Njal's Saga is a very interesting book because as it says many times in the book, family remembers taking revenge on each other. This very cliche saying, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" is a bad influence and I fint it quite essential to my topic. It is saying if someone takes an eye from you well then you have the right to take an eye from them. This maxim is based on the idea of; revenge. As we are shown there are many cases in which a family member is decieved and feels his responsibility to take action make that person feel remorse for his wrong doing and in doing this awful deed kills his/her close compaion.
I believe this attitude towards life can lead you to many regretful moments and thoughts. If someones first reaction was to make somones life a living nightmare everytime that person was double-crossed or decieved then we would live in a world of hate, greed, and obstruction. I mean its not very far from the world we really live in, no matter how much we try to teach those who make our "hogar" a phycological disoriented chaotic environment, those people have a mind set already that their going to follow that path that they have chosen. Njal's Saga is a perfect example family hatred in that family member, blood relatives have the mentality, the spine to kill one of their own. I woulnt be able to percieve the thought yet actually perfoming the mishivious act.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Monday, December 8, 2008
The Barny That Can Be Named Is Not The Eternal Barny
"I love you, you love me, we're a happy family, with a great big hug, and a kiss from me to you, won't you say you love me too. I love you, you love me, we're best friends like friends should be, with a great big hug, and a kiss from me to you, won't you say you love me too!"
This song from every child's favorite T.V. show is my whole theme of my Tao Te Ching analysis. The Tao's teaching are as simple and easy as this song. 'I love you, you love me' that's it. As a child we are always filled with joy and happiness, not caring about a darn thing that anybody thinks or says about you, we can go one day to school in our underpants and a cape, and think it's the most normal thing in the world. We, as humans, are in an inevitable process which is called "life." Something that i find ironic about Barny is that, when we think about him we know hes the most loving and caring thing in the world, but in reality hes a dinosaur. For me dinosaurs are ferocious beasts that existed centuries ago.
Barny as we all may know taught kids about loving one another, "Treat people as you would want to be treated." In every episode that I ever saw he said this maxim. He taught us that we should never care what other people think about. Barny and the Tao relate in that they both try to teach us in ways that are very simple and very fast. They tell us very simple thoughts but they work, well at leats for me it did.
Tao teaches us to live life as it comes, never prepare for situations, 'go with the flow.' Barny teaches us this as well because he teaches us that we need to live life as if it were our last day, dance like no one is watching. I have a phrase which I think is essential to all my ideas, Carpe Diem, a saying bya latin poet named Horace. Carpe Diem simply means, sieze the day, it means that we should live life to its fullest, 'NEVER let anyone tell you that you can't do something in life, not even your on dad' (The Pursuit of Happiness).
We never really get the chance to think about how quickly life comes and goes and once you realize it, its too late. This is why every one should always sit down and just think about his/her goals in life, and try to pursue them. If I'm not mistaken there was an episode of Barny about this topic, there was a boy that wanted to become an astronaut and someone told him he couldn't. Barny told that boy that he could be anything he wanted to be if he tried and did everything possible to achieve it. Another topic that associates Barny with the Tao Te Ching is that they both had the same teaching methods, anti-war, anti-stress, and peace. The Tao also tended to teach about, not needing material things to live, I wrote a blog about this topic, in today's day and age people rate how well their doing in life by how many possessions they have, how many cars they have in their garage. I believe this is a misconception on their views of life. First of all we shouldnt judge or rate how well were doing in life, all we should care about its if were happy or not. I have a maxim that relates to the idea of being humble in life:
"He who makes a show is not enlightned...
He who boasts achieves nothing.
He who brags will not endure."
This is why Barny and the Tao have a relationship. They both have very non-complex teaching methods that are part of a much bigger picture but have an extremely big impact on people. This is what Mr. Tangen taught us, when we read books like Tao Te Ching, the way to really get the juice from it, is by analyzing every line as it it were its own book. Never pay attention to something specific while reading a book because by doing this you miss the real moral of it.
This song from every child's favorite T.V. show is my whole theme of my Tao Te Ching analysis. The Tao's teaching are as simple and easy as this song. 'I love you, you love me' that's it. As a child we are always filled with joy and happiness, not caring about a darn thing that anybody thinks or says about you, we can go one day to school in our underpants and a cape, and think it's the most normal thing in the world. We, as humans, are in an inevitable process which is called "life." Something that i find ironic about Barny is that, when we think about him we know hes the most loving and caring thing in the world, but in reality hes a dinosaur. For me dinosaurs are ferocious beasts that existed centuries ago.
