Thandie Newton's Embracing Otherness, Embracing Myself: Concept of Self and Oneness
Self and Oneness
Thandie Newton is a British actress who was raised in Britain. She had a father from Cornwall and mother from Zimbabwe. Not only this proves how multicultural her world was, but also she went to an all white Catholic school. She felt like she didn’t belong because her looks, history, hair, everything about her was different or wrong according to the others. Since she didn’t fit, her self was defined as the “other”. She ended up feeling ashamed of herself. However with dancing and acting she discovered the awareness of oneness. In Embracing Otherness, Embracing Myself (Newton, 2011) she basically talks about the concept of self in contrast to oneness. The important thing is being connected to everything and being open to other people’s feelings which creates the state of self-awareness. It can be achieved through activities like dancing because then, self stops taking control.
Her self, being doomed to be perceived as the “other” in a school where white girls are the majority actually proves that the self is only an illusion because it is the projection of what others think about us. But anyway, she continued to give authority to her self even when she found out that race didn’t exist biologically in the interview to get acceptance to Cambridge, anthropology department. Back then, she couldn’t see the fact that it was the self which created the divisions among people and thus the concept of race. She wasn’t satisfied with race not being related to genetics because there are facts; skin color for example! However, it is natural to be and look different since everyone is unique but at the same time we are one. In other words, we look like we come from different roots but the roots end up becoming one since they are connected to one certain tree. We even share the same branches. Thus, no one is better than the other. Her point is plausible in a way that we are connected with each other even with the plants and animals but putting too much emphasis on
Thandie Newton is a British actress who was raised in Britain. She had a father from Cornwall and mother from Zimbabwe. Not only this proves how multicultural her world was, but also she went to an all white Catholic school. She felt like she didn’t belong because her looks, history, hair, everything about her was different or wrong according to the others. Since she didn’t fit, her self was defined as the “other”. She ended up feeling ashamed of herself. However with dancing and acting she discovered the awareness of oneness. In Embracing Otherness, Embracing Myself (Newton, 2011) she basically talks about the concept of self in contrast to oneness. The important thing is being connected to everything and being open to other people’s feelings which creates the state of self-awareness. It can be achieved through activities like dancing because then, self stops taking control.
Her self, being doomed to be perceived as the “other” in a school where white girls are the majority actually proves that the self is only an illusion because it is the projection of what others think about us. But anyway, she continued to give authority to her self even when she found out that race didn’t exist biologically in the interview to get acceptance to Cambridge, anthropology department. Back then, she couldn’t see the fact that it was the self which created the divisions among people and thus the concept of race. She wasn’t satisfied with race not being related to genetics because there are facts; skin color for example! However, it is natural to be and look different since everyone is unique but at the same time we are one. In other words, we look like we come from different roots but the roots end up becoming one since they are connected to one certain tree. We even share the same branches. Thus, no one is better than the other. Her point is plausible in a way that we are connected with each other even with the plants and animals but putting too much emphasis on