do i lie myself to be happy?

Do I Lie Myself To Be Happy?

Group members:Estrada, Lehi P.Padernilla, Angie Lou G.Sy, AkioBenitez, Dave CresarDauag, Lavilla B.Alawiya, Johainah P.

As we had watched the film, Memento, we had come up with different concepts of the film relating to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and the Four Noble Truths

Our concepts are based on the film and our understanding of the lessons learned.

Introduction

What to us are the central themes in Plato’s allegory of the cave?

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is based of prisoners who are shackled in chains, being projected of shadows

One prisoner got out of the cave and sees the world is full of colors, not black. That the world has so much to offer

What to you are the central themes in Plato’s allegory of the cave?

What does it make to be related of reality?

It shows that we must be free of illusions and shackles of falsehood.

Based on the film, it has a great concepts of ‘being free of illusions’


In this case, individuals faced their own realities. Different individuals are not determined by our talents and skills, we are determined differently by the choices we make.

The truth always depends on how we see the world and how we perceive on things.

Sometimes, there would be illusions that would prevent us in grasping the true reality


Plato would argue that Truth is objective. It is something that externally exists outside of the human mind and cannot be influenced by personal opinions. Absolute Truth is also known as "The Good."

The natural world we perceive through our senses (see, hear, touch etc.) reveals only a fallen, shadow, incomplete versions of this Ideal Truth.


In "Allegory of the Cave," darkness is a symbol for ignorance, while light represents Truth and knowledge.

Truth is objective and clear, but not easy to attain. Those in the cave believe that the shadows are

Truth, when in fact they are only mere representations of Truth. Not everyone can achieve absolute Truth because human nature has limits, and for many humans, these boundaries cannot be bent or broken.


The central theme of Plato’s allegory of the cave is the choice either to face reality or lie to ourselves that there is a different reality.

What a person sees and the perspective of an individual towards something which defines what is truth.

All of us should be awake from our own mental illusions and ignorance of our true nature and face the true reality.


How does the mind separate false reality from

true reality?

“You don't want the truth. You make up your own truth.” – Teddy

“So you lie to yourself to be happy. There's nothing wrong with that. We all do it.” – Teddy

How does the mind separate false reality from true reality?

“Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts.” – Leonard Shelby


Based on the film, Lenny does not rely on memories because memories can change our world and that we need mirrors to remind us who we are.

All of us had a different minds. We had different ways of separating false reality from true reality


There are two ways we can give that our minds separate false reality from true reality.

One way is by what we see, hear, or by what we think is real.

The mind separates false reality from true reality through our basic senses and what we think.

Our sense organs and perception can separate a false reality from a true reality because they can witness a true reality itself


The other way is projection of our written ‘notes’ or our perceptions in the mind.

“You need to take down notes” - Lenny It is a defence mental mechanism that most

people have. Human beings tend to believe what they want to believe in order to avoid being physically and mentally hurt.

The way to avoid false reality is projecting ourselves in the true reality and write in our mind what do we need to face the true reality.


How does the mind separate false reality from true reality?Mind separate false reality from true reality because : Misinterpreting Imagining Inventing Repressing Selective amnesia Projecting Denying(Peter K. Gerlach, MSWMember NSRC Experts Council)

Based on Lenny’s Experience


“When the mind's eye rests on objects illuminated by truth and reality, it understands and comprehends them, and functions intelligently; but when it turns to the twilight world of change and decay, it can only form opinions, its vision is confused and its beliefs shifting, and it seems to lack intelligence.” - (Plato, 380BC)

What sort of “mirrors” do people with normal memories rely on to

remind themselves who they are?

The movie closes with Lenny saying, “We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. I’m no different.” Lenny’s “mirrors” were his memory devices.

These were photographs, notes, tattoos, and a map.

What sort of “mirrors” do people with normal memories rely on to remind themselves who they are?

Luckily for us, most of us in the class, have a normal term of memory. We may not remember everything but we remember important things.

All of us have these ‘mirrors’ to remind ourselves of who we are.


