Mad Max

Nihilism is definitely portrayed in the movie Mad Max: Fury Road.  There are many rules that are set for these characters that are experiencing a type of “holocaust” and survival is the most important thing in mind. Nux is a character who stands out since he believed that all around him was correct and that it was the way of living. He soon realizes that there is a lot of corruption in what he believed was the right this to do he says, “If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die historic on the fury road!” He is determined to fight for what is right regardless of what his leader has made him believe all along. The morals and principles of a person in this movie are greatly tested; there is sacrifice to get to “Green Place” along with everyone else who is escaping the horrible place that they have lived in for so long. Another example is when Max is faced with the decision of to let the pregnant wife of Joe to come along or to keep going on his path. At some point it was mainly about his safety and well-being. Escaping the hell he was living since he was considered a universal blood donor. He pretty much had no free will, so the concept of nihilism is definitely seen. It’s a lot of if there should still be morals kept intact regardless of the circumstances, or reject them and go about what is the best for that person even if it means bending the rules. 

Bewilderment in my opinion means complete and utter confusion and the inability to understand something. I think that when you are bewildered we cannot grasp what is happening before us, like how quantum physics is to me. We need both uncertainty and certainty in our lives to function and cope with our lives. Certainty is necessary in our lives, because it keeps some things in our lives solid. I think that certainty helps people deal with the uncertainty. People hold on to what they know for sure to differentiate what’s real and what’s not. Howe says, “In your cynical movements you often have to separate from situations,” Certainty is important because you are able to tell the difference between what is real and what is not real. Uncertainty is necessary in our lives, because it keeps us wondering. We try to figure out what that uncertain thing is. For example, God, nobody knows if he is real or not, but people still choose to believe in the uncertain figure. While nobody knows if God is real or not he is able to control people. In “Bewilderment” it says “How you love another person might be a reflection of your relationship to God or the world itself,” I think that many people fear the unknown and uncertain, so they believe in something to help them cope with the uncertain. We need both certainty and uncertainty in our lives because it gives us balance in our lives. Certainty and uncertainty helps us realize not just what is real and not real, but also the unknowns in our lives.    

Bewilderment in my own thinking is being completely and utterly confused and unknowing. One example would be when someone tells you something unbelievable you are totally speechless, as in you have absolutely no words to describe your thoughts on the information just given. Or another example would be if you were captured by a group of people, bind folded to where you were unable to see anything at all and taken to a place, dropped off, and left there with no signs, clues, or directional device to lead you home. You are completely confused and would not know where to start or which way to go to begin your journey back home. I think in some ways being certain about things makes your life much easier to predict and much easier to handle, but takes away the life lessons you learn and some of the fun you might have. Spontaneity simply creates the element of wonder and surprise for yourself and the people around you. Being spontaneous would manifest the idea of having no idea what rewards or punishments will come out of an event. Sometimes your spontaneity treats you well and rewards you with long lasting memories and a gain in your knowledge, but sometimes it also could turn for the worst and give you punishments depending on your actions. Maybe you decided to hop in your car and take a road trip to Winstar up in Oklahoma. Your punishment may include losing all your money (since those machines are like one in a million.) I believe the certainty is not what life is about. Life is truly about the lessons learned and the memories made, with little certainty for the things you absolutely need.

Bewilderment and Certainty

Bewilderment, to me, is having confusion or a struggle of something after learning of something. Like mentioned in the essay, a dream is projecting an internal story and after you want to learn more and can become confused or want to learn more. You become bewildered with the story pictured. I think certainty is necessary in life because humans don't like the struggle of not knowing what is happening or will happen next in life or anything. In the essay, the story of King Midas, the story was told of the touch of gold, everything he touched would turn to gold after making a wish. He didn't know what had happened and became sad but he had the sense of bewilderment because he saw what was happening but wanted to know more. In the story's conclusion, it's said, "The lesson seemed to involve more than greed- it was about looking too hard and too possessive at living things," shows how King Midas is an example of how we don't need to know everything in life, but just the right amount. Certainty is necessary because we don’t want to bet on life each day and not know what will happen today or the next, or in a week with a situation. Bewilderment is necessary like certainty because it gives us the sense to know more about ourselves and what will happen to or for us but not have to gamble on what could happen for us or what we’ll do to succeed in knowing something or doing something.

Bewilderment

Bewilderment is lacking something, loss, enchantment, and struggle. Certainty might be necessary to our lives because sometimes we don’t want to have to wonder the outcome of our actions. In the story about King Midas he turns everything he touches to gold, “he wouldn’t ever again have to wonder: where is the future? He could now plan his future down to the smallest detail, which is really the definition of an anti-creation story” (Howe 11). The king knew that no matter what he touched it would turn to gold, so he knew that for certain he would always have gold, but never anything he could care about. Bewilderment might be necessary to our lives because “it breaks open the lock of dualism (it’s this or that) and peers out into space (not this, not that)” (Howe 15). Bewilderment is necessary because life cannot be one hundred percent predictable if it was it would not be worth living. Certainty and bewilderment are important to life because certainty make us feel comfortable and bewilderment helps keep us on our toes in all the uncertainties of lives. 

Why you asking all em questions?

It is in our nature to question things we are unsure of, but to question things that are above our reach in retrospect to the universe in my opinion is a waste of time. As stated in the reading "Our universe may be a giant hologram"  at one point everyone thought that the earth was everything that there was and we were not worried about other things outside this earth because technically there was nothing outside of this earth. But I feel as if we power ourselves with even more question that people who study the universe for a living may not have the answers to. The endeavors of the universe could be anything you believe it to be because it is still yet to be discovered. Hawking points out that its solely based off of what one thinks the universe to be. But if we surround ourselves with questions about a universe that doesn't affect our daily lives we give people who try to study this a sense of urgency because they are demanded to come up with answers. I'm boolin in earth I think that is where we're going to stay so the universe don't really interest me. Finesse

Pondering the Unknown

Humans wonder about everything, especially when it comes to Earth and what is beyond it. I believe that it is beneficial for humans to ponder about the vastness and unknowability of the universe. In, “Our Universe May Be a Giant Hologram” Greene stated, “There was a time when the word universe meant “all there is.” Everything. The whole shebang… Yet a range of theoretical developments has gradually qualified the interpretation of universe. The word’s meaning now depends on context.” What he meant by this was that at one point the universe was all everyone had ever known and it was the only one to exist. Nowadays though, people question everything and their minds drift and they start to wonder if we are the only ones out there. In, “Is Everything Determined?” Stephen Hawking writes, “One cannot base one’s conduct on the idea that everything is determined. Instead one has to adopt the effective theory that on has free will and that one is responsible for one’s actions.” Hawking shows the readers that humans control their own thoughts and ideas. We are our own person and we can think for ourselves and wondering what else could be out there is healthy and extremely beneficial because in the process we have discovered so many new things we would’ve never know had no one’s minds gotten curious. Wondering how vast our universe is in the end is very helpful. Without wondering we wouldn’t have made it to the moon and we wouldn’t be looking for life forms on Mars. Unknowability is good because it leaves people wanting more, and knowing everything all the time takes the enjoyment out of life. The more we wonder the more we push to discover what else is really out in space and if there is life beyond Earth.