Ten Views of Myself
Alex wondered how many topics they could cover, inspired by Ukiyo-e, before they should move on to something else. The Japanese artist Hokusai had created thirty-six, then ten more, and later a hundred more, views of Mt Fuji, showing that there was plenty of mileage for any subject.
Alex decided to keep going in his PIA: Philosophy In Art class. He would push out the metaphoric boat, not just the one on Lake Kawaguchi.
A girl asked, “What subject are we covering today?”
He said, “By covering, do you mean touching upon, or exhausting?”
“We’re doing a good job of exploring them. I guess we’re exhausting them.”
A middle-aged man put up his hand. It was funny how adults were behaving more like schoolchildren than the teens were. Maybe they were just being more old school.
Alex said, “Yes? What’s your name? Tony? Sorry, I haven’t got everyone’s name yet.”
“It seems to me that we are only touching upon them. I’ll bet that if he’d wanted to, Hokusai could have done one thousand views of Mt Fuji, and if he lived long enough, a million views. Aren’t all things multi-facetted? Sort of never ending? The English philosopher William Blake talked about seeing the world in a grain of sand.”
“You are right, he did. In a sense yourself and, sorry what’s your name? Amanda? Yourself and Amanda are both right. We are only really introducing ourselves to these topics, but we are covering them off well in the time available. So keep up the good work. You are doing a great job. And that’s today’s topic – yourself.”
They all knew the format. Amanda started. “I am a physical entity, formed of skin and bone and blood.”
Tony added, “I am mentally conscious. I think therefore I am. Spinoza said that, I think.”
“Actually it was Descartes, but very good.”
A woman said, “I am more than just physical and mental though. I am a spiritual being, born of the intention of a self-conscious universe, that wishes to be aware of itself, and appreciate itself.”
Some of the teens – who Alex had been forced to include in this class by The Authority – were looking confused. This class was being led by the adults.
“I am primarily ego, driven by the need for food and sex.”
Now the teens looked scared.
“I think that persons are driven by their subconscious – so many things that you are not really aware of. Hidden fears and desires. And there are symbols and myths. We are all on our own hero quest, battling monsters and searching for home.”
A girl said, “Our public image is very important. It’s what defines us in society.”
“We are citizens in nation states, celebrating our common heritage and values.”
“In cosmic terms, beings are just energy and information in differing forms.”
An older man said, “That’s all true, what everyone’s said. But in the end we are all just food for worms.”
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