So yesterday I was having these thoughts about just what the affective faculty is, why it is not actual. I had this example in mind of a baby in distress.
What came to mind was one of the definitions of ‘drama’ that Vineeto posted the other day - “drama, synonyms: play, show, piece, spectacle, dramatization, screenplay, theatrics, performance”
This distress which the baby is expressing it is a ‘spectacle, theatric, performance’ aimed at eliciting a response from the caregiver. Of course there is actual screaming and crying etc taking place but the ‘distress’ in question, it is not actual, the body is acting in line with the theatrics.
What happens though is that the feeling being - the ‘me’ - arises out of / is that affective faculty in operation. As such ‘my’ theatrics are very real, this is ‘my’ life and ‘my’ world, all that ‘I’ have access to.
I thought then also of the fact that any action which ‘I’ am capable of (by virtue of the above) is not genuine, it can only ever be a theatric, no matter how deeply felt the feeling it is forever a show, as Richard wrote it is ultimately an emotional play in a fertile imagination. That is why ‘I’ am forever removed from the actual, from the genuine.
So in this sense one cannot be a mature adult - in the actual sense of the word - as long as there is an ‘I’ in residence inside this flesh and blood body. The real world which all entities live in, it is a projection of this dramatic entity, the entity who is never genuine. So yes it is funny on one hand, the mayhem that is caused by something so silly and yet on the other hand it is not a laughing matter either when it is considered that the wars and rapes and depressions and suicides etc happen because of this entity acting out it’s dramatic (and never actual) existence.
And the same applies to ‘my’ self-immolation, it makes sense in light of this why altruism is not actual and yet it is something that is very real, ‘my’ death is not actual either and yet it is very real. All this what is ultimately an emotional play in a fertile imagination must take place nevertheless in order for this body to be free of ‘my’ dramatic existence.
So this is where ‘I’ see ‘myself’ these days, that ‘I’ know ultimately ‘I’ am living out an existence which amounts to “play, show, piece, spectacle, dramatization, screenplay, theatrics, performance” and yet this is where ‘I’ am forever trapped. ‘I’ do not make the mistake anymore of believing that ‘I’ can know the actual, the genuine. The full understanding of the above means that ‘I’ don’t have to take ‘my’ life or ‘my’ death seriously anymore, and yet the theatrics must play out all the way to the final scene. Which means that ‘I’ am free to enjoy and appreciate the final scene, that it is all ultimately safe.
And where it concerns ‘me’ progressively stepping back from any kind of involvement, this is much easier to allow when the above is understood. There is an entire world as well as an actual flesh and blood body which exist so safely outside of any of ‘my’ theatrics, and all that is already here and happening, just what ‘essential function’ could ‘my’ theatrics bring to the table anyways?
Looking from this angle I can see how Geoffrey found it all so hilarious, because those theatrics don’t just end with the baby in distress, they are the basis of all the beliefs, all the creeds, even the way society is structured etc And this has been going on for thousands of years. All those very serious belief systems and structures, all the ‘human wisdom’ etc This is what it is all based upon.
So secure in this knowledge ‘my’ final scene can be played out.