A trope is a familiar theme that is continuously repeated in many stories and films as figurative language that can be portrayed through the characters, plot, or setting. A few examples of tropes are: the arrogant teacher, sympathetic people, eccentric detective, smart but dorky sidekick, happy endings, struggle between good versus evil, heroes always defeat the villains. One type of a trope is the revelation trope. A revelation is realizing that everything is not what it seems. An enlightening revelation changes your outlook/ perspective on life. Revelation reveals the unknown and is like an epiphany that begins the process of starting with your newfound insight. Crucial elements of a revelation trope consists of a prophet (who is the revealer and usually comes before disciple), the disciple, life changing views, insight/enlightenment, learning to think for yourself. Many times something big must happen to the revealer for it to process the disciple. Other times there is resistant to the message. Those that oppose the revealer tend to be portrayed as the ‘bad guys’. Throughout time the adaptations of tropes and revelation tropes have been used to convey a message to the audience. Revelations offer the audience life-changing experiences, overcoming unacceptable situations, self-reliance and self-discovery. Sometimes the revelation will cause the disciple to fight society norms; like standing up to an inappropriate authority figure. Revelation tropes can be found in films and different types of literature.
Our first introduction to a revelation through literature is The Emperors New Clothes, by Hans Christian Anderson. Two scoundrels tick the Emperor into believing that they are tailors who can make the Emperor a beautiful suite made of extraordinary material. The suite is so special that it appears invisible to those that are stupid and incompetent. Once the suite is completed the Emperor looks into the mirror and sees himself naked but doesn’t say anything because he doesn’t want to see incompetent. The Emperor holds a parade to show off his new clothes and wants to see who else in the village is incompetent. Although no one sees anything but the naked Emperor, they decide to keep their mouth shut because they don’t want to seem incompetent. The only one to speck up is a little child who shouts out that “the Emperor is naked”, and soon the rest of the villagers admit that the Emperor is naked. The Emperor thinks that everyone in the village is stupid and incompetent and he continues on with the parade. In this story the two scoundrels are the messengers trying to portray the idea that people deny the truth even though it is right in front of them. No one wants to appear incompetent in front of the other so no one speaks the truth.
In the film Foxfire a mysterious drifter named Legs enters a high school chemistry class. While in the class the teacher is forcing a student, Rita, to dissect a frog. Legs stands up to the teacher and lets the frog go free and then leaves through the same window. Later when the girls are in the bathroom, Rita says that the teacher sexually abuses her and so Legs says that they need to stick together. “If it could happen to one of us, it could happen to all of us,” and so Legs, Rita, Maddie and Violet decide to teach the teacher a lesson. In this film Legs is the revealer and the message is to stand up for each other and stick together. In the bathroom scene there is a group of cheerleaders that oppose the message that the teacher sexually abuses Rita. Since it has never been done to one of them, they decide to blindly believe that an authority figure would never do that.
One apparent idea throughout all revelation tropes is the disciple learning that there is more to life than what s/he perceived. A great example of a film that follows the revelation trope is the Matrix. Thomas A. Anderson also known as Neo is a computer programmer/ hacker who wants to decipher the codes on his computer. He has many encounters with Mr. Smith, who is the operator of the Matrix, which leads Neo to meet Morpheus. Morpheus offers Neo a chance to learn what the Matrix is. But he says that he cant tell him, but has to show him and gives Neo a choice, he can either choose the red pill that will show him the truth or the blue pill that will allow Neo to continue living his life the way it is. Neo chooses the red pill and is taken through a process of rebirth. Here Neo learns that the world he has lived in since birth is the Matrix, a world that is taken over by machines. Morpheus tells Neo that there has been a war between humans and machines for a long time now and Morpheus believes that Neo is “the one” that will end the war. In the Matrix, the revealer is Morpheus and the disciple is Neo. The ignorant masses are the agents (Mr. Smith), and all those that live in the Matrix.
… …
Many comparisons can be found between the Matrix and Jesus. John the Baptist is the revealer that comes before Jesus, as Morpheus is the one that comes before Neo. Also in both cases there is a betrayer; Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus and Morpheus and Neo were betrayed by Cypher because he believes that “ignorance is bliss”.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
The Others – Listening and Touching
Listening:
When in a conversation, how well do you listen to the other person? What type of conversation do you have? Why do you conversate with others/ what is your goal? Do you try to understand what they are saying or just try to get your point across? Usually when we conversate with others, we don’t think about these questions. But if you think back to all of you previous conversations, you could probably be able to answer all of them.
In order to listen to others, the first thing you must do is to listen to yourself. “What is your basic orientation toward other people?” For most of us, we talk with other people to interact, but what we don’t realize is that there are different levels of interaction.
Through this lesson we learned that most of the time people have a motive or goal when they have a conversation. There are many types of conversations people can have, such as: story telling, where one person would say something and then the other person would say something that had happened to him/her or “that reminds me of the time”. Then there are the consoling conversations where you try to make the person feel better or vise versa. Other conversations could be for entertainment or information or could even be a debate where the both of you are trying to get your points across. When debating, do you just try to get your point across or listen to the other person? One thing we saw was that people usually tried to get their point across and didn’t listen to the other person. In my opinion you should listen to everything the person is saying even if you don’t agree. The more I began to pay attention to the types of conversation people had, I realized that they were very similar to those that we discussed in class. The different types of conversations and people’s motives are endless, but acknowledging them is important. That way it will help you get a better understanding of yourself and understand others better as well.
Touching:
In this unit we analyzed the question, why do people touch? Similar to listening, there are different levels and categories of touching. There is casual, compassionate, violent, therapeutic and erotic touching. There are different motives as well: pleasurable/sensual and erotic. In my opinion people touch for different reasons. Sometimes it’s to give the other person pleasure in a therapeutic way, to help them relieve tension. A compassionate touch could be saying hello to a friend by giving them a kiss on the check. That could also be a casual touch, just like a handshake. A massage could fall under most categories. A couple, or two friends could give each other massages, so it could also be pleasurable and/ or erotic.
