I am on the cusp. On Tuesday I sit one of the exams which I have so far not succeeded in passing. It’s a tough exam (I would say that, wouldn’t I?) – it requires the candidate to analyse and re-analyse the information placed in front of him. It asks the candidate to drill down past the words of each document on the table and to ascertain their true meaning in relation to the other words in the other documents.
The papers require a serious level of concentration, the require the candidate to enter a mental state not normally experienced in daily life. Yesterday after having looked at a past question I went out for a walk. I turned right out of the front door and promptly got lost. I had lost all sense of direction and urban survival skills because my brain had been doing something rather different for the last few hours. It was odd.
The problem is that, when you drill down deep enough there’s nothing there. The more you try to understand the words on the page you realise that they don’t actually mean anything unless you want them to mean something. When you start to think like that it’s very easy to get blown off course.
It’s hard to describe, but I am experiencing a horrible feeling of dread. I have this intangible fear that Western society is resting on nothing more substantial than a cloud. I can’t but think that at some point the fabric will start unravelling and that once it does the whole tapestry will come undone. When I look at my paycheck and standard of living, I wonder whether I have produced something of at least the value of what I have to my name. Is everything quite likely to collapse around us, leaving most Westerners with none of the skills we need to survive the aftermath? Perhaps I have been watching too much Mad Max and Judge Dredd.
Good Luck, BE. I am far better at exams now than I was when I was younger. There is no negative marking so throw everything in. Most marking schemes are looking for keywords or phrases and key reference numbers or referrals so 1. Be careful 2. Be pedantic. It is not that you are weak; it is just that the others are good since they have been drilled at exam taking from when they started education. A friend at law school walked in with just a Bic biro (he argued that they would give him another if it ran out) and a clear mind. He achieved the highest marks. That was style! Keep us informed about how it goes.
Very philosophical BE. Perhaps you could re-train in Political Science should you decide the current career is not for you.
Good luck and I will see you in afew weeks! (Gettig excited about my holiday now.)
That’s a very good question.
I have not even returned the worth of my toaster, let alone my car or TV.
Good luck with the exam. Success in this will give you seperateness from the proles.
Bonkers isn’t it. At the end of the day people want our money, the paper we print. Once people stop wanting our money we’re screwed.
Having nukes probably helps, a shudder goes down my spine every time I hear a politican say that we should not replace our nukes, presumably so we can keep subsidising economic inactivity instead.
My opinion is that because we have a strong footing on the world stage, a good infrastructure and a bit of clout people believe sterling is worth having. The moment they stop believing that we are doomed, or perhaps worse, have to join the Euro.
“The papers require a serious level of concentration, the require the candidate to enter a mental state not normally experienced in daily life.”
Sounds very much like the minutes of Tunbridge Wells BC planning committee meetings…
Good luck Blues, you’ve probably got this one in the can!
Best of luck with the exams.
I haven’t taken any in a very long time but can remember all too well what it felt like.
I’m sure you’ll do just fine!
Good luck, Blue.
Measured – the “get everything in” approach doesn’t always work. Some exams are too tight for time to allow you to physically write down everything that you think of in the time allowed. So you need to discriminate.
Reading your post the following lines from the end of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets came to mind. I think the connection in my mind is the phrase ‘Costing not less than everything’.
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
What a boring old fart I am.
Good luck with the exams, BE.
Good luck with the exam BE. There isn’t an examination in existence that you can’t get through with the aid of Buzzcocks.
‘I have this intangible fear that Western society is resting on nothing more substantial than a cloud.’
I fear that cloud may be financial credit…
What cloud?
‘I have this intangible fear that Western society is resting on nothing more substantial than a cloud.’
Ahhh the wonders of postmodern thought, when suddenly it dawns on you that NOTHING, absolutely nothing is irrefutable, therefore nothing is 100% objective and probably doesn’t matter one iota, even if it does exist. But does anything exist obejectively ? Possibly. The existence of the individual is supposed to be the only thing irrefutable, as in “cogito ergo sum” but ultimately nothing matters to everybody, not even living.
And I still haven’t found anything that can be proved beyond all doubt. I have a theory for what the meaning of life is though.
Existentially yours, fish, fish, banana
Steve
Don’t out think yourself – just get in the zone and let it flow.
SOC