He vivido toda mi vida con la subestimación de mis gustos: Anime, Comics, Juegos de Estrategia, Juegos de Rol, Ciencia ficción, Monty Python, etc. El sostener estos gustos frente a personas que no han tenido contacto, o un contacto medianamente informado con alguno de ellos normalmente lleva a algún tipo de menosprecio o rechazo.
No soy sólo yo, explicar por qué el jugar rol permite entender la dinámica de una sesión de entrevista de enfoque; o el entender la construcción de la trama de una historia; el explicar como un juego de estrategia te permite administrar recursos y resolver problemas abstractos; o cómo poco a poco los escritores de comics se van convirtiendo en los guionistas de moda, o cómo los guionistas de moda de convierten en escritores de comics no es fácil para nadie de mis conocidos.
La vida por una u otra razón no me ha permitido practicar artes marciales: tiempo, salud o disponibilidad me han impedido esta práctica. Lo que si he podido es entender la filosofía detrás de estilos como el Shaolin Wu Shu, Tai Chi Cuan, Pa Kua Chang, Pa Chi, Chi Gong y muchas otras. El arquetipo (¿estereotipo?) del guerrero erudito siempre me ha llamado la atención ya que combina acción y pensamiento de una manera que la cultura occidental no ha podido nunca entender (y he allí la fascinación con el "superhéroe", por ejemplo).
El cine de Artes Marciales chino (o mas bien, de Honk Kong, aunque entiendo que ha habido una exitosa vuelta a tierra firme) en sus mejores películas, ya que obviamente existe todo tipo de calidad en esta industria, muestra exactamente este arquetipo en las acciones de sus protagonistas. Usualmente estudiantes redimidos son quienes lideran estas historias que tratan de demostrar la verdadera naturaleza de las artes marciales.
Esta noche tuve el placer de ver "Erase una vez en China" con Jet Li actuando en el papel de Wong Fei Hung, un héroe histórico popular de la china de Honk Kong, quien era no sólo un maestro de las artes marciales, sino un reconocido médico de la región.
Esta película está ubicada en el período colonial donde americanos, británicos, portugueses y franceses asediaban las murallas; físicas, militares y culturales, de China - Zhongguo - y donde la transculturización era visto (y sigue siendo visto) como un peligro de la pérdida de la identidad cultural propia de la nación.
En este ambiente de descomposición cultural y asedio, la cultura de artes marciales se ve impotente ante la innovación tecnológica del arma de fuego; que hace inútil decenas de años de entrenamiento marcial a cambio de apuntar y halar un gatillo. Este hecho no sólo significa una desventaja militar o material, significa una derrota cultural que poco a poco lleva a la población a la preferencia de los medios "occidentales" a los locales para llevar sus vidas.
Para los no iniciados quien representa el némesis de Wong Fei Hong en esta película no es nada especial, sólo un maestro de las artes marciales que termina vendiendo sus puños y su arte al mejor postor; pero lo grave de este hecho es que el Maestro Yim es practicante del arte marcial Shaolin, arte marcial casi sagrada de china (ver Iron Shirt Kung Fu) que se enseña por monjes sólo en los siete picos. El que este maestro se venda en las calles y se ponga de rodillas a cambio de monedas es un símbolo no sólo habla de un personaje, sino de toda una cultura.
Por otro lado, Wong Fei Hung representa a la Virtud. A través de la película se sacrifica siguiendo los principios de Wu Shu de Honor y Deber tratando de evitar conflictos y como todo héroe recibe bendiciones y ayuda a través de la película.
El clímax de la película es una pelea entre Fei Hung y Yim, este último usando todas las tácticas sucias posibles para ganarle a su oponente. Fei Hung podría hacer lo mismo, pero decide no hacerlo; siguiendo el principio del Wu Shu. Como ven, el verdadero heroísmo de Fei Hung no tiene que ver con la posibilidad o no de ganarle la batalla a su oponente (algo que aprende el personaje de Foon durante la película), sino con su adhesión a estos principios que le llevan a usar su Arte por los fines correctos.
