Transcendental Thinking Part 1

Critically Thinking Society

Louis (V.O)

But now I’m not so sure I believe in beginnings and endings. There are days that define your story beyond life.

            Before the scene cuts to black, there is the image of over a dozen television screens lined up, stacked up, forming a college blackboard with a crowd huddled around in hopes a word, a phrase, an idea said within it can unlock the creative genius within them. Each television contains a scientist or mathematician from a country outside the USA–allies. The word disconnection appears across each screen to a country breaking the link of communication. Soon the blackboard of moving images of people talking cuts to black. Only disconnection written on the screens is left.

In the moment before the separation, everyone recognizes the blackboard of television screens as one entity. Critically expanding, a television is made of millions of pixels working together to make images. The diverse complexions of the faces in the many screens are as different colored pixels. Only when they work together, it becomes clear every pixel, small or large, is required for the construction of an image. When pixels forget this truth and scatter, there is no image but chaos. Pixels have different agendas because a visual is complex and requires them to work in different areas. However, all share the understanding,

Louise (V.O.)

Maybe there is a higher order.

There is a purpose for everyone’s individual purpose. It creates an image of Earth. Literature after the 1800’s Enlightenment connects people to a higher meaning for life through the subconscious expressing itself in symbolism and critical thinking.

Decoding symbolism, such as the Arrival, Sigmund Freud would agree, is understanding the subconscious always journeys to the conscious self in time and with the gift of critical thinking, a person isn’t bound to the group think interpretation. Impactful literature happens when the connection between subconscious and conscious occurs. This is when the higher consciousness awakens. Maybe it has been hundreds or thousands of years the higher consciousness has lied dormant. Once it pierces the conscious mind, like Albert Einstein looking into a fire and having an idea that would transform into relativity, its power can change the world’s thinking.

Powerful thinkers brought about a reinterpretation of society. Jonathan Edwards is a pioneer for an Age of Sentiment. He brought awareness into the troubles of receding arrogantly religious teachings. Jonathan believes religions most organic symbolism promotes happiness. Tainted religious symbolism terrorizes people into believing they are unworthy of God. John Locke evoked the Age of Reason, which sparked an interest in critical thinking, science, and astronomy. He inspired Americans to break free of Great Britain. He catapulted the USA into changing any system that has no room for evolution, slavery being one.

Strong characters are born from a critically thinking society. Edwards, Locke, and Thomas Paine all break free of group think. They are remembered in history because they challenged a stuffy system. Bradstreet’s poetry is remembered because she represents a courageous character who deeply feels into life. Thomas Paine used his blunt character to say what others were too fearful to say. Everything after the age of Enlightenment involved critically thinking instead of accepting without question.

A critical examination comes before, during, and after a changing world. Only those who transcend group think break through the glass ceiling of the mind, Nikola Tesla being an example. John Stuart Mill born in 1806 writes Essay on Liberty. According to Mill, the world needs strong characters to have revelations others are not capable of. A world without strong characters would continue to follow a fearful herd unable to explore beyond the commonly known pastures.

Cycling through sameness gets boring, especially when ideas are stagnate. The saying is–it’s better to be comfortable (stagnate) and safe than happy, happiness coming from boldness. Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. might not have read Mill’s essay but lived by his philosophy. Mill states, a strong character is committed to the self, never derails the voice inside because the outside voices disagree, has an opinion that gets humanity critically thinking, isn’t agreeing to an idea because it’s popular, is in support of the self, and trusts the intuition.

Literature during the American Revolution is a call for Native American sovereignty. American government is founded on, “We the people…” implying all diversities in religion, race, and culture are embraced. USA in the beginning appeared to be a potential paradise for those who came from Europe, having to deal with great adversity for being different. However, “We the people…” is deceiving because USA is not established on unity. It is created on illusionary unity, suppression, and mainly for the purpose of being set free from Great Britain.

Early American Literature can be used to inspire and sometimes to provide false information that suppresses ethnicities, races, cultures, nationalities, and sexes. For example, Early American Literature Europeanize Native American culture. Americans during the late 1800’s are blunt in their idea Native American genocide is for the greater good of all.

 “Winter of 1838-1839, some thirteen thousand Cherokees were driven westward on what has come to be known as the Trail of Tears. Roughly one-third of them, about four thousand people, died [on] route” (Hacker 361).

Critical examination causes the people to challenge systems that isn’t in support of a sovereign being society. A member of the Cherokee council reaches out to the US Congress for rights given under George Washington but Andrew Jackson, the new president during the Trail of Tears, believes the Natives are too irrelevant to gain freedom. Using literature natives tried to fight off a system suppressing its culture.

The power of written words when felt deeply can inspire a spiritual awakening.

Cobb (Inception)

I’ve come back for you–to remind you of something–something you once knew. This world is not real.

            Symbolism is a message designed to unlock the subconscious mind. Each word, every dream, thought, and feeling is more than a physical experience. It can wake people out of their habitual mental patterns that are preventing them from an evolution. The depths of the written word cross dimensions. An awakening is a steady progress/process of understanding that the world isn’t what everyone thinks it is. Late 1700’s Enlightenment created an ideology of creativity found today in Steve Jobs and Steven Spielberg. Creativity pushes not only the USA, but humanity beyond its current evolution into a new age of thought. Every word is symbolic for a message trying to pierce through uneducated self to the enlightened self. It is only the transcendental mind that can find meaning to the subconscious unraveling itself on a blank piece of paper and symbolism meant to activate a higher mind.