SAMPLE/MODEL/EXAMPLE
WRITING ASSIGNMENT I-A
BRIEF THREE PARAGRAPH ESSAY ON ‘RATIONAL’ (LOGICAL) THINKING
“Can I Buy a Vowel? Is There an ‘I’?”
David A. Yacavace
Who has not heard the saying, “There is no ‘I’ in team”? As obvious and accurate as the statement appears, perhaps it is ironically off the mark. According to James Harvey Robinson in his essay “On Various Kinds of Thinking,” “the little word
my is the most important one in all human affairs” (422). In other words, everything (including a team) exists or matters only in relation to me, myself, and I. The ‘i’
in
think is not only a letter of the alphabet, but also a metaphor for the
self.
As proof of the ‘self-affirmation’ of any and all species of thought, the first kind of thinking according to Robinson is reverie, a synonym for ‘personal’ daydreaming or free association of ideas common to all individuals. This process can be likened to the twirling vortex of a tornado. The second type of thinking is decision making, a term for making a ‘personal’ judgement. This “making up of one’s mind” can be compared to the balancing scales of justice. The third variety of thinking is rationalization, the ‘self’-justification of one’s beliefs and opinions (valid or not). This commitment to ‘personal’ biases and prejudices reflects the implication of the figure of speech “to wave the flag” in support of one’s ‘own’ thought. The fourth and final category of thinking is Reason, causing one
to change his or her mind. This “creative thought,” (Robinson prefers this ‘recent’ term referencing how knowledge “
makes things look different from what they seemed before”). Reason or logic as it is otherwise referenced can be represented by the changing (although uniformed sequenced) patterns of a kaleidoscope.
From Socrates’ adage “know thyself,” through Rene Descartes’ acknowledgement “I think, therefore I am,” up to the current metaverse’s attraction to a “virtual identity,“ personal affirmation of oneself is paramount. It is, therefore, valid to conclude that any ‘I’ndividual can be added to, or subtracted from, a team, but ‘I’ cannot be separated from the process of thinking.
Alternative Leads:
– Thinking is at the same time natural as it is difficult. In his essay “On the Various Kinds of Thinking,” James Harvey Robinson . . . .
– “I think; therefore I am.” Whether one subscribes to the philosophical notion expressed by the 18th century French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau or its antithetical thesis, “I am, therefore
I think,” all thinking is personal. According to James Harvey Robinson, . . . .
– Thinking is something that most people do not think enough about. This very thought illustrates the take-for-granted view, if not denial, of the most defining quality of human nature.
WRITING ASSIGNMENT I-B
BRIEF THREE PARAGRAPH ESSAY ON ‘ABSTRACT’ (PHILOSOPHICAL) THINKING
SAMPLE/MODEL/EXAMPLE
WRITING ASSIGNMENT I-C
PARAGRAPH ON ‘SPIRITUAL’ THINKING
“Yes”!
David A. Yacavace
Survival! It’s instinctive. “The birds do it; the bees do it; even the trees do it,” and the beat reverberates through all of creation. More importantly, if survival were not enough by itself, it is what humans have elevated to the quintessence of existence – love. This is the difference between ‘mating’ and ‘the mating of souls.’ In his essay “On Sacramental Things [in Nature],” Hilaire Belloc references the Norse story of the Master Maid. A young man points out a bird and his mate to his lover stating “so was it with you and me….” More than a physical moment in time, the mating of the birds in flight becomes for the young man a ‘sacramental’ moment — the divine continuation of creation.
So it is with me as well. In particular, Walt Whitman’s poem “The Dalliance of Eagles” inspires in me, not only the meaning and purpose of Nature, but my own reason for being:
Lovers in communion surpass the bounds of earth. Mating souls’ eternal heaven is confirmed in “the rushing, amorous contact high in space together. /Four beating wings, two beaks, … /
the twain yet one….” It is this image of flight, the soaring of wings, the suspension in air that elevates the mating of birds beyond the earthbound coupling of Nature’s other inhabitants. Even in parting, their separate ways remain on the same pilgrimage: “She hers, he his, pursuing.” The balanced rhythm of the verse reflects the harmony of two hearts beating as one. Even Nature’s time-contained mating season is negated and transcended by the perennial ‘flight’ of human love. It is of the divine.
Love and love making is life in the affirmative. As the modern Greek poet Constantine Cavafy imagines an impossible world where “trees say no to sap and animals say no to propagation,” he proclaims, ‘No’ is a manmade word; nature says ‘Yes’!
ENG 102 COMPOSITION II David A. Yacavace
