Unanswered

I am in love with the character of the girl in the bus! Her looks are so intense. Damn.

What is the director trying to convey here?
I am wondering . . . that Khalujaan is in love, that he is feeling everything around him is romantic, blissful and nice. Even if the girl doesn't look at him lovingly the man in love will feel that the stranger girl is so fond of him. That you are worth a look and possibly a smile.
Why is the man who learns that Khalujaan and the girl exchanging glances, giving him his seat?
Since Khalujaan is old?
Or is he a romantic himself and he understands?

Its 4.00 am.
I have lot of unanswered questions including three essays.
And the song is in loop.

Thought Makes Character

We are living in interesting times. Atleast I am. :)

Having learnt that economics and political sciences are based on the axiom that economic and political decision makers are motivated by self-interest the objectivist in me is tickled.

Philosophy as a study

Philosophy is nothing but man’s relationship to existence, how he should live his life. Philosophy as a study has five branches – 2 basic branches, 1 central branch and 2 derivative branches

1. Metaphysics – Nature of the universe as a whole. What is real? Are there more than one reality?
2. Epistemology – Theory of knowledge. How do you know you know? :)
3. Ethics/Morality – Code of values to guide human choices and action. What should be the goal of my life?
4. Politics – Nature of society and proper role of government. Should government spend on military?
5. Aesthetics – Philosophy of art. What makes an art work good or bad?

You cannot escape from philosophy. You may do so consciously but your subconscious will pick up from the world around you. All men/women have a view on all these aspects of philosophy. These views shape our life and character.

The collective views of all men and women on these aspects shape human history. And this is why philosophy is important. And that is why I study philosophy J.

Objectivism as a philosophy

Though I have blogged about objectivism long ago, I have not done justice to my favorite philosophy (though I don't have clarity on politics). Plato’s philosophy was almost diagonal to objectivism while Aristotle’s was pretty close in many angles.

I have tried to capture objectivism as a philosophy

1. Metaphysics – Reality: Everything that you can sense exists. The collective of all that exists is reality. Things are what they are. If you broke your leg playing football, however unhappy you are about it, you broke your leg. You can wish, desire believe that your leg is fine. But reality is your leg is broken. Thus human conscious cannot change reality. Nor can any supernatural power. Thus the rejection of Subjectivism and God hypothesis respectively. The natural world operates by cause and effect. One type of cause is human will.

2. Epistemology – Reason: Logic rules. No non-sensory means of knowledge like mysticism, ESP etc. We also reject skepticism (belief that there are no absolutes). Reason has 3 central elements –

1. Observation: Reason starts with the evidence of senses
2. Concepts/Abstractions: Our way of organizing sensory data logical
3. Logic: The method of reason. Nothing can be A and non-A at the same time. There are no contradictions

Every truth is an absolute, but we have to use reason to arrive at it.
Emotions follow from your convictions. Man should enjoy them as much as he can. But they are not means of knowledge.

3. Ethics – Rational Self-Interest: Each man lives by his own mind and for his own sake.From epistemology we learn that ethics can’t be based on whim. So let us reason it out.What gives raise to ethics? Man is a living being who needs to be selfish to keep him alive. You might ask then what the difference between man and animals is. Why does man need ethics while animals don’t? Animals don’t need ethics as they have no choice. They are programmed to support and keep themselves alive. But man can kill, commit suicide, etc. The primary virtue of objectivism is Rationality. Man survives by the use of reason. It’s a basic necessity. All progress that man has made is due to man’s ability to think. Other virtues are

• Independence: of If you are not thinking independently you are not thinking!
• Integrity: Acting according to what you think. Otherwise why think? J
• Productivity: Using your mind to create physical wealth

You don’t sacrifice your life for others and don’t expect others (or coerce, force, kill) to sacrifice themselves for you.
If you practice this ethics there won’t be a dilemma between should I be moral or should I be practical. The only way to be practical is to be moral. The moral way to lead you life is to be practical.

4. Politics – Capitalism: Separation of government and economy. Foundation of the system is individual rights of life, liberty, property, pursuit of happiness. Not the right of job, free education, social security, m etc. What a man earns by his own effort is his. No one can snatch his belongings. Also the government offers him nothing. No subsidies and price controls. Pure market determined prices. The government has 3 functions and only 3 functions

• Police – To protect life and property from domestic criminals
• Military – To protect from foreign aggression
• Judiciary – To resolve disputes among citizens in a civilized rational manner

Government controls will take something from one person (group) and give it to other(s). This is against our ethics.

5. Art – Value Oriented: Art should present world as it could be and as it should be. As it could be as we want to stand with reality. As it should be as art gives man inspiration to fight through life and lead a better. Art what gives you values, elevates and idealizes the human spirit, gives you inspiration is called romanticism. This form of art is timeless.

One of the most debated aspects of objectivism is Self-Interest, often misunderstood as selfishness. Questions I have often faced are

• Why do you help a guy who just fell from his bike?
• Doesn’t a man love his wife? Where is the self-Interest here?

And we objectivists have rational answers!

Man lives by his thoughts and ideas. And philosophy is one of his basic ideas.

Art - nothing but Experiencing

If writing is a form of art, then I have known no better artist than Arundhati Roy and I have appreciated no better piece of art than "The God of Small Things".
I finished my second reading.

"That is their mystery and their magic.
To the Kathakali Man these stories are his children and his childhood. He has grown up within them. They are the house he was raised in, the meadows he played in. They are his windows and his way of seeing. So when he tells a story, he handles it as he would a child, of his own. He teases it He punishes it. He sends it up—like a bubble. He wrestles it to the ground and lets it go again. He laughs at it because he loves it. He can fly you across whole worlds in minutes, he can stop for hours to examine a wilting leaf. Or play with a
sleeping monkey’s tail. He can turn effortlessly from the carnage of war into the felicity of a woman washing her hair in a mountain stream. From the crafty ebullience of a rakshasa with a new idea into a gossipy Malayali with a scandal to spread. From the sensuousness of a woman with a baby at her breast into the seductive mischief of Krishna’s smile. He can reveal the nugget of sorrow that happiness contains. The hidden fish of shame in a sea of glory.
He tells stories of the gods, but his yarn is spun from the ungodly, human heart.
The Kathakali Man is the most beautiful of men. Because his body is his soul. His only instrument. From the age of three it has been planed and polished, pared down, harnessed wholly to the task of storytelling.
He has magic in him, this man within the painted mask and swirling skins."
- Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

My biggest learning last 2-3 months is that art is nothing but an experience. An artist undergoes an experience and presents it in a creative way in his work. The power of the art form lies in the fact that the artist has undergone a set of emotions during his experience and these emotions are bundled and arranged in a beautiful manner in his work.

This power inspires and touches.