WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?
..My Class Contribution..
***My class contribution was accounted for on December 13, 2007 when I helped out (along with majority of the class) move furniture into the classroom and assemble pieces as well***
Monday, January 21, 2008
RECONSIDERED [final]
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?
..My Reconsidered..
My perspective on the meaning of life has definitely evolved yet has not completely transformed. Only to a certain extent and in some areas. I think a lot of my original views were further confirmed, while much of my ideas were expanded and broadened to others. I think this is because of the fact that my initial meaning of life was not one that was very specific to begin with. I started with a wide spectrum of possibilities that were relatable to many other ideas. Therefore once I was introduced to other perspectives, it still correlated with my own.
As a class we have explored many perceptions of what people think the meaning of life is. I think I felt as though in the beginning, i knew what the meaning of life was, and had no idea at the same time. We were presented with a number of different ways of looking at this topic, and eventually went further in detail through each perception. More specifically, we studied our own thoughts on our meaning of life, we investigated the question itself, explored the purpose of living through an assortment of religions, as well as thru an artistic and philosophical stance. We were able to find a deep understanding of the viewpoint of each spectrum so much it was as if we were looking through the lens of each type of notion.
From the beginning I felt as though everyone's meaning of life was varied and dependent on their own experiences. I figured that my own meaning of life was to just live and learn, and to be oblivious of the question “WHY?” I felt as though it was not important for me to focus on what the meaning and purpose was of everything that came my way, but actually trusting that it does essentially have a meaning and purpose, even if I wasn’t aware of it. I figured that the meaning of life was to not live by focusing on what for...but knowing that i will soon come to find out. That about my perspective has not changed.
I feel this way for the fact that I see life as, "If you already know what the point of living is, then there is no real point in living". I say this because I consider life to be the journey we take to figure out life as we live. If I were to have already established that before my life was complete, what would I have left to strive for? I think that my main idea on the meaning of life is, is not actually falling into any specific category, and is not actually about ANYTHING. After all of the possibilities we searched through, and all the aspects we studied, I still believe that life is about experience, change, and creation, further than that too. I’ve but I have come to understand that one must deal with the “natural” situations that may come forth in a persons life, and yet still remain self-attainable. The fact that I must live my life with ME controlling ME and no person and no situation doing so. Throughout this unit, the idea that I mustn’t let any circumstance define me has been further confirmed as time passed.
My views on what other people think about the meaning of life, and why makes much more sense to me. I’ve come to comprehend that there are varied ways to view the question itself, and I’ve recognized what the main reason for controversy is when dealing with what is the meaning of life. On the attempt to answer the question throughout the past few months my entire perspective on live has completely been enhanced.
Through the articles we read from the perspectives of the three philosophers has broadened my aspect drastically. The fact that people see the actual question differently, it explained a lot for me to see why their meaning behind life is different from others, besides the fact that they have lived different lives (like my original thoughts). As far as my views on religion, this class has brought me to the absolute point of confusion! I started off being a believer in the Catholic religion, and although I was not particularly religious, as in going to church weekly etc. I was a strong believer. At this point in my life I do not know what to believe! I now just take life for what it is and live by what is brought in front of me.
As i write this, i feel like my views are expanded so much in such a way that i feel all over the place, which would seem like a negative change, yet I find it to be extremely helpful. The fact that i kind of no longer know exactly what to think is a sign of my outlook on things becoming more open-minded to all the possibilities of the meaning of life. My meaning of life is not exact, and I still have not identified what my reasoning is for being on this earth, but I am completely fine with that. I don’t find any need to be aware of why we are here, living a certain way, the fact that we are living is a satisfying enough. The deeper I focused in on the significance of life as the days have gone by, the more scattered my thoughts had/have gotten. My meaning of life is to just live. life is about experiences and is about whatever you want it to be about.
..My Reconsidered..
