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I saw parts of Adaptation again last night on TV.. it really is one of the most surreal films I have ever seen. The film has a meta-script as in… the script is about the writing of a script about making a film based on Susan Orlean’s book The Orchids Thief… In any case, I feel compelled to quote these memorable lines from the film (which was quoted from the original book)

I… looked ahead and behind at the empty road and up at the empty sky; the sheer bigness of the world made me feel lonely to the bone.

The world is so huge that people are always getting lost in it. There are too many ideas and things and people, too many directions to go.

I was starting to believe that the reason it matters to so care passionately about something is that it whittles the world down to a more manageable size. [1]

[1]Wikipedia entry on Adaptation ; emphasis mine

One of the few surprising things I came to encounter during my artistic endeavors (painting and drawing mostly, in this context) is how much it’s taught and given me insights on living. There’s so much to say on this topic for me to to fill a whole book but I’ll give you one example for now:I think I have always known but never really realized, first hand, when a drawing/painting is almost never a finished product. It’s constantly evolving depending on its changing environment, and the transient nature of our mind. It’s very important to be open-minded and honest with oneself. If you are discontent about a certain element of your painting, then it’s not finished. If you even have to ask, “is this finished?” then it probably isn’t. Perhaps then you ought to make that change you want to, of which you are wary. Should I make the shadow of the figure a bit lighter? Perhaps darken the background? Or give the face of the figure more definitions? Then when you wish to make the change, you have to be ready to accept the consequences and not regret it. You act and you go from there.
It’s not a stretch to draw a parallel on how one can think of one’s life in this manner.

One has to be open-minded and honest with oneself in terms of accepting the possibility for changes and the consequence of perhaps messing things up. If you feel that you are content, and yet, restless, then you ought to realize that you are not content and really do wish to change. When you do make that change, it might mess things up and you’ll have to live with the consequences; however, acting in this manner will, at the very least, spare you from dishonesty with yourself.

I seem to quote Henry Miller with much regularity but I feel it’s only appropriate to bring it up again here:

Whoever uses the spirit that is in him creatively is an Artist.

To make living itself an art, that’s the goal.[1]

Some/most of us are aware of the said importance of being earnest (ha! ;-) ), accepting responsibilities, living with the consequences, and so on. The great virtue of artistic activity is that you can put all those ideas and principles to work right in front of you. Then it becomes more than just talk. Subsequently, if you are capable and disciplined enough… you can extend the applications of such ideas from the canvas and drawing paper onto your own life…

[1]Staff of Life, Remember to Remember p. 3

Many many thoughts in this fine gloomy morning:

What is Freedom…

Quite often people have a misconception about the nature of freedom. They think that freedom essentially means they can do whatever they want. That’s not really the case there. As it was put from my philosophy of law class, “You are free precisely because you are bound.” That sure sounds paradoxical, doesn’t it? But consider this, imagine a world where there is no traffic lights, rules, and conventions. People can drive in whatever direction, at whatever speed, and stop whenever they want. There can only be one outcome: chaos. It’d actually be harder to get from point A to point B within this chaos. Now bring yourself back to “our world” where our driving behaviors are more or less governed and conditioned by our rules and conventions. We stop at red lights, drive at or below a certain speed, and on a particular side of the road. In comparison to our “lawless” traffic world, it’s much easier to do what we want to achieve. And so it’s argued, that is freedom.

Philosophers love definitions. I guess the rudimentary definition of freedom, within this context, is “you have a choice and opportunity to do whatever you want as long as your actions do not prohibit or impede others’ as well.” And that brings me to…

Their Freedom

There isn’t a lot I dislike more than to have cigarettes smokes blown around and in front of me when I am trying to simply enjoy my breakfast and that morning cup of coffee. I understand completely that smokers are ordinary folks like everyone else and they too would like to simply enjoy their breakfast and that morning cup of coffee…. with their smokes. I need not to describe how this is inconsiderate to us non-smokers here. What gets me it their claim of “a right” to smoke in public. It doesn’t really prevent me from consuming my breakfast and reading my newspaper; nevertheless, it surely affects me in many negative ways. First, I am forced, with no fair justification, to find a seat where I do not sit right across a smoker(s). Then I am made aware that I am getting second-hand smoke constantly. Thirdly, it forces me to think and rant in my mind about why this puts me in a not-so-great-mood. I am certainly used to it by this point but my disdain for it hasn’t lessened.

My Freedom

On January 1st, 2007, HK will begin to enforce (it’s to be seen how strict it’ll actually be enforced) a set of laws that’d prevent pretty much smoking anywhere but within privacy of your own home. I think it’s absolutely fantastic that they are doing this (especially more so if it’s really enforced). I for one am always interested in protecting people’s liberties. But on this count, I’ll be eating my breakfast, sipping my coffee with the rest of us, and enjoying our freedom from a smoke-filled morning.

The word telos means either “purpose” or “end” in Greek. Teleogical, then, means something to the effect of “showing evidence of design or purpose“.[1] It’s not a word you’d often see or hear everyday. Actually, it’s probably in the realm of philosophy and theology that the word is most often used.

Just about most people i know, have met, seem to have a purpose. They set very clear goals for themselves and they strive to achieve it. (Now of course, what that actually entails and means, is an entirely different matter.) That clarity certainly brings with it a host of many comforts. One would feel safe in the knowledge that they are, at the very least, doing something, or trying to. Regardless, it’s usually not for naught. It’s something that is usually easily identifiable and recognizable by others. It’s fun to be mystified once in a while but not as an habit. Not too hard to see the appeal there. Why get lost in a maze when you can join in a marathon with others you can touch, smell, hear, and chat with?

During my early serious, intellectual years, I was like others very much interested in the question (was I interested in the answer at all?) of “What’s the purpose of life?” Aristotle offers us the idea of actualization of one’s potentials, in the moral and political realms; and so do Confucius who say one must strive to be “a sage” ethically, socially, and politically. Countless others offer their own answers (their own versions of the question, even!)

Throughout all these years, I have come to appreciate the question and the contemplative endeavor; nevertheless, it’s been all but forgotten, which is only sensible. The question for you, my reader, is why bring all this up, right here and right now in this blog entry at 8:57 in the morning on a Monday, one not vastly unlike many other.

The ongoing worry for me is that in the guise of sincere acknowledgment, I have instead become cynical and not merely in human nature but also in general the concepts of fate, purpose, goals, and perhaps even, meaning in itself. The truly cynical one would say that I have finally grown up. It’s part of our being, and our living with the absurdity that we are the bastard child of having reason and being animal.

This is a Pandora’s box I have merely peeked in, and one I definitely have no intention of opening at this very moment, ha!

What’s your purpose today?

[1] http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/teleological