Reply to 'Philosophical Evolution in Groundhog Day'

I am responding to a post by Jeff titled: Philosophical Evolution in Groundhog's Day, a very interesting and well-written post. A few comments/questions:

1. First of all I liked the title using the word 'Evolution' and I thought the idea of Evolution was brought up in Groundhog's day as a major theme. We see Phil Connors "grow up" or evolve through the movie because of the continuous, circular, and repetitive stimuli through every day struggles and challenges. Groundhog's day provided a new concept of evolution and challenges ideas about personal identity, because the later "Phil" is more evolved (and arguably a different person) than the earlier "Phil".

Perhaps the most interesting question posed in Groundhog's Day is asked by Phil Connors himself:

Phil: I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset, we made love like sea otters.
[Ralph and Gus snort]
Phil: *That* was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get *that* day over, and over, and over...

SOURCE: IMDB

Phil Connors is (to go along with Jeff's organization in his post) in the "philosophical exploration stage", explicitly asking for what purpose is he suffering. Phil is searching for meaning, the "purpose" of his situation. Why is the idea of suffering through repeated experiences ultimately leading to a higher plane of thought found across widely varying time periods, religions, and scientific thought?

Early in the film we see Phil escaping his suffering through alcohol, food, TV, and suicide. It is only when Phil begins to look beyond himself and help others in a meaningful way that he begins to change and enjoy his situation by learning to play the piano, ice sculpt, and develop other talents. At the end of the movie we clearly see Phil Connors "advance" to the next stage of his life when the day continues to February 3rd. Groundhog's day is a continuation of the idea that life is a series of challenges and once we "pass" we go on to the next level or grade. In an attempt to answer Jeff's final question in his post:

Would his perspective of finding meaning through self improvement and altruism have lasted or is something more required?

Groundhog's day put forth the idea that Phil transcends his previous thought patterns and evolves to a higher state through the artificial constructs of a day repeated over and over until the final scene when Phil Connors wakes up and the day is no longer February 2nd. I think that if there was a Groundhog's day 2 or the movie kept going that we would see Phil continually evolving and changing but also carrying the lessons of self-improvement and altruism with him. Groundhog's Day focused on the specific challenges that Phil had to face personally and overcome to reach the "next stage". But life as it is there is always the "next stage".

To return to Phil's original question, why couldn't he have a nice day over and over again? 

-Joaquin