Living, Knowing, Caring

This whole passage in Being and Time is really interesting to me. Heidegger is talking about how we may have a way we take a stand on our being (live according to some ideal we have for ourselves) with or without knowing it. In another sense, the knowing of one’s Being is not necessarily the same as being familiar with it. We can be familiar without knowing something in an intellectual sense, as that is only one way in which to engage with our world. But being familiar is a more basic aspect that is always a part of us just living and being according to how we want to see ourselves in the world (taking a stand on our Being).

On J Cage

Another composer I enjoy is John Cage. He experimented a lot with indeterminacy, chance and unconventional musical modes. Some of his music is so dissonant it’s a little hard to listen to.

I particularly like his composition “In a Landscape” though: it’s very pretty.

One of his pieces, 4:33 is just 4 minutes and 33 minutes of silence, which is kind of ridiculous on the one hand but also makes us think about music as being a play of sound and silence, presence and absence.

On P Glass

Love Philip Glass, and this particular song has a beautifully-deep melancholic feel.

A lot of music bores me: the same chords, the same cliched lyrics. But a few composers keep my interest.

(Oddly, he’s done a few film soundtracks, including some songs for the Truman show)

Martial Arts Exploration

So far, been mostly doing JKD and some Muay Thai, but tried out BJJ tonight. Very physical and close but pretty interesting and tiring. Def going to explore more.

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Anatomy of A Fall, A Brief Review

Winner of the Palme D’Or, I was expecting a more satisfying conclusion. I enjoyed the extensive court proceedings scenes, the meditations on truth, belief and the law, the captivating performances and the alpine scenery, but it left me feeling unsatisfied. Could have been more.

The Person

The person or the “I” is not, on one account, a single “thinglike being” but a “unity of experiences“ existing over time which does not necessarily follow or adhere to a discernible logic.

So, in some sense, when we refer to ourselves we are referring to a changing being, a changing consciousness unified by a body and name (and maybe a soul…if you believe in that…I do…although I don’t think Heidegger does).

Tuesday Night Rock n’ Roll

Fallen Leaves, A Brief Review

A charming, darkly-funny Finnish/German film (that looks like a painting) about missed connection after missed connection between a recovering alcoholic laborer and a caring, forgiving former-grocery-store-clerk that transforms, heart-wrenchingly, into yearning love.

Greatness, Talent, Persistence

I think we have this idea that greatness comes from mere talent, but I think a big part of it is a willingness to try again (and again) and to not be discouraged enough to quit in the process.

In the so-so crime drama A Most Violent Year, the main character states “to be successful and great, you must keep going back” (Abel Morales). I think this notion is comforting and true. Even when we feel like we aren’t where we want to be, sometimes the answer is just to keep trying, keep going back, until we get closer to being the person we hope ourselves to be.

This is also how many experts got to be where they are today. Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist, once said that, “An expert is a person who has found out by his own painful experience all the mistakes that one can make in a very narrow field.” That is, one becomes an expert in and through experience, trying again and again, and pushing past the mistakes.

(Lord knows I’ve had my share)

And one day, with enough going back, we might just arrive somewhere closer, figuratively (existentially) speaking, to where we want to be (and maybe make fewer mistakes someday).