Este tipo de decisiones las hacemos todos los días, siempre he pensado que los héroes lo tienen muy fácil ya que existe alguien que crea el marco dentro del cual el héroe puede evaluar cuál es la decisión correcta. La vida real es más difícil, mas gris, sin marco, sin actos ni final de temporada. Pasamos demasiado tiempo tratando de ponerle nombres a los personajes de nuestras vidas.
Por mi parte sigo tomando estas decisiones todos los días, las cuales aunque a veces siendo un poco incomprendido, me permiten destilar de cosas que parecen tan simples como una película de artes marciales, aprendizajes tan importantes como las que he expuesto.
Two roads diverted on a yellow wood,
KX.
03 September, 2006
17 March, 2006
Inspiration from discredited sources: Time and Fate!
The Edge: between Science and Philosophy
Today I remembered, since my play in the garden of Gold losses my mind in petty fights, that there's a place I'd love to be, somewhere where Causality meets the Human mind, and where Singularity is the closest thing to God.
Maybe is not really sane to keep literature on Foucault, Jung and Hawkings' Astrophysics in the nightstand. Maybe mixing and shuffling like an academic Chinese dish is not really a good way to draw conclusions on the meaning and fate of the Universe, but I can't help it, its just my way of doing it.
You see, the last edition of Mage: the Awakening (a dull remake of the mind-blowing Mage: the Ascension) has these little things called "Spheres", which describes "areas" of power of the different characters (who, as mages, manipulate reality through magic): Time, Fate, Death (Decay is more Politically Correct), Matter and others make up this "departmentalization" of reality (although very flexible, believe me). But, as I said, this was a dull remake of a great original, these Spheres (ten in total), were grouped in five "Towers" (don't ask), which grouped pairs of spheres.
One of the groups, I was reading lately, was formed by Time and Fate. Why is this so? I asked myself, who are Time and Fate related? Other combinations were more "obvious", like Matter and Death (so scholars say that matter is the static state of energy) or Forces/Prime (the primal force and its manifestation in the mundane world); but Time/Fate made wonder for a while how come these two got together…
Just for a while.
While reading Hawkings chapter on the Uncertainty Principle in "A brief history of time", he talk about something Social Scientists have know for a long time: the mere observation affects the object of study and changes its behavior, called it quanta (the energy of light shone on particles changes their position) or a focus group, just stating a problem changes it from its "natural state" and creates a new, different, situation (I believe Mickey have a better idea on this than me, go ask him :D).
Now, how does this relate to Time and Fate? (And why should we care!?)
Well, the poor Schoedinger's cat is still in the microwave, waiting for radiation to kill him (or not) creating what physics call a "wavelength", a possibility more than a state that shows that the cat is dead and alive at the same time. When we open the microwave the wavelength will collapse and the cat will finally meet his maker (or not!).
Also, I've delved deeply into two other lectures: one is for Jung's "qualitative time". When looking for a scientific proof for his Synchronicity principle (as opposed to the standard deterministic Causality principle), Jung needed to re-define time from the usual absolute-measured quantitative time, to a qualitative version were every moment per se holds a value that only when evaluated in relation to others we could determine whether it was meaningful or not. The second lecture affirmed this idea when dealing with how to interpret tarot cards (Hajo Banzhaf's work is very close to my view on oracles, treating them with respect and as a tool for inner development, not just for cheap trick and personal delusions), when an asker queries when does the card's answer will appear: Banzhaf says that, as the mayor arcane shows; cards, their symbols and their depicted situations and meanings do not evolve in a quantifiable way, your true love won't appear in three days (no matter how many people you cop in the chain letter), but what will happens is that when you deal with the processes interpreted in the drawing of the cards (hopefully having a deep, meaningful, sincere and educated interpretation), then your true love (as an example) may appear and you will be able to accept him/her (like a meaningful coincidence).
Finally, quantitative time is measured by the measuring of the happening of actual physical events that are actually more "reliable" than others, to rephrase it better: "that are not prone to the effects of probability and chaos and that repeat consistently".
Putting this all together, I came up with this (come on! you've already passed the boring part).
