Absolute Individuals

Absolute Individuals? What Would It Be Like?

Around two or three years ago, I read Albert Camus' The Outsider. It was like "O My God! This novel is strikingly fascinating!". Some might say Mersault, the main character, is unusually strange. However, there's no doubt, some others would say, Mersault is unique in his own way and he's just like many of us. I believe everybody must have undergone his phase. I mean, his thoughts, feelings, manners, styles, and ways of seeing and doing things. But, hey, don't worry! Of course, just partly! I myself don't deny that such type of an individual is one in a trillion. So tragical, though! Here, his being is like a mirror to us. He reflects certain side of ourselves. The dark side of us? Possibly. And he's real.

Okay, that's what's behind what I'd really like to talk about. He's just an example. I respect his existence, his freedom: to be the real him, to think the way he thinks, to do what he wants to do, to express truly what's inside. I'm not promoting Mersault type and inviting you to be like him. He's not totally a good individual. It depends on how we see him and which lesson we take out of it. My real intention is to encourage you to open your minds as widely and positively as possible while observing things around you.

The paragraphs below are quoted from David Banach's lecture on The Ethics of Absolute Freedom. I do like his thoughts and conception. Hopefully, you'll get some enlightenment as much as I did after reading this. Or, for more details, just click on http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/sartrelecture.htm // There you'll find a broader explanation regarding this matter. Okay, the statement goes as the following,

Let's begin by seeing what it could mean to say we are absolute individuals. When you think of it, each of us is alone in the world. Only we feel our pains, our pleasures, our hopes, and our fears immediately, subjectively, from the inside. Other people only see us from the outside, objectively, and, hard as we may try, we can only see them from the outside. No one else can feel what we feel, and we cannot feel what is going on in any one else's mind.

Actually, when you think of it, the only thing we ever perceive immediately and directly is ourselves and the images and experiences in our mind. When we look at another person or object, we don't see it directly as it is; we see it only as it is represented in our own experience. When you feel the seat under your rear-end, do you really feel the seat itself or do you merely feel the sensations transmitted to you by nerve endings in your posterior?. When you look at the person next to you (contemplating how their rear-end feels), do you really see them as they are on the inside or feel what they feel? You see only the image of them that is presented to your mind through your senses. This is easily demonstrated by considering how our senses deceive us in optical illusions, but one simple example will have to suffice here. It seems, then, that we are minds trapped in bodies, only perceiving the images transmitted to us through our bodies and their senses.

Each of us is trapped within our own mind, unable to feel anything but our own feelings and experiences. It is as if each of us is trapped in a dark room with no windows. Our only access to the outside world being a television screen on one wall on which we (with our mind's eye) perceive the images of other people, places, and things. Thus, to be an absolute individual is to be trapped within ourselves, unable to perceive or contact anything but the images on our mental tv screen, and to be imperceptible ourselves to anyone outside of us. In a world where science has opened up and laid bare the nature of subatomic particles, far-away planets, and the workings of our very own bodies and brains, it is to remain, ourselves, hidden from the objective view. It is to be an island of subjectivity in an otherwise objective world.

That's it for the quotation. What do you think? You may then raise an essential question like, "so what?" or "what's the point?". Before we go on to answer that, I'd like to point out the gloomy situation like being trapped in a dark room with no window, where there's only one television screen through which we perceive the world outside. That's what it would be like to be an absolute individuals. Cool, eh? There's just "me, myself, and I".

Alright, by now, have you got that point? In this way, we are totally free what and who we are. The Soul. It's all about the soul. Our Inside. Our Mind. Yeah, it's all about that freedom. For this, I could say that to be an absolute individual is to be an authentic being, to be free. So, make use of your chance of freedom as much as possible. You're not necessarily exactly like what people outside you think and see you are. No need to focus much on your outside. That's so temporary and physical. What's eternal is your inside: your soul. It never dies. That way, just free your mind. Let's fly. Never end up within your limits. Set your mind that your ability is beyond what is visible. That's what it feels to be an absolute individual.

Now tell me, what do you think? Any doubt? Any confusion? If you have some comments on this, feel free to share your thoughts here by clicking on "comment" button below. Thank you.

Pick It Up, Put It On, and Die Like A Man...

What Goes Around, Comes Around,...