Don't hate me for the way I look (at life)
Who wouldn't want to be someone else?
Jacques Cousteau - that's who I wanted to be as a child. But then I drowned!
Look at yourself in the mirror. What do you see?
Do you see the child who suffered years of bullying at school? Or the student who wasn't as intelligent as a sibling? Or the gawky kid who was so shy he couldn't get a girlfriend? Or the introvert who had no small talk for casual encounters? Or the ‘idiot' who discovered philosophy? Or the fool who trusted others?
Is it even possible to look in the mirror and like what one sees?
'Sanguinarium' asks us to think about changing reality. As usual, it offers no answers. But it does impel us to think - despite being another particularly weak episode.
I never fully understood Jacques Lacan. But I did get his concept of the mirror. I had stared into it long enough.
I am now of an age when I can look back on my life with a degree of reason and spirit. Would I have done anything differently? Not for all the tea in China! Nietzsche's idea of the eternal recurrence is not, for me, literal. It is simply a way of looking at your life and asking yourself for regrets. Nietzsche demands that we accept the life we have lived without regret.
What must it be like to look in the mirror and not see the person you imagine yourself to be? Personally, I'd say that sounds fairly normal. But there are those who become convinced that they can change the physical appearance to satisfy the psychological need.
However gifted the surgeon, he cannot graft self-acceptance onto your soul.
It's an interesting juxtaposition of cosmetic surgery, on the one hand, and witchcraft on the other. One wonders which we are asked to see in the light of the other?
Are we to see witchcraft as a powerful means of influencing our lives, just as cosmetic surgery is deemed to be? Or that this kind of surgery is an arcane craft just as witchcraft is?
One might be tempted to see the science of modern surgery usurping the role of ancient wisdom, except that the surgeon is a practitioner of the dark arts and Wicca isn't such an ancient wisdom.
It is more likely, precisely because the surgeon is a dark occultist, that we should see both as a futile way to bring about change.
There is, without doubt, a value to cosmetic surgery, in ways so obvious they need not be itemised here. It should not be considered for a moment this kind of surgery is being denounced. But, as with all things human, there is the value of a thing and the overvaluing of a thing.
Always the rational one, Scully points out the obvious:
Personally, I think that Nurse Waite wins this battle. She dies and the bad guy gets away but she gave her life in the service of others. The person who sees the problem is obligated to do all they can to find a solution to that problem. This is precisely what Nurse Waite does. Even to the point of giving her life in the fight against evil. She can look back on her life with no regrets.
It matters not the means one employs in the service of others. Nurse Waite used witchcraft because that was her tool to hand, it is what she knew. Because her intentions were good, there was no possibility of her method causing harm to anyone but the evil doer. When our actions bring harm to others we must ask ourselves who it is we really serve. If the service harms as greatly as that which we fight it is likely that, in reality, it is nothing more than self-service.
Jacques Cousteau - that's who I wanted to be as a child. But then I drowned!
Look at yourself in the mirror. What do you see?
Do you see the child who suffered years of bullying at school? Or the student who wasn't as intelligent as a sibling? Or the gawky kid who was so shy he couldn't get a girlfriend? Or the introvert who had no small talk for casual encounters? Or the ‘idiot' who discovered philosophy? Or the fool who trusted others?
Is it even possible to look in the mirror and like what one sees?
'Sanguinarium' asks us to think about changing reality. As usual, it offers no answers. But it does impel us to think - despite being another particularly weak episode.
I never fully understood Jacques Lacan. But I did get his concept of the mirror. I had stared into it long enough.
I am now of an age when I can look back on my life with a degree of reason and spirit. Would I have done anything differently? Not for all the tea in China! Nietzsche's idea of the eternal recurrence is not, for me, literal. It is simply a way of looking at your life and asking yourself for regrets. Nietzsche demands that we accept the life we have lived without regret.
What must it be like to look in the mirror and not see the person you imagine yourself to be? Personally, I'd say that sounds fairly normal. But there are those who become convinced that they can change the physical appearance to satisfy the psychological need.
However gifted the surgeon, he cannot graft self-acceptance onto your soul.
It's an interesting juxtaposition of cosmetic surgery, on the one hand, and witchcraft on the other. One wonders which we are asked to see in the light of the other?
Are we to see witchcraft as a powerful means of influencing our lives, just as cosmetic surgery is deemed to be? Or that this kind of surgery is an arcane craft just as witchcraft is?
One might be tempted to see the science of modern surgery usurping the role of ancient wisdom, except that the surgeon is a practitioner of the dark arts and Wicca isn't such an ancient wisdom.
It is more likely, precisely because the surgeon is a dark occultist, that we should see both as a futile way to bring about change.
There is, without doubt, a value to cosmetic surgery, in ways so obvious they need not be itemised here. It should not be considered for a moment this kind of surgery is being denounced. But, as with all things human, there is the value of a thing and the overvaluing of a thing.
Always the rational one, Scully points out the obvious:
This – this place is a veritable factory. Cosmetic surgery is the boom industry of the medical world. And ASU wards like this are a gold mine… And a brand new, state of the art facility like this can support an entire hospital.
The kind of surgeries depicted in this episode are purely cosmetic, performed for no reason other than the need to feel better about oneself. The price of wanting to be beautiful is high. them0vieblog.com's review of this episode informs us that
In 2013, plastic surgeons were the seventh-highest ranked specialty in the United States, with an average income of $317,000 – significantly above the industry average of $230,000
An example of overvaluing a thing, if ever there was one!Personally, I think that Nurse Waite wins this battle. She dies and the bad guy gets away but she gave her life in the service of others. The person who sees the problem is obligated to do all they can to find a solution to that problem. This is precisely what Nurse Waite does. Even to the point of giving her life in the fight against evil. She can look back on her life with no regrets.
It matters not the means one employs in the service of others. Nurse Waite used witchcraft because that was her tool to hand, it is what she knew. Because her intentions were good, there was no possibility of her method causing harm to anyone but the evil doer. When our actions bring harm to others we must ask ourselves who it is we really serve. If the service harms as greatly as that which we fight it is likely that, in reality, it is nothing more than self-service.
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