Connection #3--Movie

 Over the weekend I re-watched The Sixth Sense for the third or so time. Now this movie has a ton of philosophical questions packed in to it. I mean, come on, a ghost who doesn’t know he’s dead, a little boy who “sees dead people,” the color red, etc. etc. What happens when we die? The afterlife is one of the world’s greatest mysteries. There is much contemplation on where we go after we die or what we become. There are the obvious religious beliefs –heaven, hell, purgatory, reincarnation, etc –but there is also many other theories like your atoms dispersing around the universe, simply becoming nothing, and a lot more. Is it right for us to know what happens after? I’m not sure. Knowledge can be power. Power can corrupt. What could happen if we gained the power to exploit the afterlife? That is probably much overstretched, but nothing is impossible –in my opinion, of course.

Back to the movie: what would you do if you had the power to see the dead? Would you help, or would you run? What would you do if you found out you were a ghost? Everyone would have a different answer for these questions. For me, I would probably be scared at first. I’d think I was losing my mind, really, but I hope I would eventually try to help the lost souls or whatever they are. If I was a ghost, however, I would do the cliché and try to solve my “unfinished business.” Check on things, make sure my loved ones were okay, etc. I really can’t be certain, though, it’s way past even my imagination. I actually hope we never solve the mystery of the afterlife. I think the world should have one great wonder. Keep us guessing and what not. What do you think?

Sophie's World #2

            I got caught up when I was reading the chapter “Aristotle” in Sophie’s World. On the very last page Sophie is talking to her mother about why people are alive. Sophie then states, “People live on this planet so that someone can go around giving names to everything.” I remember back when I went to Sunday School and we learned how Adam was in charge of naming every animal on the planet. Did that make him the first human then? Are we really only here to identify new things? I don’t think so. 

However, Sophie’s next comment proved more true to me: “…because a human is a thinking animal. If you don’t think, you’re not really a human.” Is that really the only distinction in what makes us human? Research has proved that animals do have thoughts; however, they aren’t as complex or interesting as human beings are. I think that the fact that humans have the ability to have complex/interesting thoughts makes us the most advanced, but not necessarily human. There could be an undiscovered species out there that is just as advanced as we are or even more so. What if there was another animal out there that had thoughts just like ours, also, but we just didn’t know about it? It’s really just all a mystery that may never be solved.

Connection #2--Music

           I was thinking through songs that tickled by philosophic thoughts, and I remember an episode of The Voice from a few months ago. This guy Patrick Thomas was singing “Live Like You Were Dying” by Tim McGraw (which I’m sure everyone has heard.) He was excellent, by the way –perfect country voice. Anyhoo, I started thinking about the song’s lyrics. For example, “I was in my early forties, with a lot of life before me.” I realized that I really do not want to be one of those people who lead a simple, safe life without taking any risks. I’m not saying I want to be a daredevil who does whatever the heck they want, but I want a wealth of knowledge and experiences in my life.

            To me, to live like you are dying means living completely in the moment, like you could die at any second so you do everything you had ever imagined. In the song, the man says:

I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying.
An' he said: "Some day, I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'."

           These were all the things that were on his bucket list. For me, I definitely want to do a lot before I die, but I am afraid I will wait until it’s too late to do a lot of it. Or maybe I’ll suddenly die one day before I am able to do some of these things. That is why I think you should do whatever it is that you want to do as soon as you possibly can. I realized that I no longer want to go into English/Education because I would be settling in a career that I am not truly passionate about. I like it, yes, but it doesn’t, I don’t know, complete me or anything. So I then went back onto all my college applications and changed my major to Animal Biology/Zoology. I think it is something that will satisfy me and be fulfilling. So I am going to live like I am dying! I just hope I’m not…

In case you would like to listen to it:

Connection #1--Book

            I picked up a random book a week or so ago and decided to read it. It was a fantasy novel about a girl who becomes possessed by a demon. Understandably, she was very upset by this. To add to her displeasure, the demon tried to convince her that he was a good demon and wouldn’t hurt her. A good demon: what an oxymoron. This takes us back to nature versus nurture. Because the demon, called Darrak, was born a demon in hell, does that automatically make him evil? What if he grew up with a regular human family, unknowing to his true self? I believe evil is a trait that is developed, not born with. If you are born into a family of gamblers, you won’t automatically become a gambler. It is what you see around you that becomes your nature.

A group called the Malleus was later introduced into the story. It is a group whose goal is to defeat all evil –Darrak was a target, obviously. The group sees only black and white; when it comes to other species, they are all evil, no question. In my opinion, nothing is solidly black or white –everything is a shade of gray no matter how dark or light it may appear. Black isn’t even a real color, is it? This is why close-minded people really get on my nerves; they see only what they want or expect to see. And all I want to say to them is “LOOK AROUND YOU!” Anyway, Darrak is not evil. Throughout the book, instances show how truly “human” he really is. He protects, defends, and heals the girl he has to possess. It is said in the book that demons only think of themselves and their own survival, so Darrak must obviously be different if he isn’t doing this. So basically, evil is born: it’s made.

Sophie's World #1

 I was immediately interested in “Top Hat.” I really like how the philosophy teacher compared our existence to a magician’s trick, because, really, there is no concrete information as to how our universe or world was first created. Yes, we know all about evolution and whatnot; however, there is no true beginning –unless you are religious and say God or some other deity. In my head, it seems as if we just popped up, like the white rabbit in the hat, out of nothing. Poof!

            On the following page, it says “The only thing we require to be good philosophers is the faculty of wonder.” I am not quite sure whether I completely believe this. Does it mean any person of any age can be a good philosopher only because they are curious? Maybe I’m too used to having to have skill or talent to achieve something, but I suppose having a deep sense of wonder is a talent, too. Hmm. Like it said, babies probably have the most wonder; are they the best philosophers, then?

I also thought it was interesting how in the first experiment the mystery philosophy teacher compared the Martian to ourselves. I think that this is very accurate considering many of us really do not know who we really are. Each and every one of us is different, so in reality, we are all Martians to each other. Furthermore, we might just find out who we are and what our purpose is randomly one day, maybe in a grocery store, of all places. I believe that through our experiences and knowledge, we begin to understand ourselves more each and every day. Or maybe you'll have an epiphany one day where you suddenly think "what am I doing?" and begin something new. We aren't born with who we are, only what we are.