Scrambled thoughts....

I have sat down at my computer countless times in the last few days to blog, but alas the thoughts milling about my mind have refused to come into any semblance of order so that I might share them. On account of this I have decided to simply write and hope that my fingers somehow discover a way to articulate what my mind cannot.......

Last Friday in class a new idea began to unfold in my mind upon Dr. Sexson's utterance of the words "ecstatic critic!" I have grown up viewing criticism in two different ways:

Destructive-tears people down and strikes deep blows to their self esteem

Construcitve-encourages growth, helps build stronger ideas, more character, etc.

I had never previously considered criticism in any other form but these and, in fact, have really never given much thought at all to criticism. As a result, hearing about the concept of an ecstatic critic sent my mind into a flurry of activity.
There are so many unique individuals, opinions, thoughts, and ideas, that we are constantly enveloped by. It is easy to see then, why people so often go around criticizing those who differ from them in a way that is not beneficial nor productive. I believe we get trapped by a pattern of thought about something, and we often cannot find the way out of our own ideas in order to understand or value the thoughts and expressions of others. This is where my thoughts may become a little obscure and hard to follow.... it occurred to me that many people are trapped in a labyrinth of their own mind, created by opinions, thoughts, and ideas that they have formed about life.

Labyrinth "an intricate combination of paths or passages in which it is difficult to find one's way or to reach the exit (dictionary.com)."

I find this fascinating because, as Dr. Sexson suggested, what makes a good critic is someone who is able to stand outside of them self. It seems to me that the reason why people would be a more affective critics when stepping outside of themselves is because of this "trap" that our minds can create. They can keep us from looking at things objectively or being able to escape from our own thoughts and ideas. This concept brings to mind a time some friends and I went to a rather large maze...while inside of it, we continued to take the same paths, get trapped in the same corners, and remain in a state of confusion and an inability to see much beyond ourselves.....it wasn't until we climbed the stairs to the different lookout points above the maze that we were able to see the whole picture, and therefore find our way out. I believe this is what Frye has learned to do (and what every good critic should). He steps outside of the traps of his own mind and, therefore, is able to see the whole picture in order to objectively criticize that which he is examining.

Thank you all for baring with my barrage of thoughts and I hope you did not consider them "lame" or incredibly "boring." =)