Well...that's the tragedy of human life. People are isolated fragments in a hostile universe. Life is harsh and ultimately kills, they say. But is it LIFE that kills a person...or is it something else? Can LIFE kill a person? If the answer to this question is 'yes', it all becomes a contradiction. Life then becomes a contradiction. And life cannot be a contradiction.
STUDY THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH CAREFULLY:
Princess Diana is dead but people just do not leave her alone. They are busy restoring her image, killing her image, restoring her image, killing her image. Kill her, restore her...kill her, restore her...Kill her, restore her...Kill me, restore me...Kill me, restore me...Kill me, restore me...death, birth...death, birth...death, birth....the karmic cycle...
This is the ultimate desire for all humans, they just don't know it consciously. And it is because of this death-wish that death exists.
The desire to (kill and) be killed is a subconscious desire, people in general are not in touch with their subconscious desires, they do not know that such desires run around in their subconsious.
Sigmund Freud said that every human has a life and death instinct. He called the life instinct "eros" and called the death instinct "thanatos".
It is very difficult to imagine the compassionate Princess Diana as someone who had sado-masochistic urges in her emotional world. But it is easy to understand this if one looks at it this way---Some people are deliberate sado-masochists....and some are accidental sado-masochists.
I highly doubt that Princess Diana ever hurt anyone deliberately without any REAL reason. Most of her life was full of tragic accidents. Accidental, unintended sado-masochism. Ended in the ultimate accidental masochism. Her death. Desire fulfilled.
Some quotes on Death that I like:
"In the end, death will die." --- Most probably the Bible, I don't know.
"Each day death strikes, yet we go on living as if we were immortal."
--Peter Brooke's Mahabharata.
__________
"The programme for this evening is not new, you've seen this entertainment through and through....you've seen your birth, your life, your death...you might recall all of the rest...did you have a good world when you died...enough to base a movie on?"
"Death not ends it."
---Jim Morrison (The Doors).
___________
End Note:
My views on Sado-Masochism:
When I use words like 'sado-masochism', I am not referring to some kind of enjoyment. I am referring to hostile feelings (inner or extraneously induced) driving a person into crazy modes of release from pain.
'Heal me with your crime' kind of a thing, like George Michael sings...in 'The Strangest Thing.'
It's a song worth listening to. (Video below.)
"Take my life...time has been twisting the knife...I am frightened for my soul...make love to me, send love through me, heal me with your crime..."
(Not enjoyment, but a desperate urge for freedom from pain, desperate calling out to love. Without love, a painful death is the only answer to pain. Death exists in the human world because of the absence of love.)
10 comments:
Namaste My Friend,
Long time...I suppose I go through cycles of self-introspection and detach. How are things?
Sometimes I think we share the same brain. :-)
There is after all no real death or all that we are would cease to exist. It is our ego that obsesses about an eternal continuation of our present form.
Everyone secretly or unconsciously wishes for death at some level. Just look at human history. Nothing has changed. Perhaps it is born out of our resistance to what is. You can see this time and time again with people who appear to have perfect lives, but do something to sabotage it. The majority of people I think are just bored with the triviality of life. They believe there must be more to it than this, so religious heavens are created. Again, another death wish is created.
When I can just let go and truly be in the moment, those feelings of death do not exist. If those feelings do not exist, and I just am, then death does not exist.
Take Care,
Allen
Hi Vikram,
Very interesting post. Very well written & eloquent.
Like many of the quotes, especially the following,
"Each day death strikes, yet we go on living as if we were immortal."
--Peter Brooke's Mahabharata.
Having recently lost someone that I love, I think that the message that constantly runs through my brain is the importance of making the most of our lives & not wasting time, as life is short.
I think that if that's the overriding motivation, then perhaps some of the darker, more sadomasochistic urges are not as compelling or as appealing. I think that everyone goes through these cycles, & it's natural to lose hope or faith at moments. The world might seem like a dark & hopeless place at times, but I still think that I'd rather focus on is the urge for life, which I think is usually stronger for most people.
