Education and Experience

Hey everyone. How are we all feeling this week? Me? I am mostly good, but I only say that because I know that no one really wants to hear about all of my problems so I will just cut right into my topic for this week.

Has anyone ever heard of the lesbian poet Adrienne Rich? I am currently reading her for one of my other classes right now and I must say that I am very impressed with her so far. My professor lectured on her earlier this week about her beliefs and it has become so engrained in my mind that I just had to make my topic about her this week.

Her basic idea is this: anyone begins with education and experience in their lives; which, leads to people having certain ideas, thoughts, feelings or etc. Then that leads to why people believe what they believe. For example, if someone believes in God it is simply because they have been taught to believe in God, they have been told to believe in God, or they have had a certain experience in their life that makes them believe in God. But Adrienne Rich says what if everything people have been taught or told their entire lives is just simply wrong?

That is the big question: what if everything I have been taught or told is wrong? What if I am having certain experiences, feelings, or thoughts my whole life and all of a sudden I have been told that they are wrong? It is wrong for me to believe in what I believe in simply because whoever told me or taught me was also wrong. And here comes an even bigger question: why am I being told all of this now? And why exactly are my teachers, parents, friends, co-workers, and fellow students wrong?

I know that I have looked up to certain people in my life. My father, for example, has been an important mentor for me my whole life. Up until a certain age, I asked him for advice on practically everything. And now someone tries to tell me that he has been wrong this whole time? I do not know how others feel about this, but I cannot help but feel resentment; resentment towards the person telling me that my father is wrong, that is. But then, what if he really has been wrong? It is more than likely because what his father was teaching him and telling him was also wrong, and so on and so forth.

I have also looked up to my teachers and professors most of my life. What if everything they have been teaching me for the past twenty-three years has been a lie? What if when they answer certain questions I have, they are wrong? So my only question now is this: where exactly can our education and experiences come from? And how do we know when we are being told the truth versus how do we know when we are being told lies? I guess it is up to us to figure it out.

Until next time,

Mallory Etheridge.