Shards of Consciousness

One of the courses I took in college was Mythology. During the course we had to write a paper. The professor said she wouldn't require a bibliography or citation of references. I thought, cool! That takes half the work off.

So I wrote my paper, turned it in, and waited for my grade. I had worked hard on it, wrote clearly, and proven my point. I knew I would ace it.

When I got the paper back, it was covered by a big, red F, and a note from the professor to see her. What? This was good work. Why did I get an F?

So I made an appointment and went to see the professor. She accused me of plagiarism and said I hadn't cited my sources. When I pointed out that she said citations weren't required, she replied that she had expected people to use the books we were using in class. I hadn't. So I dutifully went home, got the books that I had used, noted the references, and returned them all to her.

This isn't a story of miscommunication, but of missed expectations. I took her at her word, and worked within the framework I had been given. She, on the other hand, had a different framework in mind that she didn't explain clearly because she assumed everyone else in the classroom was working in the same context. We had different frameworks in mind.

Frameworks are important. Children love games. When they get a new game, they want to know the rules. They want to know how you take turns, how you move, how you win, what you are allowed to do and what you are not allowed to do. Once they know the rules, they happily put their whole self into it. Without knowing what to expect, without a framework, they aren't comfortable.

As adults we haven't outgrown the need for a framework. Context is important. It gives us the framework that guides the choices we make and how we live our lives. Some of the context comes from physical laws. Some of the context comes in the form of our cultural milieu. Other parts of the context come from inside, in the form of our world view, the beliefs that we hold. Together these make up the framework of our lives.

As we grow and mature we make choices. We act within the limits of our current context, the framework of our world. If we are really growing the context expands. We become aware that some beliefs are appropriate for children, but not adults, and so discard them. We realize that some cultural rules act as the oil in the gears of human relationships, and so we abide by them, fully aware they are arbitrary. Some beliefs, we find, are limiting. We impose them only on ourselves out of habit. They served a purpose at some point, but are no longer necessary. We discard them and so expand the framework of our lives.

A wholesale destruction of your internal framework or your social framework is possible, but rarely necessary or even healthy. Change, and change is imminently desirable, is always accompanied by stress. The stress may be good, or it may be bad; exhilarating, as when we marry, or painful, as when we lose someone we love. It always acts on the emotions and the body. Too much stress within too short a period of time is the high road to physical or emotional illness. So change, grow, but due so with studied haste.