“Who are you whom I so faintly hear? Who urge me ever on? What voice is this that speaks within me... guides me towards the best? We shall make a new start. A fresh beginning. Here the blessings of the earth are bestowed upon all. None need grow poor. Here there is good ground for all, and no cost but one's labor. We shall build a true common wealth, hard work and self reliance our virtues. We shall have no landlords to reack us with high rents or extort the fruit of our labor.”
- The New World
- The New World
First of all, I want to respond to Van Jones' speech from last week. Wow, he is one hell of a speaker. He has the right blend of humor and putting you in your place. I was either laughing really hard, or thinking "friend speaks my mind." When he talked about WHole Foods, I couldn't agree more. "We shouldn't have to go down to Whole Foods to get our food," said Jones. "It seems like a whole paycheck, and you come out with one strawberry. I'm healthy but I'm hungry." In my mind, this is what makes an effective speaker. He knew his audience and went with it. The way he spoke about how our generation has to continue for hope. He was one of the smartest guys I have seen speak at Guilford. He made seem like it was such an obvious decision that we should become more environmentally aware, no matter what social, political or economical group we are a part of. This is true, and if only more people would listen. I thought it was really interesting how he talked about how we as humans have to be sustainable with ourselves and our bodies before we can focus on the planet. I wish I could have been a part of the sit down dinner to talk to him more.
In regards to the reading about hypothermia, I learned a lot. I never had thought too much on the different ways that people lose heat and more. I am definitely more prepared to be in the cold. So while I would much prefer to be in warmer weather, I will take this reading in mind when thinking of what I will wear out hiking and on backpacking trips. I have printed off this reading so I have it to make sure I am safe. Some of it was logical and others were not.
The Moral Instinct article was really interesting. Pinker is a really interesting fellow who has a lot to say about many different things. I had learned a little a bit about him in high school. How he started the article was an effective way. I naturally had put Mother Teresa as more admirable than Bill Gates (though I had thought Gates has certainly redeemed himself) or Norman Borlaug (I had no idea who this man was previously). This made me question whose and what morals are the ones that should be valued. While Gates, as head of Microsoft has lots of issues with morality (anti-trusts and what have you), he along with Warren Buffett and others have made significant strides in trying to rid the world of numerous diseases that plague the planet. Its interesting how Pinker discusses the evolution in what society determines is moral and immoral. Smoking was not only accepted but pretty much expected in society, our presidents smoked publicly (Obama only recently has really quit), but soon the effects of tobacco showed, and the view on smoking did a 180 degree turn that was so fast that the country is still catching up. Its hard to place morals on others because a lot of our morals come from our upbringings. Someone who is born very little money is likely to have a very different moral code than that of someone who was born with way too much money. The question is though, how would they both deal with the Trolley Problem. I like to believe that there are some universal morals, but frankly there are times when I am not sure. There is definitely not a hundred percent universal morality. I am going to have agree with some of what Dawkins claims in the "Selfish Gene." I have to agree that it takes genes that are self motivated to get ahead to survive in the Darwin society. There are reasons that certain traits and genes have survived over others. Its human nature to act in a Darwin fashion, so it makes sense that at our most basic level we are still selfish.
In the fake discussion between Steven Pinker and Richard Dawkins, they talk about the idea of the two souls. There is Soul One that there is something that can't be seen but something that people believe that exists. This is the soul that they argue has been killed by science. This is due to the fact that science has to prove the existence of things while soul two, which is "Intellectual or spiritual power. High development of the mental faculties. Also, in somewhat weakened sense, deep feeling, sensitivity." This fake discussion says that science is not able to kill the soul two. This may be because it relies on science to exist. It is not trying to deny science, but trying to coexist with it. Often, there are times that people who believe in the existence of Soul One but they deny the presence of science. They see science and faith being incompatible. But this is not true. We need to get away from this separation and come together to make Soul One. I do believe there are these two souls though, I just think we need to accept Soul One by coming together as humans, not as science vs. believers. If we can accept Soul Two, lets accept Soul One.
In regards to Steve Jobs's commencement speech, he had very unique insight to share with college graduates. He starts off talking about his reasoning for dropping out of college. I never had the thought of dropping out of school, but the way he describe what he "stumbled into" seem the best reason not to go to college. He was able to learn about these different things that interested in him, despite him previously going to a liberal arts school. He used the skills that he learned from classes that he just appeared at, instead of being registered, and changed the foundations of societies with these skills he would learn. Connecting the dots later, instead of before hand, makes so much sense. At an early age, I was raised on Greek mythology. From this, I learned about fate, and destiny, so I came to the idea that we make our own choices but there are some moments that bring it all together, similar to connecting the dots later instead of trying to figure out what is next. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do, but I certainly do fear on the idea of settling. I hope if I do have to settle, I plan to make it only temporary. I want to travel the world, capturing the beauty of it, and yes I want to convince someone or some organization to pay me to do this. I am interested in seeing when I get to this level. I know I have some steps to make before I get to make this but this is the destination that I hope to arrive to.
Mary Oliver defines success in her poem, The Summer Day:
"I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields"
Oliver is saying success means to be present and enjoy the world for what it is. To take time to just walk in the fields, feeling the tall grass against the finger tips. That is success because that is what it means to be alive, and the most successful thing we can do, is breathe and live. So go outside and enjoy the moments of true beauty in nature. I would agree on Oliver on this definition of success. There are times when I am in nature, that I am lost in the beauty and feel at peace. I understand the great nature and transcendentalist, among other movements, of writers. I get so engrossed, that I do what is unnatural for me, and put down the camera. Because in these moments of success, my passion of photography can not capture this feeling no matter what. We as humans must value these moments. Van Jones touched on this as well in different ways but in the same principle. We should allow ourselves to break free of distractions of our society and go out and enjoy what has always been there. This is what Oliver sees as success and why I agree.
Annie Dillard appears to have been a creative person most of her life. She found creative ways to give people money as a child. As she got older, that creativity blossomed into her writing. She was able to share knowledge and views of the world with her writing. She is pretty successful at that. She is able creatively tell us stories that help us better understand our world. We should find creativity in the world, some do it through writings, others through art, and others find different means to define creativity in their lives. Its important to have creative in our lives, no matter what the outlet that we use is, because it allows us to escape from the rigidity of life. We can break free of the norm and try something new. It allows to better understand ourselves, while figuring out the world that we have surrounded ourselves in.This is how Dillard is using creativity, and how I have to agree that it is important to our worlds.
