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Babies & Kierkegaard

Just last week I attended my sister-in-law's baby shower. She's having a boy & has decided that his name will be Elisha. In the picture is the two of us and I'm holding her belly. As I looked through the pictures from that night, I began to think about what Elisha's life would be like once he is born. What would he look like? What kind of personality will he have? How would his life turn out to be? All these questions went through my head, and as I thought, Kierkegaard's ideas of the tbree stages of life also came to my mind.
Kierkegaard described three stages that everyone goes through in life. The first is the aesthetic stage. In the aesthetic stage, one attempts to fulfill all sensory experiences and pleasures. Elisha would of course pass through this stage for at least his first few years of life as a baby and a toddler. I believe this because all babies seek out to fulfill physical pleasures such as eating, sleeping and pooping. As Elisha grows older, he will probably seek out other self-fulfilling pleasures, without thinking about the consequences that follow.
The second one of Kierkegaard's stages is the ethical stage. In the ethical stage, one follows the rules that coexist in society. In this stage, Elisha will probably come to discover that life is not all about seeking out ones own pleasures, but about living in harmony with whatever society he lives in and contributing to the functioning of his community. 
Kierkegaard's final stage is the religious stage. In this stage, one has complete faith in God. Elisha will most likely finally surrender his life to God, realizing that he is close to death and that he needs the help of a higher supreme being in order to take care of his after life. In the religious stage, Kiekegaard believed that one makes their life worthwhile by embracing their faith in God.
So as I pointed out, baby Elisha will most likely experience all these stages throughout his life, the aesthetic, the ethical and the religious stage. Some stages may last longer than others, but he will have at least a little taste of them all.

The Matrix & Buddhism

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At first glance, watching the movie "The Matrix" in class, it seemed just like any other old action movie. The violence, the romance and the good guy eventually triumphing over the evil one. But after analyzing my notes on the movie, I began to see more into the movie and I discovered that it had a deeper meaning than what I thought. "The Matrix" is movie about a world the is truly controlled by robots who feed off the human race as an energy source. To fool the human race though, the robots have created a "matrix", a computerized dream-like life that keeps humans from discovering the reign of the robots. However, there is a group that has discovered the truth about the matrix, and they have recruited a man named Neo because they believe he is the Chosen One.  "The Matrix" can be compared to the religion of Buddhism in many different ways, but the main idea I want to focus on right now is the idea of the character Morpheus being similar to Buddha.
        Morpheus is the leader of the group that has discovered the truth about the matrix. Although he was not the first one to discover it, the film portrays him as the man in charge of the team that was put together. Morpheus sends out one of the other members of the team, named Trinity, to recruit Neo. When Neo is finally brought to Morpheus, he is offered two options, to take a red pill or to take a blue pill. Morpheus tells Neo that if he takes the blue pill, he will go back to his normal life and remember nothing of what has happened. Then he explains that if Neo wishes to take the red pill, he will uncover the truth. In a sense we can see this in relation to Buddha and how, since he has discovered the path to enlightenment, he has offered the choice of "the red pill or the blue pill" to thousands of people.

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        There are more ways the Morpheus is similar to Buddha. In a sense, Morpheus is the enlightened one in the movie "The Matrix", just as Buddha was the Enlightened One of his time. Buddha left behind his riches and royal life in order to pursue what he believed to be the truth. Although we are not aware of Morpheus' life prior to discovering the matrix, we can see that he made the same decision Buddha made by leaving behind the life he had in exchange for a life he thought to be real. By doing this Morpheus was able to enlighten the rest of the team with the truth about the matrix.
        So as you can see, the movie "The Matrix" is a lot deeper than most suspect when watched nonchalantly. When you take a closer look, you are able to see many connections between the movie and the religion of Buddhism. Among those many connections, we as the viewers are able to observe how similar Morpheus is to Buddha. They are both similar because of how they both discovered paths that were different from the normal path everyone was living at their times, and also because of how they were able to enlighten many people.


       

The Singing Butler (#13)

 One might ask, how could French philosopher John Paul Sartre and a Scottish painter Jack Vetriano have anything in common? Well, believe it or not, one can actually compare Vetriano's painting “The Singing Butler” to Sartre’s idea that death is liberating. In the painting, a couple is found dancing along the seashore, without a care in the world. They are just enjoying their time with each other, regardless of the clouds building up to what seems to be an oncoming storm. These two people have most likely come to terms with the reality that they are in fact going to die one day and they probably will never know when that day is near. So they choose to live a carefree life, accepting that they will not always have the opportunity to do so. We can also observe in the picture that there is a butler and a maid on both sides of the couple, worrying about covering them with their umbrellas from the danger of the coming storm. They clearly are not living the some care free life that the couple is living, and they probably have not accepted the idea that they are going to die some day. This makes them a slave to all their worries.

 If we can all come to terms with John Paul Sartre’s idea that death is liberating, we are all going to be able to lead fulfilling lives, just as the couple in Jack Vettriano’s painting “The Singing Butler”. The realization of death allows for us to be stripped of our worries and focus on more important aspects of life, like accomplishing goals, finding love and seeking whatever it is that makes us happy. The thought of dying puts life more in perspective for us all, which what John Paul Sartre was attempting to do for all of us.

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