Re: Moviegoer and despair


Subject: Re: Moviegoer and despair
From: James L Piat (piat@JUNO.COM)
Date: Tue Nov 16 1999 - 14:22:14 EST


On Mon, 15 Nov 1999 23:05:34 EST Marshall Smith <Cocasteady@AOL.COM>
writes:

> I'm of
> the
> kick-the-rock-and-Berkeley (sp?)-is-refuted school.

Me too. Sometimes I try so hard to be open minded I don't know what I'm
saying.

> Beyond (or below) all that, my take on the objectification issue
> was
> somewhat more simple. I was talking about the moment when someone
> in a state
> of despair (or more accurately depression) is able to say to him or
> herself -
> "Good God, what is going on here. I'm completely wrapped up in this
> catastrophically bad state and have been for weeks, months, years.
> Let me
> try and climb out of it." To do that, a degree of objectifying
> one's own
> emotions, state of mind, circumstance, is essential in my opinion.
> And here
> "objective" isn't used in any technical sense. I mean only the
> ability to
> escape the web of bad feeling and look at oneself in an objective
> sense.
> It's a bit like realizing and regretting you're acting like an ass
> while
> being unable to stop yourself from doing it. I speak from
> experience.

I wish I had said that. That's been my experience too.

>
> I am in wholehearted agreement that objectifying others is bad.
> However,
> objectifying aspects of one's own personality, if and when possible,
> is
> productive and necessarily clarifying.

Yes. But why is it good to objectify oneself and not others? Maybe a
way out of this double standard is to consider the process of self
examination as "taking responsibility" for one's actions rather than as
"objectifying aspects of oneself". Holding everyone (ourselves as well
as others) responsible for his own actions seems like an even handed
solution for us all. Maybe I'm just over qualifying again. Actually I
do get your point and agree with it. The other day a lawyer told me that
my trouble was that I always wanted to have the last word. I tried to end
the argument on a positive note by agreeing with him but he had to have
the last word and wouldn't let me. So I hired him. OK, so I didn't hire
him. He threw my ass out of the office. But once they've got your money
it amounts to the same difference anyway. Just kidding folks.

I've enjoying this thread and finding it personally helpful. Any
comments about how Percy dealt with other emotions such as anger and
guilt.

Cheers,
Jim Piat



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