There was literally so much information, inspiration and stimulating ideas in the film Waking Life that we could talk for weeks about the philosophy of each characters notions. But, I have only a few paragraphs to get out all my thoughts on these extraordinary people so I am going to pick two of them to talk about in depth.
The first is the couple that lay in bed talking about dreams. During this scene the woman speaks of how she sometimes feels as though she is watching her life go by as an older woman. There are some many questions that sped through my mind after she said that. How could we be looking into our own lives as though we are detached if we apparently live in the present? Is it better to see the big picture, as this woman stated, than to live in the present? Living "actively" has been a struggle for awhile in this culture. Western society puts great importance on the go-go-go life style, which in some ways lets each one of us be seriously detached because we never think about what we are currently doing, rather what we have to do in ten minutes, and hour or tomorrow. Is that what the woman in bed meant by "my life is a memory being remembered by and old woman"? It just may be so. Also in this scene, the idea of reincarnation is brought up. Reincarnation "is understood to be the transmigration of a soul to another body after death." It comes up in Hinduism and in a different form in Buddhism. This idea is so interesting to the common man because it means there is a before and after to life. Not only for our society but even for societies before us, such as the one Gilgamesh lived in, this idea revolutionizes the meaning of life. If there exists a reincarnation, there much exist a collective unconscious also. Where would we do the transformation from human soul to animal soul and vise versa if there was no collective unconscious? I do think that the couple is right in agreeing that "reincarnation is just a poetic expression of what collective memory really is." If we do in fact has this huge pool of collective thoughts, doesn't it seem as though more poeple would have the same ideas? Not necessarily ideas of science and literature, but more along the lines of world harmony and use of the planet. If only we could tap into the collective memory consciously rather than unintentionally the world would be so different! Again this scene could have lasted an hour and I would have listened to every word they said because the ideas they were throwing around intrigued my every cell.
The other scene that really stuck with me was the man who drove around in the car shouting his ideas loud and clear for others to hear. He spoke somewhat like the Cynics and Nietzsche in that he rejected society and the ways we are currently living. He took a stand on politics, society and everyday life by talking about propaganda that the more powerful figures in society feed us; "we should not let ourselves be put into this rats maze, we cannot submit to dehumanization." His words stuck to me like honey sticks to skin.We need to stand for freedom: turn from hate and insecurity because those things are what we give into now letting the powerful manipulate and enslave us. I couldn't help but be reminded of the sixties during this scene. This man was so vocal and serious about the state of the world because he knew what had to be done to change and how to change it (or so it seemed). He spoke with clear power and a sort of hope that can pick anyone's spirit up out of the gutter. This scene made me wish more people were that passionate about the world, instead of being zombies that just go day to day in a routine as he mentioned. Again, the Beat Generation and the protesting 60's are hugely represented here because of the expression of opinion and the opposition to our everyday life, politics and society. "This is the age of human kind standing up for something that is right. The truth is out there, but it is under a bunch of lies. Get fired up about dynamic human spirit and creativity!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjiS_LLPhqs&NR=1
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/reincarnation.htm
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