Restitution

Restitution

Too often we say the words together:
after-life
as if they denote some place,

what we really mean is
life-after-life:
a conceptual weakness.

For the atheist
there is just this:

after life
molecules
dirt
blood flowing back
into the mix

a perpetual awakening
from the dream of life;

one great long yawn
from this galaxy of cells.

Simon Leake

Perspectives

1.

Of being placed within being

of existence within existence

the point of reference is self-referential.

(A hall of mirrors in which our observations return only what we observe:

a kind of sense of ourselves observing from which we assume meaning.)

Of being conscious of being

our situation necessitates structure

in order to navigate the possibilities.

(If we see ourselves as prisoners then our endeavours to understand

are merely the yearnings to become the prison in order to establish why we are prisoners.)

2.

In our lazy wealth we chatter,

drowning in vacuous gossip.

Our infinite technological horizons

invite us to stand still and gawp.

Our potential to dream

is routed down optic cables.

Others wait outside

but they do not partake:

they see nothing worth sharing.

They wait – visions are fleeting.

3.

Sometimes the frame through which we look

is more interesting than the picture framed.

Simon Leake

Pragmatic Metaphoric Philosophy - By Cathy Preston / Loreleila

Pragmatic Metaphoric Philosophy

It's a curious thing

That never ending argument

Over what is right and what is wrong

And what is you and what is not

Where words lie end to end and yet do not

Appear to describe anything;

That dichotomous myth

Seeming so enduring.

Mirage me you, mirage me me

Then will we all be free?

Pontifications on the thoughts of others

As though they aren't our sisters and brothers

Or part of us, or what is right

Where God might be or rather not

So often do we lose the plot;

And who is what and where and why,

I'd really rather eat some pie

(Actually that's poetic since I'm not a fan

Of pastry so that leaves out flan)

But you get my gist

If I have to squirm and twist

To find agreement, or if you insist

I see another as my foe

How can any of us grow

Or even see reality?

I'd really rather kiss or be kissed

Pragmatically metaphorically

Or love yourself as if you're me

Or me be you and you be me

It matters not for where we lie

We cannot lie, for in truth we be

Reflections in the others I.

Cathy Preston / Loreleila

Editors Glossary Note: Dichotomous - Division into two parts, often mutually opposed, the one not containing the other.

The Philosophy Takeaway Issue 53 'Open Topic'

Freedom, are you free? - By Eliza Veretilo

Freedom, are you free?

My heart yearns for a promise,

That is not an actuality.

Inside of me,

There is a point that doesn’t break...

Wants to observe it all. I want to be myself.

Freedom is the promise,

Time is the price.

The clock reminds me that this dimension has its ties.

Hip Hop and Philosophy: A Poetic Alliance

 
            “There she fell in with Sleep, twin brother of Death.” – Homer, The Iliad             (XIV, 277)

            “To die: to sleep… To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay,             there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come.” –             Shakespeare, Hamlet (Act III, Scene I, 60-66)

            “I never sleep, ‘cause sleep is the cousin of death.” – Nas, Illmatic

Hip hop emcee KRS-One, part of the legendary group Boogie Down Productions, is also known as ‘The Philosopher’. His moniker is an acronym for ‘Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone’. This should come as no surprise to hip hop aficionados; for almost a quarter of a century KRS-One has been one of the most intelligent and authentic representatives of this now global cultural movement.

In his 1995 song ‘Squash All Beef’, a cry for peace amongst warring rappers, KRS-One refutes René Descartes’ dualism when he asserts, “There is no separation between the mind and the environment.” Instead he attempts to show that we are all one and part of a collective consciousness when he adds, “Me and you go into the universe once.” There may be some parallels here to seventeenth-century Dutch philosopher Benedict de Spinoza, who posited that all things were a part of God, which for him was synonymous with nature (i.e. the universe).

Later in the song, KRS-One gives his own thoughts on how education could be better utilised in order to create a better society:

            “If I ruled the schools, from pole to pole
            The entire judicial system would fold
            I would get rid of the books ‘cause they bogus
            And in school, knowledge of self would be the focus
            Kids would flock to the schools like locusts
            ‘Cause school now relates to them, and you would notice
            Violence in society would be a minimal
            ‘Cause the education yeah, would now be metaphysical
            Not living by laws, but living by principle.”

