Reply To: Absolute Potential?

mexi…i think its you who is drunk…your post is utterly incoherent.

Middlepath: I was considering whether or not to make this piece more specific and literal, but i decided on metaphorical and thought that would convey my point; apparently it didn’t. It happens 🙂

I’ll explain.

Take writing as an example. Suppose I find grammar terribly restrictive, so I decided to chuck it in favor of a more Jackson Pollack style of writing. Decipher the following sentence: Stick cup stapler hungry computed. You can’t; it’s meaningless unless you abide by the rules of grammar and sentence structure, in which case that conglomeration of meaningless words becomes something more like this: The stick, after a long day of computing, told the stapler and cup that he was hungry.

Now, that’s a perfectly valid sentence, albeit completely nonsensical. Would you ever have known that the above sentence is what I meant from that nonsensical string of words at the beginning of the previous paragraph? No. As counter-intuitive as it seems, abiding by the seemingly restrictive rules of grammar opens, to a writer, the limitless possibility of language and expression.

Now I’ll address your point.

What if, while abiding by the rules of grammar, I decided to use a sentence fragment. What then. Well, it depends entirely on my intention. If i used a sentence fragment because, out of ignorance, I could find no other, more suitable option, then I’d be wrong, and it should be revised. If, however, I used the sentence fragment for a purpose, as I did above, then it is entirely justified. In fact, it adds to the effect and would be sanctioned by even the sternest of grammarians.

Back to my intended point. When a person is confronted with a world like ours, with all that it has to offer from kedusha to tumah and everything in between, it’s hard to know where to start. Should I start with yeshiva; should I start with a girlfriend; should i start with a job, and if so, which job? Perhaps that job in a bar. Maybe I should get a tattoo because it looks cool? That restaurant over there looks like it has really good food, maybe i should eat there. Maybe I shouldn’t. WHERE DO I GO AND WHAT DO I DO!?

Along comes something called the Torah and says HEY! OVER HERE!!! THIS WAY!!! The Torah provides us with a path, a map with which to navigate life. Without this map, this guide, we could very well drown in life’s possibility, never using any of our potential because we’re never sure where to invest it. To us it seems obvious, which areas should merit our focus. However, That’s because we have something telling us that, giving us a clear picture of what is right and wrong, proper and improper. There are many areas in which a person can excel in life, some proper and some improper, but left to our own devices we would, quite possibly, just spin our wheels with indecision, never quite sure which way to go.

So many people who lack a clear view of life, morality, and what is proper end up wasting their lives, spending it in a bitter morass of self doubt and identity crises. So many people turn this doubt and indecision into a drinking habit. So many turn to drugs. So many just end up self destructing. What a gift the Torah is, that it gives us life.