A Penguin with a Book

The end credits begin to roll across the screen and the lights come on. Three people begin to stretch. They have attended a Harry Potter movie marathon at the local library, and despite having been awake for seventeen hours and needing to use the bathroom, they have more important topics on their minds. Friedrich Nietzsche, C.S. Lewis, and T.S. Eliot have insight that they want to share. When they all gather to discuss the films, Nietzsche immediately starts sharing . Nietzsche: The philosophy behind the movies makes me sick. You can clearly see how delusion spread through the resistance. After all, the Deatheaters were merely attempting to exert their will and show how the notion that all wizards are equal was insanity. One cannot be faulted for trying to exert his will, even if he does not triumph. Lewis [ ponders Nietzsche’s statement ]: I have to disagree with you because I believe the roles to be reversed. The situation is similar to what happens on Thulcandra, and “I may t...

In The Silmarillion , Tolkien writes the creation story for Middle Earth. The creator, Iluvatar, plans the date when elves and men will come into existence. He has previously created the Valar, or the Holy Ones, who have the ability to create as long as they know the form of the object. One of the Valar, Melkor, rebels against his maker and forms objects of his own design, while a faithful follower of Iluvatar, Aule, creates his own race, which he is not supposed to do. Despite both Valar committing actions counter to the creator’s will, Iluvatar reacts differently to the two. Aule and Melkor’s actions to create are viewed differently by Iluvatar because of the intentions they had while completing their tasks. Aule’s act of creating his own race violates Iluvatar’s will because it went against the timeline the latter planned out. The former awaits the coming of elves and men, but since he does not know when they will come about, and he sees that Middle Earth is relatively empty, h...

Standards exist in the world, whether they are personal or cultural. Sometimes they come into conflict, and when this clash happens, it detracts from one’s happiness. Freud, in Civilization and Its Discontents , addresses how, in conforming to the standards society has set in place, one cannot follow their own desires, which leads to unfulfillment. Additionally, following the ethical standards society has in place have ramifications. Civilization’s goal to survive is impeded by the fact that everyone has their own desires, sexual or otherwise, which leads to wickedness. Civilization was formed so that mankind might better survive. It offers protection from outsiders and provides a sense of security. While there are benefits that arise from civilization, it has downsides as well. The major one, according to Freud, is “the conflict between civilization and sexuality [and it] is caused by the circumstance that sexual love is a relationship between two people … whereas civilization is f...

Cowards. Slaves. These are two names that the narrator in Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground calls humans, specifically decent men. He comes to this realization because, as he phrases it, he is developed and intellectually superior. While all his peers think he is foolish, he has hit upon a truth most only guess at. Mankind is trapped in a system, and they are either too scared to attempt leaving or are not capable of doing so, whether they are aware of their state or not, which is evident in the narrator’s life. The narrator forms the conclusion of man’s condition after considering his workplace., observing how they perform the same routine every day. He believes that, “Every decent man of our time is and must be a coward and a slave. That is his normal condition.” (44). How is a man decent if he is a coward and slave? The narrator is bringing up the point that any normal, good man is still following the path laid out for him by society and not challenging it. The system is how ou...

The idea that humans are in control and have power over their lives is one of the biggest misconceptions in today’s society. John Locke deals with the falsity of this belief in The Second Treatise of Government . He does so by relating human existence to two states: the state of nature and the state of war. Locke shows that, in relation to human nature, humans do not hold power over their lives and, therefore, cannot pass it to another, except in a state of war. To better understand why humans cannot transfer power of their lives, understanding Locke’s definitions of the state of nature and the state of war are important, especially how they connect. The state of nature is the rules by which humans were governed before society formed, and they can also be called natural laws. It is further described as “a state of perfect freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the laws of nature” (2). Simply put, human righ...

When did it become common to use the word like multiple times in a sentence? Why is it done? Is it because we do not want to say exactly what we mean in case we are wrong, and, therefore, would rather use “like” instead of sounding correct, or is it simply a filler word? I f it is the latter, we should know what we will say before we speak instead of filling time with useless chatter. While recognizing our wretchedness is good because it means acknowledging our nature, dwelling on it too much is not beneficial because it could lead to feeling miserable, and no one needs to feel miserable on top of our present state. Our present world has enough misery. Seeing that humanity is fallen is not hard. For instance, there are the poor drivers or people who get involved in argument after argument. When I consider all that I see in one day, it is tempting to say “I am so done with humanity,” because truth be told, it is draining trying to live right and follow the rules when everywhere...

Voltaire writes in Candide about the travels and experiences of a former servant named Candide and how his view of the world changes on his journey. One of Candide’s closest companions is Pangloss, a philosopher, and he believes all that happens in life is for the best. On conversing with a Familiar of the Inquisition, Pangloss brings up the point that the fall of man was necessary and good for this world. The fall of man and the curse entering the world is the for the best becomes it helps reveal the nature of God and provides humans with a deeper relationship with Him. Pangloss brings up his philosophy that all is for the best shortly after he and Candide experience an earthquake in Lisbon, and he chalks up the occurrence to his philosophy since he believes the best outcome in life was for it to happen. The Familiar then assumes that the philosopher does “not believe in original sin; for if all is for the best there has been neither Fall nor punishment” (20). This statement means...