KRS-One frowns upon the conservatism of state-based education; instead he believes that education should be the kindling of a fire, rather than the traditional ‘filling of a vessel’ - similar to what John Dewey and Bertrand Russell advocated before him. He is pessimistic towards indoctrinating man-made laws while believing in the innate goodness of humans by insinuating that only a society of free and self-conscious minds can truly flourish ethically, echoing Taoist philosophy.

Of course, when one speaks of philosophy, one cannot speak without at least mentioning Socrates, who was famously given the death penalty by the state for refusing to give up philosophical enquiry. He had been put on trial for questioning the gods of the day and ‘corrupting the minds of the youth’.

While he discovered that the rich and powerful men he so often questioned on the most basic moral and political questions appeared to have little or no knowledge of what they were purporting to be experts on, Socrates was himself at least aware of his own limitations. In other words, he believed in a notion of self-knowledge as opposed to absolute knowledge, meaning that he was only wise to the extent that he knew that he knew nothing.

Talib Kweli, who is part of the duo Black Star, has some interesting perspectives on the importance of self-knowledge and the spiritual and intellectual freedom it can give in the 1998 song, ‘K.O.S. (Determination)’:

“At exactly which point do you start to realize
That life without knowledge is, death in disguise?
That's why, knowledge of self is like life after death
Apply it, to your life, let destiny manifest.”

Socrates, it should be noted, chose to give up his life when offered a reprieve of a mere financial penalty.  This was because he could not bring it upon himself to contemplate a life devoid of philosophy when ordered to give up his constant questioning of everything and everyone around him. Like Talib Kweli’s notion of “death in disguise”, Socrates also regarded that such an unexamined life “is not worth living.”

Closer to home, British-Iraqi emcee Lowkey expresses his existential angst in his 2009 song ‘In My Lifetime’:

“In my lifetime I learnt life is suffering
And happiness is one thing that money doesn't bring
In my lifetime, our birth right is struggling,
It must have been, but no matter what I keep the love within.”

This immediately draws parallels to Arthur Schopenhauer, who was undoubtedly the most famous of all pessimists in Western philosophical thought. Schopenhauer famously asserted:

“If the immediate and direct purpose of our life is not suffering than our existence is the most ill-adapted to its purpose in the world.”

However by acknowledging the role that love can offer, in a sense the last line brings Lowkey’s thinking closer to that of the Buddhist tradition than that of Schopenhauer’s rigid and negative deterministic philosophy. The Buddhist notion of suffering, which is the first of the Four Noble Truths, outlines that the realisation of the inevitability of suffering in life is the first stage towards overcoming it and achieving enlightenment, or Nirvana.

It could be argued that Lowkey also echoes French philosopher Albert Camus by asserting that “Our birth right is struggling.” Camus famously referred to the story of Sisyphus to give credence to his philosophy that life is absurd. Sisyphus is a character in Greek mythology who was condemned by the gods to roll a heavy boulder up to the top of a mountain, where having completed this arduous task, the boulder would fall back the earth, forcing him to begin this process again and again ad infinitum. Camus may have argued that since Lowkey - like Sisyphus - is conscious of his eternal fate in struggling, he cannot escape the fact that life is inherently absurd, despite any attempts to create meaning through its chaos.

But it may possibly be this struggling against our fate that gives some meaning to our lives. Immortal Technique attempts to provide his own answers to life in his 2011 song ‘The Martyr’ by postulating:

“The purpose of life is a life with a purpose
So I'd rather die for a cause than live a life that is worthless.”

Perhaps paradoxically, Immortal Technique sees finding a purpose as the answer to one of the biggest existential questions facing humans - the meaning of life. Camus may have disagreed, claiming that this form of ‘revolt’ was merely a way of denying the reality of the absurdity or meaninglessness of life. Another French philosopher named Jean-Paul Sartre, who was a contemporary of Camus, also dealt with questions of our existence, famously stating that ‘existence precedes essence’. By this he meant that we are not born with any pre-defined values, but maintains the opposite; namely that we are born into this world as free beings and instead we must create our own meanings.

