Reflections on the Fundamentals of Life
These notes stem from Jonathan Raban’s ‘Coasting’ and Julian Temple’s forthcoming ‘The Future is Unwritten’ about Joe Strummer.
‘Coasting’ first made me reflect on what are the essentials of life as Raban sailed around the coast of Britain in a pretty basic vessel, focusing the mind on those essentials.
There’s a theme of campfires in the Strummer film I saw last night – communal fire as the hub of happiness and music.
AIR
WATER
FOOD
SLEEP
Dark
Light
LIGHT
WARMTH
Fire
Shelter
Clothing
Waste
Hygiene
SEX – Reproduction
Company
Community
LOVE – as child
LOVE – as parent
Milk Love
Honey Love (love of life) [Erich Fromm]
Individual
Family
Kind
Learning/Education
Survival
Growth
Control?
Environment
Work
ART
Creativity
Self-expression
Justice
[This is a work in progress]
Simple Pleasures part 4 
Il `che costeggia’ in primo luogo lo ha incitato a riflettere su che cosa sono il necessario di vita mentre Raban ha navigato intorno al litorale della Gran-Bretagna in un vaso di base grazioso, mettente a fuoco la mente su quel necessario. Ci è un tema dei campfires nella pellicola di Strummer io sega la notte scorsa – fuoco comunale come il mozzo di felicità e di musica.
I’m delighted to have my first interaction with Italy through this blog but sadly my Italian is limited to: Mi chiamo Adamo – sono Inglese – non parlo Italiano. (and that’s probably hopelessly mangled). Would you please translate for me – or do I need to go in search of a third party for translation?
practicalpsychologist said…
freedom from the need to feel free
death – frankl (in doctor and the soul) – ‘those who fear death and those who have guilt about their life’
to create what you can only imagine
and for me:
Solitude
An increasing desire for love
To remain impatient for success
February 15, 2007 10:40 AM
arkangel said…
I guess Jonathan Swift for one would agree with you about Death being a fundamental of life. Living forever is no party if I remember Gulliver’s Travels correctly.
February 15, 2007 12:41 PM
practicalpsychologist said…
A typo – Frankl – ‘those who fear death are those who have guilt about their life’.
I increasingly feel that everything I do in life is dictated by my fear of getting to the point of death and thinking that I did not do half as much as I could have done or enjoyed half as much as I should have done.
February 15, 2007 12:53 PM
arkangel said…
That’s a pretty healthy fear – provided you act on it
February 15, 2007 12:54 PM
practicalpsychologist said…
Well I must confess that I this healthy fear is sometimes overtaken by my intrinsic laziness. But I get there in the end. For example I should now be working hard on my presentation in Cologne (new client – United Nations Framwork Convention on Climate Change) next week but I am filling up my itunes and reading blogs instead.
February 15, 2007 1:22 PM
Julien Temple on The Future is Unwritten:
“The flickering flame and the mystery of the face half-obscured give you a lot more drama visually. It’s also a great place to interview someone because they lose their self-consciousness when looking in the flames.
There’s also something about the circle around the fire. I wanted people to get the idea that Joe’s life did close a circle at the end. … he made it clear that he thought [these campfires] were the most important thing he’d ever done, more even than the music. He brought together people from madly different backgrounds: duchesses and priests and car-thieves and soldiers. … He’d just say let’s have a fire! And he’d have one every other week. They’d go on for five days in his yard.”
“It seems to me that our three basic needs for food and security and love are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of
one without the others.”
M.F.K. (Mary Frances Kennedy) Fisher, writer (1908-1992)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._F._K._Fisher
http://www.mfkfisher.com/
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