Songs...

I started out deciding by putting my iPod on shuffle - even though it always is. I skipped 16 songs out of 770 and already, I found the song that I want to talk about. Sure there may be one that I find later on while listening, but I'll get to that some other time.

Song: Through Heaven's Eyes

Artist: Brian Stokes

Album: Prince of Egypt 

His voice just gives me chills. There are actually 2 versions though; the ones that's in the movie and the one that I bought from iTunes. 

Version 1: In the movie.

Version 2 (I much prefer this one): Brian Stokes with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir

The fact that it has an orchestra is already great - those also give me chills.

Lyrics with analysis:

A single thread in a tapestry
Through its color brightly shine
Can never see its purpose
In the pattern of the grand design 

Just like we were talking about in class earlier in the year. Are you a significant being in this sea of billions? Why yes, yes you are. You are the single thread in the tapestry of the world. It's not easy to see your own purpose in life, and you may never, it still doesn't mean you're not important.


And the stone that sits on the very top
Of the mountain's mighty face
Does it think it's more important
Than the stones that form the base?
I take this as talking to the political leaders of the world down to the higher classes that look down on the others. Do they think they're more important than those who are actually supporting them as a base? Most, if not all, of them couldn't have gotten to where they are if there weren't people who gave them a push.

So how can you see what your life is worth
Or where your value lies?
You can never see through the eyes of man
You must look at your life 

This is where it gets a little religious, but I still appreciate this verse. Other than the POSSIBILITY that introspection is a skill that will be acquired, there are the eyes of the different gods. I can't say too much about these lines, other than the fact that they do center around God and looking at your worth through his eyes, and the heavens' eyes. 

Look at your life through heaven's eyes
Lai-la-lai...

A lake of gold in the desert sand
Is less than a cool fresh spring
And to one lost sheep, a shepherd boy
Is greater than the richest king
If a man lose ev'rything he owns
Has he truly lost his worth?
Or is it the beginning
Of a new and brighter birth?
The first bit a little self-explanatory; if you're in a dessert would you want a lake of gold (that you can't drink...) or a cool fresh spring? 
If you were a lost sheep (religious or not), do you want to meet the richest king, or the shepherd who you've known for all your life, the one who will lead you in the right direction. This one could be a little tricky.
The last bit makes me think of Siddhartha. He had just about everything when he was a merchant and with Kamala, but when he gave it all up, did he lose his worth or did he actually gain more by starting over? 

So how do you measure the worth of a man
In wealth or strength or size?
In how much he gained or how much he gave?
The answer will come
The answer will come to him who tries
To look at his life through heaven's eyes
What do you think? Is what you're really worth based on your monetary value? Strength? Size? How much you've gotten or how much you gave? 
We all have our own answer to this question.


And that's why we share all we have with you
Though there's little to be found
When all you've got is nothing
There's a lot to go around
True story. The less you've had in life, the more you gain seems like a lot (I know that's not always true, but I can't find the words to put it in right now). 


No life can escape being blown about
By the winds of change and chance
And though you never know all the steps
You must learn to join the dance
You must learn to join the dance
Lai-la-lai...
Everyone faces change and choices they have to make, you may never know what the future holds and what paths to take, but you have to learn to flow with it. You have to learn to deal with it or else you'll drown.


So how do you judge what a man is worth
By what he builds or buys?
You can never see with your eyes on earth
Look through heaven's eyes
Look at your life
Look at your life
Look at your life through heaven's eyes
Money/power again here. But also the end of a very good song.

I'm not religious but this has to be one of my favorite soundtrack albums. Not only are the singing voices amazing, but the animation. I suppose it's a really good movie if you don't know the original story of Moses. It's pretty close to it, just that of course the story is extensive and this is an animated movie made for theaters - it's not going to be as long. I would suggest watching the movie if you aren't against Egyptians and Hebrews...
To me the songs and the movie itself are inspiring, it needn't be in a religious way.

If you didn't like the song...well...go listen to the radio or something. I don't even know what's on the radio anymore.

The feeling of being...

a·lone 

/əˈlōn/

Adjective

1. Having no one else present; on one's own.

2. Without others' help or participation; single-handed.

Synonyms

lone - single - lonely - lonesome - sole - solitary

This is a word I've been able to describe myself in many scenarios. There are certain aspects of my home life that I won't discuss but, in turn, affect me to the extent of being alone.

From a good blog. 