Barny as we all may know taught kids about loving one another, "Treat people as you would want to be treated." In every episode that I ever saw he said this maxim. He taught us that we should never care what other people think about. Barny and the Tao relate in that they both try to teach us in ways that are very simple and very fast. They tell us very simple thoughts but they work, well at leats for me it did.
Tao teaches us to live life as it comes, never prepare for situations, 'go with the flow.' Barny teaches us this as well because he teaches us that we need to live life as if it were our last day, dance like no one is watching. I have a phrase which I think is essential to all my ideas, Carpe Diem, a saying bya latin poet named Horace. Carpe Diem simply means, sieze the day, it means that we should live life to its fullest, 'NEVER let anyone tell you that you can't do something in life, not even your on dad' (The Pursuit of Happiness).
We never really get the chance to think about how quickly life comes and goes and once you realize it, its too late. This is why every one should always sit down and just think about his/her goals in life, and try to pursue them. If I'm not mistaken there was an episode of Barny about this topic, there was a boy that wanted to become an astronaut and someone told him he couldn't. Barny told that boy that he could be anything he wanted to be if he tried and did everything possible to achieve it. Another topic that associates Barny with the Tao Te Ching is that they both had the same teaching methods, anti-war, anti-stress, and peace. The Tao also tended to teach about, not needing material things to live, I wrote a blog about this topic, in today's day and age people rate how well their doing in life by how many possessions they have, how many cars they have in their garage. I believe this is a misconception on their views of life. First of all we shouldnt judge or rate how well were doing in life, all we should care about its if were happy or not. I have a maxim that relates to the idea of being humble in life:
"He who makes a show is not enlightned...
He who boasts achieves nothing.
He who brags will not endure."
This is why Barny and the Tao have a relationship. They both have very non-complex teaching methods that are part of a much bigger picture but have an extremely big impact on people. This is what Mr. Tangen taught us, when we read books like Tao Te Ching, the way to really get the juice from it, is by analyzing every line as it it were its own book. Never pay attention to something specific while reading a book because by doing this you miss the real moral of it.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Why Is It So Addicting?
Go, is a very simple and fun game, even though it is simple it's a game of "critical thinking" it reminds me of the game Sudoku. You must always be attentive and watch out for the other persons move. The rules are simply the following:
1. A two player game (black or white) your objective is to eliminate your opponent, using chips.
2. The way you eliminate your opponent is to surround them with your chips and by doing this eliminating the chips inside.
3. Once you place your chip you are prohibited to remove it and set it down in another line.
These are the rules to play Go, this game ca teach much about life, for example you can't always attack your enemy directly you may have to go around and "out smart" him.
1. A two player game (black or white) your objective is to eliminate your opponent, using chips.
2. The way you eliminate your opponent is to surround them with your chips and by doing this eliminating the chips inside.
3. Once you place your chip you are prohibited to remove it and set it down in another line.
These are the rules to play Go, this game ca teach much about life, for example you can't always attack your enemy directly you may have to go around and "out smart" him.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Wow! The Monalisa Does Look Great
When I was reading I realized that people have different points of view of any book you read and the same person may have different interpretations for the same book multiple times. For example Tao Te Ching can be read in many ways and each time you can have a different look at what you just read. Mr. Tangen taught us a way to read books and get all the juice from it, because the majority of people read books and just read it. They dont really look at the broad picture and Mr. Tangen taught us a way that we can look at the bigger picture and that it is to break up the lines and analyze them one by one. By doing this we can decode what each line conveys to us.
Tao Said This, Tao Said That, Why Can't We Just Live Our Way!
Tao Te Ching is it a life line that guides us? Tao has many similarities with Confucius in that they both try to guide us into being "gentleman" As I read Tao I noticed something very peculiar, paradox. Almost all of the maxims and lines have paradox in them, they say something and then say the cause of it "Yield and overcome; Bend and be straight; Empty and be full; Wear out and be new; Have little and gain; Have much and be confused". Throughout the course of human history their have been many foolish attempts to "try" to change how we humans live our lives, and thats what I'm getting at with this. Both Confucius and Tao's attempt to show us "the Way" as said in the Analects or the "path" as in Tao, humans will always live life how they want to live it, and I believe thats how it should be. We dont need some paper telling us whats wrong and whats right in our lives, I know that's pretty much what the Ten Commandments do but those are optional, God never FORCES us to comply with these set laws.
