Questions---Aliens---The Answer

    Wild mustard has painted the California central coast this spring.

     The pastoral settings are a "safe zone" to contemplate the profound most recent film from Paul Schrader, First Reformed.

      The veteran writer/director (written 24/directed 23) has given Martin Scorsese some of his best scripts and has directed films that carry impact; Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Last Temptation of Christ, American Gigolo, Light Sleeper, The Canyons, Mishima:Life in Four Chapters, Rolling Thunder, Affliction, Dying by the Light, City Hall, Cat People and others. 

     In First Reformed Schrader wrestles with climate change, responsibility and theology. Yea, that's a heavy agenda, but he turns in a story that fully engages mind and heart.

     Ethan Hawke's portrayal is superb and as a minister he asks a question of our age-can we be forgiven for what we have done to this planet? For those who do not hew to a faith or spiritual cleave in how you regard life, the question can be reduced to what does it say about our intelligence and our regard for life. Atheist, agnostic or person of faith the question and the drama that carries it in First Reformed is valid and viable. 

      A character discusses his unborn child and recites likely environmental conditions on her 30th birthday. 
     "Will she look me in the eyes someday and ask, did you know this was coming? Did you know this would happen?"

     Schrader has a career of brilliant, penetrating, probing and unforgettable work. This is no less. For those who take theology, philosophy or faith seriously, you will marvel at the dialogue and the juxtaposition of individual responsibility and matters of action and belief. The ending is a mind blower and will likely be taught in film schools.

answers follow below

but first, the aliens are back

   The most recent San Luis Obispo Succulent and Cactus show offered more dazzling specimens and I wonder again what planet are they from? 

the answer is

the cool pool

   Yes, as you surmised the answer to the question in the previous post is a swimming pool changing hues.

   See you down the trail.

LIFE, DEATH, POWER

LESSONS OF THE HIVE

     You may have noted the questions raised in The Weekender :) by a friend who was fascinated with the succession issues involved with a queen bee.
      He is an exceedingly bright guy with a philosophical depth and curiosity. A life of government, politics and power gives him a particular skew and I was as intrigued by his questions and observations as I was by the incredibly fascinating and complex nature of the bee hive.
      It was fun when he moved to summary pondering with implications for the human animal.

Doesn't it make you consider nature's apparent ambivalence to violence?  There is no negative stigma attached to the murder of the queen.  We see drama there and have feelings about it, but these "feelings" have no place in nature, at least not in a bee hive. 

When was it that human consciousness crossed this line  -- before which "we" had no emotional or psychological reaction to violence and the death or ostracization of a "fellow" man.   And how long after that did we rationalize these "feelings" with a philosophy or code that held that each life was valuable for its own sake -- and is this good?  Or was it just a rationalization of emotions?  (Surely the intellectual philosophy did not precede the emotional.)

The God of the old testament certainly wasn't big on the value of each individual life.  He wipes people off the planet regardless of individual culpability in the flood.  Or perhaps everyone WAS culpable -- as in Sodom and Gomorrah.  But the Israelites go around surprise attacking every other people of the Levant until they control the ground.  And in these battles, (not to mention the ones between Israel and Judea later, the men of whole towns were killed willy nilly just because they were there -- the only practical thing to do.

The development of conscience in this matter is just fascinating.     

    This sort of gets the brain in gear doesn't it?  I wrote back to him that we obviously part ways with the instinctive order of succession, probably by virtue of something in our DNA.
     Do you think we are born with an aversion to killing or with some "code" wired into us that values life or navigates us to considering life sacred? Or is it all learned?  Or both?
     Next time you see a bee hive, consider the rather matter of fact, by the book, order of power underway inside. Bet they don't debate philosophy.
     And another thought on this matter.  This blue planet is dependent on bees being true to their nature.  You can't say that for humans.  In fact the planet would do just fine without us. We need the bees.  They don't need us.

     

DAY FILE

ART SALON AT WISE OWL

   Our friend Paulo, impresario of the Wise Owl, turned his wine bar patio over to local artists this weekend.  Champagne, Proseco, sparkling wine flowed as tourists and Cambrians enjoyed blue skies, sunshine and a wide array of California art.  In the frame below a group of friends and artists "hold forth."

Another adventure in the eclectic village.
See you down the trail.

AN IDEA, ARCHIVE AYN RAND & KISSING THE BEACH

PERPETUITY OF IDEA

A WORLD WHERE IDEAS MATTER

Back in University someone said trying to speak

philosophy to the masses was akin to standing

at the shore and trying to stop the waves.

Maybe it is only nostalgia, but it seems there 

was a time when people would debate, discuss

and explore ideas and politics with an open mind

and with respect.

Today it seems everyone has their mind made up,

convinced in the rightness of their view and the

absolute absurdity of those who disagree.

And, there was a time when the media seemed to

see its role as a place to prod, examine, discuss and 

consider even deep philosophic constructs.

Can you imagine a news anchor today

interviewing Jean Paul Sartre on 

on Existentialism?  Well, Charlie Rose perhaps.

A GREAT FIND FROM THE ARCHIVE

Indeed there was a time. Consider this-

Mike Wallace with Objectivist author Ayn Rand

Here, in part 2 they discuss

Rand's belief in limiting the right and power of voters

Incidentally there is more than an historic example in these clips, since many of the Tea Party and conservative

members of congress are followers of Rand's thinking.

Do you think a future blogger will someday

pull a clip of Kim Kardashian, or an interview with

Stephen King to demonstrate how popular media

explored something deep?

DAYBOOK

CARESSED BY WAVES

From tumble to foam

The shore is constantly in change.

Without pressing my point too far, each wave, not unlike an

idea, tumbling, turning grains of sand

into perpetuity. What if we could track

the evolution of our thinking that way?

See you down the trail.