Please understand that I'm not denying the truth of what you wrote. I do think that some people perpetuate the cycle of sadomasochism, whether or not they are conscious of doing so. I think that when people experience great sadness & pain in their life, they need to connect with those feelings instead of denying them. It's only by acknowledging these feelings that we can move forward into a higher state of enlightenment. It doesn't erase the sadness or the pain, but it helps put these feelings into perspective, & not let them overwhelm our being.
Peace,
-C
P.S. Thank you for your shout-outs & kind comments you wrote on my blog. I do appreciate your sincere words very much!
Hi Vikram...
VERY NICE!
I like this post so much... the implications to life are vast and I find myself needing to ponder your thoughts. (Which I always apprecaite... smile)!
I feel quite strongly that there is much more to our actions/drives/desires/wishes than we consciously acknowledge, and often are even aware.... the death wish/freedom from pain is certainly strong and powerful if not recognized.
Thanks for this Vikram...
Jen
Hi Corey,
Thanks for your compliments. I find your blogs to be very well written, a lot of effort has gone into them, and they contain a lot of useful information. Great work.
Very nice insight you have there--especially about connecting to feelings instead of denying them.
Connecting to feelings, but not letting them overwhelm us.
Unobserved, unacknowledged emotions and thoughts overwhelm and control the person.
Eckhart Tolle, a fantastic spiritual teacher says, if the unobserved mind is allowed to run a person's life, it creates havoc.
True 'evil' always runs in the shadows, like they say. Ceases to be 'evil' once it is watched.
So once hostile feelings/thoughts are observed, observed peacefully as they rise in the mind/body, they lose their potency and cannot take over the person.
Sigmund Freud talks of two basic instincts in people. 'Eros' (the urge for life) and 'thanatos' (the urge for death.)
A lot of people reject Freud, but the more I observe people, the more I realise that Freud is right.
Unfortunately, if we take humans as a whole, currently, thanatos is the clear winner. The JOINT urge for death.
I believe in stuff like 'group karma', so all this makes sense to me.
My comment is bordering on the morbid, so I guess I'll stop it here. lol.
Vikram
Hi Jennifer, welcome back!
Long time since you posted a comment on my blog.
What you wrote suddenly reminded me of Sigmund Freud and Eckhart Tolle for some reason.
Sigmund Freud writes...
"The conscious mind may be compared to a fountain playing in the sun and falling back into the great subterranean pool of subconscious from which it rises."
Most of our lives are spent sleeping, unaware....urges rise from the subconscius, are watched/experienced, and then slip back into the unconscious....
These words of Freud remind me of what Eckhart Tolle says....when he talks of CONSCIOUS OBSERVATION of urges/instincts.
It all comes down to the 'watcher', the 'silent witness', the 'buddha within', so to say.
Whatever destructive urges the 'Buddha Within' can observe---they lose potency to some extent, the rest slips back into the subconscious levels, only to rise again, later.
Each time a destructive urge rises, and is watched peacefully and silently, it loses potency....
Life goes on. :-)
Vikram
PS: I am NOT a Buddhist, but you know that anyway!
Hi Vikram,
You're welcome! And likewise, thanks for taking the time to reply to my comments & of course for your many compliments on my blog.
I really enjoy reading your thoughtful insights & observations.
I know that you're an engineer, but did you study philosophy formally, or have you informally studied philosophy by reading a lot of books by great thinkers over the years?
What you wrote is so very true & insightful: "Unobserved, unacknowledged emotions and thoughts overwhelm and control the person." Nice quotes as well.
Yes, you put it very well: Giving voice to pent-up feelings & thoughts removes their urgency & potency, especially as a darker subconscious force. Providing an outlet for this expression is a way to tame the darker urges of humankind. And by examining these expressions, a person gains awareness & can more objectively consider/realize his or her trajectory, & make the conscious choice to change it if necessary.
