Blog #3

Reflection #3

In the Baroque period, two phrases were popular. "Carpe diem", seize the day, and "memento mori", remember that one day you must die. To me, these are similar but can be interpreted differently. Carpe diem seems to be an inspiring quote, motivating each person to take their life into their own hands and do what they want to do with it. Memento mori, however can accomplish this by encouraging taking risks, because eventually you will die and your choices won't matter. But memento mori can also highlight the fact that one day everyone dies for the purpose of discouraging ambition and motivation because of the futility. An interesting concept of the Baroque period was the general theme of conflict/contrast, and more specifically, how it applied to dreaming and reality. The old Chinese sage Chuang-tzu said that he had once dreamed he was a butterfly, but know he doesn't know if he is a person that dreamed of being a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming that he is a human. While we dream, it feels as if everything makes sense despite the confusion we make them out to be when we wake up. This reality we are in could simply be a dream that makes sense, and in actual reality it may be that we wake up looking back on this "dream" with confusion, perhaps as butterflies.

Connection #3

A thought experiment that I think of relating to carpe diem and memento mori is when people ask if a glass of half filled of water is half empty or half full. The two mottoes are very similar, just like the amount of water there is no matter how you look at it. However, the difference comes when we interpret what these phrases mean, whether they are meant to be pessimistic or encouraging. Personally, I like to look at the water experiment dependent on the situation. If the glass started out empty, and was filled halfway, then it is half full. But if the glass was full and emptied to the halfway point, then it is half empty. I find Chuang-tzu's dream dilemma very interesting, because it incites thought about what dreams are, and it makes it even more interesting when science can't explain dreams, and the possibility exists, our dreams might be an entirely different reality we experience but then forget. Or maybe we even experience it as a third person entity, not fully understanding everything but just going with it until we wake up. And right now we could be experiencing this reality in first person, but a third person, other consciousness is witnessing all of our lives in what seems like a night's worth of sleep.