A Series of Habitual Events

So, our discussion in class yesterday, about the difference between Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic’s crossing themselves, I got to thinking. My mother was raised Roman Catholic, and my father was raised Southern Baptist, when they were coming up with a blessing to say at dinner each night, they decided to do as the Catholics do. Meaning, every night, before and after we say the blessing, we cross ourselves, Roman Catholic style. This is such a habit for me, that when they were telling Hunter to reach the opposite way as he portrayed Peter Ivanovich, I couldn’t even figure out how to cross myself Eastern Orthodox style.

This has led me to think about why we do things. Some things are habit, like me crossing myself after I pray, if not before. Some things we have to think about, like Ivanovich as he entered the room where Ivan’s dead body lay. He had to think about what seemed to fit the situation and think about each movement he made. Yet at the same time, each movement was a habitual movement. We humans are creatures of habit, and while we may have to think about what we do sometimes, normally we do things the same way.

For example, every time I walk to the cafeteria, I go the same route. I always cross the street in the same place. I always walk the same path to my classes. It’s inevitable, if we do something often enough, our bodies will eventually just follow that path, whether we think about what we’re doing or not.

So why did Ivanovich have to think so hard about what seemed right for the situation he was in? Perhaps it’s because he’d never been in that situation before. But I think it’s probably more along the lines of his attitude and his heart. His heart was not into expressing his condolences, so he had to figure out what “habit” he should perform.

On another note, I’ve been intrigued with Tolstoy since 2003 when his book Ana Karenina was mentioned in one of my all-time favorite series of books, The Series of Unfortunate Events book 10: The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket. Now, the only thing that is mentioned about Ana Karenina is the central theme. But I always liked the name of the book, and it always made me want to read it. This is the reason why Ana Karenina is on my reading list and my Kindle for PC, waiting for the day I have the free time to read it.

Another side note about A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket alludes to many different famous movies, books, poems, and writers, including Voltaire. This series has always been one of my favorites.

On a completely unrelated side note, I love writing Kierkegaard and saying it, and I love writing and saying Schleiermacher too! I’m just sayin’…

Until next week, and a Kierkegaard blog post, which I’m very excited for,

~Meghan

PS. I commented on Susan’s post “Kierkegaard’s advice”