Final Paper: A Phenomenological Study On Empowerment or Powerlessness In Cyberspace

Johanna Lyn U. Gatdula                                                                                                                      AB ISA                                                                                                                                                                  INTFILO

The Elegant Saga Of A Keyboard Warrior

What is it to be powerful? Some would say that it’s to have all the fame and money in the world. Others might say it is to possess incredible knowledge and be able to take control of things and people. The most conventional way to be powerful probably is to have the world at your fingertips. Somehow, modern technology, through Internet and social media, has found a way to micronize all of these dimensions of power. It is quite obvious how the Internet is an extremely influential platform for it has somehow seeped itself into the configuration of everyday human activity, especially in terms of socialization and entertainment.

To be empowered now is to be able to project who you are, or at least who you want to be, through advertising yourself online, all of this of which is made possible by the Internet, social media and cyberspace in general. It gains you the ability to capture other people’s attention, waste their time and invoke emotions from these individuals from the other side of the screen. There is so much power in being able to manipulate other people into shifting perspectives and yielding strong emotions from them especially with no actual confrontation involved. This makes you a lot less vulnerable to them, and them a lot more vulnerable to you, with regards to how they submit to your provocation.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this, the line between actual reality and reality in cyberspace gets quite a bit blurry as the person behind the computer screen gets affected by their online reality. We could even go as far as saying that the Internet gave the people the ability to play god or at the very least, the courage to do or say whatever they want regardless of the consequences. This courage and ability now is what gave birth to cyber bullying. With how widespread and multifarious the Internet has become and how involved and dedicated humans have become to it, it is pretty safe to say that almost everybody, to a certain degree, has been a victim of cyber bullying.

I have been a part of an exclusive online writing community that conducts itself mostly via newsletter, ever since I was twelve years old. I have always loved literature and have always wanted to develop my writing abilities, so to be invited to join such a prestigious group felt like such a privilege. The way this community works is with members emailing their works to the community so that other members can give their feedbacks and constructive criticisms. Back in 2012, a new member of the community emailed her “welcome work” and asked everyone to give their comments about the piece that she had written. Me, being an active member, gave my feedback, which mind you, was very constructive and respectful, given how we also have member etiquette and guidelines in the community.

This is exactly what I said on my comment: I really enjoyed the concept of the story. I feel like having a same-sex couple as the protagonists of the short is very current. My only issue is that it kind became draggy and repetitive halfway through. Also, the descriptions became a lot less about what the protagonists feel and more superfluous. Other than that and a few grammatical errors, this was an entertaining short. I am looking forward to your next one! A few hours later, I hear my laptop start blowing up with notifications from our chat room and it turned out to be from this author that I gave my feedback from. At first I was kind of nonchalant about it thinking that it must be some sort of thank you for giving my feedback, like what we would normally get from other authors.

I opened the message and all I see are curse words after curse words in full caps and bold. She also said things like: “how dare you say that”, “who do you think you are shoving your crappy unhelpful opinion”, “you don’t even know how to write”, “just because I’m new here doesn’t mean you get to be rude to me or criticize my work like that”. She went on and on, even directing attacks on the way I look, my writings and how terrible they were, that she would get me kicked off of the platform, she even went as far as threatening my family, saying she would kill me and my family if I comment on her works again, she was making attacks completely unrelated to writing and the feedback that I gave.

I was very taken aback with how she reacted to my comment that my palms started to feel clammy. Given how my remark was mainly positive, I was so puzzled with the way she took it that I even double-checked my comment to make sure that I really didn’t say something rude or crass that possibly caused her to be upset. I felt a rush of emotions run through my body at that moment, one second I was confused and was so sure that she wasn’t talking to me or she made a mistake, another I was upset and hurt with the way she “spoke” to me, then I was angry at this lady for thinking that she could threaten me like that and also, I was scared because I started thinking, what if she really comes after me. I started shouting for my sister to show her the messages, at this point I was an anxious-emotional wreck and my sister had to calm me down. It was quite a dark time for me as well for I was just barely fourteen years old when this occurred, an anxious, hormonal and sensitive one at that.