My perspective on the meaning of life has definitely evolved yet has not completely transformed. Only to a certain extent and in some areas. I think a lot of my original views were further confirmed, while much of my ideas were expanded and broadened to others. I think this is because of the fact that my initial meaning of life was not one that was very specific to begin with. I started with a wide spectrum of possibilities that were relatable to many other ideas. Therefore once I was introduced to other perspectives, it still correlated with my own.
As a class we have explored many perceptions of what people think the meaning of life is. I think I felt as though in the beginning, i knew what the meaning of life was, and had no idea at the same time. We were presented with a number of different ways of looking at this topic, and eventually went further in detail through each perception. More specifically, we studied our own thoughts on our meaning of life, we investigated the question itself, explored the purpose of living through an assortment of religions, as well as thru an artistic and philosophical stance. We were able to find a deep understanding of the viewpoint of each spectrum so much it was as if we were looking through the lens of each type of notion.
From the beginning I felt as though everyone's meaning of life was varied and dependent on their own experiences. I figured that my own meaning of life was to just live and learn, and to be oblivious of the question “WHY?” I felt as though it was not important for me to focus on what the meaning and purpose was of everything that came my way, but actually trusting that it does essentially have a meaning and purpose, even if I wasn’t aware of it. I figured that the meaning of life was to not live by focusing on what for...but knowing that i will soon come to find out. That about my perspective has not changed.
I feel this way for the fact that I see life as, "If you already know what the point of living is, then there is no real point in living". I say this because I consider life to be the journey we take to figure out life as we live. If I were to have already established that before my life was complete, what would I have left to strive for? I think that my main idea on the meaning of life is, is not actually falling into any specific category, and is not actually about ANYTHING. After all of the possibilities we searched through, and all the aspects we studied, I still believe that life is about experience, change, and creation, further than that too. I’ve but I have come to understand that one must deal with the “natural” situations that may come forth in a persons life, and yet still remain self-attainable. The fact that I must live my life with ME controlling ME and no person and no situation doing so. Throughout this unit, the idea that I mustn’t let any circumstance define me has been further confirmed as time passed.
My views on what other people think about the meaning of life, and why makes much more sense to me. I’ve come to comprehend that there are varied ways to view the question itself, and I’ve recognized what the main reason for controversy is when dealing with what is the meaning of life. On the attempt to answer the question throughout the past few months my entire perspective on live has completely been enhanced.
Through the articles we read from the perspectives of the three philosophers has broadened my aspect drastically. The fact that people see the actual question differently, it explained a lot for me to see why their meaning behind life is different from others, besides the fact that they have lived different lives (like my original thoughts). As far as my views on religion, this class has brought me to the absolute point of confusion! I started off being a believer in the Catholic religion, and although I was not particularly religious, as in going to church weekly etc. I was a strong believer. At this point in my life I do not know what to believe! I now just take life for what it is and live by what is brought in front of me.
As i write this, i feel like my views are expanded so much in such a way that i feel all over the place, which would seem like a negative change, yet I find it to be extremely helpful. The fact that i kind of no longer know exactly what to think is a sign of my outlook on things becoming more open-minded to all the possibilities of the meaning of life. My meaning of life is not exact, and I still have not identified what my reasoning is for being on this earth, but I am completely fine with that. I don’t find any need to be aware of why we are here, living a certain way, the fact that we are living is a satisfying enough. The deeper I focused in on the significance of life as the days have gone by, the more scattered my thoughts had/have gotten. My meaning of life is to just live. life is about experiences and is about whatever you want it to be about.
RECONSIDERED [draft]
My persepective on the meaning of life has definitly changed. Yet not completely, and only to a certain extent and in some areas. I think I felt as though in the beginnning, i knew what the meaning of life was, and had no idea at the same time. I felt as though everyone's MOL was varied and dependent on their own experiences. I thought that my own meaning of life was to just live and learn. I felt as though it was not important for me to focus on what the meaning and purpose was of everything that came my way, but trusting that it does acutally have a meaning and purpose was fine. I figured that the meaning of life was to not live by focusing on what for...but knowing that i will soon come to find out. That about my persepective has not changed.
