Hi no ataru sakamichi (1958), dir. Tomotaka Tasaka
Like the life, the work is full of threatening silences. It is beautiful and severe and very cold. It is surrealistic, with surrealism’s menace and refusal to explain itself.
Janet Malcolm, from ‘The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath & Ted Hughes’
Lost, Lost, Lost (Jonas Mekas, 1976)
Jozef Karika, Liber 767 vel Boeingus: Rough Experiments with Chaos Magi
Admitting that we can never fully explain existence doesn’t mean we must dwell in ignorance. That said, starting with this admission is humbling in a way I often miss from those who claim to have all the answers. When you come across someone entirely convinced that what they believe is correct, you can rest assured they are deluding themselves.
Pascal’s Terror: Should We Fear the Eternal Silence of the Infinite Spaces?
“The alienation of the spectator, which reinforces the contemplated objects that result from his own unconscious activity, works like this: the more he contemplates, the less he lives; the more he identifies with the dominant images of need, the less he understands his own life and his own desires. The spectacle’s estrangement from the acting subject is expressed by the fact that the individual’s gestures are no longer his own; they are the gestures of someone else who represents them to him. The spectator does not feel at home anywhere, because the spectacle is everywhere.”— Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle
Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo
Camus called this kind of leap of faith ‘philosophical suicide,’ or what happens when the absurdity (meaninglessness) of existence is overwhelming, compelling one to resort to the pre-fabricated structure of religion or ideology to provide purpose and meaning. Once this is done, once a particular belief is locked in, the mind closes like a steel trap, and all further philosophical and theological inquiry is over. That leap of faith is philosophical suicide. Doing this offers an escape from the nagging doubts that everything we do is ultimately meaningless and the universe without purpose.
Pascal’s Terror: Should We Fear the Eternal Silence of the Infinite Spaces?
James S. Grotstein, Who Is the Dreamer, Who Dreams the Dream?
