Voukah [Voo-kah]; home

1. What defines progress though? According to a static definition progress in its simplest form is simply the ability to change or move forward. Time for instance is always progressing, at least in our dimension and in our sense of time and motion. But I don’t want to get into that wormhole.

   If importance is dependent on progress, and progress is an ability to step forward either literally or metaphorically, then for you to say we neglect to acknowledge a universal state of importance in all things would mean we do not progress (or endanger it). At least that’s what I got out of your last paragraph.

   But if we do not progress, then how is it we continue to experience change? Both in ourselves and in the world around us, in it’s “entirety”? Now, it may not be a beneficial progression, but we nevertheless move forward.

   And who says fear is insignificant? It seems to be a fairly driving force in my opinion. Or rather, what causes you to think that people set aside certain issues such as a conflict of importance vs unimportance as a fear? I agree that it seems a lot of people do not bother to take in a lot of ideas or thoughts that they should, that everything has purpose/place/significance equally somehow, and I understand the concept of someone calling one thing insignificant and another important, but does this really affect progress (or potentially affect it, rather) like you say?

   To me progress seems independent of any human behavior. Unless of course you were speaking purely in and of humanity itself, but because of the discussion of “entirety” I figured you were applying space and time as well.

   Kris March 20, 2007 at 2:25 am

2. Progression is used in terms of attempting to obtain the result of a goal. We don’t know what we’re working for, then we won’t know what we’re working towards and therefore we wouldn’t be working for anything. That’s the synapsis of the final remark.

   It’s the difference of driving many distances knowing with a specific designation versus driving long distances without knowing where you’re going in particular. By knowing where to go, the gas, or progress, is being consumed with a purpose. Without knowing where you’re going but still trying to “progress” or drive through, you’re wasting time and gas for no real reason.

   However, we fear of not knowing where to go, so we try to cover it up with excuses like, “I’m just driving because I can”, or in the broader context, “nothing’s important, and I don’t have to do anything that’s wrong or right.”

   Think of it as one step back from immobilization: instead of not being able to move, you’re moving until you can’t anymore, and therefore wasting away the progress that could have been used more effectively. People fear immobilization, so excuses are covered to convince us to believe that it will never lead to that, when it ultimately will anyway.

   Franky March 22, 2007 at 10:33 pm

3. But there is a sort of progression that can be achieved through so called “aimless” motion. For instance, someone who becomes apathetic and decides to drive and continue driving with no purpose or plan in mind, no destination, but simply a will to move travels to many places and potentially gains new experiences, albeit unplanned. This can lead to self-revelation or enlightenment, and possibly rekindle a sense of purpose and, ultimately, divine a more specific goal the person then attempts to achieve.

   Or, other times people make these excuses because they want something but cannot name what that is. They are striving for something they don’t yet understand, but aren’t necessarily wasting time striving for it. It isn’t that they’re afraid, perhaps just confused.

   I think that the direction you determine “progress” or achievement through seems very linear and somewhat mechanical. It’s a mathmatical perspective on the efficiency of time and motion towards achievement.

   But when you’re talking about human beings, I’m not sure that it’s possible to think that way. Everything changes, people’s decisions and attitudes are as you say “variants”. Goals can change and be eliminated, or goals can be achieved without ever planning to do so or actually trying to work for them. Progression is made without reason. Or, they may work for something, but end up with something else.

   For instance, in Junior year of HS I worked to get a B in my Algebra II class, but in fact was shocked when I wound up with an A instead. Similarly I have received C’s on assignments I thought had deserved an A as per my work for the assignment and my assumed knowledge of the work. But just because I did not reach my goal does not mean it was a waste of time. It was a lesson, and I learned from it even if only a little. The same applies sometimes to aimless things like driving around for no reason or taking a direction-less stroll.

   You can’t say that outside factors are the affecting principals and the act itself of progressing towards nothing is a waste, because without the act there could be no outside factors to influence it, and no potential to change/progress in a roundabout way. That and because the act itself is sometimes enough. I’ve walked out of the house with a completely stressed mind and nothing in mind besides the desire to move my legs in a random direction, but when I returned home I felt better.

   So if nothing else, trying to do something because you want to with no real intention of getting anything out of it still appeases the initial desire to just do something, and so at a base, it achieves the goal of getting out of the house or whatever else if even for just that period of time.

   I guess what I’m trying to say is in order to determine what is progression by your standards you first have to determine and apply the meaningfulness of various emotional factors and accidental variables such as changes in goals or the ability to reach goals/destinations as well.

   Because to me, these things make a difference and are. as you talked about in your last post, just as important and considerable as progressions as planning to go to the post office to mail a letter, driving there, and mailing it.

   Kris March 27, 2007 at 11:26 am

Indeed, this is the blog of Franky Liu. Voukah is simply a compilation of random thoughts and useless rambling as he goes through an interestingly mundane life. With that, he is quite emotional and many times annoying; sometimes he wonders if he is narcissistic as well. He also may cause upset stomach. He also enjoys speaking in third person. Voukah, its design and its writing belong to Franky Liu, with the exception of quotations, stock images, or anything otherwise obvious. Yes, the damned design is mine.