Aside from the usual rude comment that I get from social media, this probably was the very first time I was actually cyber bullied, as it was the very first time I truly felt violated, disrespected and attacked. I was in near tears as she kept on making threats after threats, to a point that I don’t even reply to her rants. The only reply she got from me was: Ma’am I don’t understand where all of this is coming from, to which she vociferously replied: “don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about you f*ck*ng b*tch”, “how dare you make comments about my writing you don’t see me commenting on your works”, this of which made my spine crawl. I felt powerless to be honest, since I couldn’t really do anything to stop her from attacking me, there was no way I could pacify her attacks because to her I could very well be a robot behind a computer screen. Several times during her eloquent rants, I would even start sweating and gasping because of how sharp, offensive and personal her words got each time. These attacks went on for days before I reported her messages to the heads of our community and only then did it stop since she got removed and banned from the platform.

This experience truly stuck with me till this day and probably will for a very long time. It is quite crazy how this event actually changed the way I configured the way I project my self online, much more the way I actually use social media in general. Now I barely have any social media accounts, mainly for the fear of turning my self vulnerable to attacks and giving too much personal information. I do not even comment and share my perspectives online anymore as I did when I was a bit younger having realized the permanence of these simple opinions and how they actually affect other people in real life.

This particular experience made me realize how much power this other individual possessed over me given how her messages emotionally triggered me in real life even though I might have appeared nonchalant and uncaring about her from her point of view. That is given how I barely responded to her rants and how diplomatic I was in the few incidents that I did. It also made me realize how much power my words and opinions held over her with the way she retorted so violently, enough to actually make threats and attack me verbally. From my point of view, it reflected much of her insecurities in real life.

On the other hand, the way she conversed with me over a social media platform made me think that she might not be fully in tuned with the fact that there is another person on the other side of the screen, that there is an actual person receiving and reading these hateful messages that she sent. Maybe subconsciously, she believes that everyone else and everything else on the Internet is just a projection of her world and her perspective, and that the “people” behind the screen are just robots who are incapable of having feelings and emotions. This in turn, transforms her in to this invincible god that holds power over all of her projections and she is given unlimited cards to be able to emotionally abuse another individual over the Internet.

I truly doubt that this lady could be as aggressive and belligerent in real life as how she appeared to be online. I don’t believe she would feel as almighty nor would she be as confident as her online persona in the real world, in front of other actual people with actual confrontation involved. No normal teenage girl that aspire to be a writer would have the guts or would be insane enough to present themselves as a loudmouthed, quarrelsome individual if she wanted to gain any kind of respect from her peers. This girl that cyber bullied me over a petty criticism that I made about her writing (which she asked for by the way) could never in a million years come up to me in real life and say all those nasty things to my face. There truly is so much power in anonymity, in not having to face any real consequence, because in real life, she is just a mere keyboard warrior that has no real power.

The following illustration may be able to project the point of the matter:

A person’s power and confidence only overlaps with the real world at a minuscule degree, as opposed to their persona in the cyberspace, which is most likely a heightened, more aggressive version of them. They do not have the power to be who they are online in real life because then the world is not in their command, they are not the center of the universe and other people now have the physical ability to defend themselves.

To conclude, power is indeed a very personal and even subjective thing. It is something that could be physically asserted, emotionally asserted or it could very well be an illusion. The security and invincibility of online anonymity offers so much opportunity for an individual to exhibit dominance, as it scratches all liability and consequences. But personally, I believe that this type of power is a mere caricature of what true power is, it is a reflective mockery of the power that people desire to possess. True power and empowerment is to be able to hold your ground and present yourself truthfully both online and off. It is to be able to fend for oneself without the need to attack another individual. It is to be able to take criticism professionally and constructively without destructive emotional attachment. It is to be able to get a hold of your emotions and take control of your insecurities to work for the better. It is realizing that beyond the Internet, there are people with actual feelings, lives and perspectives just like yourself. Power is to be able grasp both dimensions of reality and have a strong concept of where the line between real life and the cyberspace is drawn.