There also is a difference in the type of person you are. You could be a very touchy person, moderate touch, accidental touch or no touch at all. I categorized myself as a moderate touch type of person. At home with family and with some of my friends I don’t mind if they touch me, but I a person I knew but wasn’t my friend touched my I might feel awkward. When I asked others how they would rate me some said that I’m accidental touch whereas others said I’m very touchy. I guess it depends on the other person as well and their comfort level. Sometimes body gestures and facial expressions could help you figure out how a person feels when you touch them or when they are touched by others.
When in a conversation, how well do you listen to the other person? What type of conversation do you have? Why do you conversate with others/ what is your goal? Do you try to understand what they are saying or just try to get your point across? Usually when we conversate with others, we don’t think about these questions. But if you think back to all of you previous conversations, you could probably be able to answer all of them.
In order to listen to others, the first thing you must do is to listen to yourself. “What is your basic orientation toward other people?” For most of us, we talk with other people to interact, but what we don’t realize is that there are different levels of interaction.
Through this lesson we learned that most of the time people have a motive or goal when they have a conversation. There are many types of conversations people can have, such as: story telling, where one person would say something and then the other person would say something that had happened to him/her or “that reminds me of the time”. Then there are the consoling conversations where you try to make the person feel better or vise versa. Other conversations could be for entertainment or information or could even be a debate where the both of you are trying to get your points across. When debating, do you just try to get your point across or listen to the other person? One thing we saw was that people usually tried to get their point across and didn’t listen to the other person. In my opinion you should listen to everything the person is saying even if you don’t agree. The more I began to pay attention to the types of conversation people had, I realized that they were very similar to those that we discussed in class. The different types of conversations and people’s motives are endless, but acknowledging them is important. That way it will help you get a better understanding of yourself and understand others better as well.
Touching:
In this unit we analyzed the question, why do people touch? Similar to listening, there are different levels and categories of touching. There is casual, compassionate, violent, therapeutic and erotic touching. There are different motives as well: pleasurable/sensual and erotic. In my opinion people touch for different reasons. Sometimes it’s to give the other person pleasure in a therapeutic way, to help them relieve tension. A compassionate touch could be saying hello to a friend by giving them a kiss on the check. That could also be a casual touch, just like a handshake. A massage could fall under most categories. A couple, or two friends could give each other massages, so it could also be pleasurable and/ or erotic.
There also is a difference in the type of person you are. You could be a very touchy person, moderate touch, accidental touch or no touch at all. I categorized myself as a moderate touch type of person. At home with family and with some of my friends I don’t mind if they touch me, but I a person I knew but wasn’t my friend touched my I might feel awkward. When I asked others how they would rate me some said that I’m accidental touch whereas others said I’m very touchy. I guess it depends on the other person as well and their comfort level. Sometimes body gestures and facial expressions could help you figure out how a person feels when you touch them or when they are touched by others.
comments on other people's blogs
hey isabella, i like the srtucture of your essay and the depth but i think you should recheck for spelling and grammer errors.
Hey Bonnie, overall your essay was amazing. If I wssnt in the class, through your essay i would have been able to understand what was going. I like how you touched up on all three for each of your chunk, laing's argument, how we applied it in class and what you thought about it
Hey Bonnie, overall your essay was amazing. If I wssnt in the class, through your essay i would have been able to understand what was going. I like how you touched up on all three for each of your chunk, laing's argument, how we applied it in class and what you thought about it
Snowball paper - My experiences Final
Snowball paper – My experiences Final Draft
As life passes by, we don’t take the time to fully experience it. We rarely pay attention to the small details such as: our past and memories, dreams, our existence. R.D. Laing, a Scottish psychiatrist, often wrote about existential philosophy. From excerpt 3 of Chapter 1 in his book, The Politics of Experience, Laing discusses that our purpose is to fully experience and conceive life to the fullest but instead we are disconnected and only a fragment of what the average human could and should be.
Chunk 1: R.D Laing’s argument
“Our task is both to experience and to conceive the concrete, that is to say, reality in its fullness and wholeness. But this is quite impossible, immediately. Experientially and conceptually, we have fragments.” According to Laing, the average human is only a fragment of what a human should be. One only lives daily life just to exist, but does not challenge one's self beyond what is necessary. People only use the five senses: touch, sight, hearing and taste but does not further the knowledge of their own body. "We retain-just sufficient proprioceptive sensations to coordinate our movements and to ensure the minimal requirements for biosocial survival to register fatigue, signals for food, sex, defecation, sleep; beyond that, little or nothing." Most people do not remember their dreams or childhood. Since people are not actively thinking about the dreams they had or think about their childhood or past, it gets pushed to the back of our mind. The thoughts and memories that are not visited often soon become forgotten. When something tragically happens, a person might push the moment out of their mind, refuse to believe what had happened. It is important to remember your past because the events/moments in your past shaped you to become who you are today and will continue to influence your life in the future. For example, it is possible that someone could devoted their future from something that had happened in their past. A daughter of a man that had pasted away from cancer could choose to devote her life into becoming an Oncologist. Remembering dreams is also important. Many people from different ethnicities believe that your dreams are a message to you; it may be from your body, or from your subconscious. Our behavior is based on our experience. We perceive things to be only the way they are. We learn to trust what we see as it is happening to be the truth leaving no room for the paranormal or phenomenon. Individuals are taught to behave through their experience and that defines who we are. If people were stripped of their experiences, they would take away the lessons that were learned. The outcome from that particular experience could change for better or worse. Therefore each individual has can have a negative or positive affect on one another.
Chunk 2: Reaction
When I first read Laing's argument I vaguely understood what he meant by "the ordinary person is a shriveled, desiccated fragment of what a person could be". As I read the article, I began to understand what Laing meant. It’s true that we do not experience our being. Not being aware of ourselves’ is the way we have been nurtured and raised. Individuals are taught to behave through their experiences. Therefore our experiences define who we are. With each new life, there are unlimited possibilities, but our society nurtures us into alienation from full embodiment. Through our nurtured experience, we are prevented from embodiment leading our experiences to be only fragments. It is easier to be distracted by the things that surround us, rather than sit around and wait to die. We all know it’s going to happen at one point or another. No living organism is immortal, but that does not mean that you should not live life the best you can just because you will die some day. In my opinion it should not be either distraction or full awareness, but a well balance of both. If you are completely focused on your body and physical being, then you will miss out on the wondrous adventures life has to offer. Sometimes it’s good to distract yourself as long as you acknowledge your physical being too.