A good analogy would be the potential energy contained in a coiled spring. The laws of physics cannot be denied, even in a philosophical sense. As an engineer, I'm sure you can appreciate the finer points of physics in a philosophical sense. ;-)
Hi Corey,
Your comments are very insightful, it is a pleasure to discuss things with you!
No, I have not studied philosophy formally.
As far as informal reading is concerned, I have read very little, am too impatient. Bits and pieces here and there, now and then.
But there are a few authors that I have paid a lot of attention to.
Eckhart Tolle (A spiritual teacher based in Canada), Fritjof Capra (Author of the Tao Of Physics), Richard Feynman, the physicist.
And James Gleik, the author of 'Chaos'; and of course, how could I forget Carl Sagan!!
What you wrote...that is correct, and I agree with you totally.
But there is another aspect to 'observation of dark violent forces and emotions'.
An ancient mystical concept that can be summed up as 'PEACEFUL WATCHING, NO ANALYSIS'.
Entails peaceful watching of violence as it rises in the body/mind, and NOT analysing as to WHY it rising up, as one sees it rising.
Such peaceful observation of violence as it unfolds within takes away its power and potency and it (the violence) recedes....
Each time the violence rises, if peaceful observation is resorted to, the violence will recede, and lose even more potency.
You have not read my blog in its entirety, I have covered this concept in a lot of places.
I am fascinated by this concept because the damn thing actually WORKS!! lol.
I love stuff in which physics, mysticism and philosophy merge.
I am a big fan of Fritjof Capra for this reason. His book...'The Tao of Physics' is a cult book that was blessed by none other than Werner Heisenberg.
You can check out my blog entry on Fritjof Capra, if you want.
Its a blog entry on the merger of physics and mysticsm...satori, transcendence, enlightenment, buddhaworlds, subatomic particles, the cosmic dancer...and..cindy crawford!!
Hyperlink:
Psychosis or Transcendence.
Vikram
"ALL HUMANS want to be tortured AND KILLED, deep down inside."
I never thought about the above line until now.
I mean, isn’t one excepted by society if you live like we’re destined to live forever? Isn’t it easier living if you convince yourself that you want nothing more than life? To breath. To live. To love.
"Live, and let live!" as I boldly wrote on my matric notepad, not knowing that 'letting live' is possibly letting death.
Truthfull though, I will admit, that deep down I always craved death (I say this in fear someone might think I’m a suicidal maniac).
The desire to kiss the world goodbye possibly has largely to do with my curiousness of the 'after-life'.
I’ll tell you now, if it's as shitty as the world we are living in, I want resurrection.
"Kill me, restore me, kill me, restore me"
A favorite quote of mine is better to live to be 30 then to exist to be 100. I think some people are more capable of reaching out and touching more people in their short life here on earth then those who are here ten times the years. I am optimist I think it is not unrealistic to empower the beauty of love then give platform to the hell. Interesting perspective you have.
Hi Vikram,
After our multiple email conversations about various philosophical concepts, I find myself re-reading this entry again. Go figure. ;-)
I'd like to add a few (not-so-)brief (!) comments, which add yet another layer to what "Enigma" has written:
I think the answer to many of these questions are based upon the individual experiences & outlook with regard to life & loss. There is no one correct answer.
Of course, I can't speak for others' experiences with life, loss, & death, only my own. However, I can honestly say that those experiences have actually make me long for more life, not death.
And yet, I'm not a person who's in denial about death, contrary to what Enigma writes, about it being "easier living if you convince yourself that you want nothing more than life." I don't find this to be the case at all. It's not necessarily any easier to live if you convince yourself that all you want is more life. In fact, it's precisely that very strong impulse for life which actually makes death more difficult to accept; if you truly love life, it makes it all the harder to let go in the end. I've seen people well into their late nineties who still wanted more life & fought death tooth & nail until the very end of their lives, & it certainly doesn't make it any easier to let go, not for them or for the ones left behind!
Plus, those of us who love life & yet are still sensitive to loss, typically tend to have a heightened sense of the fleeting impermanence of life. The desire for more life doesn't necessarily change the actual outcome of one's life!
