Blog Post #5 - Creating Meaning in the World Around Us

    This week, something that I’ve found myself reflecting on is the idea of looking for and creating meaning in the world around us – for example, in the ways we practice religion, try to connect with the divine, and cherish the objects and trinkets that we decorate our lives with. As I sat in class last week, a train of thought that sparked this reflection was about the concept of transubstantiation taught within the Catholic church. According to the teachings of the Catholic church, during communion, the consecration of the bread and the wine by the priest allows for a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Jesus and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. In other words, during the Eucharist, Catholics believe that the body of Jesus himself is truly eaten and his blood truly drunk. I think that this is fascinating especially when connected to our discussions of magic and witchcraft because, again, it ties back to the deep power of symbolism and imagination; we believe that what we are looking at and thinking about is the transformation from the mundane into the divine and, so, that is what we see and feel. It is not exactly logical or scientific, but it is – in the minds and hearts of believers – real.
    We do things, and we give those things meaning in a way that connects us to something bigger than ourselves, comforts and connects us, or otherwise makes our lives measurably better in some way. This made me think more deeply about the things that tie us to the special people, places, and things in our lives – the symbols, objects, and trinkets that we hold dear. In my own life, for example, I thought about my bean necklace given to me by my mom when I was little to match hers, which sits over my heart and allows me to carry her with me wherever I go. I thought about the symbol of a heart which has been my connector to my mom ever since I  began Kindergarten and couldn’t say a tearful goodbye unless she drew a heart on a piece of paper and I could carry “her” with me until she picked me up. I thought about the rose quartz crystal in the shape of a heart that she sent me when I started university, which now sits on my bedside table to say goodnight to me each night. Similarly to how the idea of transubstantiation resonates with believers because it is seen and keenly felt as real, whether or not these practices actually or tangibly connect me to my mom from thousands of miles away, the connection feels real to me. It is something I feel deeply and cherish and wrap around myself for comfort and support which, again, ties back to the core tenets of magic, imagination, and belief that we’ve teased out throughout our class.

Comments

  1. williams.dan76February 28, 2024 at 8:29 AM

    Thanks, Quinn. This an insightful and thoughtful blog post. I not only enjoyed reading it, but I learned from it. The ideas of transubstantiation and communion are fascinating by themselves, but you go further than these ideas to comment on your mother and the heart images you share with her. I thought this part was quite powerful.

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