I am working on the fourth post about Love, but life is happening! In the meantime, I wanted to share a couple of things that may interest and benefit you.
Firstly, I would like to share a free resource for you from Courera.org. They are offering an 8 week course on Kierkegaard and Existentialism. It is free, includes a certificate of completion, and has links to all the reading material for free! You really have no excuse not to take this course. A special shout out to my cousin and blog contributor extraordinaire Paul Haughey for letting me know about this.
Lastly is a bit of levity from Juston Streby. We had this conversation the other day and I felt it bears repeating.
From Juston: New topic of discussion: Obesity in The Matrix. The first time Neo enters the construct with Morpheus after being freed from the matrix, Morpheus explains that the way Neo looks in the construct/matrix is his residual self image. As best as I can remember he explains it as Neos mental projection of his digital self. This brings me to what I was thinking about while driving to pick up some lunch. What is the cause of obesity in the matrix? I will have to rewatch the movie to double check but i am pretty sure there are some fat people in there. I have 3 theories.
Theory 1: People who are still plugged into the matrix have an avatar that the Matrix is able to control. I don’t believe this to be the case as Neo looks exactly the same in the matrix before he is freed as he does after.
Theory 2: The matrix regulates the nutrition your body is given in the real world based on how you eat and take care of yourself while living in the matrix. Basically it would be just like the world we live in. If you eat to much and don’t exercise enough, you get fat.
Theory 3: Obese people in the Matrix see themselves that way because of low self esteem or other mental factors and therefore their residual self image is fat but the body in the real world that is plugged into the matrix receives the same nutrients as everyone else. I tend to lean towards this theory. What I find interesting is that based on this theory, only people with low self esteem would see themselves as ugly. So any fat person you see walking down the street who think they are much hotter than they really are, would actually be hot in the matrix. Just as all those models who starved themselves because they think they are fat at 85lbs would be fat in the matrix. And that is what I wasted a good amount of time thinking about.
From Nathan: I like it! Can I use it as a guest post on my blog? Totally fits with Kierkegaard’s statement that perception is reality. I want to add one thing to the third theory: body dysmorphic disorder. It’s when the body you have is perceived incorrectly. The 85lbs girl actually sees herself as fat. The overweight person in daisy dukes thinks their particular attire is appropriate. Explain the disconnect and provide a resolution i.e., how can we alter perception to match reality? Should we even try?
Juston asked that I correct his grammar, but I chose to leave it as is because that’s how it was received. So, I wanted to ask this question to the existential community that happens to look at this blog. How do we explain the disconnect between reality and perception? More importantly, how do you explain your disconnects between reality and perception? Johari’s window excellently addresses our blind spots and the inherent lack of ability to address these blind spots without help from others.
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| (C) Nathan D. Croy, 2013 Body Dysmorphic Disorder |
I started thinking about the whole Matrix thing while I was at work and reading an article about Miss America. The article I was reading was actually about all the idiots who took to twitter and other internet outlets and started making racist comments about this years winner. However in the article there was a quote from the new Miss where she said something along the lines of how she hated plastic surgery, and that people should be happy with the way they are. I have always thought it was very annoying to see a woman who is naturally beautiful stand up and tell the world to just be happy with how we look. Let's face it, there is a reason that only certain people are crowned Miss America. Most of us have reason to dislike something about our appearance. I am not saying you should go get plastic surgery and change what you don't like, but I do think it is very condescending for a beautiful woman to tell ugly people to be happy with the way they are. It's kind of like if I told a dwarf to stop bitching about being short (I happen to be 6'-4"). I am sure he would kick me in the balls…. well, probably not kick, but punch me in the balls. Anyhow, that's what I was thinking about and then my matrix screen saver came on as I was walking out of the office to go get some lunch and as I was driving the above "theories" came to mind. Thanks for making me a published author Nathan!
Literally laughed out loud. So, where do you stand on short people telling people to be comfortable with being short? Can only ugly people tell people to be comfortable with their appearance?
I just think people need to be more concious of their audience. I feel that something that is said with the best intentions could easily turn into an insult if your relationship with your audience isn't taken into consideration. It's kind of like kicking someone when they are down.
You mean like THIS?!