The Big Lecture Revisited

Johanna Lyn U. Gatdula                                                                                                             INTFILO

AB ISA

Philosophizing The (Non) Existence of Money

Dr. Villacorta kicked the lecture off with an interesting discussion about the equation and association of money to Stirnir’s theories such as self-ownership, self-actualization and as a self-extension. The way I understood Dr. Villacorta’s lecture about the “Egoist” individual is quite reminiscent of Rene Descartes’ notion of the self being unaffected by the world around it. This egoist character is an atheistic self that prioritizes self-enjoyment through living in the now and going by the notion of carpe diem. He discussed how “self-alienation” was an abomination to one’s self-hood, thus one must practice freedom through “self-ownership”.

He claimed that exercising self-ownership is some form of revenge by repossessing one’s dignity; it embodies control and dominion over one’s surroundings and self. He also talked about the importance of money to “self-actualization”, which is basically the assimilation of oneself to their desired character. He claimed that money gauges character and character gauges money, you can find out what kind of person one is through what they buy and what a person will purchase through the way they look. If a person enters a music store and purchases a limited edition guitar, it is safe to assume that  individual is a musician. Similarly, you can determine what an individual would most likely purchase given who they are, for example, Jennifer Lopez is most likely an individual to buy an expensive vacation to French Polynesia as much as a chef would purchase different kinds of cheese in an Italian market.

Dr. Villacorta also touched upon the ability of money to earn somebody power. He said that people could never be as great as they are without money for money can purchase an individual greatness. The fact that people like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerburg, Eminem, Beyonće and so on are as powerful and as influential as they are is because of the money that they possess, without the amount of money that Miley Cyrus has earned and possesses, she would just be another regular person who sings. Furthermore, the notion of money being a main agent of “self-extension” was also brought up. The truth is money extends one’s capabilities, for example, money can buy person knowledge through allowing him to purchase education, textbooks, travelling, philosophy and many more.

The second speaker was Sir Malbarosa who shared a very insightful discussion of the philosophy of money through the review of root of power, justice, freedom and civilization. He aimed to discuss money through 3 aspects: saysay (value), salaysay (narrative), and kasaysayan (history). He claimed that money itself has no body and that the most radical assertion of money is to say that we actually do not need money. Then again, the people would have to come up with another mode of transaction. He asserted that civilization went through two eras and back again with their perspectives. That is, Modernity, which he believed was the era of skepticism; Post-modernity, which is the “deepening” of skepticism; and lastly, back to Modernity.

Last but definitely not the least, was Dr. Joaquin’s eccentric discussion of the Metaphysics of Money, with respect to the philosophical view of money and social ontology. Dr. Joaquin started his lecture through a game in which the audience would need to identify whether a statement was a fact or not. The Eleatic Principle and the Fundamentality Principle were also inserted as justifications for the identification if something is real or no. The Eleatic Principle implies that something is real only if it causes something else or if it is caused by something else, on the other hand, the Fundamentality Principle implies that only objective and fundamental things can be considered real. In the activity, he went on about how we can only be a hundred percent sure of the reality of something if it is objective e.g. the circumference of the Earth at the equator is 40,075 km, a fact that is proven through science. Moreover, social objects are challenged and challenge the reality.

His discussion made the audience question the importance of money and where its value came from and implies. He concluded that money is only worth and held to the degree that it is in right purely because of social construct. Had people not established the value of money, it wouldn’t matter or it wouldn’t exist. He emphasized his point by saying that if an individual that came from a completely different civilization or planet came to earth and encountered a bill, this individual wouldn’t care nor even acknowledge it because it’s cognizance doesn’t include the value of money. Furthermore, he said that if somehow, everyone in the world suddenly vanishes from the face of the Earth; the value of money would also become nonexistent, similarly, gold and diamonds would not have any value at all. Here comes then the idea of subjectivism with regards to a person’s way of valuing money. If an individual lives his or her life not really minding or caring about the worth of money, this individual wouldn’t really pay too much attention about losing a bill or two. On the other hand, an individual who is incredibly in tuned with the worth of money and its importance in the social configuration of the world, inclusive of the power that they believe it possesses, will go completely ballistic when he or she loses money. We are now left with a question: given the knowledge of social construct and the relational configuration of society, does money actually exist?

