Fourth Form of Madness

I blame it on the moon but all I have wanted to do this weekend is chill out and stay in my pjs and read and watch films 🙂  Okay so that pretty much is me most weekends but this weekend I felt it more than others.  Admittedly I did manage to get out of bed to go to yoga both on Saturday and Sunday then it was pretty much home to my pjs, books, with electric blanket on 3 and my constant bed companions, my dog and cat, at my feet.  Total bliss, though my resemblance to Proust is getting troubling!

I am now in the closing stages of my degree and am doing a unit I have wanted to do right from the start – Film and philosophy.  Prior to philosophy and yoga, I loved film.  I have always loved how a film can transport you into another world for an hour or so and suspend you in an alternative reality where you can ‘experience’ the experiences of others, walk in someone else’s shoes so to speak.  This can promote self-reflection and a chance to question what you believe about the world.  This self-reflection is so attractive about both philosophy and yoga, no matter if it is a joyful or painful discovery (though if I am to be really truthful – bring on the joy, those painful discoveries really do suck however much they maybe required).

Over the years I have been on the receiving end on numerous occasions of  people’s opinions that philosophy is a waste of time and an activity for only those that have the time and money to sit back in a big armchair and think up arguments to stifle or stump anybody else.  I have never thought as philosophy as this (though it is true I have thought that other philosophers may think as philosophy as this usually when I am stuck in argument about determinism and quoting the Matrix just isn’t cutting it with them).  To me everyone is a philosopher and we are all prompted to be one when something in our life causes us to reflect on an aspect of ourselves and our existence.  In other words, philosophy is in the doing not the theory, not the words.  You can read about philosophy as much as you like but if you never pause to reflect on your reasons for doing something, to still the waters of the social construction of yourself and take a really good look, then you maybe a lover of theory but not a lover of wisdom.  And wisdom is the ultimate love and love the ultimate wisdom.

I believe, it is through this self-reflection, whether of your own experiences or the experiences of others, that cultivates empathy and compassion to flow to all other beings.  In a world where individualism is increasingly promoted and the often misquote war cry of “it’s survival of the fittest” seems to be an increasing popular mantra, anything that promotes unity and it’s extension, community, is a gift to be cherished and more importantly practiced.  And by community,  I do not mean localised community, but the globalised kind.   To reflect is to understand our connection to all and everyone that makes us what we are and gives us the jewels to become what we can be.  To reflect is to participate in living, actively not passively.