There is one certain time where I've actually been alone though. I had the house to myself and it was around nine in the morning. I didn't want to go downstairs, thinking my mother was there. So I stayed in my bed, with the clock turned around and the t.v. off. In my reality, to be alone, you must let time go; time can be company, whether good or bad. As I said, it was already noon, and I wasn't tired of course. However, once you lose sense of time, people, and the outside distractions, confined to a room, what else is there in life? This is where Mersault had the right idea in sleeping. I just slept and slept and slept. You don't have to be tired to sleep, I know that and I've known that for quite some time. Being driven to either parent's house, I've learned to sleep just to pass the time. 

Being alone isn't a bad thing though. Maybe if you have health problems or something. Even then, without people you have time to think about yourself in your own view. While you're with other people you usually only shape yourself to who you want people to see you as instead of who you really are. Of course, who you really are may be what you want people to see you as, except you try a little too much sometimes, thus making it fake. With others, be it co-workers or friends, etc., you put on a psychological act. Just analyze the way you act towards your parents, your friends and your superiors at work. You're just as much of an actor, just one in real life, rather than entertainment for others. 

Have time to think about yourself. Have time to sleep when you're not sleepy. Have time to lay in bed and just think. Have time to be alone. 

I Know This Means Something

Well let's see...one thing that I know that truly means something...
In the spirit of the Thanksgiving passed by ever so quickly, I know that my family means something. Cheesy yes, true? Also yes.
I know that not everyone can agree with me, sometimes family doesn't mean that much to them, but mine does to me. My aunts, uncles and cousins have been there for me and loved me even though I rarely get to see them (they live in the cornfields of Iowa). Each time we have some sort of a get together, they always remind me of how much I am apart of that family, even if I am about 200 miles away from them.
I went through the typical teenager phase of not caring so much, but this past year has really shown me the wonders and pay-offs of being outgoing and embracing my family. I actually cared about an aunt's birthday and bought her a gift. She was a bit MIA because she was on depression medication and she was just out of it. But they redid her perscription makeup and now she's as lively as she used to be, if not more.
She got a new hairstyle, and got her ears repierced (a plus for me, I bought her a pair of earrings and hadn't even realized she didn't wear any before that week).
But I strayed too far, I know family matters. It does.
Hopefully when I go to Iowa State or University of Iowa I'll be able to see them more and actually be involved in their lives.
If I feel this much love now, I'm excited to see what happens when I'm a measley few miles away.

Student I am Thankful For

Well here goes all my cheese cards.
I remember doing this same blog sophomore year; I had a whole list of people I was thankful for.
Now I feel it was because I didn't want to disappoint any of my friends who were in the class. It's a little easier this year though.
I'm thankful for Artem and Balz...Matthew. I'm sure that made you smile a little since it's of all people, those 2. But you know what, I am thankful for them.
They've made this year very interesting as well as eye opening. In a class other than Philosophy (or any other class not taught by McCarthy), you don't get to share your perspective on certain topics that have been questioned for many many years. This year presented this opportunity and really opended my eyes to views that were either very similar to mine or just the plain opposite.

I'm thanking Artem for never backing down. I'm sure he's the person who points out all the white hair (but cute) elephants in the room that no one dares to. Most of the time you don't hear many people question what the teacher says, but Artem does, and surely Matthew has the Balz...ekas to also question certain parts of the current conversations.

Yes I'm clever, I know.

They both show me a different perspective of my life after they hear my stories or problems. Overall, they also just liven up my classes.

A Direction the Class Needs

In all honesty, I don't think our class needs much of a direction. We are leading ourselves in a good direction all on our own. As Mr. McCarthy has said, we're more active than most of the other classes. I don't have too much to say about it other than...
MORE OF YOU NEED TO SPEAK UP!
There's nothing to be afraid of. It's a philosophy class, there aren't any right or wrong answers, UNLESS it's about a specific aspect about a book, then you need to read...
I've already begun reading Man's Search for Meaning, and I'm not sure how much I'll like it just yet, but I really liked The Stranger. I could just really relate to Mersault -- being an oddball just because you don't care, hell I don't care! But I guess I have a little more gusto and opinion and every-day things that come into play.
I like 5th period, it's one of the only classes I look forward to that won't judge my answers. What a confidence boost! You should contribute too, it's not a big deal.
You know who you are!

Voltaire and Camus would vote for...

NEITHER.
Duh.

Anyway, I don't know anything about politics to be honest. I don't really even know what the difference is between democrats and republicans. All I see from these two are debates and wastes of millions of money supporting themselves. I was just thinking why they can't just be in some broadcasting station campaigning but then I thought about it some more…it’s because they get paid and get to be popular through a live show. In terms of Camus, it’s a stranger coming to talk about what they’ll do to represent millions and billions of strangers – now that is a live show.