Truly, the Big Lecture that occurred last April 1^st was a very informative and dare I say liberating experience. The audience was able to learn froma and enjoy three different takes and perspectives, both supportive and challenging of each other, about the relevance of philosophy to money and vice-versa. I never really thought of the specific connotations brought about by money, its value and existence but having been immersed in the knowledge of its attachment to the world’s history and human existence, I now often question my perspective regarding the topic. I also pay extra attention to my own personal way of valuing money. The amount of information and thought that the discussions provoked truly will now always be attached in my decision-makings and the way I figure the world and other individuals.

At Second Glance (Writing Activity)

Johanna Lyn U. Gatdula                                                                         INTFILO

AB ISA                                                                                           March 21, 2016

At Second Glance

As people who were and has always been immersed and trained in an environment that always seems to be running out of time, we are inclined to ignore a great amount of our surroundings on an everyday basis in an attempt to get by. In this process, we manage to neglect and overlook some of the most important components of our being, whether we believe and admit it or not, both material and not. Have you ever questioned how we can look at things and not really see them? Hear sounds but not really listen? Touch things but not really feel them? Eat food but not really taste them? And smell scents but not really experience them?

I have lived with my family for all my life. I have also lived in the city for all my life. Given this, I am extremely used to having people around, seeing lights, hearing nonsensical sounds and even in the moments when I was finally alone, I was still never really alone. A couple of months ago, I decided to rent and stay in a condo near the university for the sake of convenience, and this time, I am living alone. The first few nights weren’t too bad; I was actually kind of excited. Then a couple of weeks passed and I suddenly started to feel in full blast what was slowly creeping in, in the past couple of weeks that I was actually truly on my own. Suddenly I started to physically feel silence, especially on those late cold nights.

Fully aware of the slithering sadness that started to embrace me every time I would go back to my condo as silence greets me, I began being hyperaware of the little sounds and lights that were actually present every night as I lay in bed. All of a sudden, the sound of the blowing wind and the hazy lights that I began listening to and staring at, became the highlight of my day. When put into perspective, these are things that has always been present in my lifetime, there was never a day in my entire existence when the wind didn’t blow and the night didn’t have hazy lights pierce through it’s darkness, but it was in those moments and only in those moments, was I able to actually see them, hear them and feel them.

It was comparable to a love affair, where leading lady hit a turning point in the story in which she suddenly began to look at her best friend in a different light. Precipitously, the guy who has always been there and she has known from the day that they were born, the guy who would listen to her rants, stories and heartbreak, the guy who would fetch her coffee on her worst days, the guy who would offer a shoulder to cry on, this guy is now the leading man of her story.

My relationship with the blowing wind and the hazy lights was like a story of falling in love with a childhood best friend. I have always known of them, I have heard of them and I have looked at them but it was only at second glance, in moments that I had nothing else to occupy my mind and hog my attention, was I able to actually know, listen and see. To see means to appreciate, to recognize and to experience, like what had happened to me and my blowing wind and hazy night-lights.

INCEPTION Activty

INTFILO INCEPTION ACTIVITY

1st Journal Entry

The Van Gogh Effect

by Johanna Gatdula

Van Gogh Portrait Gif By Berry Villegas stuffbyberry.tumblr.com Link: http://stuffbyberry.tumblr.com/post/88221418229

The lightning games were on and Zeux, god of the Universe is intently engaged as he observed his creations compete in a physical competition they had engendered to keep themselves entertained. At the same time, he was blessing his last work of art for the day, another perfectly sculpted and balanced human that shall be ready and sent to the Earth first thing in the morning. He was in the middle of balancing his emotional and intelligence quotient when suddenly the game reaches its climax, as the star player is a second away from catching the lightning bat, prompting their win. Zeux, still in the midst of pouring the glossarium and agápi potions, was on the edge of his seat until a few seconds later he jumps for joy as he witness the player catch the winning bat. Unbeknownst to him, he poured the potions for longer than he intended to and usually does. As he watched the game close, he received an urgent notice from his right hand man, Yesu, requesting his presence in the main hall of the palace, thus he hastily poured a generous amount of the umění potion before he left his human absorb all of the potions overnight.

