free will

Many people believe they have total free will but the truth is, we are all very chained to particular decisions based on our personalities/genes/backgrounds/etc.etc.etc. Therefore, what really matters is the rare ability to break out from what we are comfortable with in terms of decision making and to do what we would not normally do. Then can TRUE change be brought about. You can claim to have all the "free will" in the world, but you won't be truly free until you learn to break out from your false/comfortable/outer self.

Perhaps I will write about freedom in my next post.

As Wonmin says: "On a side note..." I think you should watch the film "Poetry" by director Lee Chang Dong.

Demian

Today, I finished a book called "Demian" - a book which I think a very few number of people can truly understand.

The thing is, I've always felt much of this one idea embodied in the novel as well. Most people think of God as the supreme good and deity that is the morally right. But at the same time, must we not respect the taboo and less popular subjects like sexuality, drinking, hate, etc etc? This is not to say that we must worship the devil and hate everybody. But God is certainly more than just that "good" that people mistake Him for. Sex and drinking are not a bad things, only what many people and most societies have made them into. I forgot what the name of that one Chinese symbol is, but it's the one where it's like a circle half black and half white and there are two black and white dots respectively within the other opposite color.

Without bad, there would be no good. It is the very things that cause our suffering that also empower us to become more human. So once again, it all depends on how we interpret the world around us. In addition, we must explore the totality of the human condition, not just the parts of us we consider "pure." As Hermann Hesse says in the book, a baby chick must encounter hardship and break its way out of the shell before it is truly free. After all, a chick is meant to be free from its shell, or else it would die. We too must learn to break out from the negative paradigms all around us today. We must do what is right, not what is common.

Once again, I tried to fit too many ideas into one short passage. My bad.

The beginning of summer

'Tis the start of a new summer! The potentials of summer include: unhealthy amounts of boredom, fantastic opportunities to catch up in gaming, and chances to start creative projects.

This summer I think I'll:

1. write a feature screenplay

2. attempt to write another screenplay

3. work and make money to buy a good mic, tripod, mac pro, and car. (though i'm not sure in which order i'll buy those things)

4. travel into some very isolated nature place and reflect upon many things

5. ______________ for ______________

I've been asked to make a keynote presentation at the IPLA conference hosted at Oxford. So I will be in the East Village residential complex all by myself from the 10th to the 13th. That should be quite interesting. I'll bust out my Steve Jobs presenting skills.

Keep in mind, the future is not "the future," but rather potential time. Make wise use of it! I have a hard time efficiently doing so, but at least I try.

Today, my most successful endeavor was overcoming my boredom. This is an issue I often face. Therefore, upon watching too much TV, I decided I should do something productive. I forced myself to pay some bills, edit my IPLA keynote, and finally update this blog. 'Tis all much better than doing nothing. In fact, that experiencing the negative is better than doing nothing is what I clearly learned during my time at Oxford. Because, doing nothing is literally doing nothing. Nothing and no thing is accomplished. But if one experiences a negative event, one can learn much from it just by shifting mindsets! Interpretation of situation. I further realize more than before of how much of life is dependent upon our heads. By that I mean, so much of what we do is determined by our interpretations of situations, not the events themselves. It is not the tripping on a lump of concrete that makes me mad, but rather my mindset that tripping on a lump of concrete is embarrassing, stupid, and annoying.

Therefore, go out and "just do it!" Anything! Preferably good! But forget not that there is much to learn from the bad! Without failure, success is impossible! I tried to say too much in this post! I should have focused solely upon one theme! But who cares!