Time, is not a measure per se (Kant would kill me for this), is just the measure of the happening of an event or not. Imagine that Schoedinger's cat is a complete Universe, then, with no one to open the microwave, the cat would remain in its wavelength state, and there would be no "time" in this Universe, since no events happen.
Additionally, as the Uncertainty Principle tells us and the theory on singularity points complements (points in space time when all mass and energy, including gravity, converge and where quantum physics play a bigger role than the standard "Einstenian" ones), the "time" in this Universe would be ruled by Chance ( a.k.a. Mage's Fate Sphere), since unless the wavelength is collapsed (until the door is opened), there's only a chance of the cat being dead or alive, and a dual state of being of alive/dead.
So, as every event in the actual universe is, in some level, ruled by Chance (call it Entropy, Chaos or Fate) the relationship between Mage's spheres of Time and Fate are one of source/manifestation, were Time is the measure (the manifestation) of Fate (or how the Universe changes).
On a final note, the fact that atomic clocks are so popular is that the chance of the measured event to vary is minimal, but not inexistent...!
Go ahead, have fun playing with the Universe,
KX.
P.D.: Why do you care? don't ask me, you were the one how kept reading!
Today I remembered, since my play in the garden of Gold losses my mind in petty fights, that there's a place I'd love to be, somewhere where Causality meets the Human mind, and where Singularity is the closest thing to God.
Maybe is not really sane to keep literature on Foucault, Jung and Hawkings' Astrophysics in the nightstand. Maybe mixing and shuffling like an academic Chinese dish is not really a good way to draw conclusions on the meaning and fate of the Universe, but I can't help it, its just my way of doing it.
You see, the last edition of Mage: the Awakening (a dull remake of the mind-blowing Mage: the Ascension) has these little things called "Spheres", which describes "areas" of power of the different characters (who, as mages, manipulate reality through magic): Time, Fate, Death (Decay is more Politically Correct), Matter and others make up this "departmentalization" of reality (although very flexible, believe me). But, as I said, this was a dull remake of a great original, these Spheres (ten in total), were grouped in five "Towers" (don't ask), which grouped pairs of spheres.
One of the groups, I was reading lately, was formed by Time and Fate. Why is this so? I asked myself, who are Time and Fate related? Other combinations were more "obvious", like Matter and Death (so scholars say that matter is the static state of energy) or Forces/Prime (the primal force and its manifestation in the mundane world); but Time/Fate made wonder for a while how come these two got together…
Just for a while.
While reading Hawkings chapter on the Uncertainty Principle in "A brief history of time", he talk about something Social Scientists have know for a long time: the mere observation affects the object of study and changes its behavior, called it quanta (the energy of light shone on particles changes their position) or a focus group, just stating a problem changes it from its "natural state" and creates a new, different, situation (I believe Mickey have a better idea on this than me, go ask him :D).
Now, how does this relate to Time and Fate? (And why should we care!?)
Well, the poor Schoedinger's cat is still in the microwave, waiting for radiation to kill him (or not) creating what physics call a "wavelength", a possibility more than a state that shows that the cat is dead and alive at the same time. When we open the microwave the wavelength will collapse and the cat will finally meet his maker (or not!).
Also, I've delved deeply into two other lectures: one is for Jung's "qualitative time". When looking for a scientific proof for his Synchronicity principle (as opposed to the standard deterministic Causality principle), Jung needed to re-define time from the usual absolute-measured quantitative time, to a qualitative version were every moment per se holds a value that only when evaluated in relation to others we could determine whether it was meaningful or not. The second lecture affirmed this idea when dealing with how to interpret tarot cards (Hajo Banzhaf's work is very close to my view on oracles, treating them with respect and as a tool for inner development, not just for cheap trick and personal delusions), when an asker queries when does the card's answer will appear: Banzhaf says that, as the mayor arcane shows; cards, their symbols and their depicted situations and meanings do not evolve in a quantifiable way, your true love won't appear in three days (no matter how many people you cop in the chain letter), but what will happens is that when you deal with the processes interpreted in the drawing of the cards (hopefully having a deep, meaningful, sincere and educated interpretation), then your true love (as an example) may appear and you will be able to accept him/her (like a meaningful coincidence).
