My personal folkore as an expression of my worldview - Anelise Lemon

I found both of these articles to be completely fascinating! It is amazing how much of this information I already knew and was familiar with, but I had never realized it. Every day I come into contact with the “my ideas and ways of doing something are right, yours are wrong” mentality. It is human. The natural response to another’s worldview is fear - fear of the unknown and the unfamiliar.

As mentioned in the “Cultural Worldview” article, family has varied in its definition over time, it continually changes and is seen differently for different folks. Personally, family is second in importance to our faith. My family daily “meets” together, if only for a few minutes to discuss our day and just see each other. We never allow ourselves to be too busy, to just see each other for a minute. We sit in a circular pattern, as to see each other’s faces. We also strive to eat meals together, and we pray together nightly as a family. None of the kids have their own room, and honestly I could not imagine having one. When I finally just recently got my own bed, it was weird for me. I told my mom I felt like a twin away from her other half. Personally, birthdays and holidays in my family are viewed as “family-time”. We may have a birthday party, but it is never on our actual birthday and it is completely different than the celebration with family. Therefore, family is a very important part of my life and my worldview. I also believe marriage to be a union of a man and a woman; however today this seems to be a view that is quickly becoming “old-fashioned”.

I found it extremely interesting the concept of the lineal time, and order versus chaos. I am very interested in Greek mythology and it is amazing the views they had about order dominating chaos are still extremely influential and imperative today. In society, those who go against the norm are considered rebels, radicals, protesters, savage, and just “wrong”. However, “normal” is a very difficult word to describe - it seems to be more subjective rather than objective. Does it even exist? All of this reminded me of a poem I love by Emily Dickinson - “Much madness is divinest sense”.

In one of the previous articles we read about defining folklore/folklife - it mentioned that the creative ways we express ourselves through decorating our world can include tattoos on our bodies. I thought this was interesting because when I got my second tattoo, my mom was like: "why do you want another one?" I told her I did not just get one to "get one", but because my body was a canvas of my self-expression. The two tattoos I have, and the ones I plan to get in the future, all have important meanings to my worldview.

Technology had an interesting part in this article. America seems to be a country that is becoming more and more obsessed with technology - particularly new forms of technological communication: Facebook, Twitter, texting, and so on. As a country we want fast, easy, convenient, and often impersonal ways of communication. Perhaps it is just me, but a facebook comment is so much colder and less personal than a phone call. And forget mailed letters, as those are a thing of the past; however, I can’t help but remember how good it feels to get a letter in the mail. In addition, our focus as a world on more and better and new has led to more pollution, waste, and energy being spent which has led to increased global warming and harm for the planet.

I completely agree with the point made in this article that if we were to listen, learn, and try to understand versus judging and believing we are always right - the world would be more peaceful.

I have become aware that this is a topic that I could discuss in depth, and it has made me very interested in other cultural worldviews. I will end with this and I look forward to reading everyone else’s entries!