" in today's world, usually applied to weight loss, success in business, or personal relationships.
Perhaps mindfulness of our personal beliefs, thoughts, issues, and context, might serve a purpose in our daily lives.
We all know it's easy to take things out of context, and, yet, hard at the same time.
We see a statement, an action, an event, as a discrete item and judge its "badness" or "goodness" based on some immediate evaluation. Yet, that event is formed, defined, and assigned value by the context in which it occurs.
However, we sometimes forget that our own evaluation is formed dependent upon a context of our own, one which is a part of us at all times.
What we have lived, experienced, learned, right or wrong, is going to influence our evaluation of that statement, action, or event. My life as a boy, roaming the woods along the edge of Pensacola Bay, swimming and snorkeling in the Sun, in Florida, has had a lifelong impact on how I view the world, for example.
Even "where" and "when" we have lived, in addition to "who" we are, has its impact on how we see and evaluate everything around us...including our own beliefs as well as the thoughts of others.
I think most of us can agree on some basic "bad" things...murder, theft, intimidation by violence, yet, many of the bad and good things we see daily are defined by our "contexts", by our "contextual apprehension" of what is being said or happening around us.
I read a lot about "mindfulness" in today's world, usually applied to weight loss, success in business, or personal relationships.
Perhaps mindfulness of our personal beliefs, thoughts, issues, and context, might serve a purpose in our daily lives.
Labels: context, donovan baldwin, life lesson, Pensacola, Pensacola Bay, snorkeling, swimming
# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 9:28 AM 