Potions Gif retrieved from: B-Witched Link: http://b-witched.tumblr.com/post/97749137914

The next morning, the humans that he had created were deployed to the Earth. The last human of the batch that he created the night before turned out to be a little boy born to a middleclass couple in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands. He was named Vincent. This little boy grew up quite normally but always seemed to be a peculiar one; other people including his parents appeared to have noticed little quirks here and there about the boy. Unfortunately, since his case is the only one among all of the people in town, others weren’t too pleased and accepting of the poor boy. Still, the boy carried on with his life and grew up.

At the age of fifteen, Vincent’s family experienced a life curveball as they struggled financially and he was forced to leave school and work instead. He stumbled upon his uncle’s art dealership and got a job there. This occurrence was a blessing in disguise to Vincent; in this phase of his life he discovered his incredible love for art and used it as way to express himself. Vincent had always known he was different and he had always been miserable because he felt like there was something wrong with him; the townspeople weren’t too fond of him, his parents couldn’t do anything about it and were mostly preoccupied. He had so much to say and so much to share yet he felt like he couldn’t because it wasn’t right… or at least that was what he was told. Him working for his uncle’s art dealership definitely showed him a path to pursue and embrace his uniqueness and even intensify it.

After a while, Vincent was transferred to London where he fell in love not only with the English culture but also one beautiful lassie. Unfortunately, when he proposed marriage to the lady, she rejected him. This event crushed Vincent and triggered a breakdown for him. Vincent was devastated, he was angry, he felt like his heart was being set on fire, the emotions that he was feeling were extreme, intense and frankly, unusual for other people. He had always been aware that he was anything but ordinary, thus growing up he had taught himself how to cope with his situation but this time it was too much, he couldn’t understand the hurt and anger that he felt anymore and in turn, he became a coltish, wary and bitter man. Nonetheless, he was every bit of creative as he was as a child and even more now.

Bedroom Bedroom in Arles, 1888, Van Gogh Museum Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh

He left England in haste a found the small but charming town of Arles in France. Though charmed by the city, there he was found and identified to be the odd and lonely man with a bad reputation, somehow the townspeople believed that he was the one bringing bad luck to their town thus, he is often accused whenever something bad occurs. Once again, he was an oddity amongst the sea of conformity, uniformity and mediocrity. Residing in a tiny but cozy chalet, he did nothing but paint, care for his sunflowers and stare at the sky all day, every single day.

Van Gogh Sea Gif from Starry Night Over the Rhone, 1888, Musée d’Orsay, Paris retrieved from: ElectricFriend (tumblr) Link: https://45.media.tumblr.com/7eead47e672123b2200977b89e42b78d/tumblr_nrhss7m9Wo1uamwh6o1_500.gif

 

At night, he would visit the church by the river and paint the night away as he stare at the beautiful night sky; he would often take a break and just appreciate the beautiful picture that the image before him portrayed. These evenings were very special to him, he always felt like the voice of the colors were much louder, clearer and calmer as it sings him a beautiful lullaby.

Doctor Who Episode Scene Gif retrieved from: Misstuk327 (tumblr) Link: http://misstuk327.tumblr.com/post/126281082367

Recently, there was a gruesome murder of a young woman whose body was found in the fields just a few kilometers away from Vincent’s shack. Unsurprisingly, he was once again being blamed for the unfortunate event, although this time it’s not just about the alleged bad luck that he brings but he is actually being accused of killing the lass. The townspeople are now on the hunt for Vincent and he is extremely troubled about this occurrence, he has absolutely no idea what to do.