Finally, quantitative time is measured by the measuring of the happening of actual physical events that are actually more "reliable" than others, to rephrase it better: "that are not prone to the effects of probability and chaos and that repeat consistently".
Putting this all together, I came up with this (come on! you've already passed the boring part).
Time, is not a measure per se (Kant would kill me for this), is just the measure of the happening of an event or not. Imagine that Schoedinger's cat is a complete Universe, then, with no one to open the microwave, the cat would remain in its wavelength state, and there would be no "time" in this Universe, since no events happen.
Additionally, as the Uncertainty Principle tells us and the theory on singularity points complements (points in space time when all mass and energy, including gravity, converge and where quantum physics play a bigger role than the standard "Einstenian" ones), the "time" in this Universe would be ruled by Chance ( a.k.a. Mage's Fate Sphere), since unless the wavelength is collapsed (until the door is opened), there's only a chance of the cat being dead or alive, and a dual state of being of alive/dead.
So, as every event in the actual universe is, in some level, ruled by Chance (call it Entropy, Chaos or Fate) the relationship between Mage's spheres of Time and Fate are one of source/manifestation, were Time is the measure (the manifestation) of Fate (or how the Universe changes).
On a final note, the fact that atomic clocks are so popular is that the chance of the measured event to vary is minimal, but not inexistent...!
Go ahead, have fun playing with the Universe,
KX.
P.D.: Why do you care? don't ask me, you were the one how kept reading!
23 February, 2006
Plot Interpretation: a hobby for all ages
While waiting to my office's Xp installation to be repaired I'd like to talk you about a little hobby I've developed recently. It has been called "complicated" but in fact is not so, its very simple but it does require a little work.
Recently, I've been unable to watch a movie without interpreting its plot using Jung's individuation process as framework. You see, the Hero's Journey, the Alchemist's work and many other stories are used by Jung (and Campbell, and many professional writers such as George Lucas) to explain psychological processes, in fact, his great work was to link the stories the civilization has used to explain its origins and current situation with the workings of the human psyche and develop a frame from where it can develop into and individual (ergo, individuation).
Actually, Lucas original trilogy (episodes IV to VI) is based on the Hero's Journey, that's one of the reasons you see a picture of Luke in the cover of Campbell's "Hero of a Thousand Faces". ;)
Now, in order to understand the framework, we need to define (in very simple terms) the different "parts" of the psyche under Jung's analytical psychology:
- The Self: the rational part of the Self. The mask we show everyday. It can be Introverted or Extroverted and its form out of four functions.
- The Shadow: the dark part of the self, all that you are NOT. Usually thought of being formed out of only the bad things, it also encompasses all the good things that the Self has not developed.
- The functions: Thought, Intuition, Feeling and Sensing. These four functions are arranged in the psyche in the following way:
- Primary Function: this one rules the Self and determines its main behaviour.
- Auxiliary Functions: Those that "support" the Primary Function, usually underdeveloped but conscious.
- Fourth Function: The undeveloped function, this acts from the unconscious and usually remains hidden from the Self.
- The Anima/Animus: This unifying (individuating) symbol functions as the agent of individuation, this looks to join both Self and Shadow, and develop the Fourth function in psyche. the symbol is usually represented as a Woman for Men (Anima) and as a Man for Women (Animus).
Now, the examples.
To put this in use, I'm going to use a good example, a bad one and a unusual one.
The good example:
40 year-old virgin is a good example of this framework, actually, I believe the author just ripped off Campbell's work or a "guide to write scripts" and added some jokes. Here's why:
The main character is a guy that has a problem he looks to solve (getting laid); he, as the hero, tries to redeem himself from this "abnormally" by going into a journey of meeting women. Now, there are two ways of looking at main characters, the first one being that they represent the Self and are surrounded by its functions, shadow and anima (the most common), the second one is when the main character is simultaneously the Self and the primary function (already integrated into the psyche). In this case, the main character represents only the Self, which accompanied by his functions: Senses (the African American guy, Primary), Feelings (the guy who've been recently dumped, auxiliary) and Intuition (the bearded guy, auxiliary). Finally, it's fourth function is Thought, which is barely represented by the Hindu and the owner of the shop, who as a group, ask the guy to "think" about the problem (getting laid) and "solve" it.
