The importance of Passion

The idea of completely frameless life is almost scary in nature, however it is something that I think we all go through at some point.  I know I went through a time in my life where I did not have something clear and powerful defining my goals and motives.  Rob Burton uses a good quote in his book that describes how frames affect us so powerfully.  “Frames are mental structures that shape the way we see the world. As a result, they shape the goals we see, the plans we make, the way we act.” – George Lackoff (Burton pg. 61).  I think this quote does a great job of explaining what frames are, but what interests me is how we acquire these framed mindsets.  On a personal scale, I think we frame our lives around our passions.  People have passions for many different reasons, some innate, some acquired.  However these passions may come about, I believe it is these that shape us and define us the most.  Whether your passion may be money, sex, religion, music, art, education, and food, ECT. I believe this is what you chose to frame your life around.  And in turn these passions of yours will influence the life you live and how you live it.

Reading about Bessie Head’s frameless life in her book, “The Question of Power” helped me realize what frames I had in place defining my life.  You can tell by reading that she does not care too passionately about anything, and this is what I believe leads her to have a frameless life. I think one thing that can very powerfully give you an innate passion is nationality, but throughout this book you can clearly understand that she has none of that to speak of.  These innate passions can be very powerful, whether they come from nationality, gender, or age. Reading about a person that seemed to be that apathetic made me look inwards at my life, to see if I acted in a similar way and myself.  I can safely say that I don’t think that I do, not anymore at least.

I think that the idea of life passions also relate to the concept of personal identity.  I could describe many of my close friends simply by their passions, for example one of my friends are known as the music guy because of how passionate he is about his field of study and hobby; music.  I think this truly shows how important our individual passions are.