How do you choose to live your life? My dear friends, by now you know I love road trips. And the film you are about to see, is the road trip of all road trips. Besides truly stunning images, there is a voice-over that is not just talking to you. It is speaking to your heart. And it’s not just somebody speaking, it is the future! It’s real life, expressed in pure poetry. I say this often: give yourself the time. Do yourself a favor and watch this film from A to Z for it will make you feel good. The film was written, filmed and produced by Dan Riordan and his girlfriend Nina while traveling through Chile & Patagonia. They spent 5 weeks exploring this amazing country and this is how they chose to document it. What a life, what a life, what a life. And you too have an amazing life. When you document it, you will see.
I had to watch this film a couple of times to fully understand the depth of it. It’s… kind of profound. The information combined with the images that are thrown at you are impressive and, at least to me, very interesting from a philosophical point of view. The film is, in part, inspired by the ideas explored in David Deutsch’s new book: ‘The beginning of infinity’ and tells the story of how humanity is reinventing the earth and potentially the universe as a whole. The example given concerns the island of Manhattan. To be precise: the topographical shape and the material constitution of the upper surface of Manhattan, as it exists today. It is considered to be much less a matter of geology than it is of culture, science, economics, politics and human psychology. The effects of shaping the earth geological forces were trumped (you might say) by these other forces. Forces that proved themselves, in the fullness of time, physically stronger. Deutsch thinks the same thing must in the long run be true of the universe as a whole. Stuff like gravitation and dark energy are the sorts of things that determine the shape of the cosmos only in its earliest, and most parochial stages. The rest is going to be a matter of our own intentional doing. Wow. More info about the film? Click here.
In Asian philosophy, the concept of yin yang (in the West often referred to as yin and yang) is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. Like night and day, ebb and flow or in the case of this Japanese proverb; vision and action. They need each other, for else they become illusionary forces – either a daydream or a nightmare. Did you notice how in the West ‘yin yang’ is referred to as ‘yin and yang’? Apparently in Asian philosophy there is no need for and in yin (and) yang, meaning: in Asia the yin yang concept is considered as one, while in the West it is perceived as two separate forces, that potentially is one, depending on the presence of the word and.
Golf is a fascinating game: you have no opponent except yourself and only the perfect alignment between body and mind results in the perfect swing. Also, the difference between a great shot on the green and a whoosher off target, is often only a matter of millimeters. That’s because the angle from where you hit the ball, has a major effect on where it will land given the distance the ball is going. A millimeter more to the right or to the left, up or down results in a difference of many meters. Think about that in the context of daily life. A small change may have little effect on today or tomorrow, but over the course of many years it may be the difference between life and death. Starting or quitting smoking is such a change. You can also use this line of thought in reverse: when you completely messed up something (you hit the ball way out of the golf course) it’s likely that by changing only a small detail in your approach, you will get a much better result next time. So whenever you fail, don’t burn yourself down – see what small changes you can make.
Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the worlds greatest composers of all time. He’s certainly my favorite classical hero. Regarded as the master of harmony and counterpoint, Bach excelled not only as a composer, but also as an organist, violist and harpsichordist. About making music he said: “It’s easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself”. I really like looking at things that way. Making anything complicated simple. Like: “It’s easy to run a 100 meters in 9.58 seconds: all you have to do is run really fast”. The Chinese philosopher Confucius said: “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated”. So, here’s a nice ‘simple’ tune from Bach, perfect for a sunday morning. Played on piano by Francesco Tristano, Filmed at Théâtre de l’Atelier, Paris. More Blogotheque? Click here.
You know that situation where you expect an important email from someone but you don’t get it? At first you think the other person is busy, but soon you find yourself making up conspiracy theories. That usually doesn’t help so the next time this happens, keep the following in mind. I found it on Wikipedia and it’s called: ‘Occam’s razor‘, a principle from philosophy and named after William of Ockham, a Franciscan friar who studied logic in the 14th century (yeah, quite a long time ago). The principle says that if the only difference between two explanations is how complex they are, choose the simpler one, for the one that involves the fewest guesses, is probably the right one. Another way of saying it: the more assumptions you have to make, the more unlikely an explanation is. Example: Two trees have fallen down during a windy night. Consider these two possible explanations: A) The wind has blown them down. B) Two meteorites have each taken one tree down, and after that collided and removed any trace of themselves. Even though both explanations are possible, the second explanation needs several assumptions to all be true and is probably the wrong answer. Occam’s razor also often comes up in medicine when there are many explanations for symptoms and the simplest diagnosis usually is the correct one. If a child has a runny nose, they probably have the common cold instead of a rare birth defect. Medical students are often told, “When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras”. That’s if you don’t live in Africa of course.
What is philosophy? Wikipedia says: Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational arguments. The word “philosophy” comes from the Greek φιλοσοφία (philosophia), which literally means “love of wisdom”. Especially when emotions and feelings leave you numb, it’s reason that provides a highly effective framework to regain control. If you like to get a general view on philosophy and it’s history press here. And if you’re up for something stronger, I also found a website called the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. You can browse by topic (e.g. the ‘Philosophy of Sexuality’ or ‘God and Time’) or by philosopher (e.g. Socrates, Descartes, Goethe, Plato etc.). When you ‘love wisdom’, I’m sure this is interesting for you.