Fahrenheit 451: If Books Disappeared, What Would We Lose?

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What may happen if books were to be no more?

Ray Bradbury's Farenheti 451 is an attempt at answering this.

The New Mexico artist Georgio O'keefe says, "to see takes time."

In the world of Farenheti 451 there is no time for a good long look. Billboards for advertisement are made 200 foot long because cars were rushing past them too quickly to notice. Life is fast, people are entertained and conversations are superficial. What comes below the surface is just more surface.

In a world where superficiality is the norm, people with depth seem strange. It shouldn't be surprising that Montag, the fireman whose job was to burn books, found Clarise strange. Clarise's strangeness which unsettles Montag. Clarise asks Montag if he is happy. Montag is bothered because he had not thought deeply about this question. He feels flustered.

Clarise is based on a character called Leanord Mead from one of Ray Bradbury's short stories. In this short story Leanord loves to go on late night walks to get "see." He is arrested and taken to a psychiatric hospital because he is considered abnormal for wanting to go on a walk to see instead of seeing with the "viewing screens" (TV) his house was provided with. He reminds me of Georgia O'Keefe whatever you look at, look at it for a long time.

Even though Montag was flustered about the encounter with Clarise. Something had shifted, Montag feels like she really saw him. The encounter with her gave him a deeper interiority, a space for self reflection. The German sociologist Harmuth Rosa calls this encounter Resonance. In the book Social Acceleration Rosa says that in modernity people often live in a state of 'frenzied standstill' - they feel like they need to be on a treadmill just to keep up. In this state people feel alienated with themselves, with people they love and their own life stories.

Clarise is the first person with whom Montag has resonance. The encounter leads him to self-reflect ask himself questions he had never asked himself before. Was he truly happy. He realizes that does not remember where and how he and his wife, Linda, met. He asks her she couldn't remember either. It did not bother Linda that she couldn't. Montag is shocked that Linda wasn't bothered about their inability to remember where they met. Montag living in a world without books, the ability to take good long looks had lost his humanity.

This ability to self-reflect helps Montag to go on a journey of self discovery. It reminds me of St. Augustine who in his Confessions as he talks to God says, he hid his face from himself so he did not have to see the truth of his self. He goes on to tell God, "You put my face in front of me so I could see me and also my need for you." Augustine had a moment of resonance with God that took him on a journey of self-discovery.

At the climax of Montag's journey, he arrives in the wilderness and truly sees the world around him. At that point he feels the presence of Clarise at this space. He also remembers where he had met his wife Linda. Montag becomes fully human.

Penguin's Psychology Explored

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The new TV series "Penguin" delves into the psychological complexity of Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot, exploring whether he's truly a ruthless Gotham mobster or simply a desperate momma's boy. The plot is gritty but also deeply psychological exploring Oz’s relationship with his mom and how that shapes his drive to succeed.

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A Theology of Gratitude: How to find Health & Happiness?

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G.K.Chesterton saying "I felt grateful, though I hardly knew to whom," that is a reference to his original state of atheism. He said he became Christian, not by reading the bible, but by reading atheists because in their writings he recognized God's silhouette. It reminds of the writer Julian Barnes who says, “I don’t believe in God, but I miss him.” Barnes speaks to the universal longing for a source goodness, love and beauty outside of self. Chesterton’s journey to Christianity started with his desire to find a mooring for his wandering gratitude.

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Love vs. Ideology: The Hypocrisy of Pyotr in Dostoevsky's Novel

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Maxim Gorky. He said, "We do not have time to pay attention to individual complaints. Our job is to overthrow the old regime and build a new society." What do we see here? We see here a lack of concern for the individual while being concerned about the masses. So the individual can fall through the cracks and that's okay. This is what Pyotr is doing here. He is concerned about these big revolutionary movements and ideas in Europe while he abandons the young man Dimitri who he took under his guardianship.

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Mr. Beast a Modern Tragic Hero

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In the age of YouTube celebritydom, the pursuit of fame can tempt even the best of us. My hope is that Mr. Beast takes some time to reflect on his own choices and his life, engaging in inner examination. Instead of doubling down on his fatal flaws, I hope he can emerge as a redeemed hero, rather than becoming a tragic hero derailed by his flaws.

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Brother Karamazov: Exploring Romanticism In Adelaida's Choice - Ideology vs Relational Rootedness

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Adelaida choice to marry Fyodor is inauthentic because it is ideological and not relational. Ideological love sees the other as an idea. Adelaida married Fyodor because he represented the idea of rebellion against her parents. On the other hand, relational choices are about love for the person for who they are and not what sentiment they represent.