Personally I believe my self to be balanced. I have my moments where I begin to think about certain thoughts, but I chose to distract myself from these thoughts. I have realized that I work best and stay focused when I am distracted. For example, when I have to write papers, I listen to music in order to stay focused. If I were to turn off the music, then I begin to get distracted and stare into space.
Chunk 3: Sensory Awareness
While doing the sensory awareness exercises, I found myself always getting distracted. Most of the time I would get distracted unknowingly. Then I would try to get myself focused on the activity again. Instead I would begin to focus on staying focused. Other times, like when we did the ‘Stand’ exercise, I would focus on my body and feel how my body is reacting to the exercise. I can very easily get distracted when I am trying to focus, but when I distract myself from my surroundings it is easier for me to focus. For example, while I am doing this assignment I am listening to music, sitting in an okay but not comfortable position. I think it’s all in our heads whether we stay focused or not.
Chunk 4: Childhood
“As adults, we have forgotten most of our childhood. Not only it’s content, but it’s flavor.” –R.D. Lang. As we grow older, our minds slowly forget about our past and soon enough our childhood seems like it happened a lifetime ago. Even though we aren’t constantly thinking our past, it still remains in the back of our minds.
Although I don’t remember every detailed moment from my childhood, I do remember certain memories. My memories and childhood experiences are very important to me. They have shaped me to be the person I am today. Some memories seem very random and others seem significant. Whether they are random or significant, enjoyable or regretful, they have brought me to this point in life.
I remember most of my previous birthday. Since I am the youngest all my siblings and my parents have always made a big deal about my birthday. We always had parties and as I got older they parties happened less often, but in their own ways made a big deal.
I remember most weekends or sometimes after school I would go to my cousins house. Now I live a block down from then, but back in the day we lived in a different neighborhood, but were walking distance. Other weekends they would come over and stay. I can still remember the silly games I would play with my cousin, Sam. We practically grew up together. Looking back at those memories makes me appreciate my relationships with people.
Sometimes when I hear a song or see something that reminds me of my past, I am able to recall the memory very well. I can remember the full experience, what I was thinking, how I was feeling and how it made me feel, things that were going on around me etc.
Chunk 5: Dreams
”Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious”- Freud.
While we sleep the unconscious self takes a journey exploring thoughts in our minds. I believe that dreams are important, most of the time they represent something. Or try to tell you something. Through dreams the unconscious self is able to reveal hidden desires, wants/wishes, fears. Although our dreams aren’t reality, they are an alter reality that our unconscious self creates. Sometimes a dream can also show a memory that we experienced while we were awake. Our dreams are able to create an alter reality where we are able to runaway from life’s problems. Since we repress these feelings while we are awake, while we are in the dreaming state our conscience spills the repressed thoughts and feelings into our unconscious mind. Many people don’t remember their dreams, and when they are able to remember, often overlook it. “Sleep is often the only occasion which man cannot silence his conscience, but the tragedy of it is that when we do hear our conscience speak in sleep, we cannot act and that when able to act we forget what we know in our dream”. Here Laing is trying to say that when we are awake we can’t or barely remember our dreams, therefore not being able to act upon them. But when we hear or see our dreams we are unable to do anything about it. Trying to make sense of our dreams when we are able to remember them is a challenge. You could interpret your dream to be one thing, and when you tell someone else, they could interpret it differently. I know that every night I have dreams and I am usually able to recall my dreams. Sometimes outside noises or what happened to us that day or the thoughts we have when going to sleep influences our dreams. To make sense of my dreams I usually tell someone or keep thinking about them until they become clear to me.
Chunk 6: Thinking
Before this unit, I never really thought about my way of thinking. It was usually that I would do or see something and a thought would come to mind. I was not usually aware of the way I thought. My thoughts are; feelings that I have, emotions I feel, reactions to events and information. My way of thinking is perceived from my experiences and that makes me think the way I do.
According to R.D. Laing, "What we think is less than what we know: what we know is less than what we love: what we love is so much less than what there is. And to that precise extent we are so much less than what we are". Laing is trying to argue that we as people think in a way that only benefits us and think only of our interests.
The three goals we wanted to get out of this section was: becoming aware of your own thinking, consider and critically analyze your thinking, and improve your thinking.
We first started this unit by doing math problems and then analyzing the techniques we used to figure out the problem presented to us. The first thinking strategy that was presented to us was to try asking questions instead of directly trying to get the answer. Then we went into puzzles and riddles and tried to analyze the techniques for problem solving. Many people tired to find the answer by looking for clues that might have been given, trying to think of all the components and aspects. Others tried to visualize, or experiment.
“ Some things take time, practice and thought to get good at. Thinking is one of those things. If you’re good at thinking, hard situations become easier. How would you train yourself to become a better thinker.” – Andy Most of the time people think automatically. If a person I trained or adapted to thinking a certain way then that is his/her way of thinking and who is to argue that their way of thinking is wrong. The way a person thinks is their perspective, not everyone is the same and neither are their thinking strategies. Although I pay attention to my thoughts, I don’t really pay attention to my way of thinking. I have a tendency of where once I begin to think of something I can’t stop until I figure out what it is. I agree with Laing that people don’t pay attention to their thinking strategies and maybe if we did our way of thinking would be better. But again who’s to say that our way of thinking is less than what it can be. People do have strategies of thinking but don’t really try to understand how they’re thinking.
Chunk 7: Feeling
Apart from being alienated, Laing also believes that we are also disconnected from our true feelings. Some of the questions that we explored in this sections were: Why do we get emotional over little things? Why do I feel the way I do? How do your experiences influence your feelings? What/ Is there a difference between feelings and emotions?
Although we may not acknowledge our feelings and/or emotions, they are present in our behavior on a daily basis. A feeling can range from something as simple as being happy and excited to something very complicated that you cant even explain, which may lead to anger and confusion. Throughout the day it is very easy for you to have different feelings at different moments. These feelings are usually connected towards your mood or tone throughout the day. Alternate to feelings moods are more long lasting. A mood can last an hour, a day, or a couple of days, whereas a feeling can last for a few seconds or minutes.
