Sunday, November 8, 2009

The Stranger blog Post #2

So far in the Stranger we have seen how the main character Meursault's personality, and thoughts have changed from this nonchalant existentialist, to this dark, sad person. In the beginning Meursault seemed to be bored of life, he was basically living just to live, but i believe the reason he was like that is because he did not appreciate his life enough, which is why now on part 2 he seems a bit more sad, and appreciative about certain things in life he used to have, like freedom. Meursault in part 2 talks a lot about freedom, and how he feels, but how would he know what freedom is when before when he had "freedom", he didn't enjoy it then. I'm still confused about why Meursault killed that guy, and shot him even more, and now realize that he screwed his life up, because if he really does think a lot about little things in life than why didn't he think then. Do you think Meursault is going to keep on breaking, and start having little feelings, and what's going to happen to him is he going to stay in prison for the rest of the book? I believe the significance of The Stranger is to show us how we as human beings always question our lives, and the ways we act later on, because everyone is technically an existentialist, because their is no right way to live our lives, and people do think about how they want to live theirs.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Who is this guy?

So far in the stranger, the main character is like the majority of the character’s I’ve seen in this existentialist unit. They’re all nonchalant, and observe their lives and others lives carefully, but they also have another big thing in common they all think to themselves about the little things they think of. In the beginning of the stranger Meursault’s mother had passed away, and we see Meursault being very calm and questioning when her death actually occurred, and when he went to the funeral he ended up not wanting to see her body. This to me makes sense because I’d be traumatized if a relative of mine died, but in Meursault’s case I don’t think his worry was being traumatized, I believe that he just doesn’t want to know how he would react if he saw her body, or that it might change him. Then again in the book the priest and everyone else said “I understand” a lot, but do they? In I heart huckabees Bernard said that we are all connected, and in society when one person’s life is changing due to a tragedy we all say things such as “I’m sorry” or “I understand”, and those things basically means “I know what you feel”. Does that mean we are all really connected, or is it another way of people, and society of being fake to one another? Meursault seems to enjoy the fact that he’s different than others, to me being different from others means that you’re real, because you’re being real to yourself.

This book has me thinking a lot though about how it’s going to end, because it seems like Meursault doesn’t have a goal in life, but instead it looks like he’s living life just to live it. His personality is very simple and honest, he says what he sees, and leaves it as that, and is just honest about everything which I believe is cool. Then again I wonder is Meursault going to snap like Tommy from I heart huckabees, and later on find the thing he enjoys most in life, and show his true emotions.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Do we live in a world that is meaningful and makes sense?

That question is a pretty deep one, and easy to answer at the same time due to the fact that I’ve asked myself similar questions like these. My answer to it is yes; nothing in life is meaningless, if the world was meaningless, then people wouldn’t have a reason to do the certain things they do in life. For instance this blog, to some it may seem meaningless, but once you get into it, you realize that it helps answer the little questions in life, and benefits your thoughts. In the movie “I ♥ Huckabees” Bernard, explains to Brad about how “everything is the same”, and that quote stood out to me a lot, because since I was a child I’ve had to many “coincidences’ for things to not be the same.
In life people do things in order to succeed, which to them is meaningful, for instance waking up early in the morning to go to work/school, it may seem meaningless, but it has its purpose, which is to go on with what our minds tell us what’s best. I personally find life very meaningful because, I have planned goals that I intend to fulfill, like travel the whole entire world, and other things I can’t think of. But as you can see I don’t even know and remember what I have planned in life, and how it’s so meaningful, but I know that it’s important. Come to think of it meaningful things are things that seem important to you; they don’t even have to be things that are amazing but anything that makes you want to try something new.
The last thought I want to put out, because I’m running out of explanations, is that the main key to drive human beings into believing what’s meaningful is mainly each other, because we’re all influenced by each other and our environment (nature, other people, animals etc.) The reason I say other humans make life meaningful is because I personally believe we are all connected (like I said earlier) and when we live amongst each other we have more to learn and see from one another, which should make life meaningful. A last point I want to make about life being meaningful is family. Family is what drives life, and although some families may not be close, there’s still more you can do like create your own, and do things for your children or whoever.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Manifesto

Rigel Leonard
Manley
4D
Manifesto

Ever look at yourself in the mirror and wonder, if you're really you? At a young age I questioned life, and just starred and starred wondering if what I see is real, one time I asked my mom what that feeling was. At first I thought her answer was going to be "I don't know", leaving me thinking that what I saw wasn't real, but she surprisingly answered me saying it was called an "out of body experience". And that answer made me realize that what I saw was real, it was just my paranoia, and judgment on how I'm so different from society, than again being different is what makes the world less boring if we were all alike than life wouldn't offer us any questions. After that I came to the conclusion that when people question their existence it's just part human nature, its something we all wonder, religion for example is all about finding our origin. But as I got older I didn't really care much about where people were from, my main focus was why people are so different, and why they are why the way they are.