I feel this way for the fact that i see it as, "if you already know what the point of living is, then there is no real point in living". I think that my main idea on the meaning of life is, is not actually falling into any specific category, and is not actually about ANYTHING. I do not have a meaning, but i have reasoning behind why I don't. What has however changed, is a lot. My views on what other people think on the MOL and why makes much more sense to me. The varied ways to view the question itself, and to recognize that that is a main reason for controversy within the question has definitly enhanced my perspective.
Through the articles we read from the perspectives of the 3 philosophers has broadened my aspect very much so. The fact that people see the actual question differently, it explained a lot for me to see why their meaning behind life is different from others, besides the fact that they have lived different lives (like my original thoughts).
As i write this, i feel like my views are expanded so much in such a way that i feel all over the place...which is good I think. The fact that i kind of no longer know exactly what to think is a sign of my views becomin more open-minded to all the possibilities of the MOL. I don't really know what to think anymore. My meaning of life is definitly undecided and even unknown, but i'm not exactly knowing what my reason here is for. I think that the deeper i get into the MOL the more scattered my thoughts will get.
I feel this way for the fact that i see it as, "if you already know what the point of living is, then there is no real point in living". I think that my main idea on the meaning of life is, is not actually falling into any specific category, and is not actually about ANYTHING. I do not have a meaning, but i have reasoning behind why I don't. What has however changed, is a lot. My views on what other people think on the MOL and why makes much more sense to me. The varied ways to view the question itself, and to recognize that that is a main reason for controversy within the question has definitly enhanced my perspective.
Through the articles we read from the perspectives of the 3 philosophers has broadened my aspect very much so. The fact that people see the actual question differently, it explained a lot for me to see why their meaning behind life is different from others, besides the fact that they have lived different lives (like my original thoughts).
As i write this, i feel like my views are expanded so much in such a way that i feel all over the place...which is good I think. The fact that i kind of no longer know exactly what to think is a sign of my views becomin more open-minded to all the possibilities of the MOL. I don't really know what to think anymore. My meaning of life is definitly undecided and even unknown, but i'm not exactly knowing what my reason here is for. I think that the deeper i get into the MOL the more scattered my thoughts will get.
ARTISTIC PERSPECTIVE [final]
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?
..Artistic Perspective..
Art surrounds each and every one of us everyday whether we realize it or not and many are very oblivious to the fact that we are all affected by it one way or another. Going by my personal definition of art, I consider it to be any type or form of expressing something. I think of it to bring forth a certain emotion or thought in the viewer’s head. Art is a skill or display of meaning and/or interpretation. It includes ones opinion and inner voice, without necessarily outright saying it, and makes one think broader and forces one to be opened up to new and expanded possibilities.
Following such a definition, I’ve come to the conclusion that this class is a form of art. “What is the meaning of life” course is one that I see is a technique to broaden my views and causes me to see things in a different spectrum, just like any other piece of art would. Whether it be the typical piece of are such as a painting, or a book, movie, dance, song, poem, architecture and so on, if whatever it is has a certain impact over you in a certain aberrant approach, I would consider it art. As far as this course goes, I am able to walk into this class almost everyday and I am able to see from a different outlook from each and every visit. My views are expanded to all these varied thoughts and possibilities much like it would if I were listening to some distinctive piece of poetry.
Aside from this class as a piece of art, we have looked at a wide assortment of the diverse viewpoints towards the meaning of life. Being that we have come to the conclusion that art has its way of expressing meaning without technically defining it, we came to understand that art may be a very useful way of helping us come closer to our awareness of the key to life. Much like how it seems that words cannot thoroughly define our purpose of living, we have already established that art does not take any actual words to delimit a message, so why wouldn’t art be able to give us a deeper meaning of life without the use of a typical description. It might be the exact and possibly only way to identify our significance to life.