During the movie, each function-friend takes its turn in helping the virgin, going from material-sense initiatives (chest depilation, going to a bar, etc), through emotion-driven ones (speed dating and finding your ex) and wit-based ones (hitting at the bookstore girl). With the various complications, each function is integrated into the self: the African American guy find loves and stability with his wife through a child (he's was a serial cheater), the dumped guy finds his ex and deals with it (and makes the main character remember his own failings) and the witty guy acknowledges that his ways are wrong (as far as I remember right now).
Finally, anima presents itself in the form of the girl with the shop next door, who sells stuff on eBay. Throughout the movie the goal is to sleep with her, something accomplished after he resolves its issues with his Sense function (it's material side, the selling of his action figure collection) and integrates its (possibly, have to see it again) shadow in the form of the daughter of the woman character.
That was easy, things get complicated with the bad example.
Dodgeball is a perfect example of a plot that explicitly breaks this framework. But first of all, lets state that the ending you see on the theaters, where the average guys win, is not the originally intended one, instead, the average guys loose and Ben Stiller’s character laughs at them (see DVD version).
Seen from this perspective, this story can be interpreted in this way:
- Main character: Vaughn's character.
- Auxiliary functions: the mild-mannered African American, the angry guy and the geek; finally, there's the pirate.
- Fourth function: the nerdy male-cheerleader guy.
- Anima: the lawyer.
- Shadow: Ben Stiller's character and his posse.
- Psychopomp: Old Dogeball hero
The process here works as follows: Each member starts developing their skills on the dodgeball game (getting angry, dodging monkey wrenches, etc; while resolving their conflicts (marriage, girlfriends). We even get to see a new symbol, the psychopomp, who lead the characters' developments through the plot.
Finally, the plot ends in defeat. Although the fourth function in integrated (its plot is resolved) the shadow takes over the Self in the last moment (see Tarot Arcana: the Moon). Also, the pirate ends up missing, showing up latter as a "normal" person (a crappy character development), and the characters loose their axis mundi, their gym. Maybe is just that the plot sucks, maybe is just the representation of the failure to complete the individuation process, anyway, this is a bad example.
The unusual one.
As I already written before, scary movies, under this “method”, scary movies depict psyches with faulty functions like killers, psychopaths, esquizos, and other mental illnesses. In the case of the new version of the “Amityville Horror”, the story moves from the original supernatural horror show to the family integration process. The father is slowly possessed by his shadow (a violent, cold killer) and only through the integration of the rest of his functions (his wife, and his two kids, being himself the Self and primary function) through the weird workings of his anima (the ghost of the girl) they finally escape the house through the river (Neka, water as a symbol of the unconscious) althogether.
To end, I hope this helps a little when you read my “reviews” and allows you to understand better different plots, since as any intellectual activity, its created with the whole psyche.
KX.
Recently, I've been unable to watch a movie without interpreting its plot using Jung's individuation process as framework. You see, the Hero's Journey, the Alchemist's work and many other stories are used by Jung (and Campbell, and many professional writers such as George Lucas) to explain psychological processes, in fact, his great work was to link the stories the civilization has used to explain its origins and current situation with the workings of the human psyche and develop a frame from where it can develop into and individual (ergo, individuation).
Actually, Lucas original trilogy (episodes IV to VI) is based on the Hero's Journey, that's one of the reasons you see a picture of Luke in the cover of Campbell's "Hero of a Thousand Faces". ;)
Now, in order to understand the framework, we need to define (in very simple terms) the different "parts" of the psyche under Jung's analytical psychology:
- The Self: the rational part of the Self. The mask we show everyday. It can be Introverted or Extroverted and its form out of four functions.
- The Shadow: the dark part of the self, all that you are NOT. Usually thought of being formed out of only the bad things, it also encompasses all the good things that the Self has not developed.
- The functions: Thought, Intuition, Feeling and Sensing. These four functions are arranged in the psyche in the following way:
- Primary Function: this one rules the Self and determines its main behaviour.