Would a satirist really vote at all? Voltaire would most likely just write another novel about the ridiculousness of the government and the millions spent on self-promotion. Would an absurdist vote? At most it is as meaningless to Camus as most other things are.

I heard either in a video from class, or/and some other places around media – why can’t the two parties work together. After all, they seem to say that they want what America wants, however they’re on opposing sides. OBVIOUSLY they have different viewpoints on certain topics, but isn’t that what checks and balances are for? Draw up some sort of document on both sides, Republican and Democrat, compare, compromise, vote. Instead they have to make commercials to slur and demean each other. It’s absurdity. It’s a show.

“Democrats are generally more liberal. They believe in a larger federal government, and often implement tax plans to try to help the less privileged. They tend to believe the government must look for the greater good above the individual person in terms of welfare and do what is necessary to make the populace more "equal". They assert that the values our country holds must evolve over time, and, therefore, tend to support such controversial choices as Pro Choice and gay marriage.

Republicans are generally more conservative. They believe that the answers do not lay with the government generally, but rather with the people. They want less government interference and tend to believe more strongly in property rights and less strongly in well-fare rights, holding economic equity above equality. Many republicans are religious and tend to hold to the morals characterizing the Founding Fathers, which results in general disapproval of abortions and, for some, gay marriage.” 

They both seem awful and biased to me. Behind door 1, equality but less self-supporting freedom, and door 2 you get a little more freedom and more self-support HOWEVER, you have to live like Scarlet Letter times.

I'm not sure who these 2 would vote for, but what I know is that, until there is a person like...Gandhi. More spirituality but not of the overbearing pushy religious sort. No offense - really. Let's not make these 2 great novelists vote for a mistake in our society.

Our Stranger Meaning

The meaning of life, thats something. The meaning of my life? I'm trying to figure that out. What's meaningful to me? Well why didn't you ask that in the first place!

Music is important in my life. It's there for when I get lonely traveling. It bends to my will and bends to the mood I yearn for. Sad, mad, happy, excited, or even just relaxed. I've been getting over my "senioritis" with Michael Bublé and Frank Sinatra. It makes me want to attend an old style jazz club or a calming coffee house. Then again, it doesn't make me want to go back to school - so maybe it's not helping me get over it...

Animals are meaningful. They boost my mood. Animals are everywhere and I appreciate them. Every morning the crow says good morning to me and I say good morning too. Weird, I know. But I will never stereotype animals just as man has stereotyped each other and the animals.  They're intelligent creatures that most overlook. Some are solitary just like I. I connect most with the wolf. Protective and loving but sometimes solitary.

My sketchbook is meaningful to  me. It's where I write my philosophies and practice my art. Practicing really helps me get my hands moving, all that stuff about idle hands being a devils playground and whatnot. I don't believe that but all I'm thinking about is getting my thoughts out. Sure my friends are meaningful, but they arent there all the time.

Meaning takes on many forms. What defines the meaning is how youve grown up. What helps you cope.

Deserving?

Did Candide deserve the punishments he received?

Well as most philosophical questions are answered -- THAT'S A TOUGH ONE!

This one is a bit simpler. 

I believe that, in the beginning, Candide didn't necessarily deserve the punishment he received, as getting intimate was something that he learned from Pangloss as a blank slate. He didn't know that it would get him kicked out in the end and lead to quite a miserable life later on...

All through class we've been talking about "all that [he] has known" and that is true, but an excuse can only be used so many times. Killing the first person...well that may be crossing the line just a little bit. However, after killing the second and the third, that's where you should already be thinking to yourself "Oh no, what have I done, what am I going to do? I've slain these people" and have a sense of urgency and guilt. Not commit another murder as the people line up. Though another thought popped in to my head, guilt sometimes leads to more and more mistakes to cover up what you did in the first place. Sooner or later you just forget what started this whole mess and you're stuck in the mess you're currently in!

Though by now, Candide is being a little selfish. I'm sure many can vouch for the fact that if someone really wants to be with this other person they they will do everything to be together -- however in that day and age, perhaps it was better to leave Cunegonde with someone who can take care of her and isn't a fugitive.

This leads to that elusive question -- even though you want to be with the person so much that it may kill you, perhaps their thoughts are the same, if their needs are met and they are safer somewhere or with someone else, will you be selfish and be with the person in misery? Or will you leave him/her where their life can be better?

How do we know what we know?

How do we know what we know?

Well we don’t. All of what we know is based on what others have told us is right or wrong. But of course, most questions have a right and a wrong based on the person – a bit like morality.