Meanwhile, while perusing the latest issue of “Human Fails”, Zeux received a report from Yesu about a problem regarding a certain Vincent van Gogh in the city of Arles, who is apparently a victim of misjudgment. The said man is an unusual one; all of the town’s people had labeled him crazy and considers him to be the one causing all of the suspicious bad luck that is happening in the town. They had blamed him for the death of the old man from the corner who serves the best soup in all of France because he died three days after he had placed his first order. Arles also faced a draught a few months ago, which was again brought upon Vincent’s shoulders because they believe that he had brought bad energy to the river where he often paints by and spends his evenings alone. Most recently though is the murder of a young woman who had been killed near the fields leading to the place where Vincent resides, and since the townspeople are already extremely miffed and suspicious of Vincent, they automatically believed that Vincent was the culprit and that his new scheme is to prey on young beautiful women.

Intrigued and bothered by the situation, Zeux tried to recall the time he created Vincent since there were obviously anomalies in the creation of his person. A wide-eyed Zeux suddenly is reminded of the night when the lightning games were going on. He suspects that he might have incorporated an abnormal and unbalanced amount of the glossarium, agápi and umění potions, respectively responsible for creativity, love and art. He could just imagine the beautiful mess that he created and the horror and rejection he faces considering how special he is amongst the pool of uniformly proportioned humans that he had always created.

Zeux had come to a decision, he will help poor Vincent recover from this incident and redeem himself as the person that he truly is, a brave, beautiful yet torn soul filled with so much love and passion. Zeux realized that lately he has being growing bored of the happenings in the Earth since there seems to be no variety and flavor to the characteristics of the human kind. People just mind themselves and the norm; frankly, Vincent truly is the sole embodiment of difference, he was a dot of rainbow in a sky of blue and grey. He believed that maybe, just maybe, Vincent would be the revolution of change, that after this mission, the people would realize and utilize their talent to the full of its potential.

Later that night, Zeux travelled to the planes of the Earth and landed in front of Vince’s door. He knocks a couple of times before a disheveled, tired and frowning man opens the door to check who was knocking. Vincent dreaded opening the door because he believed that it would be the townspeople interrogating again. Imagine his surprise when a tall man in a full-white well-tailored suit with a rich thick beard greeted him. Zeux greeted him hello and Vince asked what he needed but Zeux insisted that he let him in and he shall explain the situation, oddly enough Vincent barely hesitated to let the strange man in but he knew deep in his heart that this is definitely the start to a very long strange night.

Lightning retrieved from: feeling.tumblr (tumblr) Link: http://feellng.tumblr.com/post/95002148358

The two sat face to face on the single couches available in Vincent’s receiving area. Zeux didn’t want to scare Vincent off since the man already seems shaken enough. He started off their conversation trying to ask Vincent how he’s been and weirdly Vincent didn’t hesitate in answering the old man’s friendly questions. After a couple of minutes, assuring that Vincent had calmed down a bit, Zeux began to try to introduce himself, he slowly explained who he was, what he does and how they are related to each other. Vincent, as expected, found it difficult to ingest all of the information that the man, Zeux, it took him couple of minutes to calm his wildly beating heart and his rattled mind. He didn’t want to believe what this man was trying to tell him yet he didn’t think that the said man was lying to him.

Zeux then began explaining to him about is own creation and how differently yet beautifully he was made in hopes of shedding some light over the mystery of Vincent’s persona and peculiarity that the man himself had questioned his whole life. He also told him the purpose of his unsolicited visit and that is to help Vincent overcome the struggles that he is currently faced with. Zeux could only imagine how overwhelmed Vincent must be thus he suggested that they retire for the night and begin on their mission first thing in the morning. But Vincent, being the curious and chary man that he is, stopped him and requested for him to do some sort of miracle just to settle the slight doubt that still settles in the back of his mind. With a confident snap of his fingers, Zeux made a gigantic lightning appear and burn a tree just in front of Vincent’s shack, which they witnessed, through the window. After that, Zeux swaggered his way to the bedroom, leaving a gaping Vincent alone in the receiving area. When Zeus entered Vincent’s bedroom, he was able to view and admire a lot of his artworks, he stared at each one of the in awe as he thinks to himself how beautiful this human truly was.

