TEXT/ Rich

This might turn out wordy.

I have this class called Grey Matters which aimed to explore unsought topics & at the same time forces us to think outside of our normal perimeters of thoughts to go deeper into our metacognitive mode; driving our sanity to the brink as we attempt to break through the barriers of rhetorical questions to come up with our personal evaluation and of course reflection on the entire subject in question.

In the beginning, this was the most dreary & unanticipated module of the week because i felt that it was very unnecessary & to be honest, I didnt like the way it might pressure us to step out of our comfort zones and still feel comfortable about it - at least we have to act like we are

As the lessons went by, I felt like its very relevant and easy to relate to. Like for example, for the first class (which i skipped haha) the topic was about purpose & a question went like: "Is it worthwhile to engage in an activity without a purpose? Why?"

I wrote,

"Personally, I feel that even if someone did not have an intention to go ahead with the activity, at the end of it he will receive something. Take for example, "John proceeds somewhere with no purpose in mind but as he sees activities going on around him, he will start to "WANT" to participate and do something subconsciously."

"With regard to it being worthwhile, I think it is, to a large extent. I believe that anyone does something with a purpose - regardless it is to his liking or intended motive or not. And by having a goal in mind, it becomes naturally instilled in you to accomplish something. And this gives meaning to life & to you."

Okay. Grey Matters brings to you a whole lot of perspective to things we often taken granted for.. We were brought up to know that we NEED to have a purpose in life because, "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail." But we never really questioned ourselves whether or not in life, we really do need a purpose for any activity - not limiting to career, completing education, what nots. As a child in a fast paced city like Singapore, our environment and tempo does not allow us to sit back & think about what we are thinking. The rhythm set in our composition gets so fast it is almost virtually impossible to slip a "rest" in between the notes.

We dont question thoughts we dont question life we just get on with it because we THINK we know what life is all about because our parents/ teachers said so.

We hardly explore the greys in our heads. Whatever we think we know actually only lies within the black & the white areas.. The superficial part. Lets take another subject for an example.. "Habits"

we know that habits are things we do.. something that was already naturally inculcated since young and is being repeated over & over again like a second nature.

We also know that being a good listener is one of the many desirable traits but how many of us really know why? we think that being an effective listener refers to someone who is willing to set aside time to just.. listen to someone. Just open up your msn window for the other party to type or replying your texts with comforting words.. Well yeahhh it is somewhat true i mean theres no right or wrong for this thing.

Well I learnt that being a good listener is so much more than just taking the conscious effort to partake that role. It is more of it being naturally instilled in you.. It comes from within & when you "listen" you dont just open up your ears. you hear. you feel what the person is feeling & paraphrased his/her current mix of emotions in your own words accurately and fully empathize. Some of us THINK we understand how he/she feels but really, it is not easy to put yourself on the same linear perspective and "shoe" because we are critical & perform subtle judgements at any point of time. And once you bring yourself into the situation, everything becomes irrelevant because you are bringing yourself into the topic and expects him/her to follow your footsteps & what you would have have done to rectify the problem.

Every subject matter this module brings up always comes back full circle. Its almost always rhetorical. It doesnt seek to find a definite answer but really, why & how & what we are thinking BEFORE we get an answer. This is very cool and interesting because it really lead us to more personal discoveries and pushes us to think all the way to the periphery of logic

As school gets busy, all that we do is to constantly conduct research in a bid to get inspired and ultimately get creative. We barely have time to even think about ourselves. Grey Matters, a three hour tutorial bestows us this luxury to just sit back and dive into the abyss of imagination and logical reasoning. It may be emotionally and mentally taxing but by documenting the process of how your thoughts formed by sketching/ doodling or simply by words, you will be amazed of how profound one can be and how insane one can sound. No one will ever give a wrong answer because it is always logical.

It is only which direction you choose to view, what type of emotions you wish to experience that will ultimately guide you to your own intrinsic answer to any question.

3.58am on a Saturday morning. & this blog post is inspired by an insomniac night hahaha. I hope you have a good read & let me know what you think

xxx