The Reality of the Other

Here and now, boys!

This is the final chapter of my Philosophy book. After exploring the basics of Western philosophy and philosophers, I turned to people around me to ask them by which philosophies they lead their lives.

Today: my brother Maarten.

Transcript

MAARTEN’S PHILOSOPHY (My brother!)

Maarten: My philosophy? I don’t really have one philosophy… but there are several phrases I keep coming back to.

STEP UP TO THE PLATE

…same as Yolanda. With a family, you simply have to! There is always something going on.

“HERE AND NOW BOYS! HERE AND NOW!”

That’s a phrase from the book Island by Aldous Huxley, about a Utopian island in Asia, where the mynah birds were taught to say these words, to remind people people to pay attention to the Here and Now.

“IT IS OUR CHOICES THAT SHOW WHAT WE ARE, FAR MORE THAN OUR ABILITIES”

That text from Harry Potter you mentioned (here).

The choices we made in the past determine who and where we are today. And future choices are still open and offer freedom. How will we use that freedom responsibly? Do we accept responsibility or do we blame fate and circumstances?

It’s all about making conscious choices in the here and now.

And then there’s this text from famous Dutch comic artist Marten Toonder:

“We wander through a material world that is harsh and incomprehensible, which we call reality. In that same reality, we lose loved ones. They become memories, we miss them terribly. But their existence has not gone unnoticed, for living with them has made us who we are. Their presence has not left our spirits untouched. My conclusion is that that is what it’s all about. That is the core.”

If you ask me about reality and the meaning of life, then for me it would be the Other.

If I break my arm, I can do a number of things to influence that reality… but if my child breaks his arm, that becomes my inescapably fixed reality! It irrevocably involves me, heart, body and soul!

And in that reality, I am the quantity ‘daddy’.

An awesome responsibility, which determines their reality.

And that, to me, is the core.

Here.

Now.

Questions

• Which people are fixed quantities in your life, and what do you learn from them?

• What fixed quantity are you in the life of others? What are you teaching them?

Original pages

These are the last chapters of Philosophy: a Discovery in Comics! Soon, there will be a crowdfunding where you can order a physical copy, original artwork etc. To be notified about when it kicks off, click this button: