kara walling blog 3

Topic of my choice: Impulse & Instinct
12/1/09

The difference in impulse and instinct. We posed this question in class first relating humans to animals, and then relating it to Van der Leeuw's theology of the arts within dance. We talked about how animals have an impulse, which leads strait to a reaction. Humans on the other hand have impulse(thought)and then reaction. I remember when he was going over this asking, what takes place in the "thought" to make us so different from animals? Thought is: creative hole=world making=2nd spirit, where we can reflect on self outside of the self. So to me this is saying when we don't respond to an impulse this is when art comes in. One of my favorite examples was when Dr. Redick told us the story about him making his military bed. He eventually realized what was going on because he thought about it and changed his reaction. Animals don't have that. When relating this to dance Van der Leeuw says animals have "instinctive, automotive movement, so there therefore not a dance at all." Dance within humans on the other hand is purposeful: man discovered rhythm and then invents a response to it. I think this is true. We as humans impose a certain rhythm on the environment, which changes the world. The movements or dance within animals are therefore in our world and what we create. So would it be true to say that animals only act in the world, not create it? Just a few thoughts. I feel like impulse, instinct, and dance can be tricky because they intersect with one another.