At the beginning of class each day we wrote about our feelings, both physical and emotional in order to recognize how we feel and why we feel that way. We also made a list of feelings that was endless. Each feeling was different and although they may sound similar each feeling was very different than the other. To name a few of the feelings; sadness, sorrow, confusion, anger, rage, disappointment, failure, failed, excitement, joy, annoyed, pleasant, agitated, irritated, embarrassed, shy, lost, loneliness, rejection, acceptance, tried, jealous, envy etc and then there are the emotions/ feelings that are indescribable. When you try to make sense of those feelings are any feelings it usually leads you to feel another way. I think it is impossible to ever not feel anything. Maybe there isn’t a word to describe how you feel but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t feeling anything. There is also the feeling of repression when you try to force yourself not to feel a certain way. Sometimes people try to put up an act around others and in trying to manipulate the other person, somehow manipulate themselves.
There is also the argument that we tend to chose friends based on how they make us feel. We have the entertaining friends that make us laugh and have a good time, or we could be that person for someone else. We have the friends that flatter us, the friends that find flaws in us to make themselves’ feel better, the friends that we trust and can tell anything, the friends that we know will always be there and we can lean on etc.
After reading R.D. Laing’s article and analyzing it throughout the unit I somewhat agree that a person is much less than their potential. But from Laing’s view point it seems as if a person is completely alienated and disembodied. Some may argue that they are fully embodied. There is a balance where a person is embodied but also distracted, but in my opinion its not possible to be just one in this society.
As life passes by, we don’t take the time to fully experience it. We rarely pay attention to the small details such as: our past and memories, dreams, our existence. R.D. Laing, a Scottish psychiatrist, often wrote about existential philosophy. From excerpt 3 of Chapter 1 in his book, The Politics of Experience, Laing discusses that our purpose is to fully experience and conceive life to the fullest but instead we are disconnected and only a fragment of what the average human could and should be.
Chunk 1: R.D Laing’s argument
“Our task is both to experience and to conceive the concrete, that is to say, reality in its fullness and wholeness. But this is quite impossible, immediately. Experientially and conceptually, we have fragments.” According to Laing, the average human is only a fragment of what a human should be. One only lives daily life just to exist, but does not challenge one's self beyond what is necessary. People only use the five senses: touch, sight, hearing and taste but does not further the knowledge of their own body. "We retain-just sufficient proprioceptive sensations to coordinate our movements and to ensure the minimal requirements for biosocial survival to register fatigue, signals for food, sex, defecation, sleep; beyond that, little or nothing." Most people do not remember their dreams or childhood. Since people are not actively thinking about the dreams they had or think about their childhood or past, it gets pushed to the back of our mind. The thoughts and memories that are not visited often soon become forgotten. When something tragically happens, a person might push the moment out of their mind, refuse to believe what had happened. It is important to remember your past because the events/moments in your past shaped you to become who you are today and will continue to influence your life in the future. For example, it is possible that someone could devoted their future from something that had happened in their past. A daughter of a man that had pasted away from cancer could choose to devote her life into becoming an Oncologist. Remembering dreams is also important. Many people from different ethnicities believe that your dreams are a message to you; it may be from your body, or from your subconscious. Our behavior is based on our experience. We perceive things to be only the way they are. We learn to trust what we see as it is happening to be the truth leaving no room for the paranormal or phenomenon. Individuals are taught to behave through their experience and that defines who we are. If people were stripped of their experiences, they would take away the lessons that were learned. The outcome from that particular experience could change for better or worse. Therefore each individual has can have a negative or positive affect on one another.
Chunk 2: Reaction
When I first read Laing's argument I vaguely understood what he meant by "the ordinary person is a shriveled, desiccated fragment of what a person could be". As I read the article, I began to understand what Laing meant. It’s true that we do not experience our being. Not being aware of ourselves’ is the way we have been nurtured and raised. Individuals are taught to behave through their experiences. Therefore our experiences define who we are. With each new life, there are unlimited possibilities, but our society nurtures us into alienation from full embodiment. Through our nurtured experience, we are prevented from embodiment leading our experiences to be only fragments. It is easier to be distracted by the things that surround us, rather than sit around and wait to die. We all know it’s going to happen at one point or another. No living organism is immortal, but that does not mean that you should not live life the best you can just because you will die some day. In my opinion it should not be either distraction or full awareness, but a well balance of both. If you are completely focused on your body and physical being, then you will miss out on the wondrous adventures life has to offer. Sometimes it’s good to distract yourself as long as you acknowledge your physical being too.
Personally I believe my self to be balanced. I have my moments where I begin to think about certain thoughts, but I chose to distract myself from these thoughts. I have realized that I work best and stay focused when I am distracted. For example, when I have to write papers, I listen to music in order to stay focused. If I were to turn off the music, then I begin to get distracted and stare into space.
Chunk 3: Sensory Awareness
While doing the sensory awareness exercises, I found myself always getting distracted. Most of the time I would get distracted unknowingly. Then I would try to get myself focused on the activity again. Instead I would begin to focus on staying focused. Other times, like when we did the ‘Stand’ exercise, I would focus on my body and feel how my body is reacting to the exercise. I can very easily get distracted when I am trying to focus, but when I distract myself from my surroundings it is easier for me to focus. For example, while I am doing this assignment I am listening to music, sitting in an okay but not comfortable position. I think it’s all in our heads whether we stay focused or not.
Chunk 4: Childhood
“As adults, we have forgotten most of our childhood. Not only it’s content, but it’s flavor.” –R.D. Lang. As we grow older, our minds slowly forget about our past and soon enough our childhood seems like it happened a lifetime ago. Even though we aren’t constantly thinking our past, it still remains in the back of our minds.
Although I don’t remember every detailed moment from my childhood, I do remember certain memories. My memories and childhood experiences are very important to me. They have shaped me to be the person I am today. Some memories seem very random and others seem significant. Whether they are random or significant, enjoyable or regretful, they have brought me to this point in life.