I’m going to pick a hard topic. I’ve known words for most of my life; certain words go to certain objects, people, nouns, etc. But in reality, is there a right and a wrong word for all of these things we give a name? Up may be down, left may be right, however, they’re just words. Words that were made up some time ago by those who thought it was best for survival. These words have spread throughout the whole world and have made a variation of their own.

At the same time, a lot of the languages are similar based on their geography. The simplicity of it is, is that one can point to an object and the person will recognize it, however if I were to say “chair” they wouldn’t understand unless they knew English or a language that had a similar sound. In Chinese it would be the world equivalent to “space” or “spot”. This is one thing I’ve known all my life.

However there is another I want to bring up. I have known all my life, that I am alive. However, I once heard that…perhaps we are not alive (or just me), perhaps we are in our afterlife, living in this hell, or heaven – we just don’t know it. But of course, life and afterlife, similar aren’t they? Just living again. It all comes back to words, the words we play with. It just makes you think about the things or actions associated to the word, that is what makes one thing. Because we have learned what we know as left if I were to say that left is not left, left is actually right. We think it’s not possible because it’s the action connected to it.

The unexamined life is not worth living? -- Modern Day Gadfly.

Let's start here; in a perfect world where everything can be explained, it would be safe to say that this: this question really relies on your definition of what "worth" means and what your boundaries on your definition are. But our world is not perfect therefore leading in to my real blog entry.

When one's life is unexamined...I'm sure that would mean your personality hasn't changed at all. People tend to change when they have an experience, they look back on it, reflect and either are indifferent about it or change their habits. Perhaps the way they handled the situation was too offensive, thus making a change in how they come off -- or they were too nice and got stepped on. 

Say a person has gotten drunk every day of the week for a month, during this time he got arrested, beat up, and out-cast(ed). If he continues this, he is basically that soul-less body that runs as psychology has said before. Is that life worth living? The mundane tasks that he carries out day-by-day, to me, would seem like a life that's not worth living. But then again, to him it may be fun -- who knows? It's his mind and he may think it's worth living. 

Examining your life sometimes makes it better. Perhaps that's a better way to say it. Is life in general worth living if we're going to die in the end? 
Based upon what you believe in either your memories will be wiped and you'll be reborn/stay dead/etc. or you'll live in the afterlife in heaven or hell.

This brings up the creation of the almost always debatable topic of philosophy. 

For the modern-day gadfly...well I'll just say that I've heard names here and there.

Rush Limbaugh to name one.....Howard Stern perhaps. Course, I've never heard these 2 speak on their broadcasts before but I've heard Howard Stern on his own and he can be pretty out there. But for him, I just think you have to be tough. I've also already heard enough of Rush to come to the conclusion that he is pretty irritating to those that listen to him. He may be going with the status quo by being in politics, but his ideas sound a little like...BZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Irritating, right?
He's already irritating to me since he talks about politics.

Eulogy

September 6th, 2012

Dearly departed Serina Lane was only 17 years old when she was traded to aliens in exchange for a pollution-free America. 
It is safe to say that she was one for the environment to take this one "for the team". She rarely got to enjoy the lush greenery that is Chicago; only once a month did she enjoy it at her birthplace of Iowa. She may have been raised in the city, but she never lost her country corn-eating roots. 
She had a love for animals, especially her 2 cat children. Animals and nature were her main subjects in her photography. Photography was a huge hobby of hers. Whenever she got the chance she would run and get her camera in hopes that a bird would still be in a tree. She once told me a story of a blue jay. One that allowed her to get closer and closer while she snapped away. It had its beak open, as if showing a smile. She was so close that she wasn't even in zoom. If one were to look at the picture, it would be exactly in the distance that her eyes perceived. 
She told this story to others; one said that it could sense that she meant it no harm, and allowed her to take these pictures.
Serina was one with nature, so close that, as she did not have a tripod, simply used a tree as a tripod -- trusting it not to drop her $700 camera...
She loved to read at her own pace; the range on the type of books were not what one would think. The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten - a book for a philosopher's mind, Vampire Diaries - a curiosity as to compare to the TV series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - an old time favorite for Greek mythology, also one she couldn't remember about a Native American boy and a wolf cub...
One thing about Serina...she loved philosophy. It was one of those subjects that there really was no wrong answer to. Perhaps morally wrong...but it is all in the mind of the person doing the thinking; the perspective.
If anything more to say, one should have asked her more to get to know her better than I conjure up to put in this eulogy.

If she were alive and not too lazy to go get her laptop to post the bird picture, I'm sure she would.