#Philosophical Phridays

[pr-azarias]

(EN) Perspective and Alchemist

"Il eut soudain le sentiment qu'il pouvait regarder le monde soit comme la malheureuse victime d'un voleur, soit comme un aventurier en quête d'un trésor."

- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

((trad:) He suddenly had the feeling that he could look at the world either as the miserable victim of a thief, either as an adventurer searching for a treasure.)

The reader easily overlooks this quote while reading the novel of Paulo Coelho. The Alchemist is mostly a story about the journey to his Personal Legend. And nevertheless. And nevertheless I find that this simple sentence deserve our attention.

No need to search during hours, we understand easily the theme behind that sentence : the perspective. Everything is a matter of perspective in life ; a same situation may have different interpretations, pessimistic or optimistic. Here Paulo Coelho explains us that we could just stay there, moping about our fate like "la malheureuse victime d'un voleur" or we could choose to get up, as “un aventurier en quête d'un trésor”, in order to face the world.

The question remains to know whether we decide to take our courage and to embark on that second option, certainly more difficult, but more satisfying. On the other hand the first option is the easiest, the one of the coward, the chicken, the weak (it's violently said but this is because I don't want you to take that option). It's the easiness of despair and sadness, of comfort and regrets.

I have recently been in a situation where there was that "problem" of perspective : my father has got a problem that forced himself to stay in bed for months. If I had followed the first option, I would have stayed near him feeling sorry for him, complaining about this injustice. But I have chosen the other option. I have wanted to see in this situation the opportunity to take more responsibilities and I have discovered a new hobby of mine in gardening (that proves our good old Voltaire was true with his "il faut cultiver son jardin" ((trad:) we need to cultivate our garden)) in Candide), proof that we can always make the best of the worst injustices ; everything is a matter of perspective.

Note especially the use higher of the verb "wanted". Found it? Excellent. Because what is important to remember is that this choice in favour of the second option is a will. Understand here that all that process won't happen by itself ; it's your job to take the time, to make this effort and to transform this bad in good. Just like a philosopher's stone : you're an alchemist : change your lead into gold. That's it! Back to the title of the novel. Wonderful! Anyway, to come back to this will, that effort won't ever be impossible but on the other hand the price for it will always be rewarding. Never forget your powers, alchemist.

Just before letting you go, I would like to put into perspective (aha play on words) this theme with Blue's words in his Philosophical Phridays :

“Lose some, win some. Here I am, faced with something rough that turned into something good when I actively made the most of it. Perspective. Improvement. Happiness. It’s all there.”

- Blue in Philosophical Phridays I

“[…] if fortuna beats you down and kicks you in the shins twice, you can still get back up, hard as it may be. Your recovery is all in your own power, and you can make the best of anything with the right perspective”

- Blue in Philosophical Phridays I

I think those words are pretty self explanatory. But I'm nevertheless going to explain those because otherwise I would lose my job. "Lose some, win some" is simple yet powerful ; we understand that even by losing some happiness by those injustices we can recover or win some. For the second quote "Your recovery is all in your own power”, I prefer to change power for will to make echo to what I've said earlier. We all have in ourselves that power to be alchemist but it depends on our will to help us really transform the bad in good.

That's it. I think that 1) you're now bored by me and my perspective or 2) you've been sleeping all along. And if that's not the case, then thank you for having read all of that, I couldn't thank you more of giving me your time. I am fascinated that I have got the same conclusions as Blue's. Proof that I'm a good student of my philosophical mentor...

Thanks again and to the next time/quote!

#paulo coehlo quote #perspective #paulo coelho #the alchemist #english #Blue #Voltaire? #Candide? #philosopher's stone #quote #will #philosophy #own work #essay #improvement #philosophical phridays

[phantomrapier]

"Philosophical Phridays" volumes I and II reviewed! Endymion Reads!

