I THINK, THEREFORE I YAM WHAT I YAM: FROM DESCARTES TO SARTRE TO POPEYE THE SAILOR MAN

RENE DESCARTES

My blogpost today begins with 17^th Century French philosopher, RENE DESCARTES (1596-1600), and ends with American cartoonist, E.C. SEGAR’S POPEYE THE SAILOR MAN (1929).

POPEYE 1929

Rene Descartes was a rationalist whose focus on personal subjective consciousness would later influence the Father of Existentialism,” Danish theologian and philosopher, SOREN KEIRKEGAARD (1813-1855). Soren famously stated that, “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”

SOREN KEIRKEGAARD

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

Soren Keirkegaard's notions would later influence German philosopher, FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE (1844-1900), who promoted that each of us has a personal “superman,” as individual power, and this would later influence French philosopher and playwright, JEAN-PAUL SARTRE (1905-1980), who insisted that we, humans, were condemned to be free, therefore cursed to create personal meanings for our lives.

JEAN-PAUL SARTRE

And in the meanwhile, English naturalist and geologist, CHARLES DARWIN (1809-1882) presented that all human capacities, including intellectual endeavors, languages, cultures, and sexual behaviors are a continuance of evolutionary foundations. Darwin's theory of evolution suggests that we all have common psychological tactics and mechanisms that have evolved specifically for our continued reproduction for survival as a species.

CHARLES DARWIN

Charles Darwin was not aware at the time, that all humans are 99.9% genetically identical (Human Genome project 2003), though he did propose that humans and apes shared a common ancestor. And, too, Darwin was not aware at the time that humans and apes, particularly chimpanzees and bonobos, share approximately 96% to 99% of our DNA (US Academy of Sciences 2005), making apes our closest living evolutionary cousins.

Yes. We as humans have a collective goal: To procreate and continue the species.

CARL JUNG

Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist, CARL JUNG (1875-1961), proposed that as a human collective, we have shared archetypes. These archetypes are universal, recurring patterns (motifs, figures) that reside in our human collective unconscious, influencing our behaviors, our emotions, and our personalities across all human cultures.

And how does all this existential philosophy stuff fit into my philosophy of the buskerhood?

Well, in typical existential fashion, the art of the busk is not for acolytes. The stereotypical busker chooses to reject conventional employment in favor of an ever, precarious self-directed employ, defining a working identity via public performances. Busking offers the freedom to strum or thrum or draw or whatever action, whenever and wherever the busker chooses.

Think of this. And so, whenever I am busking with my twelve-string and harp, or my Sharpie and sketchpad, I am embracing the “absurdity” of searching for meaning in a world that offers none. I am searching for meaning while passers-by may choose to ignore me, may choose to respond to me with hostility, may respond to me with happiness, and may even choose to toss a coin or two in my direction. Yes. I’ve met grumpy old men and harridans; I’ve met delusional studs and delicate sweethearts; I’ve met the derelict and I’ve met the diligent. Knowing and experiencing this, my continuing to busk is really a continued attempt to create meaning, an almost desperate attempt to create art in an imagined plummy space that I know that is just indifferent.

To close, whether I am busking with my Sharpie or with my guitar, I am expressing a very personal exalted feeling of freedom, just by choosing to be there which not unwittingly gives me great meaning to that moment. And in that create self-alterity, I am just that handsome stranger that comes to town, but in reality …

I THINK, THEREFORE I YAM WHAT I YAM (AND THAT’S ALL THAT I YAM).

Marching in my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week, are the members of the most beautiful family I met on my ski vacation to ELKWATER SKI RESORT, CYPRESS HILLS, ALBERTA, CANADA.

ELKWATER SKI RESORT