What does profound mean?

[Thumpalumpacus]

Don't worry, I didn't start this thread to proselytize. I recently watched a movie called "Circle" (2015). It's about 50 people who are forced to vote and kill one person every 2 minutes until one person remains. I thought it was a thought provoking movie, but a lot of people in the reviews were saying it was a movie for pseudo intellectuals, or people who wanted to pretend to be profound. That's why I started thinking about why I think some things are profound, and some are not. I think most people agree that some things are profound/intellectual. Maybe something like "What is consciousness?". Other things people disagree on, so what exactly is common between things that are profound? Is it just things that make you think about them a lot? But like I said, I think about the plot of Primer a lot, and I don't think that is very profound.

That movie you watched doesn't sound very deep, either. Lots of people try to write profound things, very few achieve that goal.

I know what I think is profound. but I doubt most people agree, myself included if you ask me fifteen years ago or fifteen years ahead. I think the commonality lies not in the content of the observation, but how it impacts individuals at the varying stages of their lives.

As an adjective, "profound" can both describe something deeply moving on a personal level, or it may describe a sea-change in common thinking. Confusing those two very different senses of the word will trip people up. The Wright brothers figuring out that altering airflow over the wingtips allowed controlled flight was profound for aeronautics, and meant fuck-all to a farmer in Iowa, whose profundity might be a tornado that just ripped his corn off the stalks.

[Paleophyte]

Don't worry, I didn't start this thread to proselytize. I recently watched a movie called "Circle" (2015). It's about 50 people who are forced to vote and kill one person every 2 minutes until one person remains. I thought it was a thought provoking movie, but a lot of people in the reviews were saying it was a movie for pseudo intellectuals, or people who wanted to pretend to be profound. That's why I started thinking about why I think some things are profound, and some are not. I think most people agree that some things are profound/intellectual. Maybe something like "What is consciousness?". Other things people disagree on, so what exactly is common between things that are profound? Is it just things that make you think about them a lot? But like I said, I think about the plot of Primer a lot, and I don't think that is very profound.

Very glad that you aren't here to preach at us. We get people who do that a lot, often by asking leading questions, and it gets really tired. That's why a couple of people pounced on you.

I haven't seen "Circle", but being profound is going to be a matter of taste and perspective. It's possible that the critics simply didn't get the point of the movie, that it didn't resonate with them, or that they had already seen that PoV long ago. Ironically, the charge of being a "pseudo-intellectual" is typically leveled by people trying very hard to sound like intellectuals. I wouldn't worry about it. It's whether or not something is profound to you that matters.

[Rhythmcs]

They're all things that alter our perception. I see we're talking about thinking about a thing real smart like, but drugs work too.

[Thumpalumpacus]

They're all things that alter our perception.  I see we're talking about thinking about a thing real smart like, but drugs work too.

The difference for me is that the profundities I found with acid or psilocybin have generally faded into normalcy. The one big profundity that experience gave me is to teach me that different perspectives matter.

[Dānu]

[mordant]

Don't worry, I didn't start this thread to proselytize. I recently watched a movie called "Circle" (2015). It's about 50 people who are forced to vote and kill one person every 2 minutes until one person remains. I thought it was a thought provoking movie, but a lot of people in the reviews were saying it was a movie for pseudo intellectuals, or people who wanted to pretend to be profound. That's why I started thinking about why I think some things are profound, and some are not. I think most people agree that some things are profound/intellectual. Maybe something like "What is consciousness?". Other things people disagree on, so what exactly is common between things that are profound? Is it just things that make you think about them a lot? But like I said, I think about the plot of Primer a lot, and I don't think that is very profound.

I think "profound" is one of those entirely contextual words. Things I thought were profound and intensely fascinating when I was 18, I have completely changed my opinion of 50 years later, for example. And I'm not just talking about my religious ideations at the time. There are a multitude of things like that. In fact much of life is just letting go of your illusions.

Now at my age it's a massive accomplishment just to take a good dump. YMMV, lol.

The secret is contentment plus perspective. I don't really seek profundity or enlightenment so much as meeting life on its terms rather than mine. Ironically that is when you start to feel a little bit transcendent, finally.