A quick book review

#dorkatarmsetcetera #dorkatarms #endymion #youtube #book review #books #booktube #Overlysarcasticproductions #osp #overly Sarcastic Productions #red and blue #Philosophical Phridays #philosophy

[musical-theatre-encyclopedia]

Channel name: Overly Sarcastic Productions

Content: History, mythology, storytelling

Adult?: no

"Sarcastic, yet informative, summaries of classic and not so classic literature and mythology, as well as major historical events!"

#overly sarcastic productions #blue #red #philosophical phridays #trope talk #miscellaneous myths #history summarized #legends summarized #storytelling #journey to the west #youtube

[ourthoughtsintransit]

Non-fiction book reviews, relatively speaking I don’t read that much non-fiction, unless it’s in connection to word/study

#Sunny at the helm #a blast from the past #blog #book review #non fiction #The dictator's handbook #bruce bueno de mesquita and alastair smith #Philosophical Phriday #by blue #(I guess) #This is your brain on Music #Daniel J levitin

[adhunleylove]

Quote from "Philosophical Phridays: Volume 1" by OSP Blue -

"“What you know means nothing if you don’t know how to think.”"

Start reading this book for free: http://a.co/0bJNWwM

[owlawesomeness]

11 Questions

RULES: 
1. Always post the rules
2. Answer the questions given by the person who tagged you 
3. Write 11 questions of your own
4. Tag 11 people (or however many you want) I was tagged by the lovely @tessalivesandbreathesbooks (thanks Tessa! ❤️) 1. Tell me something curious about yourself. Well, I’m not sure there’s really anything curious about me lol. But I guess if I had to say something it would be that if you give me a 500 page book and plenty of space, I could finish it within a day. Oh, and I can write in Gnomish, which comes in pretty handy when I don’t want anyone to know what I’m writing lol (Gnomish is a language from the Artemis Fowl series, for anyone who's wondering) 2. Top 5 book series. Give us a brief summary of them. Agh, okay, brief is going to be a challenge, but I can try lol. (Also these series are in no particular order, and I have a lot more series that I love, so not all of them fit in the list) Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Percy Jackson and friends fight a bunch of monsters from Greek mythology and save the world while they’re at it. Everyone should read this, if not for the story then for the chapter titles, because they’re hilarious. Harry Potter: (I feel like almost everyone and their mothers know about Harry’s story at this point, so this one won’t be very long) Boy wizard’s parents die when he was a baby, boy lives with aunt, uncle, and cousin until he’s twelve, then he gets shipped off to a wizarding school so he can learn to control his powers and eventually he defeats the man who killed his parents. ACOTAR: Teenage girl learns to hunt and care for her family after her mother’s death, but is forced to go to the fae land of Prythian after killing one of it’s subjects. There, she finds love in the most unexpected of places, and learns what it means to be free. Artemis Fowl: Artemis Fowl is the son of an infamous crime lord and millionaire. But when Artemis starts looking into the existence of faeries, he finds a whole lot more than he expected. The Mortal Instruments: Before Clary met Jace Wayland, she was ready to spend her life as a New York artist. But when she is introduced to a whole other side of the life she thought she knew, her view for the future is changed past the point of no return. 
3. What’s your TBR list for the summer? Well right now I'm working to finish Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and then after that Philosophical Phridays by Gregory Kerr, Summer Days and Summer Nights edited by Stephanie Perkins, and Me Before You by Jojo Moyes are all on my list, though I'm sure I'm forgetting some. 4. What is your favourite song right now? I'm not sure. I love so many different types of music that it gets really hard to pick one specific song. I've had Waving Through a Window from Dear Evan Hansen on loop in my head for awhile now though, so I suppose that qualifies for a favorite song. 5. Top 3 favourite authors. Rick Riordan, Sarah J Maas, and JK Rowling 6. What kind of movies do you like? What’s your favourite of all times? Hmm, well I like a lot of adventure/fantasy stuff, and sometimes realistic fiction-y movies. And I've always loved The Never-Ending Story, so we'll just say that one's my favorite. 
7. Are you a winter or summer person? Yes. I love all the seasons, though I am biased towards autumn, as that particular season is the time for some of my favorite things, like bonfires, crunching leaves beneath my feet, and of course, my birthday. 8. What’s your HP house? And your ACOTAR court? Proud Hufflepuff y'all!! 💛💛 And I’d probably be Night Court, and not just because I love the people there (though I really do, they’re amazing) Velrais (I hope I’m spelling that right) sounds absolutely amazing, and I’d fit right in with the whole atmosphere of it, or from what I can tell from the books anyway. 9. Write the worst summary possible of your favourite book! I can’t pick a favorite, I love all of my books (and you know this Tessa, you cruel, cruel human. (Just kidding I love you 💖💖)) But since I have yet to talk about Rainbow Rowel on this post, Eleanor and Park it is. Eleanor and Park: Boy meets girl on bus. Boy and girl fall in love. Girl moves away, boy writes to girl but girl doesn't respond. Girl finally sends a postcard. Boy is happy. 10. If you could visit a fantasy world you’ve read about … which one would it be? Well let’s see. I’d love to visit the PJO world, because I love the characters Rick has created, plus all four of his series technically happen in the same universe since characters from PJO interact with characters from HOO, KC, and MCatGOA, so I’d be able to meet all my favorite characters lol. So PJO universe it is. 11. Which character do you think would be your best friend? Gah, I don’t know to be honest. If I’m just picking from the universe above, I’d honestly be friends with just about anybody there, though I’d probably connect most with Percy, if only because we have a whole series out already where the readers are inside his head, so I know I’d get along great with him. And now for my 11 questions:
1. What are the last three songs you listened to/last three played?
2. What is your favorite place to relax?
3. When looking for something to read, which book or books are your go to rereads?
4. What is one thing you wish you could change about the world we live in? 5. If you could spend the rest of your life in one place, including both real and fictional, where would you be? 6. What character(s) do you love to hate? 7. What would you do if you were suddenly turned into a kitten? 8. How long have you been on tumblr? 9. What did you last search on Google? 10. If you could say one thing to anyone in the worlds without fear of repercussions, what would you say and to whom? 11. Which character had you bawling when nothing else seemed to have any effect on you I tag @crimgy , @mittlieder-17 , @mimi-needs-more-sleep , @reynaskyrunner , @brooklynbooks , @scarletquickshotfox , @buttons1220 , @dayanna-hatter , @whitebear-ofthe-watertribe , @windy-scribbles , and @ladynoirandotherthings . None of you have to do this of course, it's all up to you ^-^

