Riina
Sometimes, great timing happens and everything connects for one short moment in life and makes you feel present in the universe.
As I was turning from a corner, I saw these delightful autumnal colours around the red brick wall and there walked a lovely young person dressed in perfect matching colours with Nature.
At that very moment, she had the same thoughts--as I learned a minute later--and that's when I stopped her for a portrait.
It was easy to talk to Riina, 23y/o, almost 24, in a fortnight. She acted naturally in front of my camera and my camera loved her. She become one with this delightful autumnal tableau.
Riina is a student of philosophy; her reflections upon my questions emphasised her philosophical education. I would have loved to discuss longer with her, but there wasn't enough time. She was on her way to support the Extinction Rebellion, the global environmental movement's manifestation in town. She did, however, promise to answer my questions by returning email.
I sent her the photos and was so glad to receive her answers within a few hours.
The floor is yours, Riina.
"When one is asked about "The Meaning of Life" I like to paraphrase whomever it was--I don't remember where I heard this and whether I'm remembering it right--who said that life does not have a meaning per se, but things within life have meanings, which I think, gets formed through specific subject's experiences and that same subjects relations to things they bump into within these experiences.
I'm talking about the meanings of life since those things that have a meaning or meanings to this specific subject, are the things that inspire me and are connected, I think, to all the your questions. So, at this moment in time I'm rather into--which means deeply in love with--books, philosophy, dancing, nature, especially forests, humour, especially satire, animals, especially dolphins, art, history, solitude, walking, writing and, I guess, thinking. These are the things I do in life, that I like to do in my spare time and that inspire me.
"What I love about myself is that I'm insanely curious--it brings a lot of meaning to my existence and keeps me, most of the time, rather satisfied, by which I mean excited and joyful. Interestingly, it seems that the more curious you are, the more curious you get; and the more curious you get, the more you get the learn. And I've had some amazing luck with ending up being this almost strangely inquisitive person. I really dig it!
"The Younger-Me question was to me definitely the easiest to answer; I would advice her to not be so deeply afraid of feelings, to not think of them as something one should wish to get rid of or worse, hide them and imagine them non-existent. It would have made things a lot easier, I suppose, if I'd understood feelings as mentionable, understandable, acceptable and manageable and not as some kind of demonic and horrible signs-of-weaknesses.
"And I thought a lot about what I would say to the world, but I suppose I can't imagine myself being a worthy advice-giver, since I'm myself actively trying to find a way to flourish. However, there's this one thought-provoker I like, which often helps me to answer a question of what it is that I "ought" to do in any specific situation; that is, "Imagine a person who would be in your opinion morally 'perfectly good'. How would they act in this situation?" I like this since it leaves us to imagine our own kind of goodness and own kind of perfection--which in my case means a person who definitely is not "perfect" in all kinds of situations, not even in most situations--and I don't have to end up implying that I'd know better about living a flourishing life than I do. It's kind of a version of "What would [...] do?" but a more imaginative one."
Thank you, Riina, I was happy to run into you so totally randomly, a second later and we would have missed each other. You were a breath of fresh air.
"It was really great to meet you, Ann, this was a lot of fun! I've never experienced anything like this and I appreciate you and all this!"
Riina
This is my 858th submission to The Human Family group.
Visit the group here to see more portraits and stories: The Human Family
Riina
Sometimes, great timing happens and everything connects for one short moment in life and makes you feel present in the universe.
As I was turning from a corner, I saw these delightful autumnal colours around the red brick wall and there walked a lovely young person dressed in perfect matching colours with Nature.
At that very moment, she had the same thoughts--as I learned a minute later--and that's when I stopped her for a portrait.
It was easy to talk to Riina, 23y/o, almost 24, in a fortnight. She acted naturally in front of my camera and my camera loved her. She become one with this delightful autumnal tableau.
Riina is a student of philosophy; her reflections upon my questions emphasised her philosophical education. I would have loved to discuss longer with her, but there wasn't enough time. She was on her way to support the Extinction Rebellion, the global environmental movement's manifestation in town. She did, however, promise to answer my questions by returning email.
I sent her the photos and was so glad to receive her answers within a few hours.
The floor is yours, Riina.
"When one is asked about "The Meaning of Life" I like to paraphrase whomever it was--I don't remember where I heard this and whether I'm remembering it right--who said that life does not have a meaning per se, but things within life have meanings, which I think, gets formed through specific subject's experiences and that same subjects relations to things they bump into within these experiences.
I'm talking about the meanings of life since those things that have a meaning or meanings to this specific subject, are the things that inspire me and are connected, I think, to all the your questions. So, at this moment in time I'm rather into--which means deeply in love with--books, philosophy, dancing, nature, especially forests, humour, especially satire, animals, especially dolphins, art, history, solitude, walking, writing and, I guess, thinking. These are the things I do in life, that I like to do in my spare time and that inspire me.
"What I love about myself is that I'm insanely curious--it brings a lot of meaning to my existence and keeps me, most of the time, rather satisfied, by which I mean excited and joyful. Interestingly, it seems that the more curious you are, the more curious you get; and the more curious you get, the more you get the learn. And I've had some amazing luck with ending up being this almost strangely inquisitive person. I really dig it!
"The Younger-Me question was to me definitely the easiest to answer; I would advice her to not be so deeply afraid of feelings, to not think of them as something one should wish to get rid of or worse, hide them and imagine them non-existent. It would have made things a lot easier, I suppose, if I'd understood feelings as mentionable, understandable, acceptable and manageable and not as some kind of demonic and horrible signs-of-weaknesses.
"And I thought a lot about what I would say to the world, but I suppose I can't imagine myself being a worthy advice-giver, since I'm myself actively trying to find a way to flourish. However, there's this one thought-provoker I like, which often helps me to answer a question of what it is that I "ought" to do in any specific situation; that is, "Imagine a person who would be in your opinion morally 'perfectly good'. How would they act in this situation?" I like this since it leaves us to imagine our own kind of goodness and own kind of perfection--which in my case means a person who definitely is not "perfect" in all kinds of situations, not even in most situations--and I don't have to end up implying that I'd know better about living a flourishing life than I do. It's kind of a version of "What would [...] do?" but a more imaginative one."
Thank you, Riina, I was happy to run into you so totally randomly, a second later and we would have missed each other. You were a breath of fresh air.
"It was really great to meet you, Ann, this was a lot of fun! I've never experienced anything like this and I appreciate you and all this!"
Riina
This is my 858th submission to The Human Family group.
Visit the group here to see more portraits and stories: The Human Family