I believe that human happiness is part of human instinct), which gives people self-confidence, and have a reason to move on with their lives. The way humans gain their happiness is by doing something and being proud of it, or if another person does something for them. Happiness majority of the times sounds like it's always a positive act. But happiness only benefits the person or person’s who's feeling it. For example one's happiness can come from hunting dears, now the person who's hunting is going to be pleased because they got what they wanted, but the deer most likely isn't. Happiness also has a way of lasting for a short period of time, for example if someone was already having a bad day, or is a bit depressed than a miniscule thing that normally would make you happy, might or might not give them a small dose of happiness, and if it doesn't than they'll go back to their negative mood. My classmate Matthew Batson said that “love should be the guiding force behind the way we live our lives”, and love is a type of happiness. Unlike other form of happiness love, shouldn’t harm others if you choose to live your life with it.

When Banach talked about freedom I believe he mental freedom. Mental freedom to me is when someone speaks their mind freely without having to censor their thoughts, and mental slavery is when someone complete decides to follow societies beliefs. I believe people should follow what their mind tells them, because if everyone followed the same rules in life than we'd all be the same and the world wouldn't be an interesting place. But at the same time I believe their needs to be rules, but not the type that tell us what choices we should make in our lives, but the type of rules that help guide us, and teaches us how to act in an appropriate manor. I know the word "act" means fame but sometimes people need to act in order to get something or help someone, or even help themselves. In one of my personal favorite songs “Redemption song” Bob Marly says a quote” emancipate yourself from mental slavery” meaning don’ t bring yourself down.


Bachman said “artist cannot control the nature of the canvas”, and I can agree with that statement, because in life people are their own artist, and decide what they want in their lives (painting), and everything people do is part of their nature. Bachman said “nor can she control the nature of the subjects that she will paint. But she can control how she will view them” I thought that was absolutely true because no matter how much, human beings try to manipulate others, we can never change another person’s views completely. Another great point Bachman brought out was how the artist can control how they view their subjects, which can also be related to how certain actions people do is based on human nature, and judging things before knowing them is something a lot of people have done, and do.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Blog Post # 3

Banach part IV lecture was a little bit easier for me to understand, and relate to than his others.  Mainly because his statements were on human happiness, and human freedom. Which were things I've thought about before, so this assighment is just helping me jot my thoughts down. To clarify Banach's statement on freedom, he means mentally free for example doing the things that society considers wrong, for example, cursing an elderly person out, society considers that "uncivilized". What Banach is asking is are we free to do anything we feel, no matter the severity. And for happiness banach has broad view on what it is but didn't talk about the types of happiness or say If he believed it's a natural instict all human beings have.

    I personally believe that human happiness is a natural act (human instinct), to give human beings self confidence, and have a reason to move on with their lives. The way humans gain their happiness is by doing something and being proud of it, or if another person does something for them, or informs them with good news (if the news applies to them). Happiness majority of the times sounds like whatever happened was a positive deed. But happiness just benefits the person who's feeling it. For example one's happiness can come from hunting deers, now the person who's hunting is going to be pleased because they got what they wanted, but the deer most likely isn't. Happiness also has a way of lasting for a short period of time, for example if someone was already having a bad day, or is a bit depressed than a miniscule thing that normally would make you happy, might or might not give them a small dose of happiness, and if it doesn't than they'll go back to their negative mood.

   When banach was talking about freedom I think he was talking about mental freedom. Mental freedom to me is when someone speaks their mind freely without having to censore their thoughts, and mental slavery is when someone complete decides to follow societies beliefs. I believe people should follow what their mind tells them, because if everyone followed the same rules in life than we'd all be the same and the world wouldn't be an interesting place. But at the same time I believe their needs to be rules, but not the type that tell us what choices we should make in our lives, but the type of rules that help guide us, and teaches us how to act in an appropriate mannor. I know the word "act" means fame but sometimes people need to act in order to get something or help someone, or even help themselves.  