#I'm writing this at midnight while I'm half asleep #so idk if everything makes sense #but it's fine lol #hi Tessa btw #thanks again for tagging me

[pr-azarias]

(FR) Perspective et Alchimiste

"Il eut soudain le sentiment qu'il pouvait regarder le monde soit comme la malheureuse victime d'un voleur, soit comme un aventurier en quête d'un trésor."

- L'Alchimiste de Paulo Coelho

Le lecteur passe facilement à côté de cette citation en lisant le livre de Paulo Coelho. L'Alchimiste est surtout une histoire sur le parcours vers sa Légende Personnelle. Et pourtant. Et pourtant je trouve que cette simple phrase mérite notre attention.

Pas besoin de se compliquer la tête durant des heures, on comprend aisément le sujet derrière cette phrase : la perspective. Tout est une question de perspective dans la vie ; une même situation peut avoir différentes interprétations, pessimistes ou optimistes. Ici Paulo Coelho nous explique que soit on peut rester là à se morfondre sur notre sort comme "la malheureuse victime d'un voleur" mais on peut choisir de se relever, tel "un aventurier en quête d'un trésor", afin d'affronter le monde

La question reste de savoir si l'on décide de saisir son courage et de s'embarquer pour la seconde option, certes plus difficile, mais plus gratifiante. Cependant la première option est la plus facile, celle du lâche, du dégonflé, du faible (c'est violemment dit mais c'est pour te décourager à la prendre). C'est la facilité du désespoir et de la tristesse, du confort et des regrets.

