“Licensed to Live”
Mind
Section C
“A Stranger in Charge of the Temple of My Soul”
Presented at:
The University of Winchester 2008
Commentary and Debate on DVD
(Please find this DVD in the above relevant sleeve)
· This is a related piece of study in form of audio visual commentary/debate which is presented with some purposefully taken videos together with references to some film clips and music of other artists, while the commentary is narrated.
· Written form of what is spoken on the DVD is on the next page and also on line:
http://parvanehfarid-academicprojects.blogspot.com/2008/06/stranger-in-charge-of-temple-of-my-soul.html
· The presentation is also found on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPDI_ScFRbw&feature=related
(Farid 2007-08)
Commentary and Debate
Written form of what is spoken on the DVD
This is a related study on a three part project on the theme of the journey of our body, mind and spirit throughout our lives, during which our physical, mental and spiritual characters form. The first part of this project; “My Body is a Temple for My Soul” looked at our appearance as a determining factor for social positioning.
This part of the project; “A Stranger in Charge of the Temple for My Soul” examines the process through which our faculties develop and forms our individual character within the reality of our social life, and the way that our faculties operate in terms of adapting or rejecting an idea or a belief system. During the course of this research an attempt, also, will be made to identify and analyse some of the contributing factors to this formation, such as family, media, education, religion and so on.
Where does our physicality end and our faculties begin?
It appears that our physical bodies grow to their apex of maturity and strength between 16 and 30 years of age, a period during which we are at our best to pass our genes. Once the body clock sounds its alarm, whether we have performed our duty or not, the physical world no longer has any interest in keeping us around. Our bodies, thereafter, begin to decline, and so do our faculties, and one does not need to acquire a PhD to work out what would happen next.
Want More
He: “What are you going to do?
Don’t you understand? I want you to be a real woman”
She: “I am areal woman”
He: “Then act like one.
There is no other god that is more beautiful and more miraculous.
You know everything without opening a single book.
What more do you want?”
She: “More!”
(Streisand 1983)
But we want more than what Mother Nature has bargained for. What keeps us fighting our mortality after fertility is our leftover instinct for survival with the support of our developed faculties. In other words our instinct for survival, having given up with our fertility to make an imprint, has now to find an alternative route. This alternative route leads us to the realm of the arts, music, thoughts, beliefs, and if corrupted to vandalism and destructive behaviour. We also supplement our instinct for looking after our young with developing an interest in passing on experience, knowledge, thoughts/beliefs/religion and lifestyle, which in the case of corruption manifest itself in a form of desire to control.
On the other hand our instinct for occupation forms habits and makes us sustain our lifestyle as though nothing has happened. We get dressed up to the nines and work towards completing our unresolved/unfinished business in our earthly lives. If up to then we had a free ride on Mother Nature, from now on we are on our own. The charity account is closed and we have to fight/cheat for credits. From now on we continue living on borrowed time. Mother Nature no longer has any interest in our survival. Our being is only legitimised by our manmade philosophy and our technological civilisation at the expense of a collective sense of social solidarity.
“Ubuntu” I Am Because You Are
“In old days, when we were young, a traveller through a country
would stop in a village and he didn’t have to ask for food or for water.
Once he stops, the people giving food and entertaining.
That is one aspect of –Ubuntu-, but Ubuntu has various aspects…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODQ4WiDsEBQ
(Mandela 2006)
“The central wisdom of Africa that a human condition is captured in a word; Ubuntu. The literal translation of Ubuntu in English is –I am because you are-“
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YswUI-yqXo
(Clinton 2007)
“I am because we are. Think about it. I am not defined without you…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfQQAnQEs6I&feature=related
(Madonna 2008)
Although we learn from our own experience and understanding of the mechanism of “Cause & Effect”, mostly we learn from experiences which have been passed on to us. Remind yourself of everything you have been doing since you woke up this morning. How much of that was your idea and what percentage did you learn from others? You might have some choices, of course, but have you done anything today of your own volition?
Education
This, however, does not mean that we are totally programmed pieces of machinery. If that was the case civilisation could never evolve to what it is today. We would still be running around on bare feet perchance finding food and hiding in caves to protect ourselves from the elements. Observing Feral Children could be a proof of this assumption.
Oxana: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyqbnDjId7g&feature=related (You Tube 2007)
Our being consists of three entities; “genetic makeup”, a given individual character and environmental influences, which include our upbringing (Abdul-Bahá 1979). It could, therefore, be suggested that a given piece of information (thesis) could be challenged/questioned and processed (antithesis) by any of these mentioned entities or a combination of them and lead to a new phenomenon (synthesis), which itself will go through a similar dialectic process. This spiral Hegelian Dialectic process, therefore, could be the very mechanism for the evolution of our civilisation.
“… according to which the Absolute Reality is progressively manifesting itself dialectically in the form of thesis, antithesis and synthesis…”
(Hegel 1998)
Developing Cognition
Jean Piaget (1896-1980), is perhaps the first name which comes to mind upon hearing the term; “Cognitive Development”. Pondering on his work, very quickly guides us to the weight that he gives to education in developing our cognition.
The 'Voice' of the Child in Family Proceedings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2_ks5dKBuQ (You Tube 2007)
Jean Piaget, interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEfjjYgsT44&feature=related (You Tube 2007)
Cause and Effect
All these ways of learning are directed to the understanding one universal law; “Cause and Effect”. To develop this cognition, however as Piaget suggests, we create our own schema.
It also appears that in the same way that we feel an urge to pass on our genes, we also develop an interest to passing on our experiences, thoughts and beliefs
Education, Education, Education
“Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value.
Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures,
and enable mankind to benefit therefrom”
(Bahá'u'lláh 1952)
A well developed and up to date system of education should be geared to discovering the individualities and the unique potentials of all and promote them to their limits. It is noticeable that the old system of education is heavily focused on a public uniformisation, in order to create order and management.