- Auxiliary Functions: Those that "support" the Primary Function, usually underdeveloped but conscious.
- Fourth Function: The undeveloped function, this acts from the unconscious and usually remains hidden from the Self.
- The Anima/Animus: This unifying (individuating) symbol functions as the agent of individuation, this looks to join both Self and Shadow, and develop the Fourth function in psyche. the symbol is usually represented as a Woman for Men (Anima) and as a Man for Women (Animus).
Now, the examples.
To put this in use, I'm going to use a good example, a bad one and a unusual one.
The good example:
40 year-old virgin is a good example of this framework, actually, I believe the author just ripped off Campbell's work or a "guide to write scripts" and added some jokes. Here's why:
The main character is a guy that has a problem he looks to solve (getting laid); he, as the hero, tries to redeem himself from this "abnormally" by going into a journey of meeting women. Now, there are two ways of looking at main characters, the first one being that they represent the Self and are surrounded by its functions, shadow and anima (the most common), the second one is when the main character is simultaneously the Self and the primary function (already integrated into the psyche). In this case, the main character represents only the Self, which accompanied by his functions: Senses (the African American guy, Primary), Feelings (the guy who've been recently dumped, auxiliary) and Intuition (the bearded guy, auxiliary). Finally, it's fourth function is Thought, which is barely represented by the Hindu and the owner of the shop, who as a group, ask the guy to "think" about the problem (getting laid) and "solve" it.
During the movie, each function-friend takes its turn in helping the virgin, going from material-sense initiatives (chest depilation, going to a bar, etc), through emotion-driven ones (speed dating and finding your ex) and wit-based ones (hitting at the bookstore girl). With the various complications, each function is integrated into the self: the African American guy find loves and stability with his wife through a child (he's was a serial cheater), the dumped guy finds his ex and deals with it (and makes the main character remember his own failings) and the witty guy acknowledges that his ways are wrong (as far as I remember right now).
Finally, anima presents itself in the form of the girl with the shop next door, who sells stuff on eBay. Throughout the movie the goal is to sleep with her, something accomplished after he resolves its issues with his Sense function (it's material side, the selling of his action figure collection) and integrates its (possibly, have to see it again) shadow in the form of the daughter of the woman character.
That was easy, things get complicated with the bad example.
Dodgeball is a perfect example of a plot that explicitly breaks this framework. But first of all, lets state that the ending you see on the theaters, where the average guys win, is not the originally intended one, instead, the average guys loose and Ben Stiller’s character laughs at them (see DVD version).
Seen from this perspective, this story can be interpreted in this way:
- Main character: Vaughn's character.
- Auxiliary functions: the mild-mannered African American, the angry guy and the geek; finally, there's the pirate.
- Fourth function: the nerdy male-cheerleader guy.
- Anima: the lawyer.
- Shadow: Ben Stiller's character and his posse.
- Psychopomp: Old Dogeball hero
The process here works as follows: Each member starts developing their skills on the dodgeball game (getting angry, dodging monkey wrenches, etc; while resolving their conflicts (marriage, girlfriends). We even get to see a new symbol, the psychopomp, who lead the characters' developments through the plot.
Finally, the plot ends in defeat. Although the fourth function in integrated (its plot is resolved) the shadow takes over the Self in the last moment (see Tarot Arcana: the Moon). Also, the pirate ends up missing, showing up latter as a "normal" person (a crappy character development), and the characters loose their axis mundi, their gym. Maybe is just that the plot sucks, maybe is just the representation of the failure to complete the individuation process, anyway, this is a bad example.
The unusual one.
As I already written before, scary movies, under this “method”, scary movies depict psyches with faulty functions like killers, psychopaths, esquizos, and other mental illnesses. In the case of the new version of the “Amityville Horror”, the story moves from the original supernatural horror show to the family integration process. The father is slowly possessed by his shadow (a violent, cold killer) and only through the integration of the rest of his functions (his wife, and his two kids, being himself the Self and primary function) through the weird workings of his anima (the ghost of the girl) they finally escape the house through the river (Neka, water as a symbol of the unconscious) althogether.
To end, I hope this helps a little when you read my “reviews” and allows you to understand better different plots, since as any intellectual activity, its created with the whole psyche.
