Damn, I can't remember the rest of the Hamlet quote. Oh, well.
A client asked me to transcribe a DVD for her so that she can quote from it in some project she's working on. It's called "What the Bleep..." and it's about quantum physics and reality and it's highly, highly philosphical.
This is on top of the fact that, a couple of months ago, I began reading "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" for the first time.
In-between, there was a spectacular discussion on Echo about the recent NY Times article about free will/not free will. Some of which I think I even understood.
Sigh. I went through college studiously avoiding taking any courses that even smelled a tiny bit of philosphy. The very thought of philosphy fills me with heavy-duty ennui. So you can just imagine my reaction to the book, let alone this video. And now the client has asked me about my reaction to the book, since I happened to mention it to her. I'm not sure I know where to begin!
Let's see: "There have been several occasions when I wanted to throw the damn thing across the room."
Well, okay, that's true enough. Except my thought process was more complicated than that. It was more like, "I'd really love to throw this book across the room, but I really just think it's because there's something wrong with me." Like, I'm not getting this and/or it's pissing me off, but it's really because I'm too stupid or at least uneducated to understand what this guy is talking about.
Of course, he did piss me off quite a bit (so far, I'm only about halfway done, mind you) with his classic/romantic dichotomy. As if the romantic view, as he saw it, had something seriously wrong with it--or at least that's how I read it. I really felt defensive about seeing things from what might be considered the "opposite" viewpoint from his more classical way of thinking. Plus, I really hate/hated the idea that these are mutually exclusive ways of thinking, that there's no middle ground. I am at the point in the book where it seems like he may be moving in that direction, after all. But, man, he's just thinking too damn hard about it for my taste.
Which of course brings up the question: Why the heck am I still reading this damn book? Because he interweaves it with this story that I'm finding fascinating about the motorcycle trip with his son and I want to see how it ends. And, all right, if I happen to learn something along the way, well, it may be while I'm kicking and screaming, but I really want to see if, in the end, (a) I've been able to follow along* and (b) agree with the guy.
*Follow along or catch up to where he is. It really feels like he's way ahead and it's just a struggle to try to catch up to him.
Then you bring in this video and quantum physics and some New Age-type stuff, except it really isn't all New Age (except for the music, which is driving me mad). To be very succinct about it, reality isn't really all that real, except for when we believe it is. But we have the power to make things happen, to change reality. I'm not sure this is such a good thing, necessarily, but hey, it's good to be reminded that we are able to change the way we look at things, that our attitudes can affect the way things appear to us and, thus, we can change the way we live our lives.
And, best of all, it's a wonderful reminder to me that I have an impact on the world. We all do, of course, but me in particular (hey, this is my blog, get your own if you don't like me being egocentric). Actually, there's a story I'll maybe share sometime, but not for now.
For now, have a good night--as I am so far.
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