I remember most of my previous birthday. Since I am the youngest all my siblings and my parents have always made a big deal about my birthday. We always had parties and as I got older they parties happened less often, but in their own ways made a big deal.
I remember most weekends or sometimes after school I would go to my cousins house. Now I live a block down from then, but back in the day we lived in a different neighborhood, but were walking distance. Other weekends they would come over and stay. I can still remember the silly games I would play with my cousin, Sam. We practically grew up together. Looking back at those memories makes me appreciate my relationships with people.
Sometimes when I hear a song or see something that reminds me of my past, I am able to recall the memory very well. I can remember the full experience, what I was thinking, how I was feeling and how it made me feel, things that were going on around me etc.
Chunk 5: Dreams
”Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious”- Freud.
While we sleep the unconscious self takes a journey exploring thoughts in our minds. I believe that dreams are important, most of the time they represent something. Or try to tell you something. Through dreams the unconscious self is able to reveal hidden desires, wants/wishes, fears. Although our dreams aren’t reality, they are an alter reality that our unconscious self creates. Sometimes a dream can also show a memory that we experienced while we were awake. Our dreams are able to create an alter reality where we are able to runaway from life’s problems. Since we repress these feelings while we are awake, while we are in the dreaming state our conscience spills the repressed thoughts and feelings into our unconscious mind. Many people don’t remember their dreams, and when they are able to remember, often overlook it. “Sleep is often the only occasion which man cannot silence his conscience, but the tragedy of it is that when we do hear our conscience speak in sleep, we cannot act and that when able to act we forget what we know in our dream”. Here Laing is trying to say that when we are awake we can’t or barely remember our dreams, therefore not being able to act upon them. But when we hear or see our dreams we are unable to do anything about it. Trying to make sense of our dreams when we are able to remember them is a challenge. You could interpret your dream to be one thing, and when you tell someone else, they could interpret it differently. I know that every night I have dreams and I am usually able to recall my dreams. Sometimes outside noises or what happened to us that day or the thoughts we have when going to sleep influences our dreams. To make sense of my dreams I usually tell someone or keep thinking about them until they become clear to me.
Chunk 6: Thinking
Before this unit, I never really thought about my way of thinking. It was usually that I would do or see something and a thought would come to mind. I was not usually aware of the way I thought. My thoughts are; feelings that I have, emotions I feel, reactions to events and information. My way of thinking is perceived from my experiences and that makes me think the way I do.
According to R.D. Laing, "What we think is less than what we know: what we know is less than what we love: what we love is so much less than what there is. And to that precise extent we are so much less than what we are". Laing is trying to argue that we as people think in a way that only benefits us and think only of our interests.
The three goals we wanted to get out of this section was: becoming aware of your own thinking, consider and critically analyze your thinking, and improve your thinking.
We first started this unit by doing math problems and then analyzing the techniques we used to figure out the problem presented to us. The first thinking strategy that was presented to us was to try asking questions instead of directly trying to get the answer. Then we went into puzzles and riddles and tried to analyze the techniques for problem solving. Many people tired to find the answer by looking for clues that might have been given, trying to think of all the components and aspects. Others tried to visualize, or experiment.
“ Some things take time, practice and thought to get good at. Thinking is one of those things. If you’re good at thinking, hard situations become easier. How would you train yourself to become a better thinker.” – Andy Most of the time people think automatically. If a person I trained or adapted to thinking a certain way then that is his/her way of thinking and who is to argue that their way of thinking is wrong. The way a person thinks is their perspective, not everyone is the same and neither are their thinking strategies. Although I pay attention to my thoughts, I don’t really pay attention to my way of thinking. I have a tendency of where once I begin to think of something I can’t stop until I figure out what it is. I agree with Laing that people don’t pay attention to their thinking strategies and maybe if we did our way of thinking would be better. But again who’s to say that our way of thinking is less than what it can be. People do have strategies of thinking but don’t really try to understand how they’re thinking.
Chunk 7: Feeling
Apart from being alienated, Laing also believes that we are also disconnected from our true feelings. Some of the questions that we explored in this sections were: Why do we get emotional over little things? Why do I feel the way I do? How do your experiences influence your feelings? What/ Is there a difference between feelings and emotions?
Although we may not acknowledge our feelings and/or emotions, they are present in our behavior on a daily basis. A feeling can range from something as simple as being happy and excited to something very complicated that you cant even explain, which may lead to anger and confusion. Throughout the day it is very easy for you to have different feelings at different moments. These feelings are usually connected towards your mood or tone throughout the day. Alternate to feelings moods are more long lasting. A mood can last an hour, a day, or a couple of days, whereas a feeling can last for a few seconds or minutes.
At the beginning of class each day we wrote about our feelings, both physical and emotional in order to recognize how we feel and why we feel that way. We also made a list of feelings that was endless. Each feeling was different and although they may sound similar each feeling was very different than the other. To name a few of the feelings; sadness, sorrow, confusion, anger, rage, disappointment, failure, failed, excitement, joy, annoyed, pleasant, agitated, irritated, embarrassed, shy, lost, loneliness, rejection, acceptance, tried, jealous, envy etc and then there are the emotions/ feelings that are indescribable. When you try to make sense of those feelings are any feelings it usually leads you to feel another way. I think it is impossible to ever not feel anything. Maybe there isn’t a word to describe how you feel but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t feeling anything. There is also the feeling of repression when you try to force yourself not to feel a certain way. Sometimes people try to put up an act around others and in trying to manipulate the other person, somehow manipulate themselves.
There is also the argument that we tend to chose friends based on how they make us feel. We have the entertaining friends that make us laugh and have a good time, or we could be that person for someone else. We have the friends that flatter us, the friends that find flaws in us to make themselves’ feel better, the friends that we trust and can tell anything, the friends that we know will always be there and we can lean on etc.
After reading R.D. Laing’s article and analyzing it throughout the unit I somewhat agree that a person is much less than their potential. But from Laing’s view point it seems as if a person is completely alienated and disembodied. Some may argue that they are fully embodied. There is a balance where a person is embodied but also distracted, but in my opinion its not possible to be just one in this society.
