In a message dated 4/2/2004 1:32:57 PM Eastern Standard Time, phil.enns@xxxxxxxxxxx writes: The more thoughtful we become the better able we are to recognize defining images that help us understand the complexity of the world. Without these defining images, the world is an undifferentiated blur of actions. What effective defining images do is orient states of affairs in the world so that knowledge and understanding are possible. To say that we are better off without defining images is akin to saying that we are better off without maps. I didn't say we were better off without defining images, as if we could suddenly shed them, but they are a means of shielding us from the complexity of life. For example, when Phil writes, "the more thoughtful we become," he is summoning a defining image of "thoughtfulness." This image of "thoughtfulness" shields us from the truly complex nature of thoughtfulness--that it is NOT a durational state, but a quality we enter into as though it were a room in our house. True, these images orient us by creating frames of identity. But they also simplify. Like maps, they are static but the world is not. Just when we think we are "thoughtful," we discover we are not thoughtful at all, just reflexively ideological or blinkered in a new way. For example, why do people with opposing political views ultimately want to destroy each other's point of view? Because they see the other person, not as a person, but as symbolic opponent to their defining image. Eric ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html