Painter on the Road Painter on the Road to Tarascon, August 1888, Vincent van Gogh on the road to Montmajour. Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh

The next day, Zeux woke Vincent up early in the morning and dragged him to the busy market place, just beside the vineyard of where most of the community does their business. He commanded him to bring one of his blank canvases and some paint. A confused and rather annoyed Vincent had no other choice but to comply to his commands. As they reached the busiest part of the town, people started staring at them both in awe and horror as they witness Vincent, the crazy criminal accompanied by a glorious looking man who they cannot help but admire and bow down to. At this point, Zeux and Vincent stopped in the middle of the street as people of the town begin surrounding them. Vincent was mortified and was frozen on his spot as Zeux called out the attention of the people and astonishingly, they all quieted down, the power that this stranger held over him and the townspeople truly amazed him. When Zeux was sure that they had the attention of every single person in the crowd, he called out to Vincent. He asked Vincent to start painting, yes painting, in front of everyone; he asked to create an image of the beauty that he is able to find in the picture that is right in front of him. Although confused, Vincent obliged and grabbed a chair where he can place his canvas on, he looked up and saw the red vineyard, then he glances at Zeux, seeking for comfort and encouragement, which the latter gave through as small nod and smile, that was all he needed then he let his hands work its magic, he let his emotions run wild as he paints the beautiful image of Arles and its people, that for the first time since he came to the town, he was able to admire without being spat at and bothered.

Red Vineyard Painting Vincent van Gogh’s 1888 painting ‘The Red Vineyards at Arles’ PHOTO: HIP/ART RESOURCE, NY Link: http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-late-summer-bouquet-inspired-by-a-vincent-van-gogh-painting-1439314083

The townspeople watched in awe as they witness this odd man work the paintbrush skillfully and produce beautiful colors that they could only imagine in their wildest dreams, they watched him, stared and admired him, not a single sound came out of them, just pure love and admiration towards the an they have always called mad, they watched him until he was finished. Vincent kept on painting, completely tuning out everything but the beauty and love that he sees and translates through his artwork. Eventually, he was done, when he looked up, he saw the faces of the people and saw the love, empathy and understanding he had always craved. Immediately, his eyes wander around frantically looking for Zeux who was suddenly missing. Suddenly he felt something tickle his palm, he opened it and found a small note that read, “You didn’t need me, all you needed was an opportunity to show your beauty. The world wasn’t ready for someone as beautiful as you Vincent, now they are. Carpe diem.” Vincent was in full-blown tears at this point, as every single person in the crowd comes up to him, hug and kiss him as they express their deepest apologies and proclamations of love.

Ever since that day, the people and the town underwent a lot of changes, suddenly, everyone was trying to pursue something out of the box and their comfort zone, they started seeking further knowledge, they started to learn and teach more and most importantly, they started to appreciate the variety of beauty the world that surrounds them offer. There were a lot of adjustments made to the structure and processes of the town. Everything became much brighter, happier, more spontaneous and full of love when the people decided they wanted to paint the colours of the rainbow across humanity. That is the van Gogh effect.

Starry Night Painting Gif retrieved from: Yulyet and Faby Green Link: http://weheartit.com/entry/146867318/via/yulyet_loveinthewronglane?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=image_share&utm_source=tumblr

 

 

Notes:

This mythological narrative was inspired by the life of Vincent Van Gogh and the Doctor Who episode “Vincent and the Doctor”.

All images and GIFs used in this post are not owned by the writer.

 

References:

B. (n.d.). Vincent van Gogh Biography. Retrieved January 26, 2016, from http://www.biography.com/people/vincent-van-gogh-9515695