by Justin White
In Phenomenology of Perception, Merleau-Ponty illustrates how our past experiences and futural aspirations shape how we perceive things and opportunities. Whether we experience a lit candle as threatening or as cozy (or both), for example, depends on whether we’ve been burned or had cozy winter evenings by candlelight. How we experience melodies and stories and films (and so much more) also depends on our temporal nature. On a more conscious level, our temporal nature also allows us to actively take up our pasts and project into the future. This capacity allows us to take responsibility for ourselves as we make decisions and commitments about the trajectory of our lives and work to see ourselves differently and act according to those changed self-conceptions, decisions, and commitments. This capacity, however, is double-edged, as our stories can be misleading, deceptive, seek to avoid responsibility, and/or hurt or limit ourselves and others.