Stranger II

A feeling of Guilt, regret lets us know when we have done something wrong. can be found in even the samllest things in life. i strongly regret waiting until the last minute on sunday to write this. i kept reminding myself to do it, but kept getting distracted. so here i am writing to pound out some thoughtful ideas. not cool. not cool. but having a feeling of guilt kinda helps people more forward. it makes progression. making people aware of how they have an effect on a situation and to adjust so they do ot make the same mistake. in my case not waiting this long to have started writing. its an expected feeling for everyone. and along with the definitions of right and wrong we all generally follow the expected actions.

And if, (IF) i ever killed a man. unlike Mersault naturally i would feel pretty guilty. and i would strongly regret making the choice i did, as opposed to my another option. Mersault, the stranger is strange. he is different. and has trouble trying to deal with the emotions that are expected of him. in the very first line of the book Meursault shows that it simply does not matter to him that his mother has died. where most people would be emotionally beat. he does not show the slightest sign of sadness.

Mersault does not show emotion, he simply accepts things for what they are. which is sometime hard for people to do. but it explains why he does not live with any guilt, even after killing someone. He is never looking for something more or less. he is always content. In chapter 5 Mersault comments that “one life was as good as another” i think this expresses a lot about him. by saying this he implies that no ones life is more important than another.

Stranger I

He is the stranger. So detached from everything. This guy never connects with anyone else. Other people tend to annoy him. He does not seem like a very content character.

His reactions are physically and never emotionally. Which is unfortunate, almost gloomy. Things that would be important to most people have no effect on him such as his mother’s death. If his own mother does not mean anything to him, what does?

I feel like there are many people similar to the character in this book. People who chose to only show certain emotions. Some people who try and convince themselves that certain things do not matter. And in the end I do not think of them as happy people. To me it seems like their simply afraid, Maybe hiding, avoiding judgments. I don’t know, just some ideas. But it makes me think, If you never care about something, then you never have to be afraid of losing it, right?

I plan on adding more but this is all I got to say for now.

Its important!

Im not exactly thinking straight at the moment. I don’t know if I am capable of writing 400 words, so bare with me. Here goes nothing though. I spent my day in the hospital, trying to get a cure. I have a 104 fever, and my head exploding feels like a possibility. It sucks being sick. But I guess everyone gets sick; it’s a natural thing in life. I heard once "Whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you stronger" I don’t know who said that or where I got it from, but it makes sense. I think we learn from our mistakes. It seems one thing leads to another, which leads to something else. Everything happens for a reason. I defiantly do not think our lives are meaningless. Not in the least bit. Life is important!
I <3 Huckabees was a weird movie. I am not sure weather to say I like it or I didn’t. That movie had some very interesting characters, one that were ALL different. But all connected. Because like Bernard I believe that “Everything is the same, even if it’s different.” The idea of the blanket was a good way to explain that concept. We may not even realize it sometimes but people make choices that affect all of us. I think about it a lot. In an after school program I did. There was a kid names Luke, whose father worked in the world trade centers. On September 11, 2001 Luke did not get up when his alarm went off. His dad made me hurry which wasn’t enough, because Luke was still late for school. And is father was late for work. And his father missed the attack. I can’t imagine what something like that feels like. But it just goes to show that everything happens for a reason. Luke getting up late prevented his father from being in the building. These things happen everyday all the time. Therefore I don’t believe that any part of our lives is meaningless.
All the characters in I <3 Huckbees were very over the top in my opinion. I share similarities with all of them. I know we didn’t get to see a lot of this character but I think I am most like Tommy’s girlfriend. Because she has a balance I think. She accepts things for how they are. And is not persuaded to far by anyone point of view. At this point it is exactly 400 words, which was the goal. That’s all I can do for now. But when my mind is set I will come back and write more.

What's the meaning of life?

Comment to COMMENT

OMAR,
once again great blog post. I always enjoy reading your blog. and it always leaves me thinking.

I really like how here you included more so you ideas. as well as summarizing what Banach had to say. It explains how you fit into all of this chaos. And getting both point of veiws was very interesting.

you have some great ideas that would work well into writing your manifesto. You make a strong point when you say, "I believe human happiness cannot simply be defined in one sentence or by one person." by explaining even more in depth is great.
arden

iii and iV

If someone could tell you the meaning of life, would you want to know?

Well we just don’t know. We are all just clueless. We live each day never getting any answers. And we all have these CRAZY ideas that effects how we live our lives. Some people just accept it and don’t care; all they can do is live on. Other people might believe in a greater god and think the meaning of life to get to the greater place. or maybe we all create our own meaning in life.

I overheard someone once say, “What’s the point? We are all going to end up in the same place anyway.” Which in some extend is true. (In a weird way.) Life is dieing, after that is up for interpretation. This is a similar point to Banachs idea, “Our life is a series of meaningless actions culminating in death, with no possibility of external justification.” Meaning, Our life is nothing really? No matter what actions we chose to take it will always end in our death. But wouldn’t that justify us having the freedom to do whatever we want? I would like to think there is some meaning in our lives, that our existence has some kind of importance.

I agree with Banach when he notes that we are contently influenced by our surroundings. People act differently in different circumstances. We constantly play the roles we need to in order to be accepted. Sometimes weather we realize it or not. Because people are effected by what is around them. Although, “After all sources of external value have been taken away, you can find value within yourself.” So, when we eliminate all outside influences what we have left is only our own voice. In other words, the only person we have left to listen to is ourselves.

Is this essentially what we are looking for? The goal? Is that the way to happiness? Is the point of our lives to find happiness? Is that what absolute freedom is? If so, I do not think we could ever achieve it. No matter what opposition we are in, it will always hold some force of pressure on us.

feedback 2

OMAR,

I liked how you did not simply just agree with Banach. Instead you took it to a deeper level. That shows you really put some thought into analyzing his ideas.
You asked an overall question what is true freedom? Banach's main ideas are a contradiction from each other. If is not possible for a person is understand another persons feelings or thoughts, then it is not possible for Banach to understand our feelings or thoughts. Everyone has their own thoughts that are not limited with any boundaries.
With rules and laws restricting us from doing certain things everything s more functional. As much as I like to believe I can do anything like fly or become invisible I know it just in my imagination. Because there will always be a physical limit.
This is really well written. And all your ideas are easy to understand. it simplifies Banachs ideas, and brings up new points. What about the constant point Banach brings up about absolute individual? Do we have the free do really be an absolute individual?

this has a great ending point too. You did done good! :P keep it up.
ARDEN

VIN,
Once again your blog was really great. I always enjoy reading it. You bring up points that I would never come up with and you go in detail when explaining them. You ask if Banach considers himself to be free? I would like to know the answer to that. While we are inclined to be free we hold ourselves back and allow ourselves to be influenced by the outside world. No matter the circumstances it is under our control how we act and perceive things, “Learning to control our perspective view will allow us to take value and knowledge from what might otherwise be horrible”

It’s an easy change to notice when people act differently around different people. I know I do it. And I do because I feel the need to meet their expectations. I understand what your saying. By using metaphors and examples to further prove your point allowed me to get a better understand. It would be interesting to hear you included some more personal thoughts and experiences. Because I feel like you have more to say, so I can’t wait to keep reading! ☺

ARDEN