One of the things that intrigues this Philosopher-In-Residence most is plankind’s relationship with horror. A powerful word; from which most would purport to recoil.

Yet horror remains big bucks: box office bestsellers, front page features, social media screenshots, so-and-so did such-and-such. Pretty much nobody ever lists horrible things being on their Mary Poppins list, so why the collective compulsion to occupy downtime (and uptime) with horror?

Having an expansive mind is rather a philosophical badge of honour (more on expansiveness coming in a December edition of this blog, by the way). Whilst I’ve been pondering our horrow-showing this week, it struck me that it seems our predilection for horror topics relates to our desire to expand our minds, to consume a wide dialectical diet. By knowing that horrors exist on the big or small screen, in fantasy or reality, this somehow enables us to process a whole raft of other cognisant actions.

Gratitude, for the things in our lives that don’t fall under the horror category.

Philanthropy, to support those enduring abjectly horrific circumstances (reference the free school meals UK Government horrorshow template du jour).

Questioning, of how our actions relate to others and spawn consequences.

Resolve, to be part of a solution, or member of Team Good Guys.

BUT, we still enthusiastically, actively, sub-consciously and whole-heartedly consume a lot of horror – far disproportionate to its proportional share.

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law”, mantra of the occultist Aleister Crowley. Over a hundred years on from his conspicuous living of this value, how much has changed?

Next fortnight, I’ll be musing On Minding The Gap. Please get in touch with any particular aspects of this topic you’d like me to write about.

In the meantime,

Happy Planning