My comments on group members (class mates) blogs

"I agree with what you said, because people first meet you they see what you want them to see at that moment, but later on the more they see you, the more they see the "real" you, and if they like it they except it and if they don't, well they don't. But a small way of explaining what a "real" person is, is a person who does the normal/natural things they would do when they're comfortable around someone." - ( My comment to Graciela's blog)



"I agree with Nia's thought on how everyone is stuck with their own mines, making everyone absolutely different, causing ourselves to be individuals. I believe that people don't just choose to be their own person, but just naturally are, for example certain people naturally like certain things, like food, clothes, and etc. and the same things goes with our decisions and thoughts." - (My comment to Nia's Blog)

"Riggle said...

Your post was very deep, you examples were right on point especially when you explained how people believed happiness comes from idiealistic things, such as "greed". I also agree with how you said people aren't truly happy and value their lives until their near death, and to add on to that I think why that is, is because when people think death majorityof us think" the end" and don't know if there's anything after, making them put their final moments into good use. I really love how you you mixed the two "freedom" and "happiness" for your concluding paragraph about how you think true happiness is by freeing those around you which is an excelent point, because most of out moods come from those around us.

So yeah I really enjoyed your blog as well, but this is my favorite blog yet (seriously). Another thing I read over and edited my blog so now I thinks it's worthy to be named my "best blog yet".
" (Comment on Nia's 3rd blog post)

"Riggle said...

This was a pretty chill blog post to read, your ideas flowed. Your blog mainly stood out to me mainly because your views on fake, were almost similar to mine, except your gave a better example, like how we have to fake our way to get ahead in society. You also used a lot of quotation which was great, because it shows evidence...something i lack on my blogs haha, anyway yeah your blog was great, and i cant wait for you next!

Again, good job.
" (My comment to Michelle's 3rd blog post)

(Sorry i couldn't find your profile)

I agree with Nia's thought on how everyone is stuck with their own mines, making everyone absolutely different, causing ourselves to be individuals. I believe that people don't just choose to be their own person, but just naturally are, for example certain people naturally like certain things, like food, clothes, and etc. and the same things goes with our decisions and thoughts.
(My Comment on Nia's Banach's LEcture)

Riggle said...
I totally agree with you post, we being alive and having all these great things in life such as being able to think for ourselves, gives us so much free time and freedom to over think why we're here and who we are.
(My comment on Nia's Blog Post 2)

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Homework # 2

From time to time, I wonder if I’m the only person who’s studying the world;
There are times I feel like I’m the only person who has an understanding of the world, and life in general. But at times I doubt my thoughts, and wonder if I’m the one who’s confused and not understanding the world. There are days where everyone knows about something that I knew nothing about, does that make me the fake one or the real one for not knowing the same as society? There are times people tend to let the “real” them come out, for example when someone didn’t mean to say something that they shouldn’t have said, but end up saying it by accident is an example of someone letting the out the truth, and being honest is basically being real.
Bachman explained how an “artist cannot control the nature of the canvas”, and I can agree with that statement, because in life people are their own artist, and decide what they want in their lives (painting), and everything people do is part of their nature. Bachman said “nor can she control the nature of the subjects that she will paint. But she can control how she will view them” I thought that was absolutely true because no matter how much, human beings try to manipulate others, we can never change another person’s views completely. Another great point Bachman brought out was how the artist can control how they view their subjects, which can also be related to how certain actions people do is based on human nature, and judging things before knowing them is something a lot of people have done, and do.
The question that’s been on my mind is, is it possible for certain people to live their whole lives the way someone else wants them to, and what would be the consequences of doing this? Bachman only seems to talk about how he believes people live in a blur, or how people can’t control their nature. Which doesn’t make any sense if were living a blue, than why do people have their own nature?
I believe there is no exact answer to this question because we live in a world with diverse minds, all human beings do the same natural things, like judge, wonder, and question. But the actions human beings make is totally up to them, although in some cultures, especially here in the United States people following others is common, because it’s a big city, but at the same time we all have our opinions on how we choose to live.