Optimistic Existentialism (Everything Matters):
A commentary on the meaning of an infinite universe: “Albert, the universe is an infinite sphere. The center is everywhere, the circumference is nowhere.” - Bernard Jaffe (Dustin Hoffman)
Comment on connectivity:
“Stop, look, listen. Throughout infinity your energy recycles into every possible relation to everyone else’s energy, even Brad’s. You’ve been predator and prey with him. Friends. Enemies. Brother. Sister. Mother. Child.” - Bernard Jaffe
“You and me and the air are actually tiny particles that are swirling around together…If you look close enough, you can’t tell where my nose ends and space begins…because they’re unified.” - Bernard
The meaninglessness and paradoxical meaningfulness of human suffering: “Nothing’s okay, so it’s okay.” - Bernard
Nihilism (Nothing Matters):
The pessimistic view of the universe: “Betrayal embodies the universal truth, you see. Cruelty, manipulation, meaninglessness.” - Catarine Vauban
This line is particularly pertinent to the formation of a practical philosophy. It highlights the fact that even though we formulate our thoughts and our beliefs, we will inevitably falter from time to time. It’s what you do after that matters: “It is inevitable that you are drawn back into human drama, desire, suffering, everything that exists in this imperfect world….An absurd theatrical we must play out back and forth from pure being to human suffering.” - Catarine
Our connection isn’t our being, but our misery in being:
“Sadness is what you are. Do not deny it. The universe is a lonely place, a painful place. This is what we can share between us. Period.”
I’m just going to accept my loneliness. And I’m gonna go to an even darker place of nothingness from an even farther, more extreme nothingness, on my own. - Tommy
The Middle. Common ground between the two distinct views of infinity.:
“You don’t have to get so threatened. I can mix your thing with their thing.” - Albert
“[It liberated you from the Brad.] Or did it bond me to Brad in the insanity of pain until I saw that I am Brad and he is me?…You’re too dark (to Catarine…nihilism) and you’re not dark enough (to Bernard and Vivian…optimistic existentialism). You three were close, right. Maybe too close, and then it went sour. And it propelled you into one extreme and you into another extreme. So voila! Two overlapping fractured philosophies were born out of that one pain.”
Albert visits the religious family who houses the Sudanese refugee that spurred his interest in coincidence and his seeking the advice of existential experts.
Mom: Albert, what brought you to the philosophical club?”
Albert: You mean the existential detectives?
Dad: Sounds like a support group.
Daughter: Why can’t he use the church?
Mom: Well, sometimes people have additional questions to be answered.
Daughter: Like what?
Albert: Um, for instance, if the forms of this world die, which is more real the me that dies or the me that’s infinite? Can I trust my habitual mind or do I need to learn to look beneath those things?
Dad: Sounds like we got a philosopher.
Daughter: We don’t have to ask those questions do we Mom?
Mom: No, honey.
Dad: What happened to the cat Albert?…The cat was killed by curiosity.
Albert: Oh.
The End…or is it the Beginning?
Albert Markovski: She used me to teach US about the inevitability of human drama.
Tommy Corn: So, is that where you get off the ride?
Albert Markovski: Hell no.
Tommy Corn: I didn’t think so. Looks like you saw some truth
Albert Markovski: Looks like YOU saw some truth.
Tommy Corn: What’d you see.
Albert Markovski: The interconnection thing is definitely for real.
Tommy Corn: It is! I didn’t think it wasn’t! It is!
Albert Markovski: I know, I can’t believe it, it’s so fantastic!
Tommy Corn: It’s amazing!
Albert Markovski: I know.
Tommy Corn: But it’s also nothing special.
Albert Markovski: Yah, because it grows from the manure of human trouble. See the detectives just wanted to gloss right over that. But in fact, no manure, no magic.
You will find, in creating a practical philosophy, that you have to reconcile several ideas of other stonchly extreme philosophers. Finding your own way, finding middle ground, creating new knowledge of the surrounding world — these are the greatest revolutions of thought to which one can be apartied. It’s a success you can reach as many times as you want. A feat that has no foreseeable end and affords limitless possibilities. The potential is as overwhelming as it is exciting. Don’t be bogged down by the vastness and interconnection of topics. Take it one step at a time. Consider things most pertinent to your current life, the things that will and can actually change you and be the most rewarding. The cat wasn’t killed by curiosity, it was killed by a car. Curiosity is in your nature. Foster it. Use it to your advantage. Grow from it.