While many people these days are turned off by the often pretentious or unintelligible poems of the past, it would be misguided to maintain that people - particularly the younger generations - do not enjoy contemplating philosophical rhymes. There are plenty of philosophers residing in the minds of ordinary people, particularly highly creative artists such as hip hop emcees – the modern day poets of today. When Nobel Prize winning poet Seumas Heaney was asked by a journalist whether there was anyone in modern culture who echoed the popular artists of the past, he replied, “Eminem. He has created a sense of what is possible.”

By V. Srilangarajah 

The Philosophy Takeaway 'Open topic' Issue 39

[ed] 15 hip hop albums with philosophical themes you may wish to explore:

1.     Nas – Illmatic (1994)

2.     2Pac – Me Against the World (1995)

3.     GZA – Liquid Swords (1995)

4.     Wu-Tang Clan – Wu-Tang Forever (1997)

5.     Gang Starr – Moment of Truth (1998)

6.     Black Star - Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (1998)

7.     Afu-Ra – Body of the Life Force (2000)

8.     Binary Star – Masters of the Universe (2000)

9.     Eyedea & Abilities – First Born (2001)

10.  Eyedeas - The Many Faces of Oliver Hart or How Eye One the Write Too Think (2001)

11.  CunninLynguists – Will Rap For Food (2001)

12.  Nas – God’s Son (2002)

13.  Canibus – Rip The Jacker (2003)

14.  Foreign Beggars – Asylum Speakers (2003)

15. CunninLynguists - A Piece of Strange (2006)

Missing person - By Ellese Elliott

Missing person

What if my soul has gone?

Because it could not take the pain

Left me empty and without song

For my mind to weave itself insane

Did it fly into the heavens?

And leave me to dwell below the stars

Alone, with no friends among men

To drown myself at the bar

There is no sunlight, rain nor thunder

No longer does my world appear the same

Through the eyes which bare no sentient perceiver

Through a body which merely holds a name

No longer do I dwell among the living

Nor can I seek comfort among the dead

Merely a being full of air; breathing

Likened to a stick man with a head

The future is grim.

O what am I to do?

By Ellese Elliott

The Philosophy Takeaway 'Open Topic' Issue 31

A young girls dream

When I was a little girl

I decided I was to save the world

I felt others pain and sadness

And that our society was subject to madness

Yet as a child I had no means

No idea how, nor any money in my jeans

But knew the journey I would take

And the decisions I would make

When I arrived at puberty

Quickly everything became about me

The latest fashion was my obsession

And my happiness was determined by possessions

But it did not take long to realize

That these ideals were lies

And that the dream around me

Had been created by the enemy

Then a number of circumstances

Were to sabotage my chances

But a skein I grabbed onto

And unraveled some helpful clues

I pieced them together

I forgot I was so clever

And the picture was philosophy

And it was intended for me

Anon, I travelled this path

And rekindled my ability to laugh

At what was so much nonsense?

But slowly made more and more sense

But locked in a lingual cage

That had been kept secret from age to age

How would one steal?

This truth to then reveal

This is how I would save the world

The dream I prophesized as a little girl

To bring philosophy to the masses

So they could save their own asses.

Ellese Elliott

The Philosophy Takeaway 'Open Topic' Issue 30

For Mary: 15-50 - By Siobhon Wilson

For Mary: 15-50

15.

Grown. Taut.

Started but not yet begun.

Buds of sexuality pucker,

Unknowing what they held inside.

Eyes down, bitten lip.

An unfurnished room.

20.

Ibiza. Him.

Begun but not yet created.

Sex.

Known but not owned.

She is for sale.

Eye contact. Wide smile.

Playing at Four becomes foreplay.

He.

Shiny and new.

Owned but not known.

30.

Baby. Nothing But.

Created but not yet realised.

Sexuality is replaced with Mothercare.

She is owned and she has produced.

Tired eyes, sighing mouth.

Her = Child.

Le petit mort.

A shrunken room

Littered with debris of the past

Home to the little cot.

40.

Ten years un-needed.

Discarded but not fully released.

Sexuality is reconstructed in old, betraying photographs.

Flowers wilt in dry soil, only half-opened.