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Holdovers On Metabolizing Pain

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The movie starts with Paul as an angry man, drowning his pain in alcohol and vitriol. The movie resists finding romance as an easy salve to his pain. Instead it attempts to help people find resolution through honesty, acceptance and facing the truth of their past. The last scene of the movie is Paul taking a swing of liquor and spitting it out, setting Paul on a new journey.

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Why is sci-fi fundamental to Elon's worldview and work?

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What is peculiar to Elon is he has civilizational vision for using science and technology - to save humanity. This is why the goal of SpaceX is to make human beings a spacefaring civilization. In the Foundation series the psycho-history genius Hari Sheldon helps civilization navigate through a major crisis by creating a remnant far out in space.

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The Crown SE 06: Father Wound of Diana and Dodi

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One of the most powerful scenes in this Season is one the father and son have a heart to heart conversation. In order to not spoil the scene I do not want to say too much, but only this. In that scene Dodi tells his dad that the reason why he is so controlling is that he is seeking the affirmation of the West, suggesting that his own controlling nature comes from deep in securities.

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Why is Luna Lovegood a Great Character in Harry Potter?

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So what helps luna Lovegood to be that person that brings comfort to people when they are there, when they are in distress? And how has she developed that ability? A part of this goes back to luna love good's own life history. When she was about nine her mom died accidentally. And she witnessed that death. Anytime somebody witnesses death, in the Harry Potter world, they become people that can see the thestral until then they cannot see the thestral.

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Oppenheimer: American Prometheus: Technology vs Moral Virtue

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So who is Prometheus? He is a figure from the Greek mythology. He stole fire from the gods to bring it to human beings. So that's what they're referring to when they say "raided Mount Olympus again", to bring this technology to human beings so that human life would prosper. The scientists that worked along with Oppenheimer brought the technology that fuels the sun nuclear energy to earth, so to speak. Which is why they are called the modern Prometheans.

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Stockton Rush: Hero or Villian OR What may Aristotle say?

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There are some that consider Stockton rush as a hero. There are some that say that captain Stockton is a pioneer because he was trying to figure out a way to take multiple people on a tour together to the deeper depths of the ocean. Because the current models do not allow more than two people to go together at the same time. So in that sense, is he an Explorer that is that is trying to push the boundaries and figure out innovative ways of doing things. In that sense, is he a hero?

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Lessons from Succession: Finite and Infinite Games

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Logan is always playing the game to win. He says, "I always win." And this mindset of playing the game to win   is something Simon Sinek, calls the finite game. He wrote a book called the infinite game in which he says people often play two types of games.

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Why are Cormac McCarthy's books so bleak yet hopeful? Facing Terminal Decadence!

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So what is terminal decadence? If you think about different cultures and civilization? They rise up, they go to a peak, and then they start coming down. And terminal decadence is the stage where they start crumbling and they reach a point where there is no return.

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Succession and the Gospel: Inversion of Patriarch's Power Games

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This thing that sat on Kendal's heart since he was nine is the desire to be crowned as the King. Is that because he really wanted to do the job. Or is that because that is the only way he could get his father's approval. Is Logan exploiting Kendall's need for his approval. Logan would repeat similar tactics with his other children too, Shiv and Roman, manipulating their ambition and loyalties sowing the seeds for grand betrayals and escalating rivalry.

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Waking Ned Divine - Breaking the Machine

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Lizzy reminded me of the book Fate of Empires. In the book Fate of Empires, Sir John Glubb analyzes how different civilizations follow a common pattern of rise to power, then decline and fall. Civilizations rise to power when people value courage, duty and honor dealings with others. One of the stages in the decline and fall is what he calls the Age of Affluence. In this stage the ethic of honor and duty is replaced by the ethic of wanting to make money and get ahead in life, often at the cost of civic virtue.

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Lessons in Love: Fightclub and Codependency

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Every human being is broken in some ways. We all seek to healing. And love can be a powerful healing force at multiple levels - psychological, neurological and sociological. The problem is that when two broken people try to use each other's love to heal their wounds, it can create more brokenness - because two different people may need two different ways of feeling loved by the other, to feel healed. But the other may not be able to provide that particular way of being loved. This can create a lot of resentment in relationships.

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From Woody Allen to Christmas

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This is the meaning of Christmas! It means we do not have to resign our unyielding despair like Bertrand Russell suggests or try to escape into a world of comic relief as Woody Allen does, rather we can face the despair in life with the hope that our pain points to a bigger purpose and our desires point to a transcendent beauty and our life will find meaning which will echo through eternity. All because the Logos took on Humanity and transformed what it means to be human.

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The Terminal List - On What is Wrong with our Society

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To the extend that we don't value our need for deep bonds with the community around us we will become less human, the way the elite managerial class seem in Terminal List. In exchanging the brotherhood for money, the elite managerial class lose their humanity. Their humanity dies before they indeed are terminated.

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