Inspired by Solaris

“We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors. We don't know what to do with other worlds. A single world, our own, suffices us; but we can't accept it for what it is.”
― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

Days, weeks, even years can pass before a piece of art makes you feel something. Hollywood continually releases the same movie again and again, but just in a different dress. Books which make it to the bestseller lists are typically the same crime or romance novels, catering to gender stereotypes. Television provides us with stale, bland information to dumb us down and keep us passive. And then you take in something that makes you THINK, and it is like being reborn.

I watched Tarkovsky's Solaris for the first time the other night. If you like to know what you are looking at, don't watch it. If you like simplicity, don't watch it. If you like things fast, don't watch it. Because it isn't about watching, it is about experience and reflection. 

I won't go into the details of the plot. If you are interested watch it, or do what I started doing last night at read the book by Stanisław Lem. Instead I thought I would share with you some of the questions Solaris evoked in me.

Why does mankind's nature, when confronted with the unknown, seek to destroy and conquer before it understands? Do we love people for how they truly are, or how we imagine them to be? Does something need to be real to be valid? Does tangibility equal reality? What is mankind seeking that our natural surroundings cannot provide?