Lorraine Siefke- Life-world in The Spell of the Sensuous

In The Spell of the Sensuous, written by David Abram I found part of chapter two to be very intriguing. Abram writes about the concept of the life-world, which he defines as, "[...] our immediately lived experience, as we live it, prior to all our thoughts about it. It is that which is present to us in our everyday tasks and enjoyments-reality as it engages us before being analyzed by our theories and our science" (40). As we go about our day, we don't often pay attention to the simple everyday things we encounter, like the grass under our feet, etc. These parts of our life-world however are always present. But why is our life-world so significant? While our life-world can be different depending on the way we live or our culture, there are many elements that are common to all humans and even to animals or insects. Abram goes on to discuss how, "It would seem that there are basic structures of the life-world that are shared, elements that are common to different cultures and even, we may suspect, to different species" (41). Life-world is more complex than we ever think it to be, it has many layers and while it may be diverse, there are aspects that are unitary that is often overlooked. When you really consider this, it makes you appreciate and reflect on our own everyday life and how our life-world is affected by our personal cultures and way of living.

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