Book reviews: Looking for Alaska, by John Green

By admin · Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 · No Comments »
Purple Shard Geode

Note:- my page references come from the first print run of the UK HarperCollins paperback.

What follows is part analysis, part philosophical/theological discussion based on the book Looking for Alaska by John Green. These are the thoughts that have been running through my head since I read the book – blame my brain for the incoherency. He has produced one of those rare books that manage to be deep and moving without being pretentious or preachy (unlike for example The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom). It is important to note that what follows is my interpretation about the book and its themes.

The final words of dying poet Franois Rabelais were I go to seek a Great Perhaps’. Miles decides to search for the Great Perhaps’, to seek “real friends and a more-than-minor life” (p.260), at Culver Creek boarding school. He doesn’t want to wait till death before his life begins. So the intial question is: what is the Great Perhaps’?

Taken literally the search for the Great Perhaps’ is of course a paradoxical one; if one knew exactly what it was then it would not be a Perhaps’, but rather a Definite’. Alaska is something of a personification of this. Alaska and her death are the biggest unknowns of all. Her personality is unpredictable, stemming from the part she played in her mother’s death (if she called 911 would it have made a difference anyway?). Miles and the Colonel will never solve the mystery of Alaska’s death (was it suicide?) because they can never know for sure what Alaska was thinking the moments before her death.

Alaska’s biggest question was “How will we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?” (p.189). This is the question Miles must answer to move on. So what exactly is the labyrinth? After her mother’s death Alaska “collapsed into the enigma of herself” (p.260). The labyrinth that Alaska is stuck in is therefore her own construction. It is a metaphysical maze of her own fears, her own regrets – ‘the enigma of herself’. Similarly Miles’ labyrinth is the part he may or may not have played in Alaska’s death. Alaska escapes her labyrinth through her death whereas Miles escapes his labyrinth through enlightenment.

It is possible that in the moment before her death Alaska saw a way out and took it. We know that Alaska was self-destructive. Alaska’s way through the labyrinth of suffering’ was to drink and smoke herself to death: “Y’all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die” (p.57). According to Zen however everything that comes together

Topics: Arts & Humanities · Tags: , ,

Your perception is your reality

By admin · Sunday, July 25th, 2010 · No Comments »

Perception is defined as: “the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information.” This sensory information is your mental processing; which determines what your perception of reality is. Perception is usually done in two phases; internal perception, and also external perception. How you process these thoughts when they enter your mind will determine what your mental perception is.

Rene Descartes asked the question: “Do I exist?” Freudian psychology claims that “self perception” is an illusion of the ego. So, the question remains to be asked; can our perceptions allow us to experience the world as it really is? And can we “really” relate to another point of view; other than our own mental perceptions?

Internal perception (proprioception) relates to the perception of our bodies such as: sensing limbs such as arm and legs, the feeling of sitting or standing, hunger, feeling excited or tired.

External or sensory perception (exteroception) is the perception of events or activities outside of our bodies such as: sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. All of these sensory perceptions are permanently entered into our minds; to be recalled each time a sense is recognized. These are the external senses which drive our lives, and plays a part in our emotional perceptions of life.

The most philosophical problem with perception is the way in which we gain our knowledge. However, in order to better understand our perception we must first look at our metaphysical viewpoint. Is our viewpoint to reality: “direct realism, indirect realism, or idealism? How we perceive these external perceptions will then determine what our outlook, or viewpoint is.

Extrasensory perception (ESP) is another type of perception to be considered. ESP is the ability to “acquire information by paranormal means; independent of any known means.” This term ESP was coined by Duke University researcher J. B. Rhine to “denote psychic abilities.”

ESP has sometimes been referred to as the sixth sense. This sense is all about: gut instinct, hunch, or intuition. Parapsychologists usually regard such tests as the “ganzfeld experiment” as compelling evidence for ESP. Whether this sixth sense has any influence on our perceptual senses is undetermined; due to the disputed evidence base.

Among the most common beliefs is that our third dimensional perception starts in early childhood as “naive realism,” in which you believe that what you see, is also true about

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Topics: Religion & Spirituality · Tags: , ,
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