Sunday Character
By ice rivers
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One Sunday morning, I was walking down by the old grave yard in the morning fog when I began to think about the question of character and how character related to Dr. Bruce Banner/the Hulk
Is Character is will in action or conscience in action or soul in action?
I needed help from a Doctor. I chose a Phd who had his doctorate of philosophy in the field of philosophy. I figured I was getting double the bang.
Since my epiphany in Krell's class, I had taken to wearing a Lone Ranger mask whenever I stepped onto the campus. Ever since Zap Zaprowski had written a profile of me and my mask in the college newspaper, I had become the most recognizable and easily identified personality around the quad.
Blue Monday arrived and I made my way to Dr. Bradley's office. I knocked upon his door. I came into his room. He recognized me from my time with his friend Thornton Krell. He realized that I was a metaphysictionist as well as a solopsist and a fan of Stan Lee.
" Hey Ovid, I just finished prepping for teaching Camus La Peste for a Critical thinking course that I will teach next semester. It just dawned on me the La Peste is the opposite of Casablanca. Instead of lovers trapped together who soon depart, lovers are trpped apart and fear that they have lost one another during the separation, at least the character of Rembert" said Dr. Bradley.
I didn't feel like arguing or implying that either Dr. Bradley had been misinformed....that wasn't the reason for my visit. Everyone knows that there are no waters in Casablance
I asked Dr. Bradley my question about character and will and action and soul.
"It's funny you're asking this because I was just thinking about that perplexity while reading a favorite philosopher of mine last night. I think the answer depends upon the interpretation because Plato and Socrates definitely say character is the soul in action, some version of mind only Buddhist philosophy says it's pure consciousness but Giles Deleuze wrote in an essay on Heidigger that "action and will have destroyed thinking" in that the emphasis upon putting thought into action has been converted into a dichotomy of ACTION/thought with thoughtless action as the main result. I'm in favor of this interpretation. In the Baghavad Gita we are merely avatars in the mind of the Brahmin. Does that help?"
It did help some because the Hulk was certainly an example of thoughtless action on rampage and the avatar business fit into my sololipsistic beliefs. Metaphysictionally it made sense because all of the philosophers in question obviously misunderstood one another leading to the confusion and misunderstanding of character with which I left Dr. Bradley's office.
On my way to the parking lot, I passed the usual parade of students purposefully striding towards their classes, under the misunderstanding that there was urgency in their motivation and reward in their destination.
I recalled Krell's aphorism of character based on the teaching of Billy Sunday ......"Character is what only God or your wife knows about you."
Amen
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Comments
I don't understand much of this
I don't understand much of this honestly. How does this all relate to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? Are you saying they are inherently the same person? The one good, and the other evil. Like in eastern religions the ying-yang?
Although I must say I find your story a bit incoherent and the actual ideas are mystifying. Anycase I did find it interesting enough to try to figure it out. For a start you must have clear definitions or are these the actual definitions? Like character and will and action and soul. Are the meanings given, assumed as known, Will? Action? Soul? And what is character?
Keep well. Tom Brown
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