Man (literally the word is gender insensitive, but let me just use the word "man" to refer to both sexes or genders) is a purposive being, phenomenologically existing, and living the transient borrowed life in this planet, which is only a flyspeck in the cosmic universe. Man has an end as Gautama Buddha said "all composite things are doomed to extinction." man as a composite being then, is subjected to his fate.
If only I was like Veronika, death would have been easier, unfortunately i am as sane (or rather insane) as you and as fearful to death as majority of people living in the cosmos.
In just as I am curious as a cat, I am wondering how it was like to be in Veronika's neurotic mind, or more like psychotic than neurotic since i already am the former like everyone in the planet is. freud said we have a degree of insanity in all of us. He and other psychologists, psychotherapists, psychoanalysts are not an exemption, nor am I or you.
So what is man's purpose then? Death is his or her purpose as some people would say, but Existentialist Victor Frankl said that man must find meaning in life. Meaning varies according to individuals and changes depending on the situation. Frankl added that we can find meaning in love, in work and others. It is not necessary that we have a meaning in life in general sense but meaning in all aspects of the parts that make up the whole.
I am blogging now because I find meaning in this endeavor as i find meaning in reading or in going to school or in working. Veronika found meaning in death and so she decided on giving up the life that was given to her. it was freedom that she found.
Yes, suicide is psychologically speaking, a form of escape pattern, but verinoka sees it otherwise. perhaps, in order to really understand the human psyche is to look at things in a neurotic's or psychotic's perspective, dig deep, and have an open mind.
I am suddenly reminded of the movie "The Cell" starred by Jennifer Lopez. She was a child psychologist who journeys through the mind of a comatosed serial killer to find a missing girl. It was then that she found the morbid events that happened to him as a child that influenced his later personality. The task wasn't easy but she understood what it was like to be trapped inside trauma with the darkest of the memories the human psyche can contain.
While I was reading Veronika, it was like journeying through her mind, knowing and understanding her narrow but meaningful perspective. She finds meaning in her situation and she found happiness even if she decides to end it all.
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By the way, I am looking forward to watching the movie adaptation of the book. It was released first on Brazil, Poland, and Sweeden in August and October 2009. For UK, USA, and hopefully in Asia; the release is scheduled on 2010.
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