KX.
24 January, 2006
Ser, estar y parecer: una sarta de estereotipos y sandeces sobre la Felicidad
El día de hoy una conmoción llenó el piso de mi oficina, una compañera de trabajo, luego de al parecer mucho esfuerzo, se casaba.
Luego de una serie de gritos, saltos y demostraciones de afecto dignas de una neurótica freudiana (no que halla nada malo con eso), finalmente conocimos el augurioso hecho que llevó al grupo mas cercano en el que encontraba a toda una discusión muy seria, enfocada, debatida y totalmente llena de vacuidad, estereotipos, generalizaciones y, finalmente, sandeces; sobre la condición matrimonial, quien “debería” ser mas feliz sobre dicho hecho y como esta felicidad debería, o no, ser expresada.
Este hecho no debió haberme llamado la atención como lo hizo dado que mi oficina parece el final de “Abigail”, lo que falta es que alguien consiga a su verdadera madre, conozcamos que alguien le está pasando información a la competencia (revelando al “malo” de la novela) y que yo consiga novia tres minutos antes del cierre del año fiscal actual. Pero, habiendo recientemente terminado de leer el libro “La Inteligencia Fracasada” del filósofo español Marina, me alejé de la celebración y las demostraciones del anillo para pensar un poco en algo que me molestaba desde hace un tiempo.
Marina expone en el libro antes mencionado una teoría que me chocó desde el comienzo, su definición de inteligencia mezcla la percepción, el análisis y la intuición en un solo paquete (muy poco Jungiano por cierto), al final intenta hacer una conclusión ética sobre el uso de la inteligencia en los marcos públicos y privados llamando sabiduría al uso correcta de esta. Todo esto atado a una concepción de felicidad que aunque cita a Kafka y su concepción de atormentada felicidad, mantiene una visión absoluta del término con la que estoy en desacuerdo.
Las frases “Soy Feliz”, y “Logré la felicidad” denotan una condición, mutable o no, que se logra al checar como lista de cotejo una serie de eventos dictados usualmente de afuera. Como el “Feliz por siempre” de los cuentos, la felicidad definida de esta manera se basa en el mantenimiento y/o sucesión de estos eventos que “proveen” la felicidad. Esta felicidad, una vez alcanzada, es absoluta, no existe otra condición distinta a esta mientras se “es” feliz, lo que impide cualquier otro estado; es como ganarse una ración de por vida de Prozac.
Con el poco Kant que conozco, sé que nada puede escaparse de la dualidad existencia - no existencia, por lo que “ser” feliz es una falacia que sólo puede reconciliarse con el término relativo de “estar” feliz. El “estar” feliz abre campo para la mutabilidad de la condición humana, el sano flujo de un estado emocional a otro y, mas importante aún, la autoconciencia del significado de la felicidad que conlleva necesariamente a la autodefinición del término (la lista de objetivos, expectativas y planes propios) y, finalmente, la autorrealización.
Finalmente, volviendo a la situación inicial, no conozco las circunstancias bajo la que se dio dicho hecho, sólo espero que la lleve a estar feliz, y no a ser feliz para que, cuando se acabe el Prozac, no termine “pareciendo” feliz.
Hagan bien y no miren a quien,
KX.
Luego de una serie de gritos, saltos y demostraciones de afecto dignas de una neurótica freudiana (no que halla nada malo con eso), finalmente conocimos el augurioso hecho que llevó al grupo mas cercano en el que encontraba a toda una discusión muy seria, enfocada, debatida y totalmente llena de vacuidad, estereotipos, generalizaciones y, finalmente, sandeces; sobre la condición matrimonial, quien “debería” ser mas feliz sobre dicho hecho y como esta felicidad debería, o no, ser expresada.
Este hecho no debió haberme llamado la atención como lo hizo dado que mi oficina parece el final de “Abigail”, lo que falta es que alguien consiga a su verdadera madre, conozcamos que alguien le está pasando información a la competencia (revelando al “malo” de la novela) y que yo consiga novia tres minutos antes del cierre del año fiscal actual. Pero, habiendo recientemente terminado de leer el libro “La Inteligencia Fracasada” del filósofo español Marina, me alejé de la celebración y las demostraciones del anillo para pensar un poco en algo que me molestaba desde hace un tiempo.