J'ai été récemment dans une situation où ce "problème" de perspective s'appliquait : mon père a eu un problème qui l'a contraint à rester au lit durant des mois. Si j'avais suivi la première option, je serais resté au près de lui à m'apitoyer sur son sort, à me plaindre de cette injustice. Mais j'ai choisi l'autre option. J'ai voulu voir en cette situation l'occasion de prendre plus de responsabilité et j'ai découvert mon engouement pour le jardinage notamment (comme quoi notre bon vieux Voltaire avait raison avec son "il faut cultiver son jardin" dans Candide), preuve qu'on peut toujours retiré du bien des pires injustices ; tout est une question de perspective.

Note surtout l'emploi plus haut du verbe "voulu". Trouvé ? Bien. Parce que ce qui est important de garder en mémoire, c'est que ce choix pour la deuxième option est une volonté. Comprends ici que ça ne se passera jamais tout seul ; c'est à toi de prendre le temps, de faire cet effort et de transformer ce mal en bien. Un peu comme une pierre philosophale, tu es l'alchimiste : métamorphose ton plomb en or. Et voilà que nous revenons sur le titre du livre. Magnifique ! Bref, pour revenir sur cette volonté, cet effort n'est jamais conséquent mais néanmoins la récompense sera toujours gratifiante, alors n'oublie jamais tes pouvoirs, alchimiste.

Juste avant de te lâcher, j'aimerai mettre en perspective (aha jeu de mots) cette thématique avec les dires de Blue dans ses Philosophical Phridays :

"Lose some, win some. Here I am, faced with something rough that turned into something good when I actively made the most of it. Perspective. Improvement. Happiness. It's all there."

- Blue dans Philosophical Phridays I

((trad:) Perd un peu, gagne un peu. Je suis là, face à quelque chose de dur qui a tourné en quelque chose de bien lorsque j'en ai tiré tous les bénéfices. Perspective. Amélioration. Joie. Tout y est.)

"[...] if fortuna beats you down and kicks you in the shins twice, you can still get back up, hard as it may be. Your recovery is all in your own power, and you can make the best of anything with the right perspective"

- Blue dans Philosophical Phridays I

((trad:) si le destin te bat et te frappe les jambes deux fois, tu peux toujours te relever, même si cela semble difficile. Ton relèvement ne dépend que de ta propre volonté, et tu peux profiter de n'importe quoi avec la bonne perspective.)

Je pense que ces mots s'expliquent d'eux-mêmes. Mais je vais quand même les expliquer parce que sinon je n'ai plus de job. "Lose some, win some" est assez imagé, on comprend que lorsque on perd un peu de bonheur par ces injustices on peut quand même en récupéré ou en gagné. Pour la deuxième citation, j'ai traduit "Your recovery is all in your own power" en remplaçant power avec volonté pour faire écho avec ce que j'ai dit plus haut. On a tous en nous ce pouvoir (power) d'alchimiste mais c'est notre volonté qui va nous aider à transformer le mal en bien.

Voilà je pense que 1) vous en avez marre de moi et la perspective ou 2) vous vous êtes endormi. Si ce n'est le cas merci d'avoir tout lu, je ne te remercierai jamais assez de m'accorder cette petite importance. Je suis fasciné comme j'ai réussi à arriver aux mêmes conclusions que Blue sur cette citation alors que cela faisait un bail que je l'avais pas relu. Comme quoi je suis un bon élève de mon mentor de la philosophie...

Merci encore et à la prochaine (citation) !

#paulo coelho #paulo coehlo quote #l'alchimiste #alchimiste #français #Blue #Voltaire ? #Candide ? #perspective #pierre philosophale #citation #volonté #philosophie #amélioration #own work #essay #dissertation #philosophical phridays

[phantomrapier]

"Philosophical Phridays" volumes I and II reviewed! Endymion Reads!

A quick book review

#dorkatarmsetcetera #dorkatarms #endymion #youtube #book review #books #booktube #Overlysarcasticproductions #osp #overly Sarcastic Productions #red and blue #Philosophical Phridays #philosophy