Personal Entry #1: Would We Believe A Perfect World

   "Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world where none suffered, where everyone would be happy? It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed that we lacked the programming language to describe your "perfect world". But I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering. So, the perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from."

    The above quote is from the Matrix. The original first movie, not the dumb second and third ones. This quote illustrates an interesting point. If one day we woke up and for the entire day everything went perfectly. There was no traffic. You weren't tired. You didn't have to work for anything. Would you even believe you were really awake? I would guess that we have become so atuned to the suffering around us that if it were gone, something would feel off.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Heidegger (I Guess)

In "The Origin of the Work of Art," Martin Heidegger characterizes the essence of art as work which contributes to the unconcealment ( aletheia ) of reality, i.e. the literal (or perhaps literary, given his emphasis on poetry) construction of truth. This philosophy/ontology seems quite compatible with Lewis's bit in "Myth Became Fact," wherein he describes myth as reality. Heidegger describes unconcealing as the existential project of the Dasein, i.e. the human being, and artistic manifestation of the aesthetic impulse is a prime way of doing this: realizing and bringing-forth qualities of Being, facilitating the dialectical relationship between world and earth. Poetry is a privileged art form for Heidegger, given the profound intertwining of language with the human condition (the Dasein ). "Language is the house of the truth of Being," says Heidegger. Thus, Lewis's proclamation that myth, i.e. narrative, i.e. a particular manifestation of poetic a...
Read more

"Myth Became Fact" and the Chronicles of Narnia

In the brief essay “Myth Became Fact” from his collection God in the Dock, C. S. Lewis described myth or narrative as the “isthmus” that connects the abstract realm of thoughts and ideas with the concrete world of experience. It is the mythic aspect of Christianity, therefore, which is potentially the most vital element of the tradition, given its proximity to the Truth. Myth allows us the closest thing to actual tangible encounter which we can experience while still allowing for contemplation in the ideal/abstract. It is fascinating to see this idea played out by Lewis himself through his Chronicles of Narnia, which offer a different, more fairytale-esque myth which nevertheless shares much of its essence/meaning with the Christian narrative. Through the Chronicles, we are treated to much of the substance of the Christian story but served in a childlike packaging (like one of Father Christmas’s gifts, no doubt). In other words, the Narnia narrative arguably communicates much of the ...
Read more

From Narnia to Malacandra

Having finished reading Narnia and started onto the Space Trilogy, I find it very interesting how much more real Lewis’s science fiction world seems to me than the stories of Narnia. Somehow I find it far more easy to believe that there might be a fantastical world where angels dwell on Mars than there’s an equally fantastical world that might be accessed from various closets, caves, and paintings where animals can speak. Partially, I think this is because Out of the Silent Planet is narrated in such a manner that it’s trying to relay incredulous facts in the form of fiction to an understandably skeptic viewer, while Narnia has the feel of a story about it. And while that is not to cast doubt upon the truth that stories carry, it must be admitted that stories are true in different ways than what might be commonly regarded as facts are true. Although some of you may disagree with me on that. Come to think of it, I cannot help but wonder if the way the events of Ransom’s journey to M...
Read more