warning to whomever might be reading this: this is pre-sleep rambling that probably doesn't make any sense and probably isn't interesting to any sane person.
I'm not sure just how much I agree with the model of mind, body and soul/spirit but I've been thinking in that mode for a long time, so most opinions I have on the subject are within that mindset right now. It's interesting to me that society has a come to a point where cultivating the mind is put above the other two. Western civilization is all about individualism, right? So why not value the body more? We use our minds to help others as well as ourselves....wait - scratch that train of thought.
the switch - We do value the body a good amount; we exercise, have diets and all that good stuff to keep ourselves healthy. Likewise, in less individual-based culture you have the rise of martial arts to protect the self, but also to protect others, unlike in our culture. In my head that somehow connects to the association of sex with romance in the West but not in the East, but this point is not too foggy for me to put into words.
back to main argument - Why do we value the mind so much? Even religion, which used to be a kind of exercise for the soul is now led more by the mind than it once was in some sects. We all go to school in order to get a job in order to make a living in order to.....be happy? Is that what it is? Is knowledge the key to happiness? I doubt we've de-evolved so much intellectually that our foremost "philosophers" (who don't exist) believe the answer to this question is yes. This begs the argument that humanity is mindlessly (and ironically, of course) turning the gears of some giant machine of what purpose we do not know, but which in the end we learn (too late), it is to destroy us. There. Are we self-destructive by nature? There's another question that just popped into my head. Sometimes this just happens to me - i never answer a question completely because I find myself asking another one. Is that my problem?
On another note, the voice in my head while I was writing this was British for some reason. I still need to work on speaking how I write and not vice-versa. Professor Peter would not currently approve. I don't know how I started thinking about this subject a minute ago...I remember thinking about people and their reluctancy to change, but then other people's embrace of constant change and how that isn't really change at all, is it? Guess those people don't hate routine as much as they thought. Maybe I should just go to sleep. Painting again tomorrow.
Listening to -
don't remember. a bunch of stuff.
Reading -
Nothing. but i read some short stories about Ryunosuke Akutagawa on the subway the other day.
Watched-
Rashomon
The Motorcycle Diaries
The Triplets of Belleville
Goodbye Lenin
Star Wars: A New Hope