Snowball Paper #1 – My Experiences
Chunk #1: Normal Alienation from Experiences Summary
According to Laing, the average human is only a fragment of what a human should be. One only lives daily life just to exist, but does not challenge one's self beyond what is necessary. People only use the five senses: touch, sight, hearing and taste but does not further the knowledge of their own body. "We retain-just sufficient proprioceptive sensations to coordinate our movements and to ensure the minimal requirements for biosocial survival to register fatigue, signals for food, sex, defecation, sleep; beyond that, little or nothing." Most people do not remember their dreams or childhood. Since people are not actively thinking about the dreams they had or think about their childhood or past, it gets pushed to the back of our mind. The thoughts and memories that are not visited often soon become forgotten. When something tragically happens, a person might push the moment out of their mind, refuse to believe what had happened. It is important to remember you past because events/moments in your past shaped you to become who you are today and will continue to influence your life in the future. For example, it is possible that someone could devoted their future from something that had happened in their past. A daughter of a man that had pasted away from cancer could choose to devote her life into becoming an Oncologist. Remembering dreams is also important. Many people from different ethnicities believe that your dreams are a message to you; it may be from your body, or from your conscious.
Our behavior is based on our experience. We perceive things to be only the way they are. We learn to trust what we see as it is happening to be the truth leaving no room for the paranormal or phenomenon. Individuals are taught to behave through their experiences. Therefore our experiences define who we are.
Chunk #2: Normal Alienation from Experiences Personal Reaction
When I first read Laing's argument I vaguely understood what he meant by "the ordinary person is a shriveled, desiccated fragment of what a person could be". As I read the article, I began to understand what Laing meant. It’s true that we do not experience our being. Not being aware of ourselves’ is the way we have been nurtured and raised. It is easier to be distracted by the things that surround us, rather than sit around and wait to die. We all know it’s going to happen at one point or another. No living organism is immortal, but that does not mean that you should not live life the best you can just because you will die some day. In my opinion it should not be distractment or full awareness, its good to balance them out. If you are completely focused on your body and physical being, then you will miss out on the wondrous adventures life has to offer. Sometimes it’s good to distract yourself as long as you acknowledge your physical being too.
Chunk #3: Embodiment and Disembodiment: Sensory Awareness
While doing the sensory awareness exercises, I found myself always getting distracted. Most of the time I would get distracted unknowingly. Then I would try to get myself focused on the activity again. Instead I would begin to focus on staying focused. Other times, like when we did the ‘Stand’ exercise, I would focus on my body and feel how my body is reacting to the exercise. I can very easily get distracted when I am trying to focus, but when I distract myself from my surroundings it is easier for me to focus. For example, while I am doing this assignment I am listening to music, sitting in an okay but not comfortable position. I think it’s all in our heads whether we stay focused or not. I chose to distract myself at times. Why I do that, I don’t know but I hope to find out as the semester goes on.
According to Laing, the average human is only a fragment of what a human should be. One only lives daily life just to exist, but does not challenge one's self beyond what is necessary. People only use the five senses: touch, sight, hearing and taste but does not further the knowledge of their own body. "We retain-just sufficient proprioceptive sensations to coordinate our movements and to ensure the minimal requirements for biosocial survival to register fatigue, signals for food, sex, defecation, sleep; beyond that, little or nothing." Most people do not remember their dreams or childhood. Since people are not actively thinking about the dreams they had or think about their childhood or past, it gets pushed to the back of our mind. The thoughts and memories that are not visited often soon become forgotten. When something tragically happens, a person might push the moment out of their mind, refuse to believe what had happened. It is important to remember you past because events/moments in your past shaped you to become who you are today and will continue to influence your life in the future. For example, it is possible that someone could devoted their future from something that had happened in their past. A daughter of a man that had pasted away from cancer could choose to devote her life into becoming an Oncologist. Remembering dreams is also important. Many people from different ethnicities believe that your dreams are a message to you; it may be from your body, or from your conscious.
Our behavior is based on our experience. We perceive things to be only the way they are. We learn to trust what we see as it is happening to be the truth leaving no room for the paranormal or phenomenon. Individuals are taught to behave through their experiences. Therefore our experiences define who we are.
Chunk #2: Normal Alienation from Experiences Personal Reaction
When I first read Laing's argument I vaguely understood what he meant by "the ordinary person is a shriveled, desiccated fragment of what a person could be". As I read the article, I began to understand what Laing meant. It’s true that we do not experience our being. Not being aware of ourselves’ is the way we have been nurtured and raised. It is easier to be distracted by the things that surround us, rather than sit around and wait to die. We all know it’s going to happen at one point or another. No living organism is immortal, but that does not mean that you should not live life the best you can just because you will die some day. In my opinion it should not be distractment or full awareness, its good to balance them out. If you are completely focused on your body and physical being, then you will miss out on the wondrous adventures life has to offer. Sometimes it’s good to distract yourself as long as you acknowledge your physical being too.
Chunk #3: Embodiment and Disembodiment: Sensory Awareness
While doing the sensory awareness exercises, I found myself always getting distracted. Most of the time I would get distracted unknowingly. Then I would try to get myself focused on the activity again. Instead I would begin to focus on staying focused. Other times, like when we did the ‘Stand’ exercise, I would focus on my body and feel how my body is reacting to the exercise. I can very easily get distracted when I am trying to focus, but when I distract myself from my surroundings it is easier for me to focus. For example, while I am doing this assignment I am listening to music, sitting in an okay but not comfortable position. I think it’s all in our heads whether we stay focused or not. I chose to distract myself at times. Why I do that, I don’t know but I hope to find out as the semester goes on.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Chunk #7- Feelings Draft 1
Although we may not acknowledge our feelings and/or emotions, they are present in our behavior on a daily basis. A feeling can range from something as simple as being happy and excited to something very complicated that you cant even explain, which may lead to anger and confusion. Throughout the day it is very easy for you to have different feelings at different moments. These feelings are usually connected towards your mood or tone throughout the day. Alternate to feelings moods are more long lasting. A mood can last an hour, a day, or a couple of days, whereas a feeling can last for a few seconds or minutes.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Chunk #6- Thinking Draft 1
Before this unit, I never really thought about my way of thinking. It was usually that I would do or see something and a thought would come to mind. I was not usually aware of the way I thought. My thoughts are; feelings that I have, emotions I feel, reactions to events and information. I guess my way of thinking is perceived from my experiences and that makes me think the way I do.