While reviewing the many possibilities of an artistic piece to focus on, I’ve decided to compare how a story written by Stephen King (also made into a film), named “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”, a short story named, “Jump Shots” written by Robert James Waller, as well as a concise movie piece called “Ready”. Each of those examples portrays a different yet relatable way to live and look at life. All pieces gives the viewer/reader diverse way to view life and how to deal with it in a perhaps out of the ordinary, remarkable way. In the first artistic model, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”, Stephen King introduces the reader to the idea that life is about not letting life define you. King makes it clear that life is what you make it, although we don’t have complete control and choice over all oncoming circumstances, and its about making the best out of what is put in front of you. Stephen King uses a number of different techniques to emphasize such meanings, and brings about alternative questions of the meanings of life. The questions, “Is there a larger significance (to life)?”, and “How should we live” are recognized and the answers are obscurely rejoined. The main character, Andy Defresne, has experienced an overload of struggle and just pain and suffering all physically, mentally, and emotionally, and those are things he had no choice in. The fact that he’d been sentenced to life in prison over a crime that was not entirely proven to be under his hands, and getting beat and raped in jail etc. were all “natural” struggles and problems that were obviously not selective and he could not help but to deal with it in whichever way he could. Yet what I personally got out of this story, is that one cannot allow life’s uncontrollable occurrences define and characterize them as a person. One cannot have power over what life has been given to them, and can’t even completely control what happens with it, yet throughout this piece, it was quite evident that we has humans must come to an understanding of that and must make the best out of what we comes our way no matter what. It is our job to survive through any situation, learn and grow from it even if its difficult. Defresne experienced a lot of hard times and tons of torment and misery, yet he still managed to come out and fight his way through it, making sure that he defines himself and not the situation.
Such a novel/movie, similar to the short story we read in class, “Jump Shot”. With a completely different plot, and not nearly as gloomy, the message it conveyed was just as up to par. It is the story of a boy’s desire to play basketball and how it transformed his life. This story shows the process in which life experiences get on the verge to take over a person yet Waller does not let the situation define him. He followed through with doing what he genuinely wants even if it seems absurd, “Bored with school and small-town life at thirteen, I have decided to become a basketball player. Absurd. Five feet two inches tall, 110 pounds”. With the author explaining his life as this small, frail, want-to-be basketball star with dreams larger than his body, as a youngster, he goes on to his mid life and how his almost fairytale dreams are actually making his reality. Waller spends his life striving to complete his one main goal, that made him happy, until he suddenly doesn’t find the same joy out of his objective as he used to. All the way up to taking his basketball career in college, piece by piece, he slowly got worn out of his desire for his love of basketball.
He’d started to slowly but surely loose his own essence of what he really wanted. Basketball had shaped his live and was beginning to generate what was to come for him, rather than himself deciding that. As seen in the story, his talent drove the people who surrounded him to end up being more as fiend for young Waller to be playing basketball then Waller himself. That is made clear when speaking of his father, he’d made the “All-North Central Conference first team”, Waller states, “he is please, and I am pleased for him. By the end of the story, it was clear that he had lost his love for basketball and found comfort in something new, which was to become a famous writer instead. This story sent out the message that live should be lived either balanced or even perhaps rather unbalanced. Either way, don’t force it. One should spend their life focused on what they love doing, whether or not the desire for it will eventually fade or strength is unimportant, but one should always go for it. There’s nothing to lose. However, does that mean that life is also about the strive to find what makes one happy? It seems that Waller found a distinct passion in basketball, and he was not able to pinpoint what exactly it was about it that gave him this great sensation out of it, but it seems that when he reached his limit, and he actually understood why, at that point his infatuation all just kind of stopped for him. I could compare this to my own personal theory that once one determines the meaning to life, they would not get the same affection for it. There would not be a point to living if you’d already established what the point was.
In the peculiar short film called “Ready”, this significant movie is focused around the natural, uncontrollable idea of death. Death is the one thing that no one can in anyway control and can always bank on happened. Dying is something no one can in any way work around and in this film a woman believes that she is aware of the day she will die. She spent the last times of her life with a plan, and she lived each day trying to control what would happen with each hour until her time was up. She had a timer on her life, and she figured instead of aiming to live life to its absolute fullest (whatever that may be), she decided to live as if there was nothing she could do other than following the routine of her life. She decided to live out her life the way one would typically think they were supposed to. By living under certain rules, demonstrating certain manners, etc. rather than living the way she probably truly wanted to. This film showed us the reactions of an individual and the way one would live if they were given a deadline on their lifeline, and somewhat of an ultimatum. This piece also showed that life is unexpected and there is always going to be a sense of surprise.