As we would say, as teenagers, mirrors are the family and the friends of an individual.

Family and friends are a reflection of who you are. Observing what crowd of friends you have could be the kind of person you are.

Not only Lenny’s mirrors were his memory devices, his wife is also his mirror.


Another mirror is the environment they live in.

People with normal memories also see their selves on the things around them such as their house styles, room designs, color of the walls, shampoos and soaps that they use, food that they eat, etc.


Another complicated mirror is personal experiences.

“You can avoid things by instincts, not by memory”

– Lenny Experiences are created in our instincts. We tend

to do things we wanted or the way we want to happen.

By instincts, experiences were created, which are puzzle pieces of our whole personality, and then those experiences becomes our memory.


These mirrors also are part of their lives that it will always be another piece of their own identity and memories because these reflect the kind of human they are.

Aside from these things as our everyday mirrors we tend to grow more along with these and probable changes can also occur over time, but it still depends on us.


When Lenny jots down Teddy’s license number, he asks: “Do I lie to myself to be happy? In your case, Teddy... yes, I will.” What does that say about truth?

All of us have a different way of attaining true happiness. Some are religion-based, social-based, economical-based, and a lot of things.

There is a saying, “The truth hurts”. Literally, it is true because in today’s society, people lie to each other to make themselves happy.

In our day, do we need to lie to be happy? To have the things we wanted?


Lenny knew that his reason to keep on living was because of his wife and taking revenge on the person that he remembered raping and killing her.

Unfortunately, his short-term memory had made him forgotten that he made his revenge years ago and not knowing that justice had already been served.

Teddy projected the illusions of lies to Lenny and used Lenny for his own purposes


Lenny meanwhile has to search is way out of the illusions by finding a purpose or a role he had to play.

When the time comes that Teddy told him about these truths, he choose to lie to himself because he knew that this is the only reason that keeps him alive and lead a normal life.

His own truth was that he had to keep on moving for his wife. The truth is what makes Lenny satisfied and happy.


We have truths that can motivate us to do things and to correct the mistakes we committed.

The truth is that Lenny uses a motivation to continue his happiness in life, in other others, hatred.

While some people lie to be happy, the truth makes us a lot more alive than happy, that we had a purpose and a role we have to play.


Discuss how Lenny’s actions follow closely either some of the

4 Noble Truths or all of them

We are aware if the Four Noble Truths:1. Life is suffering2. Cause for suffering

by attachment3. There is a way out of

this suffering4. The way to end that

suffering

Discuss how Lenny’s actions follow closely either some of the 4 Noble Truths or all of them

In relation of the First Noble Truth, Lenny is living a life full of mysteries and lies that he needs to unfold.

Lenny had this condition that he can’t make new memories, so everything is new to him after the past minutes even he is at the same place

In Lenny’s life, the suffering he his dealing with is his ignorance of the truth. Him thinking that his wife was murdered instead of unconsciously killed by him.


In the Second Noble Truth, the cause of his suffering is because of his short-term memory loss.

He tends to forget his actions in the past minutes and forgets his current enemies and friends.

Addition to that, another cause is his long hatred to John G., the supposedly murderer of his wife.

His desire of revenge became his life’s new meaning and it also became the reason why he still holds on his past life


In the Third Noble Truth, Lenny tries to take down notes and photographs and relies on facts and instincts to traced back all the lies he made from his mind

“Doesn’t mean I don’t remember anything, it doesn’t mean my actions are meaningless” – Lenny

The way out of suffering is to stop looking for more clues and answers to the questions in the mind of Lenny to stop the desire of hatred.


In the Fourth Noble Truth, he let his anger conquered his senses and chooses the path of hardships and pains

“I had to believe that even my eyes are closed, the world is still there.” - Lenny

For Lenny, revenge is the only answer for him Instead of living a peaceful life, he still chose

the road of hardships and pains because the world has so much to offer him to make him happier.


Thank You for ListeningGroup G&G (Guys &Gals)

Take note, our group name is awesome

do i lie myself to be happy?

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