Accordingto R.D. Laing,"What we think is less than what we know: what we know is less than what we love: what we love is so much less than what there is. And to that precise extent we are so much less than what we are".
Accordingto R.D. Laing,"What we think is less than what we know: what we know is less than what we love: what we love is so much less than what there is. And to that precise extent we are so much less than what we are".
Monday, November 26, 2007
childhood revised
For many of us, our childhood was a very specail part in our lives. As we grow older, we tend to forget some or many events that had happened in our past. But those who where there to see us grow remember our first steps, words, etc.
Through their memories we can sometimes look deep into our minds and remember that momemt or something about that moment.
Other than being told of my childhood moments, other ways that help me remember my past could be a song, a toy or an object, a smell, or seeing a person after a long period of time. Other times, I can just remember a random moment or memory but not know its significance, contents or anything except that moment.
Although its not a memory that I can remember, my mom once told me that when I was a baby my oldest brother asked her if he could buy a video camera so they could record all my childhood memories. He wanted to record my childhood so that when i grew up, i would be able to see ho I was, how my family was and how our life was. I do remember being vedio taped all the time. I always enjoyed being in front of the camera, even if it was for no reason. There were times when we would all be eating dinner, or watching a movie and someone would take out the camera and I would start acting silly or dancing. Even though we prabably dont have those vedio tapes anymore, I remember looking through them and seeing how everything was and ii think about what my mom told me.
During this thanksgiving we were all at my uncles house and by seeing all the little kids playing, everyone began to talk about each others childhood, or atleast what they could remember. When my eldest brother began to talk about the past, he compared my childhood to all of theirs and how much our lives differ and how good I had it. Since I was the youngest of four, I had all the advantages.
Through their memories we can sometimes look deep into our minds and remember that momemt or something about that moment.
Other than being told of my childhood moments, other ways that help me remember my past could be a song, a toy or an object, a smell, or seeing a person after a long period of time. Other times, I can just remember a random moment or memory but not know its significance, contents or anything except that moment.
Although its not a memory that I can remember, my mom once told me that when I was a baby my oldest brother asked her if he could buy a video camera so they could record all my childhood memories. He wanted to record my childhood so that when i grew up, i would be able to see ho I was, how my family was and how our life was. I do remember being vedio taped all the time. I always enjoyed being in front of the camera, even if it was for no reason. There were times when we would all be eating dinner, or watching a movie and someone would take out the camera and I would start acting silly or dancing. Even though we prabably dont have those vedio tapes anymore, I remember looking through them and seeing how everything was and ii think about what my mom told me.
During this thanksgiving we were all at my uncles house and by seeing all the little kids playing, everyone began to talk about each others childhood, or atleast what they could remember. When my eldest brother began to talk about the past, he compared my childhood to all of theirs and how much our lives differ and how good I had it. Since I was the youngest of four, I had all the advantages.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Dreams first draft
”Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious”- Freud
While we sleep the unconscious self takes a journey exploring thoughts in our minds. I believe that dreams are important, most of the time they represent something. Or try to tell you something. Through dreams the unconscious self is able to reveal hidden desires, wants/wishes, fears. Sometimes a dream can also show a memory that we experienced while we were awake. Our dreams are able to create an alter reality where we are able to runaway from life’s problems. Since we repress these feelings while we are awake, while we are in the dreaming state our conscience spills the repressed thoughts and feelings into our unconscious mind. Many people don’t remember their dreams, and when they are able to remember, often overlook it. “Sleep is often the only occasion which man cannot silence his conscience, but the tragedy of it is that when we do hear our conscience speak in sleep, we cannot act and that when able to act we forget what we know in our dream”.
Trying to make sense of our dreams when we are able to remember them is a challenge. You could interpret your dream to be one thing, and when you tell someone else, they could interpret it differently.
While we sleep the unconscious self takes a journey exploring thoughts in our minds. I believe that dreams are important, most of the time they represent something. Or try to tell you something. Through dreams the unconscious self is able to reveal hidden desires, wants/wishes, fears. Sometimes a dream can also show a memory that we experienced while we were awake. Our dreams are able to create an alter reality where we are able to runaway from life’s problems. Since we repress these feelings while we are awake, while we are in the dreaming state our conscience spills the repressed thoughts and feelings into our unconscious mind. Many people don’t remember their dreams, and when they are able to remember, often overlook it. “Sleep is often the only occasion which man cannot silence his conscience, but the tragedy of it is that when we do hear our conscience speak in sleep, we cannot act and that when able to act we forget what we know in our dream”.
Trying to make sense of our dreams when we are able to remember them is a challenge. You could interpret your dream to be one thing, and when you tell someone else, they could interpret it differently.
childhood
Childhood Portfolio
My name is Reema Uddin, I am seventeen years old and I have lived in New York all my life. I live with my mom, three brothers and my sister. My father passed away when I was thirteen and his death has impacted me I many ways.
Since I am the baby of the family, you can imagine that both my parents and my siblings spoiled me. I am also the only one in my immediate family to be born in America.
My mom once told that when I was a baby my oldest brother asked for her permission to buy a video camera so they could record all my childhood memories so that when I grow up, I can have something to look back at. My other siblings didn’t have the privilege of recording their childhood memories.
My oldest uncle (my mother’s oldest brother) was the one who brought my parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and other distant relatives to America. Although I rarely get to see my uncle now, maybe once or twice a year, thanks to him we are all able to live a good life here and hopefully make something of our lives. Even though we rarely see him, I know that he is proud of the people we have become.
Oddly enough, I remember the day this picture was taken, it pretty clear in my memory. I think it was in 1996, it snowed a lot the night before, maybe up to my waist at that time, we had woke early and I didn’t have to go to mosque that day so 2 of my brothers, my sister and I wore our winter clothes and went to play in the snow. At that time we lived in a building in Parkchester, we went to the back of the building where the playground was. We also went to the metropolitan oval. During the warm weather, the pond was filled with water, but during the winter they covered up the statues with little houses and chimney (they still do that). I remember the snow perfectly lay on the ground, untouched. It was so clean and beautiful.