Marina expone en el libro antes mencionado una teoría que me chocó desde el comienzo, su definición de inteligencia mezcla la percepción, el análisis y la intuición en un solo paquete (muy poco Jungiano por cierto), al final intenta hacer una conclusión ética sobre el uso de la inteligencia en los marcos públicos y privados llamando sabiduría al uso correcta de esta. Todo esto atado a una concepción de felicidad que aunque cita a Kafka y su concepción de atormentada felicidad, mantiene una visión absoluta del término con la que estoy en desacuerdo.
Las frases “Soy Feliz”, y “Logré la felicidad” denotan una condición, mutable o no, que se logra al checar como lista de cotejo una serie de eventos dictados usualmente de afuera. Como el “Feliz por siempre” de los cuentos, la felicidad definida de esta manera se basa en el mantenimiento y/o sucesión de estos eventos que “proveen” la felicidad. Esta felicidad, una vez alcanzada, es absoluta, no existe otra condición distinta a esta mientras se “es” feliz, lo que impide cualquier otro estado; es como ganarse una ración de por vida de Prozac.
Con el poco Kant que conozco, sé que nada puede escaparse de la dualidad existencia - no existencia, por lo que “ser” feliz es una falacia que sólo puede reconciliarse con el término relativo de “estar” feliz. El “estar” feliz abre campo para la mutabilidad de la condición humana, el sano flujo de un estado emocional a otro y, mas importante aún, la autoconciencia del significado de la felicidad que conlleva necesariamente a la autodefinición del término (la lista de objetivos, expectativas y planes propios) y, finalmente, la autorrealización.
Finalmente, volviendo a la situación inicial, no conozco las circunstancias bajo la que se dio dicho hecho, sólo espero que la lleve a estar feliz, y no a ser feliz para que, cuando se acabe el Prozac, no termine “pareciendo” feliz.
Hagan bien y no miren a quien,
KX.
22 January, 2006
Current Mission Statement
"The hero, therefore, is a man or woman who has been able to battle his personal and local historical limitations to the general valid, normally human forms. Such a one's visions, ideas, and inspirations come pristine from the primary springs of human life and thought. Hence they are eloquent, not of the present, disintegrating society and psyche, but of the unquenched source from through which society is reborn. The hero has died as a modern man; but as a eternal man - perfected, unspecific, universal man - he has been reborn. His second solemn task and deed therefore (as Toynbee declares and as all the mythologies of mankind indicate) is to return then to us, transfigured, and teach the lesson he has learned of life renewed."
- Joseph Cambell, "The hero with a thousand faces".
- Joseph Cambell, "The hero with a thousand faces".
03 January, 2006
Gracias por la Luna
Mariana,
Finalmente anoche no pude verla, la visión desde mi balcón es bastante estrecha (literal o metafóricamente :P), y las nubes impidieron cualquier intento posterior de avistamiento Selenita.
A pesar de todo esto tengo tu descripción, la cual es suficiente para mí ya que mas que una imagen, es el sentido de lo que esta noche podía verse en el firmamento. Es raro, se supone que la luna nueva no debería verse, pero parece que le dió un pequeño regalo a lunáticos como nosotros que no perdemos oportunidad de aullarle nuestros sueños y deseos.
Por todo esto, gracias por un lunático comienzo de año,
KX.
Finalmente anoche no pude verla, la visión desde mi balcón es bastante estrecha (literal o metafóricamente :P), y las nubes impidieron cualquier intento posterior de avistamiento Selenita.
A pesar de todo esto tengo tu descripción, la cual es suficiente para mí ya que mas que una imagen, es el sentido de lo que esta noche podía verse en el firmamento. Es raro, se supone que la luna nueva no debería verse, pero parece que le dió un pequeño regalo a lunáticos como nosotros que no perdemos oportunidad de aullarle nuestros sueños y deseos.
Por todo esto, gracias por un lunático comienzo de año,
KX.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)