Music! Music! Philosophy!

"I can't sit still when there's that rhythm near me."

I watched Glee today. I love Glee. It's just so gleeful :)

Anyway, Kurt did this rendition of Le Jazz Hot from Victor/Victoria which I had never heard of until just today. Yes, I know, I'm a terrible person and how can I call myself a Julie Andrews lover and just shush I'm busy! Now, I love Kurt, I really do, despite his selfish tendencies which are no where near the level of Rachel whom I almost loath at this point. Wow that's a rabbit trail. Back to my point, HOLY COW! I LOVE LE JAZZ HOT! Such a fun song and I was dancing through it's entirety and not caring that there's a huge window behind me and the whole street could see me. Freaking. Fan. Tastic.

"Cause I need freedom now. And I need to know how, to live my life as it's meant to be. And I will hold on hope. And I won't let you choke, on the noose around your neck. And I'll find strength in pain. And I will change my ways. I'll know my name as it's called again"

Those lyrics are just stunning to me at this point in my life. I was on my way to work, stuck in traffic, windows down, enjoying the weather and the chance to breath a little when I heard this song for the first time today. It's The Cave by the band Mumford & Sons. Seriously, this band has a way with music and lyrics. I have limited exposure to this band but based solely on the three songs I have heard, I love them. So simple but so much depth. It's just amazing to me that a person or group of people could come together and make something so gorgeous. I like a lot of music. But I love select songs or groups.

That grammatical distinction I just made reminded me of my philosophy class today. Once again, we were discussing Socrates. Seriously one smart guy. But in the discussion we're focusing on, he forgot certain aspects of humanity. There was this debate amongst Pre-Socratic (yes, man, Socrates is that important) philosophers regarding the one and the many which leads into Kosmos (order) and Kaos (craziness). These guys were trying to figure out in which the universe existed. Eventually they all settled on kosmos and then decided there had to be a logos (logic) and then decided there needed to be an arche (something unchanging) and then argued about what that arche was.

Until Socrates.

He was like yeah, yeah, whatever and stuck with the many versus one debacle. His schtick was many examples, one definition and this distinction gave us categories. An example of this would be ... a computer screen. You know what you are looking at is an example of a computer screen based on the fact that it fits into the prescribed characteristics of a computer screen. Now, this would be the end of the conversation if Socrates were in charge. But he's not. Computer screens may not have been the best example for where I am trying to go with this. Let's change computer screens to chairs because they're easier for this. Back to my point. Socrates left out uniqueness. Using chairs and grammar, I'm going to illustrate this point with a rocking chair. There's this rocking chair that my great grandfather paid for when I was a baby. If you were to look at that specific chair you would only see a chair. But I don't. I see the chair my great grandfather's money paid for. The chair I've had my whole life. The chair that broke on a friend of mine causing me to laugh uproariously. That chair has a lot of sentimentality associated with it because I can recognize it's individuality. I'm sure there are certain items that you can recognize as individual and irreplaceable to you as well.

Apply this whole idea to the planet. As it stands, there is only One Earth. One. In an age of industry and socratic ideals, we seem to have lost that fact on a fundamental level. Sure, part of our psyche acknowledges this as a fact but it's almost like an unimportant fact. Don't worry. Destroy the planet. We'll just get another one. Not. Yeah, I went all environmentalist on you. But someone has to be. Otherwise, we're all just going to end up killing ourselves (like Socrates did, do you really want to follow his thought processes through to the end?) and our one and only Earth.

Bet you didn't see that ending coming ;)

All the kids these days, do you really want to be that way?

I am a caucasian female with dark hair and dark eyes. I am of average height and weight. I like males. My nails are not well kept. I am bohemian. I am a dreamer. I am a philosopher. I am kind. I am loving. I am a sister, daughter, niece, granddaughter, cousin, friend, and neighbor. I read books all the time. I write what I think. At times I am lazy and productive. I watch TV. I go to movies. I listen to music. I listen to my friends. I take care of other people's children. I like writing and receiving letters. I like the look of my eyes, my hair, my hands, and my feet. I'm self-conscious of my body from time to time. I'm right. I'm wrong. I'm happy. I'm sad. I'm emotional. I'm stoic. I'm sleeping. I'm waking. I'm logical. I'm rational. I'm irrational. I'm illogical. I'm confused. I know. I don't know. I'm outgoing. I'm shy. I've got all of these categories I fit under and yet my favorite is

I am me.

There is no other me in the world.

And there never will be another me. Ever.

Socrates is the reason for this post. What?!? What does Socrates have to do with this??

He's the dude who challenged the thoughts of his day and forever shaped the thoughts of western civilization. And we don't even realize it. It's pretty much subconscious.

In his conversation with a guy called Euthyphro, Socrates asks him to define piety or justice as the case may be. Euthyphro gives Socrates several examples of justice but Socrates continues to ask him for the definition, not examples. It's a really long conversation and I didn't read all of it, just the part in my philosophy book. The point is, this conversation affected the way we think right to this very moment.

Not cool, man.

See, Socrates left out one part of the equation. He forgot the individual. He forgot the "me" factor.

We have come to let the labels, the categories, the titles define who we are and what we see. And really, that's not a good way to be. Think about it. Every war, every prejudice, every form of bullying, they all stem from those categories. We think with an us and them mentality. Billions of people have died because of it. We all walk around wearing these tinted glasses and the sad part is most people aren't even aware of it. And they need to be. For all our society has to say about being ourselves there aren't many people in it who hold true to that.

I'll even go "religious" with this. Jesus. Jesus said the greatest commandment of all was one not even written on the stone tablets. He said that we needed to love our neighbors as ourselves. By following that one commandment, just that one, you follow every single other one. Every law. Every rule. Love your neighbor as yourself, and you don't need those other commandments, laws, edicts, rules. Following that requires us to take off the Socrates glasses and not see people by their titles, categories, labels, or anything like that. It requires that we see people as who they are and not as those titles make us think they are.

So, what do you think? What are your thoughts? I really do want to know.

You don't know me...

Actually, you probably do.

I'm not sure what's gong to happen here but I'm just going to write.

Woah.

So, I like philosophy. I like thinking deep thoughts and articulating said thoughts. I like writing papers for philosophy classes. I plan on taking a buhjillion philosophy classes throughout my life and continue to think deep thoughts and articulate them. I know that there are many in my two philosophy classes this semester who don't like them. Well, boo on you. I like that when I'm finished taking the two of them I have a bit of a headache. That means I'm actually working my brain. I haven't had a headache from that much learning and thought in years. I love it!

I also really enjoy learning about different religions. I like knowing how people believe all over the world. I feel like by learning about all of this apparent weirdness gives me a better understanding of what I believe and why I believe it so I can better defend it. Everytime I learn about some one else's beliefs I learn a little more about my own and that just further solidifies them.

I also really like getting letters in the mail. I forgot how awesome a feeling that was until recently when a good friend of mine joined the Army and the only way I can talk to him is via snail mail or those rare times when he can use his mobile phone (so sorry about 10/3 Trav!). I get rather giddy and smiley when I get letters in the mail and not just the ones from him. A friend of mine who goes to college far away writes letters to me and I to her. Also, a friend who lives far, far away tries to send me letters but the United States Post Office loses them. Anyway, letters make me feel more important than emails do. Emails are instant gratification which I like but it's not the same. Letters take time and a little bit of money which shows that person is thinking of you and cares enough to sit down write a letter and mail it.

Anyway, that's what is on my brain for now. I'm going to finish This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen and continue to kick myself for not getting into this author earlier.

:)