So, I caught up on the last five episodes of Legion, which reminded me a little bit of the David Bowie Is Expo at Brooklyn Museum of Art. It's basically a series about how the mind creates its own versions of reality, convincing itself that the reality it has created is in actuality "reality".
While watching it, I found myself reminded of various discussions and debates that I'd had with philosophy students and psychology majors in undergrad over the concept. My brother and I also used to debate it -- which is the idea that we create our reality and reality is in truth a construct of our mind. So if this is true, and we let go of the mind, is there reality or are we in truth in reality...
At any rate, it does explain how someone can easily fall into madness. David Haller is the son of Professor Xavier -- one the premiere telepaths, if not the premiere telepath on Earth. Haller not only has the power to read minds and move objects, but to bend reality itself. And Haller is insane.
The series takes place inside Haller's head. We are seeing everything through David Haller's perspective, which means we don't really know what is reality in the series and what is not.
Every once and a while we'll step outside of Haller and there will be little intelletual/philosophical/psychological discourses on the state of consciousness and how people go mad. Or how you can condition or make someone crazy. It can be a bad idea that takes root inside the mind, to the point that the idea becomes someone's reality -- they are convinced it's the truth.
Or it can be letting go of the ability to see reality outside oneself, or allowing the ego to construct it entirely -- for example, dismissing the concept of coincidence and assuming everything is part of a pattern, or has a meaning, or is a conspiracy. If you become convinced that there is no such thing as coincidence, over time, you may well slide down Alice's rabbit hole. Or someone could condition you to think certain things are true -- things that run counter to what is true --- this is what marketing and advertisers and propaganda folks specialize in. They will convince you that say red is green and green is red or this pill heals you, when in reality it's just a placebo or a non-placebo. Sugar water will make you vomit.
What I love about Legion is unlike a lot of series on madness and how reality can drive you insane, it does more showing than telling. It shows by example, and it's rather intelligent in how it goes about it. Reminds me a little of The Good Place in this respect, although it's far nastier, and sort of a horrific take on it.
Clever series. And very surreal. My favorite episodes to date are the one's in which David has to get his friends out of the Maze inside their own heads. Least favorite and most disturbing was the last and most recent episode...which was just painful and horrifying to watch.
While watching it, I found myself reminded of various discussions and debates that I'd had with philosophy students and psychology majors in undergrad over the concept. My brother and I also used to debate it -- which is the idea that we create our reality and reality is in truth a construct of our mind. So if this is true, and we let go of the mind, is there reality or are we in truth in reality...
At any rate, it does explain how someone can easily fall into madness. David Haller is the son of Professor Xavier -- one the premiere telepaths, if not the premiere telepath on Earth. Haller not only has the power to read minds and move objects, but to bend reality itself. And Haller is insane.
The series takes place inside Haller's head. We are seeing everything through David Haller's perspective, which means we don't really know what is reality in the series and what is not.
Every once and a while we'll step outside of Haller and there will be little intelletual/philosophical/psychological discourses on the state of consciousness and how people go mad. Or how you can condition or make someone crazy. It can be a bad idea that takes root inside the mind, to the point that the idea becomes someone's reality -- they are convinced it's the truth.
Or it can be letting go of the ability to see reality outside oneself, or allowing the ego to construct it entirely -- for example, dismissing the concept of coincidence and assuming everything is part of a pattern, or has a meaning, or is a conspiracy. If you become convinced that there is no such thing as coincidence, over time, you may well slide down Alice's rabbit hole. Or someone could condition you to think certain things are true -- things that run counter to what is true --- this is what marketing and advertisers and propaganda folks specialize in. They will convince you that say red is green and green is red or this pill heals you, when in reality it's just a placebo or a non-placebo. Sugar water will make you vomit.
What I love about Legion is unlike a lot of series on madness and how reality can drive you insane, it does more showing than telling. It shows by example, and it's rather intelligent in how it goes about it. Reminds me a little of The Good Place in this respect, although it's far nastier, and sort of a horrific take on it.
Clever series. And very surreal. My favorite episodes to date are the one's in which David has to get his friends out of the Maze inside their own heads. Least favorite and most disturbing was the last and most recent episode...which was just painful and horrifying to watch.