Grim Rhapsody

Often, we make rash decisions. We make choices in emotionally-charged situations that we would not make were we to sit and think about it. I remember once reading that the only way to fully enjoy life is to live utterly in the present – to discard all thought of past experience and future consequence. Whoever wrote that was, without a doubt, immersed in the philosophy of Red.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about and are wondering who Red is, I suggest you read my post from six months ago, where I talked about how I’ve started thinking of people’s philosophies in terms of the five colors of the card game Magic. I wrote that post with the explicit purpose of writing down all the aspects of each color of my own outlook, starting with Black, and that’s still my overarching goal, but I’ve decided to use my own philosophy more as an example of how Magic’s colors apply to our real lives rather than the series’ focus.

Before we stop – or rather, sprint – and plunge headfirst into the red zone, note that from this point onward, at the end of each color’s post, I’ll be talking about the relationship between that color and the colors I’ve written about previously. Today, that means only the affinity between red and black, but expect these posts to grow in size from here on.

Damn the Consequences

I believe in being true to who you are. I believe in following your gut. I believe in not letting others stand in your way. I believe in doing what feels right.

That’s how Red would describe itself. The concept of Red describing itself could be paradoxical to some; a red person is often stereotyped as unintelligent, reckless, perhaps even slightly insane, and will rarely string together a relevant sentence. In this, Red is misunderstood. Last time I wrote about how we view the blacker fragments of our personalities – rarely do we consciously hide our deeply private and frequently brutal beliefs. More often, we forget they even exist when having fun or in social situations. Red, on the other hand, is the side that we love to hate. Every time we regret a hasty decision, wish we hadn’t followed an emotional impulse, groan about a drunken mistake – that’s our non-red parts hating our red part. If we were all completely red, there’d be no regret. More likely, there’d be a longing to continue feeling the surge of euphoria that briefly accompanies all those moments. While the rest of our mind is thinking about the consequences, Red is only interested in the present.

What happens when everyone follows their emotions, and only do what they feel is right for them? You get anarchy. No one is willing to step down and let someone else govern what they can and can’t do, and so conflict arises, usually of the violent sort. A red person doesn’t only act on whims, but believes that acting on what you feel is an inherent part of human nature. Anger, love, satisfaction – Red would tell you these are all vital parts of human experience, because we only ever experience life from our own point of view, and nothing trumps that. You only ever know what you feel. Anyone who tries to take that away must be forcefully stopped, and this is the essence of chaos.

Talking about one’s red side is often more personal than coldly observing the semantics of blue thought and the immoveable determination of white objectives. Most of the time, when we intimate red moments to one another, they’re accompanied by embarrassment, and we’re usually seeking advice on how to reverse the consequences. Yet contemporary society is becoming increasingly red, demonstrated aptly by the roaring nightlife, party culture and drug abuse prevalent in the news every day. Not that Red is inherently opposed to quietness: a red person would  be the first to tell you to relax and take a break if you were stressed about a work project, and also the most likely to encourage you to confront problems directly. In short, Red is about short-term, unabashed self-satisfaction, and is simultaneously praised and demonised for being such. I’m sure everyone knows someone who constantly complains about how human society revolves around “instant gratification”, yet that same person will read “Body and Soul” magazines because, in their words, “it’s important to meet your personal and emotional needs”. The only difference Red sees between these two things is that the former contains the word “instant”, which as Red will tell you, is a very attractive word.

My experience with Red will be similar to anyone else’s: in the heat of a moment, I have made decisions that I would not have made under different, more relaxed circumstances. Most of these decisions, I have regretted. Most of those, I have been able to remedy. The rest, I have been forced to move past. In the end, though, I would have to say that I am far less red than the vast majority of people, and there’s a strong possibility it is my “weakest” color (that is, the color least responsible for my “color wheel make-up”). However, as I outlined in The Stirring Shadow, I don’t believe anyone is completely devoid of the influences of any color. I share Red’s intolerance of restriction, and believe dealing with emotional problems is far healthier than sweeping them under the rug. Note that I said dealing with emotions, and not blindly satisfying every feeling of desire, lust, anger, revenge, and so forth. It is this destructive, mindless side of Red that I am most at odds with, and this is the part of Red that Black also dislikes.

Black and Red are “allied” colors; that is, they are adjacent in the color wheel and have overlap between their philosophies. Where Black and Red most overlap is in their the belief in the all-importance of the self; for Black, it is the survival of the self, and for Red, it is the satisfaction. Both colors share a common enemy in White, the incarnation of law and order, absolute morality, and the well-being of the group. So, we can postulate the basic characteristics of someone with strong roots in Black/Red: they live utterly for themselves, have no rules and no reservations, and no belief in right and wrong. In short, you end up with hedonism; at its most extreme, you end up with someone who will kill to survive and kill for pleasure. Granted, that extreme is thankfully rare in the real world, but just consider someone you may know who lies frequently, sometimes to further their own gains and sometimes, for no discernable reason at all. Fans of 2008’s The Dark Knight will probably have no trouble in accepting my word that The Joker is the epitome of fictional Black/Red characters.

It’s fitting that this post should be delayed for so long simply because I didn’t have the motivation to write it and therefore, did not. Hopefully the next instalment isn’t similarly delayed. Join me then when I talk about answers that lie within, the appeal of returning to nature, and the idea that we are all pieces in a grand, complex puzzle.

Until then, remember that playing with fire might leave you singed.