'What others teach, I also teach; that is: "A violent man will die a violent death!" This will be the essense of my teachings.'(Forty-Four) This mazim is completely and utterly incorrect. What happened to Jesus Christ our savior, he was a peaceful man that ONLY did good. And he was brutally and violently crucified by his own people. I totally disagree with this maxim, another example that may be used for this is Adolf Hitler, as you all may know he was an evil genuis if you will. Planning, Beginning, and Accomplishing one of the worlds or the worlds greatest genocide. He was a corrupted man and he died a very quick and nonpainful death.
'What others teach, I also teach; that is: "A violent man will die a violent death!" This will be the essense of my teachings.'(Forty-Four) This mazim is completely and utterly incorrect. What happened to Jesus Christ our savior, he was a peaceful man that ONLY did good. And he was brutally and violently crucified by his own people. I totally disagree with this maxim, another example that may be used for this is Adolf Hitler, as you all may know he was an evil genuis if you will. Planning, Beginning, and Accomplishing one of the worlds or the worlds greatest genocide. He was a corrupted man and he died a very quick and nonpainful death.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Simple Sounds Sweet
Although it really doesn't mention this much in the Books 7-8+11, people are always trying to go through the shorter route or the one that takes the least energy in life. Nowadays people often look at the way their doing in life by the size of their wallet and I find that absolutely absurd. So does it mean if your not wealthy and drive around in a Mercedes- Benz that your not happy in life, absolutely not.
I think that nowadays people are inventing technological objects that make life "easier" for themselves, but I say that those people are just lazy. The Master said, "If wealth were something worth pursuing, then I would pursue it, even if that meant serving as an officer holding a whip at the entrance to a marketplace. Since it is not worth pursuing, however. I prefer to follow that which I love." (7.12) When I read this quote I felt it was entirely essential to my blog. The master enjoyed the humble and modest rather than the wealth and power.
This reminded me of a story that my religion teacher once told me of the importance of the meaning of gifts not the amount. "He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more then all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood." This story will stick with me where ever life will take me, because it has a deep moral to it, and that is that people in life will never care about the amount of money you put into something; just the amount of love or energy you put. This example works as well for home works, teachers don't care about amount, but of the quality.
I think that nowadays people are inventing technological objects that make life "easier" for themselves, but I say that those people are just lazy. The Master said, "If wealth were something worth pursuing, then I would pursue it, even if that meant serving as an officer holding a whip at the entrance to a marketplace. Since it is not worth pursuing, however. I prefer to follow that which I love." (7.12) When I read this quote I felt it was entirely essential to my blog. The master enjoyed the humble and modest rather than the wealth and power.
This reminded me of a story that my religion teacher once told me of the importance of the meaning of gifts not the amount. "He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more then all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood." This story will stick with me where ever life will take me, because it has a deep moral to it, and that is that people in life will never care about the amount of money you put into something; just the amount of love or energy you put. This example works as well for home works, teachers don't care about amount, but of the quality.
Who is Perfect? Confucius.
Confucius had a very unique philosophy of a "gentleman." He uses teaching to convey what he thinks a gentleman should be with examples of ancient Japanese men. His main idea is to describe to us what is Good. What we should and should not do to achieve Goodness, I thought the way he displayed it was a little bit confusing. In Book Four he explains what we should do to be a gentleman and what are the consequences if we don't. In Book Five, as I stated before, he uses some examples of ancient men to show to us what is accepted as Good. What I didn't understand was that whenever he was asked if this person was Good he never knew, " The Master said, "In a state of one thousand chariots, Zilu could be employed to organize the collection of military taxes, but I do not know whether or not he is Good." In Book Six he judges others his "pedagogical goal is to install virtuous dispositions rather than impart abstract principles" it reminds me some what of Ishmael because the point of the book was to teach the man how to become a better "person".
What I didn't agree with Confucius is the way he put his rules he was very blunt, there was no other option. I believe that a role model should always have another alternative to his way of teaching. Is Confucius really the BEST role model?
What I didn't agree with Confucius is the way he put his rules he was very blunt, there was no other option. I believe that a role model should always have another alternative to his way of teaching. Is Confucius really the BEST role model?
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