Category: Philosophy

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Ink – Film – 2009

I saw the movie Ink last night and I was blown away.  I’m not sure exactly what the formula was, but it really worked for me.  Written and directed by Jamin Winans this is his second full length feature, the movie is clearly an indie film with a budget around $250,000.  The characters remain in the same costume for the entire film, though I was surprised ho many extras they used.  A full synopsis can be read at 



The cinematography is a little jolting, but I think the director was trying to capture the feeling of the main character and the dissociation one feels between waking and sleep.  The music is spot on lending to the dreamy state of the film.  The film has a richness of characters and a universe that could be expanded, though I would hope it would center around completely different characters since the story has a very fulfilling conclusion.  I am a sucker for indie films anyway, but I was literally moved to tears by this one.  I highly recommend it.
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Fate is fickle

Fate, destiny, serendipity or just plain coincidence; however you describe it, I had one of those moments today. I decided to go home for lunch. I wanted to run outside and I cannot think of a place I can go to do that in the middle of the day where I can change my clothes. I also wanted to get something to eat and it is certainly cheaper eating at home than out. So I was there for about an hour, pack up and left.
On the spur, I decide to go to the library and get a movie I’ve wanted to see. The library closes at 5 pm today, so it was do it now or wait. As I was leaving, I ran into a friend who has recently suffered a terrible loss. We were able to sit down and talk a while about what happened. I don’t know if it helped him at all, but it helped me. Trying to me sense of the senseless can drive you mad. Getting more details, while not making the situation any better, at least puts the whole thing in perspective.
So, while I don’t believe it was fate, destiny or some guiding hand, it did touch me; make me feel more connected.
Comments:
Sophia S – This is why I can’t be an atheist. My life feels orchestrated week by week. Just the other day watching the 2nd of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Will said, “Mom, are demons real?” and I said, ask your dad.
Then the next day as I was fixin to leave somewhere the J Dubs (Jahova Witnesses) caught me in time to give me their magazines and share scripture. I took them to work with me and read them cover to cover. This one particular issue had a detailed story about whether demons where real or not! According to them/The Bible, they are.
I hear there is a book out that is math based explaining the case that odd coincidences happen more often than we would otherwise expect them to. Since I loath math and all it stands for, AND think logically that nobody could possibly test that theory especially seeing how frequent things happen to me and less to others, I choose to believe I have angels all around me all the time red ones and white ones guiding my journey at my discretion! Better yet, I am sure there is also a network of energy that you are either plugged in or out of based on your thinking. I think we are all little creators of our own lives moment to moment and that we alone can create or be idle. Be in the flow of the source, or out of it. That is why relationships with one another are so important. We are all connected. Living.
James S – How can your life be both “orchestrated week by week” and “we are all little creators of our own lives moment to moment”? Seems contradictory.
Sophia S – Aah twould only seem so if it weren’t for the fact that the orchestration is not my doing but of my angels not an orchestration in a predestined way but in a way where I am a mere horn player creating every note free to follow the conductors influence or do my own thing the end result being creation on my part and orchestration adapting or clashing with me. Good luck trying to adjust your perception to mine. Applause for trying! :o)
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You Did What?

In response to some interest in my past, I thought I’d share a piece written by an author that I found influential and share a little of my time as a Mormon.  I joined the Mormon church when I was 16.  I fell for a girl and it was really important to her, so I looked into it.  I loved history mysteries and the Book of Mormon purported to be the history of early indigenous of North and South America.  I met the missionaries, took the discussions and joined the LDS church.
My father was great.  He is not religious at all and his father was an outspoken atheist.  I had to have his permission to join and he did so without much thought.  Later when I decided to serve a mission, he was okay with that too, especially when he found out I was going to Australia.  I served two years over in Oz, came back, dated, met a beautiful girl and got married in the Dallas Temple.  We had three girls, all blessed in the church.  Some time in 2006, I had been reading the Book of Mormon to Kassidy and we came to the passage in 1 Nephi 4:18.  In this section, Nephi (“good” guy) cuts off Laban’s (“bad” guy) head.  Kassidy turns to me and asks why?  I try to explain, you know god kills bad people to make a point.  Then she asks, “Is that true?”  Had it been an adult, I would have said yes without thinking, but I just could not answer that.
So I spent the next year and a half trying to come to grips with the belief system I had come to accept as true.  I spent a lot of time fasting, praying, reading the scriptures and church sanctioned commentary.  I thne moved to other resource not sanctioned, one of which was “Farewell to Eden“.  I was part of a newsgroup and had gotten into some long, heated debates with the author.   I had the book delivered to the library (I was not about to spend a dime to support his “heresy”).  I finished it in a night and realized I’d been duped.  I could see the Book of Mormon was a fraud and a really clumsy one.  A little over an hour spent at the local library would be all that is needed.  It took me a while to understand how I could have been misled for so long.  I read a book “Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)“.  While it has nothing to do with religion, it is a good book on psychology and how we justify our decisions.
My wife’s side is still Mormon and mine are still, whatever, mostly non-religious.  We tried the Unitarian Universalists for a while, and my wife still goes.   I am an atheist and really have no need for religion, but I think it is important for my kids to learn about christianity as well as all the other worlds myths.  I find the intellectual honesty I have with myself now is worth the trouble I went through to get here.