Sunday, August 8, 2010

Neither Church or State

I believe that neither Church or State should have authority, or pre-eminence over the individual and his life choices.

Individuals need to have the liberty to find their own way in the world, and how they "fit". But, because the individual is not alone in the world, the State is necessary. Government should seek to order society so that the individual can have liberty to define his own life. Government creates the laws to uphold the rights of individual liberty, so that justice can be for "all". A just society can be no less.

Liberty must be the foremost value is one values a free society, where individuals are valued in their own right. Otherwise, some other value is more important, such as God or society, itself. This is when authoritarianism whether the State, or Spiritual "Elders" are Rulers and dictators over the individual conscience. These kinds of governments demand obedience of individual consciences to their brand or form of "virtue", whether it be for the poor, the destitute, or dis-enfranchised. And these social "concerns" are useful for the empowered class to "use" other individuals in sevitude to their 'agenda'.

All individuals will not find that their agenda will be implemented, but laws should protect the rights of others, so that Rulers will not become oppressors, in the name of their agenda. We are, after all, a Representative Republic.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

RE-Review on "Inception"

I have to continue my analysis of "Inception", because of what I left out. The "anti-realist" view of "Inception" is a "thought experiment". Ideas breed thoughts that "bloom" in the mind. And my mind "blooms" many thoughts :)!

The main character's father had been the initiator of the "anti-realist" position to his son. But, he had found that his son had become "stuck" over the guilt and responsibility of his wife's mental instability and resulting suicide. The father pleaded for his son to leave "this world", a created one, and come to the "real world" where sanity could be restored. When the effort failed, the father introduced his son to a bright and promising student. This student was to continue the "tradition" of "creating worlds"....

The student soon became aware that there was a hinderance on the part of her mentor. The teacher was stuck and she sought to find out what had hindered him in his ability to "enter" the world of the other without interference of his own "baggage". The student's own journey could not be continued without letting the teacher go, as he had to work through his own issues. The impact on the real world of "his creation" could not be recognized or acknowledged, as he became obessessed with getting back to his children and the real world that they lived in. His fear of separation from them had led him to his bondage and he punished himself by creating the prison of his own mind. 

This is the real world of "self punitive" behavior when one has not forgiven oneself for past indiscretions. Acknowledgment of one's limitations and failures is part of maturing and coming to terms with reality, which is what the "old man" represented in the end.

Humans have a great capacity to deny their "real worlds" for the "worlds" they create and inhabit. These "worlds" are walls of prisions that won't surrender their victims until the victim takes the responsibility without demanding perfection of himself. The "ideal" hinders growth, liberty and an ability to embrace life with its complexity, joys, sorrows, fears, hopes and dreams. These realities are what life is made of and for. Without entering life, there is no hope for entering another's life, not really, because life will always be about accomplishment, success, or perfection which hinders the ability to see, understand and grasp the real world of another life.

Friday, August 6, 2010

"Inception"'s "Perception"....

Tonight, we went to see "Inception", a post-modern, anti-realist movie that had several "messages for me" :). These messages were on human development, human experience, and human memory. The characters as "social constructionists" were not beyond their own human limitations, or ability to remove themselves from thier own pasts, fears, and ability to cope with human experience. These 'leaders' found out that their experiment had real consequences in a real world which did not necessarily result in "good outcomes". Humans are, after all, a subject of their environment, and not objective of it.

On the level of human development, the main character has a hard time removing himself from the past guilt and responsibility of exposing his wife to ideas that seeded in her paranoia and real mental illness. Her "leap of faith" sent her to her death and was based on irrationality and not the real world of experience. His "ideal" was his wife's hope of growing old together, which had been dashed upon the reality of  his wife's real and actual suicide. It was not just, the "symbolic". From that time on, his wife's memory and hope haunted him and prevented him from entering another's reality. He kept projecting his own guilt and anxiety into another's experience. "Faith" in experience was challenged. His life had been defined by faith in the ideal. And 
"the" ideal always remained a hope, but never a reality.

The main character grew to know that the ideal world of "growing old together" or "living happily ever after" was after all a childish hope. He had coped with his dis-illusionment with 'splitting his personality'. In the end, the "wise old man "was re-united with his "youth" of adventure. This time, "the leap of faith", was not based on irrationality, but a realization of the paradox of reality and the real world of human experience. The main character had grown intellectually to embrace a rationale of hope, recognizing the limitations of the choice to commit to a certain viewpoint.

Another character found that his fear of never attaining his father's acceptance, because he kept pursuing the image he imagined his father had for him, was a baseless fear. His 'ideal" was based on a misconception of his father's real intent. He rejected what he really had needed and wanted all along; acceptance, and hope of realizing his own person. He came to find out that his father had saved his childish "toy" and his father had made provision in his last will and testament for accomplishing his hope of attaining his own ends. He was freed from his fear of never measuring up.

The "social constructors" became aware of how their creation and distortion of other "realities" had real consequences in a real world, another's world. This is where the reality of human experience cannot make judgments, or rationalization about another's life, as an "ideal". There is only human experience, human hope and human choice, which makes for a human reality.

I think the movie was a little less developed than "The Matrix", in my personal opinion, but that might have been a conscious decision on the producer/writer's part, as part of the dis-jointed post-modern story about human reality.....

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Review of "Dinner With the Smucks"

I recently went to see "Dinner With the Smucks" and liked the message, but didn't care for some of the comedy. The message was a familiar one; we all have areas to grow and acknowledge, no matter our station in life.

The story line was of an ambitious young businessman, who set his goal to move up the corporate ladder. But, for him to move up the corporate ladder, he had to attend a dinner and bring a "smuck" (idiot). The biggest "idiot" would win a prize and the corporation would grant the promotion to the one that could "lay one over" on another human being.

In the end, the young and ambitious man learned a human lesson that no one is above growing and acknowledgment of human limitations, and human dignity. We are all human, after all. And the "idiot" learned that he could overcome the obstacles in his life if he only believed in himself.

It reminded me of the recent play I saw, "Fat Pig". Helen understood, knew and accepted her limitatons/liabilities. But, she also learned, when she lost at love, that those liabilities are still liabilities in the real business world, where image is everything. Success in both "Fat Pig" and "Dinner With the Smucks" was defined differently than "real world politics", where lying, denial, competition, vanity, and vain-glory win the honors.