Of course, if you want more life you're generally going to be actively looking for ways to get it, & your predisposition/outlook might quite possibly add a few years to your life, but other than living a healthy physical & mental life, laughing (i.e., staying sane by seeking the humor in life & one's own circumstances!), & trying to stay well away from unusually dangerous, high-risk situations, there's still only so much that's in your own personal control. The rest of the equation is just one big crap shoot.
I love life with every fiber of my being & yet still deeply feel pain & loss like everyone else. That doesn't change. People who think this way (like me!) don't necessarily pretend that they'll live forever; it's not some movie scene from "Highlander," thank you very much! ;-) (Makes me think of the title track from the movie -- The Queen song, "Who Wants To Live Forever"?! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo52T7uKOJU)
We just want all the life we can have! However, the main difference, unlike those who are death-centric, or have a death-wish, is that we are determined to put up a good fight to hold on for as long as we can! ;-)
As someone who could be certainly be accused of possessing an "artistic temperament," I do understand the need to sometimes indulge in the darker, melancholic aspects of life -- It's important to acknowledge the elegiac beauty in tragedy -- but if we let ourselves completely & permanently succumb to that energy, that would be a very dark place to spend the majority of our time here on earth. It's very difficult to move through life if all one wishes for is death. What's actually most important is that we hold onto our sensitivity that comes out of these keen observations about life & death. That allows us to remain connected to the human energy behind those emotions, thoughts, & observations.
Feeling sad about these occurrences from time to time is one thing, but being in a state of continual depression over them is quite another. It's an all-too-easy way out to give up on life & stop hoping or caring; it's much harder to fight & try. When we let ourselves drown in the inertia of
depression & death, where else can we go with that emotion?! If a death is unjust, then there's certainly a justifiably strong human impulse to seek justice. Or, if there's something we can learn from the experience of death, then that's still something that we, as the living, take away with us. However, these lessons are for the living!
I suspect that Enigma is quite probably male, & perhaps does not have the same emotive or personal connection to life or the life force itself which women more commonly possess. I could be wrong about this, but it's been my own personal experience that a lot of men have trouble achieving this state of being & connecting to this energy because they simply won't allow themselves to be open to it.
The irony is that men already possess this energy inside of themselves too, but they have to actively attune themselves to it. It's a matter of them giving themselves permission to become sensitive to it. What really holds many men back from connecting to that source is FEAR, quite frankly. It's mostly their own fear of themselves as men, & what it means to be male, as if somehow connecting to this life-force energy makes them "less of a man," which is ridiculous. This mostly happens to those men with super-rigid definitions of their own identity & masculinity. Alpha males (& even alpha females) usually have the most trouble with these concepts.
While I don't completely share Enigma's sentiments or views with regard to death -- I fervently wish for as much life as I'm allowed to have! -- I do also recognize that there is a distinction between a poetic or imagined desire for death & an actual desire for death.
There is also the figurative & dramatic senses of death, in which a person "seeks death" by destroying the things (s)he loves most. By trying desperately to hold onto that which (s)he loves most, (s)he loses possession.
To quote a passage from Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol, "Each man kills the things he loves." ;-)
Like a person who overzealously waters their plants in a frantic & fearful attempt to keep them alive, we often "kill" with too much love & attention. ;-)
What's really going on here is that we beat the love out of a relationship or situation with our own insecurities, fears, & obsessions. In a sense, that is a form of "slow death."
In a healthy relationship, to love is actually to let go. And death is a form of letting go as well. So the two form an unusual parallel.
As for the statement, "ALL HUMANS want to be tortured AND KILLED, deep down inside," I interpret this figuratively instead of literally. To me, this statement is frankly really more of a literary allusion to sexual desire & how it relates to death. It's not coincidental that an orgasm is called a "little death." In a sexual union, we experience the closest emotional & physical bond to another human being & connect to that life source but then are soon severed from it. There is both "life" & "death" in those moments.
There's really just too much to say on all of these subjects, but I'll end it here, lest I write comments which are longer than the original post! ;-)
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