Eyes worn, time-wrinkled frown.

Identity is unknown to all who occupy.

50.

Grown. Sagged.

Started but not yet begun.

The stretching of time leaves marks on her body.

The perennials turn to seed,

Desaturated, the negative of colour.

Eyes down, bitten lip.

She leaves.

An unfurnished room:

She opens a window and

Breathes in air.

 

By Siobhon WilsonThe Philosophy Takeaway 'Gender' Issue 26

A seemingly meaningless life - By: Eliza Veretilo

A seemingly meaningless life

Down and up mountains

Across vast valleys

Walking in inner city streets

There are people, many people searching for the meaning of life.

I found myself asking the same question

Never finding

Always in the process of becoming, of looking, of feeling imperfect

The meaning of human life

Is to find every moment perfect.

Accepting yourself,

And that everything is alive

For what purpose you may ask?

The meaning of life lays in simply being.

Words can kill what I want to express

The medium can kill the message

The meaning of life is to become one with your existence.

Like a tree. Like a tiger. Like a stream.

They just are. We just are.

We are information, consciousness and awareness in this vast universe.

A beautiful possibility actualised.

We can be free.

Our meaning lays in being, not in reacting.

I found the meaning of life in your eyes

I saw the eternity of Spinoza’s god in your eyes.

I saw the purposefully existence of your eyes in your eyes.

I saw love. I am love. I found love in your eyes.

The meaning of life is truly personal

Alone but not lonely

The meaning of life is truth

And truth is a pathless life, a seemingly meaningless life.

By: Eliza Veretilo

Heart on a chain - By Perry Smith

Heart on a chain
Flushed away
Limbo Messiahs
Change your desires
Broken and bruised
Change it for someone new
Who knows?
Who cares?
With so many, you can't lose
Don't place your bet
Life's not a gamble
Don't wait for that one diamond sandal
It doesn't exist
Not now
Not ever
Futile to persist
"My son, just go out and get pissed"


By Perry Smith

A poem for skeptics - By Ellese Elliott

A poem for skeptics

No word can depict the manifold

In a single living being

No names can imagine Gold

Nor the phenomena of seeing

No sentence could ever grasp

One's inkling of eternity

No language could describe

The meaning of infinity

Our logic renders us static

When we speak of one we love

We may seek refuge within mathematics

But then threatened by philosophy

All our dreams explained away

By the force of the enlightenment

But our science remains a foetus

In the belly of epistemology

A note on the poem:

Epistemology is the section of philosophy dedicated to thinking about knowledge: What it is and how do we obtain it. Episteme was a type of knowledge which was said to be divine or of the Gods and which only the gods could possess, however Protagorus (a pre-socratic philosopher (before Socrates)) pointed out that we can't know what the Gods know because we cannot know anything about the gods. Since then there has been much debate about what we can know for certain. Many philosophers have concluded we can always play the skeptic. To doubt everything including scientific claims as they rest upon a fallacious logic; for example, just because I observe something 'X' amount of times does not therefore mean it is now a golden rule. This form of reason is called induction and was said to have been founded by Aristotle, Plato's student over 2000 years ago. Even now Philosophers debate what we can know for sure and little has changed. The debate continues and will probably continue for some years to come. 

By Ellese Elliott

A thought on happiness - by David McDonagh

A thought on happiness

As far as I am concerned, leading a happy life requires dedication to one or more various tasks.

As do ants, we should put forth as individuals toward a shared but necessarily unspoken of development of the whole.

Why should humans think themselves as capable of experiencing more happiness than little ants?

by David McDonagh

Falling forward - by Liam Bland

Falling forward

I’m moving forward, it is plain to see.

Yes, I progress continually.

An almighty achievement, I do agree

But it feels as though some force were propelling me.

And I do not mean fate or some bearded deity

(Indeed, I loathe the both of those ideologies)

Rather a compulsion, born of the inability

To stave off the affects of gravity.

Thus life lurches forward in perpetuity,

Never quite falling, nor stalling and never free

To but pause, not even momentarily

to sample the anti-physics of true inactivity.

For living beyond the tipping point means tumbling violently

Collapsing forward through space, through time

and social activity.

by Liam Bland