All three of those artistic pieces demonstrated the same message, yet in very uncommon ways. The fact that one must make the best out of each situation they are given, without having a choice over what exactly they are handed. The way each manages the unmanageable circumstances is how we should live our lives according to these pieces of art.
..Artistic Perspective..
Art surrounds each and every one of us everyday whether we realize it or not and many are very oblivious to the fact that we are all affected by it one way or another. Going by my personal definition of art, I consider it to be any type or form of expressing something. I think of it to bring forth a certain emotion or thought in the viewer’s head. Art is a skill or display of meaning and/or interpretation. It includes ones opinion and inner voice, without necessarily outright saying it, and makes one think broader and forces one to be opened up to new and expanded possibilities.
Following such a definition, I’ve come to the conclusion that this class is a form of art. “What is the meaning of life” course is one that I see is a technique to broaden my views and causes me to see things in a different spectrum, just like any other piece of art would. Whether it be the typical piece of are such as a painting, or a book, movie, dance, song, poem, architecture and so on, if whatever it is has a certain impact over you in a certain aberrant approach, I would consider it art. As far as this course goes, I am able to walk into this class almost everyday and I am able to see from a different outlook from each and every visit. My views are expanded to all these varied thoughts and possibilities much like it would if I were listening to some distinctive piece of poetry.
Aside from this class as a piece of art, we have looked at a wide assortment of the diverse viewpoints towards the meaning of life. Being that we have come to the conclusion that art has its way of expressing meaning without technically defining it, we came to understand that art may be a very useful way of helping us come closer to our awareness of the key to life. Much like how it seems that words cannot thoroughly define our purpose of living, we have already established that art does not take any actual words to delimit a message, so why wouldn’t art be able to give us a deeper meaning of life without the use of a typical description. It might be the exact and possibly only way to identify our significance to life.
While reviewing the many possibilities of an artistic piece to focus on, I’ve decided to compare how a story written by Stephen King (also made into a film), named “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”, a short story named, “Jump Shots” written by Robert James Waller, as well as a concise movie piece called “Ready”. Each of those examples portrays a different yet relatable way to live and look at life. All pieces gives the viewer/reader diverse way to view life and how to deal with it in a perhaps out of the ordinary, remarkable way. In the first artistic model, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”, Stephen King introduces the reader to the idea that life is about not letting life define you. King makes it clear that life is what you make it, although we don’t have complete control and choice over all oncoming circumstances, and its about making the best out of what is put in front of you. Stephen King uses a number of different techniques to emphasize such meanings, and brings about alternative questions of the meanings of life. The questions, “Is there a larger significance (to life)?”, and “How should we live” are recognized and the answers are obscurely rejoined. The main character, Andy Defresne, has experienced an overload of struggle and just pain and suffering all physically, mentally, and emotionally, and those are things he had no choice in. The fact that he’d been sentenced to life in prison over a crime that was not entirely proven to be under his hands, and getting beat and raped in jail etc. were all “natural” struggles and problems that were obviously not selective and he could not help but to deal with it in whichever way he could. Yet what I personally got out of this story, is that one cannot allow life’s uncontrollable occurrences define and characterize them as a person. One cannot have power over what life has been given to them, and can’t even completely control what happens with it, yet throughout this piece, it was quite evident that we has humans must come to an understanding of that and must make the best out of what we comes our way no matter what. It is our job to survive through any situation, learn and grow from it even if its difficult. Defresne experienced a lot of hard times and tons of torment and misery, yet he still managed to come out and fight his way through it, making sure that he defines himself and not the situation.