Childhood Stories
Since I was the youngest, my family had a party for my birthday. It usually included my aunts and uncles (from my mom’s side of the family. All my dad’s siblings and blood relatives live in Bangladesh). The last big party I had was when I was eight years old. My parents, and siblings organized the whole thing. My youngest brother ‘s friends helped with the decorations and everything. From the pictures I can tell it was always a huge celebration, but my eighth birthday is the one I can remember. I even remember who gave me what. I also still have these two balloons that my youngest brother’s friend got a huge Mickey Mouse and a Cinderella castle. Like most celebrations and get-togethers, my birthday was an excuse for my entire family to get together and have a good time. But of course as time goes on things change.
As time goes on, things change and so do people. While I was growing up, and even to this day people always come and go in my life. For some reason, my friends would always leave, disappear, or just stop talking to me. Sometimes they have a reason, like moving away, or issues between our families. Those ‘break-ups’ I can understand, but when a friend just stops being my friend, I can’t help but wonder why it happened. Maybe it was something I said or did, or a million other possibilities, but I guess I will never know and that is what bugs me. I can’t help it, I don’t want it to bother me but it does and it hurts but what can you do. I had this one friend. We were always in the same class from pre-school to the beginning of fifth grade, until I moved away. I was ten and didn’t get to say goodbye to her, I didn’t even know that I was moving. Her name was Roma. Everyone always teased us, singing “Reema, Roma, Roma, Reema”. To be honest that is the same way I lost all my childhood friends, when I moved, I never got a chance to say bye to them, or maybe if I was older I would not have lost touch. Maybe that’s the reason why I can’t keep friends now, karma, since I left all my other friends.
“Ignorance is bliss”, I think that in certain situations this is true. When I was younger I can’t really remember any family problems or issues, but now that I am older, no one really hides them from me. I guess because I’m old enough to know and understand. As a child I always wanted to know what was going on, but now that I do, I rather not know. Little kids always want to know what the grown ups are taking about, and at times I was like that. But I didn’t really care; I was to busy being involved in my own world. My mom says that I am still like that, which in my opinion is a good thing. I don’t like to get caught up in drama, but I do like helping people and listening to people. I guess as long its not happening directly to me, I would be willing to help, not get involved, but help a friend out.
My name is Reema Uddin, I am seventeen years old and I have lived in New York all my life. I live with my mom, three brothers and my sister. My father passed away when I was thirteen and his death has impacted me I many ways.
Since I am the baby of the family, you can imagine that both my parents and my siblings spoiled me. I am also the only one in my immediate family to be born in America.
My mom once told that when I was a baby my oldest brother asked for her permission to buy a video camera so they could record all my childhood memories so that when I grow up, I can have something to look back at. My other siblings didn’t have the privilege of recording their childhood memories.
My oldest uncle (my mother’s oldest brother) was the one who brought my parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and other distant relatives to America. Although I rarely get to see my uncle now, maybe once or twice a year, thanks to him we are all able to live a good life here and hopefully make something of our lives. Even though we rarely see him, I know that he is proud of the people we have become.
Oddly enough, I remember the day this picture was taken, it pretty clear in my memory. I think it was in 1996, it snowed a lot the night before, maybe up to my waist at that time, we had woke early and I didn’t have to go to mosque that day so 2 of my brothers, my sister and I wore our winter clothes and went to play in the snow. At that time we lived in a building in Parkchester, we went to the back of the building where the playground was. We also went to the metropolitan oval. During the warm weather, the pond was filled with water, but during the winter they covered up the statues with little houses and chimney (they still do that). I remember the snow perfectly lay on the ground, untouched. It was so clean and beautiful.
Childhood Stories
Since I was the youngest, my family had a party for my birthday. It usually included my aunts and uncles (from my mom’s side of the family. All my dad’s siblings and blood relatives live in Bangladesh). The last big party I had was when I was eight years old. My parents, and siblings organized the whole thing. My youngest brother ‘s friends helped with the decorations and everything. From the pictures I can tell it was always a huge celebration, but my eighth birthday is the one I can remember. I even remember who gave me what. I also still have these two balloons that my youngest brother’s friend got a huge Mickey Mouse and a Cinderella castle. Like most celebrations and get-togethers, my birthday was an excuse for my entire family to get together and have a good time. But of course as time goes on things change.
As time goes on, things change and so do people. While I was growing up, and even to this day people always come and go in my life. For some reason, my friends would always leave, disappear, or just stop talking to me. Sometimes they have a reason, like moving away, or issues between our families. Those ‘break-ups’ I can understand, but when a friend just stops being my friend, I can’t help but wonder why it happened. Maybe it was something I said or did, or a million other possibilities, but I guess I will never know and that is what bugs me. I can’t help it, I don’t want it to bother me but it does and it hurts but what can you do. I had this one friend. We were always in the same class from pre-school to the beginning of fifth grade, until I moved away. I was ten and didn’t get to say goodbye to her, I didn’t even know that I was moving. Her name was Roma. Everyone always teased us, singing “Reema, Roma, Roma, Reema”. To be honest that is the same way I lost all my childhood friends, when I moved, I never got a chance to say bye to them, or maybe if I was older I would not have lost touch. Maybe that’s the reason why I can’t keep friends now, karma, since I left all my other friends.
“Ignorance is bliss”, I think that in certain situations this is true. When I was younger I can’t really remember any family problems or issues, but now that I am older, no one really hides them from me. I guess because I’m old enough to know and understand. As a child I always wanted to know what was going on, but now that I do, I rather not know. Little kids always want to know what the grown ups are taking about, and at times I was like that. But I didn’t really care; I was to busy being involved in my own world. My mom says that I am still like that, which in my opinion is a good thing. I don’t like to get caught up in drama, but I do like helping people and listening to people. I guess as long its not happening directly to me, I would be willing to help, not get involved, but help a friend out.
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