Philosophical...Anime?

This is mostly for my own interest and the interest of my instructor, Mark Achtermann. After one class session last week, I believe, in which the class talked about the "Self" and the "outer" and "inner" world, I remembered the last episode Neon Genesis Evangelion, directed and written by Hideaki Anno, who, before writing the series had suffered from clinical depression.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion_%28TV%29

In this last episode (and in the whole series, really) a lot of philosophy, inner thought processes, and the picking-apart of and defining of reality takes place. I could not find the transcript for this episode online, so I decided to type the majority of the dialogue, since I own the complete series. To put it simply, I found the episode to be interesting and thought it connected and had something to do with what we were talking about in class, even though it may go on a tangent in some areas. So.....this whole thing is pretty long so I just hope someone finds the ideas behind the dialogue interesting and thought-provoking.

Notes: I have the different sections/events of the episode broken up into groups. Just to make all the dialogue more readable. The main character of the series is talking TO other people SO, when there is dialogue that talks in the first person, OBVIOUSLY....that's him talking about himself, or to others, etc.

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We are all basically the same.
Our minds lack something basic.
We fear that deficiency.
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Mankind cannot live without being surrounded by others.
Mankind cannot survive alone.
Although, you, yourself, are always unique.
That’s why life is hard.
That’s why life is sad and empty.
That’s why you want affection, the close physical and mental presence of others.
The human soul is made of weak and fragile elements.
The body and mind are made of brittle components as well.
Why do you exist?
Maybe I live to find out why I exist.
For whom do you exist?
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Why not run from something that hurts?
I mustn’t run away.
Why mustn’t you run away?
Because escaping from the reality can be painful too.
Even though you’re running from something more painful?
I can’t bear it.
As long as you know what the pain is, it can be endured.
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This is me.
This is the Shape that lets others recognize me as myself.
It is my symbol for my Self.
This is a representation. Everything is a description, not my real Self.
Everything’s a shape, an identifier to let others recognize me as me.
But then, what am I?
Is this me?
My true Self? My fake Self?
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You are you.
There is little difference between how you interpret yourself and how others interpret you.
Right.
My clothes – my shoes – my room –
These all are parts of what makes up my Self.
These things are connected through your consciousness.
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So, what I think is me, is me.
What I recognize as Self is myself.
But I don’t understand my Self.
Where am I?
What am I?
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No one understands me.
What are you stupid? Of course nobody understands you.
Nobody can ever understand you.
The only one who can take care of you and understand you is you, yourself.
So, you must take care of yourself.
But I still don’t understand myself.
I don’t even know what it is that makes me myself.
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(Main character is seemingly laying down, staring up at the viewer. He is surrounded by nothing, represented by a world of white.)
What is this?
A world of nothing?
A world with nobody in it?
This is the world of perfect freedom.
Freedom?
A world of perfect freedom, a world in which you have no restrictions.
Is this really freedom?
Yes, this is what it is.
However, this world has nothing in it.
Unless I do something?
Right, unless you do or think of something.
But – I don’t know what to do or think.
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He is uncertain.
He has no image of Self to orient himself.
There’s nothing solid here.
It is a world in which there are no obstacles.
Is this true freedom?
This is a world in which you can do anything you wish.
But you’re afraid, aren’t you?
Don’t you know what it is that you want to do?
What should I do?
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Let me give you a restriction.
(The invisible speaker draws a line beneath the main character, as in creating a "ground")
There. Now, you have top and bottom.
But you’ve lost a degree of your freedom.
Now you must stand on the ground.
But now you feel easier, don’t you?
You have less to trouble your mind.
And now, you can walk.
This is happening because you will it to be.
Is this my will?
This world with the floor is the only thing around yourself.
But now, you can move around anywhere you wish to within it.
You could even turn the world upside down, if you wanted to.
And the position of your world is not the same either.
It changes with the passage of time.
You can change yourself as well.
What forms your shape is your mind, and its interaction with the world that surrounds you.
You can do anything here, because this is your world.
This is the shape of your reality.
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What is this?
An empty space.
An empty world.
A world where nothing exists but myself.
With only myself, I have nothing to interact with.
It’s as if I’m here, but not here at all.
It’s as if I’m slowly fading out of existence.
Why?
Because only you are here.
Only myself?
Without others to interact with, you cannot truly recognize your own image.
My own image?
The image of myself?
Yes. In the act of observing others, you may recognize yourself.
The image of yourself is restrained by having to observe the barriers between yourself and others.
And yet, you can not see yourself without the presence of others.
When there are others, I can perceive myself as an individual.
If I am alone, then I will be the same as everything else.
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Then – there will be no difference between myself and nothing.
By recognizing the difference between yourself and others, you establish your identity as yourself.
There very first other person is your mother.
Your mother is a different individual.
Right, I am me and she is she.
But are you really sure that others form my Self?
This is true.
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I can be any way I wish to be.
It’s your mind which takes reality and separates it into what’s bad and hateful.
It is only the mind which separates reality from truth.
Your view of reality changes your perception of its nature.
It is all, literally, a matter a perspective.
There are as many truths as there are people.
But there’s only one truth that is your truth.
That’s the one that’s formed by whatever narrow point of view you choose to view it from.
It’s a perceptive that protects you from the twisted truth.
That’s true, and one can have a perspective that is far too small.
But a person can only see things from the perspective they choose.
One must learn to judge all things via the perceived truths that one perceives from others.
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For example, sunny days make you feel good.
Rainy days make you feel gloomy.
If you are told this is so, that is what you will believe to be so.
But you can have fun on a rainy day as well.
Your truth can be changed simply by the way you accept it.
That’s how fragile the truth for a human is.
A person’s truth is so simple that most ignore it to concentrate on what they think are deeper truths.
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One who truly hates himself cannot love.
He cannot place his trust in another.
I am no more or less than myself.