the big shaggy

NYT ran this eloquent and insightful piece by david brooks yesterday, arguing the necessity of studying the humanities even when economic downturns appeal to our pragmatism to pursue more lucrative fields.

besides arguing the importance of reading and writing skills obtained through humanities studies, brooks touches upon the true heart of why the humanities matter: they tell us of the human experience and enable us to engage with life beyond the superficial. it's not just about constructing systems that better our lives; it's about understanding the very framework of our human nature, delving into our fallacies and splendors. we read shakespeare to laugh at our foibles and ponder our mortality (and fall in love with the english language); plato teaches us rhetoric and challenges us to question what is just and true.

what i found most insightful in the article was when brooks talks about "the big shaggy." here's how he describes it:


Over the past century or so, people have built various systems to help them understand human behavior: economics, political science, game theory and evolutionary psychology. These systems are useful in many circumstances. But none completely explain behavior because deep down people have passions and drives that don’t lend themselves to systemic modeling. They have yearnings and fears that reside in an inner beast you could call The Big Shaggy.

You can see The Big Shaggy at work when a governor of South Carolina suddenly chucks it all for a love voyage south of the equator, or when a smart, philosophical congressman from Indiana risks everything for an in-office affair.

You can see The Big Shaggy at work when self-destructive overconfidence overtakes oil engineers in the gulf, when go-go enthusiasm intoxicates investment bankers or when bone-chilling distrust grips politics.

Those are the destructive sides of The Big Shaggy. But this tender beast is also responsible for the mysterious but fierce determination that drives Kobe Bryant, the graceful bemusement the Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga showed when his perfect game slipped away, the selfless courage soldiers in Afghanistan show when they risk death for buddies or a family they may never see again.


brooks goes on to argue that the observant individual will take the time to really dig into the big shaggy, to recognize the faceless yearning and learn from the realizations and efforts of the men and women who have gone before us in the tides of history. it is about learning who we are as humans so we may be more fully human and live in this world with all its proper tensions.


as someone who graduated with dual degrees in english literature and journalism, i'm a humanities-buff, no question. i think studying the humanities gave me the tools and resources with which to examine the big shaggy, but i don't think a college major is necessarily a prerequisite. perhaps it's more in cultivating an environment that values reading, writing and introspection. i know plenty of accountants and engineers who are very reflective, who enjoy reading keats and listening to bach in their spare time. it's not mutually exclusive.

we do, however, live in a society that is increasingly obsessed with information. the 24-hour news cycle, social media, onslaught of blogs (ironic, even as i blog).....we have become information gluttons. but what good is knowledge without wisdom?



cups of coffee: 1 1/2

mood:  thankful