Such a novel/movie, similar to the short story we read in class, “Jump Shot”. With a completely different plot, and not nearly as gloomy, the message it conveyed was just as up to par. It is the story of a boy’s desire to play basketball and how it transformed his life. This story shows the process in which life experiences get on the verge to take over a person yet Waller does not let the situation define him. He followed through with doing what he genuinely wants even if it seems absurd, “Bored with school and small-town life at thirteen, I have decided to become a basketball player. Absurd. Five feet two inches tall, 110 pounds”. With the author explaining his life as this small, frail, want-to-be basketball star with dreams larger than his body, as a youngster, he goes on to his mid life and how his almost fairytale dreams are actually making his reality. Waller spends his life striving to complete his one main goal, that made him happy, until he suddenly doesn’t find the same joy out of his objective as he used to. All the way up to taking his basketball career in college, piece by piece, he slowly got worn out of his desire for his love of basketball.
He’d started to slowly but surely loose his own essence of what he really wanted. Basketball had shaped his live and was beginning to generate what was to come for him, rather than himself deciding that. As seen in the story, his talent drove the people who surrounded him to end up being more as fiend for young Waller to be playing basketball then Waller himself. That is made clear when speaking of his father, he’d made the “All-North Central Conference first team”, Waller states, “he is please, and I am pleased for him. By the end of the story, it was clear that he had lost his love for basketball and found comfort in something new, which was to become a famous writer instead. This story sent out the message that live should be lived either balanced or even perhaps rather unbalanced. Either way, don’t force it. One should spend their life focused on what they love doing, whether or not the desire for it will eventually fade or strength is unimportant, but one should always go for it. There’s nothing to lose. However, does that mean that life is also about the strive to find what makes one happy? It seems that Waller found a distinct passion in basketball, and he was not able to pinpoint what exactly it was about it that gave him this great sensation out of it, but it seems that when he reached his limit, and he actually understood why, at that point his infatuation all just kind of stopped for him. I could compare this to my own personal theory that once one determines the meaning to life, they would not get the same affection for it. There would not be a point to living if you’d already established what the point was.
In the peculiar short film called “Ready”, this significant movie is focused around the natural, uncontrollable idea of death. Death is the one thing that no one can in anyway control and can always bank on happened. Dying is something no one can in any way work around and in this film a woman believes that she is aware of the day she will die. She spent the last times of her life with a plan, and she lived each day trying to control what would happen with each hour until her time was up. She had a timer on her life, and she figured instead of aiming to live life to its absolute fullest (whatever that may be), she decided to live as if there was nothing she could do other than following the routine of her life. She decided to live out her life the way one would typically think they were supposed to. By living under certain rules, demonstrating certain manners, etc. rather than living the way she probably truly wanted to. This film showed us the reactions of an individual and the way one would live if they were given a deadline on their lifeline, and somewhat of an ultimatum. This piece also showed that life is unexpected and there is always going to be a sense of surprise.
All three of those artistic pieces demonstrated the same message, yet in very uncommon ways. The fact that one must make the best out of each situation they are given, without having a choice over what exactly they are handed. The way each manages the unmanageable circumstances is how we should live our lives according to these pieces of art.
ARTISTIC PERSPECTIVE [draft 2]
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?
..Artistic Perspective..
Art surrounds each and every one of us everyday whether we realize it or not and many are very oblivious to the fact that we are all affected by it one way or another. Going by my personal definition of art, I consider it to be any type or form of expressing something. I think of it to bring forth a certain emotion or thought in the viewer’s head. Art is a skill or display of meaning and/or interpretation. It includes ones opinion and inner voice, without necessarily outright saying it, and makes one think broader and forces one to be opened up to new and expanded possibilities.
Following such a definition, I’ve come to the conclusion that this class is a form of art. “What is the meaning of life” course is one that I see is a technique to broaden my views and causes me to see things in a different spectrum, just like any other piece of art would. Whether it be the typical piece of are such as a painting, or a book, movie, dance, song, poem, architecture and so on, if whatever it is has a certain impact over you in a certain aberrant approach, I would consider it art. As far as this course goes, I am able to walk into this class almost everyday and I am able to see from a different outlook from each and every visit. My views are expanded to all these varied thoughts and possibilities much like it would if I were listening to some distinctive piece of poetry.
