Lessons From The Past: Avatar The Last Airbender, Self Exploration & Propaganda
This Week:
What fiction I’ve been reading
I finished The Name of the Rose by Umberto Echo. I won’t spoil how the murder mystery is solved and how the novel ends, but it left me thinking about how being married to one way of life can cause us to act irrationally.
The novel’s antagonist did everything because he believed he was in the right. His reasons were tied to his faith and his belief in his religious teachings. To preserve those beliefs, his actions either deliberately or accidentally led to the death of several individuals and a disaster for the monastery as a whole.
However, he showed no remorse because he believed he was correct in his judgment because his judgment was in line with his teachings. When you’re so deep into one way of thinking, it seems impossible to be rational. Especially a way of thought that constrains rather than liberates.
Constraints and liberation could be a good lens to view teachings. If the teaching you follow or are interested in forbids a certain type of thinking then you should be careful committing to it fully. But if the way of thought is open and liberating and pushes you toward following your intuition and exploring other ways, then that way is worthwhile and meaningful.
What non-fiction I’ve been reading
I recently started Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer. It had been on my reading list ever since a friend of mine recommended the book to me. The book aims to “undertake a journey of exploration of self.”
I believe the key to living a good life is self-exploration. There is only one person on this planet that you can ever know completely and that is yourself. You can come to understand and unpack your deepest thoughts, emotions, feelings, and memories. Through this understanding, you can then create a life that is truly in line with what you want and need.
Now, I don’t think this book will give me the answers to everything and after reading the 200 pages I’ll have complete mastery over myself but it seems interesting and unique enough to at least provide a different perspective on self-exploration and self-help.
What I’m listening to
As mentioned previously, I finished listening to the latest Hardcore History: Addendum episode which covered aspects of the Holocaust. War history is something that I’ve read and listened to for years. I find myself always coming back to either WWI, WWII or Ancient History podcasts. This is why the Rest Is History podcast by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook has become one of my new favourites.
I listened to their four-part series of how Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party came into power and now I’m working my way through their next four-part series of how the Nazi party went on to consolidate control and enact their horrible plans.
One key takeaway has been our human love for symbols and stories. The Nazis were truly the masters of propaganda and were, in some ways, able to enchant and hypnotize a vast group of people thanks to their clever use of storytelling and mythicizing their party and party members.
What I’m watching
Last week, I decided to check out the new Avatar: The Last Airbender show on Netflix. The original cartoon is one of my favourite shows/stories of all time. And judging by the trailer and set pictures, I had pretty high hopes for the Netflix adaptation.
But, unfortunately, I was let down by the show. I found the acting to be bad, especially from the main cast, the dialogue was laughable at points, the changes they made were illogical and caused pacing issues, and the characters were poorly adapted.
This got me thinking about why I actually loved the original series. More so than the plot and unique world-building, the characters were incredible in the cartoon. They had depth and emotions while maintaining this air of brevity and childlike joy. The Netflix series completely missed this aspect except for a couple of moments here and there and instead focused on nailing the big picture things. But it’s always the details and the little moments that end up creating a unique story.
A training insight
You don’t need a lot to get a good workout. With the ever-expanding list of gym equipment and exercise selection and training philosophies, it can seem as if we need something like a Golds Gym to get a proper workout.
But instead of worrying about what you don’t have, see what you do have and how you can adapt to it. See it as a challenge.
I’m away from my normal gym setting for the next month and have to adapt my training to a handful of options. But in doing so, I was able to find several new bodyweight exercises that are challenging, plus I can experiment with my workout routine and see if I even need to do 8 or 9 exercises a session to make improvements.
Maybe all I need is a solid 5 or 6 exercises that I can push to failure and that might be enough for me to grow. That’s something I can then apply to my program once I return to my regular gym at the end of the month. Or maybe I don’t make progress, then I know for sure that I’m someone who requires a higher volume to make progress. Either way, the experiment is useful.
Originally published at http://learnedlivingorg.wordpress.com on March 5, 2024.