[Philosophy] Twilight movie quote....

"the kingdom where nobody dies" sounds me like a metaphor for living in a state of fantasy - the bliss of ignorance, so to speak, where we make up the rules of life from our own imaginations and desires, and are allowed to live as if those rules really apply

i agree with those who have pointed out the themes of mortality and responsibility - integral to adulthood

the closest things to rites of passage that i can think of are maybe personal accomplishments and experiences

getting ones first job or car, losing of virginity, going to college, moving out of the parents home

nothing as ritualistic, dramatic, or definitive as the bullet ant initiation

we usually focus on the painful or frightening part of these sorts of ceremonies, but iirc these rituals are also the moment where children are taught the rules and responsibilities of the society, and are enlightened as to where they themselves can fit in

what we have in the west is the "freedom" to define the terms of our own lives, which is awesome,but happens to a great extent at the expense of a reliable map (tradition and custom)

having ones place already determined means no one is confused about whats expected of them or what it means to be "good" and there is no need to battle over who does what, when

to my mind, adulthood is, more than anything else, taking ones place in society as one who is responsible

one who helps build and further or sustain ones civilization, as opposed to simply being supported by it

Also perhaps different measures exist for different parts of the self in this regard; mind, body, spirit etc.

A kid could have to take on duties of an adult and so they might grow up fast in their mind and spirit, but the body is still a child and this will have relevance since they are connected IMO. Going the other way, some people seem to reach their 30's and still have the mindset of a child
:ohmy:
But given they are also quite different its interesting to consider how we might retain to some extent the capacity to have the mind or spirit of the child after becoming an adult. Obviously not the body though!!

Given those things, perhaps the measure of becoming an adult is leaving childhood in each of those and being self sufficient in that modality of self sufficiency within society - but then to what extent must it be divorced from the experience and manner of ones childhood.... enough to understand the impact of ones childhood, half of all self, entirely!?

I'd be tempted to say entirely but that might just be a crude way to understand the impact and conditions of ones childhood by one manner. Realization might occur without being divorced from it, so perhaps the mind maturity is not contingent on time or behaviour but realization, and the body on time (physical maturation). I dunno about spirit, that capacity might fluctuate based on the relationship of body and mind and expression might be a mix of the intention and resolve. Perhaps we keep the same spirit we always had, its just the conditions around our capacity to be spirited change... and often weight it down instead of lifting it up.

I saw this written in Reddit today about Peter Pan, but it seems relevant:

Some have surmised that Peter is fascinated by death as he can't die. It also appears that "boyhood" to Barrie meant "not understanding your actions have consequences" and that death was "a great adventure".

That seems more appropriate than childhood being that children do not understand death will happen... Peter knows others can die but not him, so he messes about with others yet doesn't understand the other consequences of that.

Here is an excerpt from Stephen Kings "It", that has always struck me powerfully.

Stephen King speaks often on childhood, and adulthood, and the differences, bridges, and parallels.

He awakens from this dream unable to remember exactly what it was, or much at all beyond the simple fact that he has dreamed about being a child again. He touches his wife’s smooth back as she sleeps her warm sleep and dreams her own dreams; he thinks that it is good to be a child, but it is also good to be grownup and able to consider the mystery of childhood ... its beliefs and desires. I will write about all of this one day, he thinks, and knows it’s just a dawn thought, an after-dreaming thought. But it’s nice to think so for awhile in the morning’s clean silence, to think that childhood has its own sweet secrets and confirms mortality, and that mortality defines all courage and love. To think that what has looked forward must also look back, and that each life makes its own imitation of immortality: a wheel.

Or so Bill Denbrough sometimes thinks on those early mornings after dreaming, when he almost remembers his childhood, and the friends with whom he shared it.

I don't know if she said that because twight is dull ,but it a good quote .but if the question is if as a child you don't believe in death so you wouldn't die?. Ahh...no

No, more, if you watch the movies or read the books, the vampires are immortal and almost indestructible, and act very much like children. They have no real responsibility, no real fear or worries.

The humans, by contrast, are viewed as fragile, breakable, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_5ayprT6LM

capt hook is an interesting figure - the vicious old man, one half of his potency cut off and made cruel, now he fears the beast with the clock in its belly, tick tick-tocking its way closer and closer to his own doom - that which grows up, grows OLD,

and dies

pan refuses to grow up, and in this refuses to die, but look at what he has to show for it; to be the king of the LOST BOYS

to reign over NEVER land

to be forever a child means never to die, but also one might say never to live - not fully, not as an actualized personality

actualization demands responsibility and awareness - pan can be king, but of what?

wendy grows and in this we see that love itself will outgrow the child - if one wants to love or to be loved, one must grow