Aside from this class as a piece of art, we have looked at a wide assortment of the diverse viewpoints towards the meaning of life. Being that we have come to the conclusion that art has its way of expressing meaning without technically defining it, we came to understand that art may be a very useful way of helping us come closer to our awareness of the key to life. Much like how it seems that words cannot thoroughly define our purpose of living, we have already established that art does not take any actual words to delimit a message, so why wouldn’t art be able to give us a deeper meaning of life without the use of a typical description. It might be the exact and possibly only way to identify our significance to life.
While reviewing the many possibilities of an artistic piece to focus on, I’ve decided to compare how a story written by Stephen King (also made into a film), named “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”, a short story named, “Jump Shots” written by Robert James Waller, as well as a concise movie piece called “Ready”. Each of those examples portrays a different yet relatable way to live and look at life. All pieces gives the viewer/reader diverse way to view life and how to deal with it in a perhaps out of the ordinary, remarkable way. In the first artistic model, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”, Stephen King introduces the reader to the idea that life is about not letting life define you. King makes it clear that life is what you make it, although we don’t have complete control and choice over all oncoming circumstances, and its about making the best out of what is put in front of you. Stephen King uses a number of different techniques to emphasize such meanings, and brings about alternative questions of the meanings of life. The questions, “Is there a larger significance (to life)?”, and “How should we live” are recognized and the answers are obscurely rejoined. The main character, Andy Defresne, has experienced an overload of struggle and just pain and suffering all physically, mentally, and emotionally, and those are things he had no choice in. The fact that he’d been sentenced to life in prison over a crime that was not entirely proven to be under his hands, and getting beat and raped in jail etc. were all “natural” struggles and problems that were obviously not selective and he could not help but to deal with it in whichever way he could. Yet what I personally got out of this story, is that one cannot allow life’s uncontrollable occurrences define and characterize them as a person. One cannot have power over what life has been given to them, and can’t even completely control what happens with it, yet throughout this piece, it was quite evident that we has humans must come to an understanding of that and must make the best out of what we comes our way no matter what. It is our job to survive through any situation, learn and grow from it even if its difficult. Defresne experienced a lot of hard times and tons of torment and misery, yet he still managed to come out and fight his way through it, making sure that he defines himself and not the situation.
Such a novel/movie, similar to the short story we read in class, “Jump Shot”. With a completely different plot, and not nearly as gloomy, the message it conveyed was just as up to par. It is the story of a boy’s desire to play basketball and how it transformed his life. This story shows the process in which life experiences get on the verge to take over a person. With the author explaining his life as this small, frail, want-to-be basketball star with dreams larger than his body, as a youngster, he goes on to his mid life and how his almost fairytale dreams are actually making his reality. Waller spends his life striving to complete his one main goal, that made him happy, until he suddenly doesn’t find the same joy out of his objective as he used to. All the way up to taking his basketball career in college, piece by piece, he slowly got worn out of his desire for his love of basketball. Basketball had shaped his live and was beginning to generate what was to come for him, rather than himself deciding that. However, does that mean that live is also about the strive to find what makes one happy?
In the peculiar short film called “Ready”, this significant movie is focused around the natural, uncontrollable idea of death. Death is the one thing that no one can in anyway control and can always bank on happened. Dying is something no one can in any way work around and in this film a woman believes that she is aware of the day she will die. She spent the last times of her life with a plan, and she lived each day trying to control what would happen with each hour until her time was up. She had a timer on her life, and she figured instead of aiming to live life to its absolute fullest (whatever that may be), she decided to live as if there was nothing she could do other than following the routine of her life.
All three of those artistic pieces demonstrated the same message, yet in very uncommon ways. The fact that one must make the best out of each situation they are given, without having a choice over what exactly they are handed. The way each manages the unmanageable circumstances is how we should live our lives according to these pieces of art.
..Artistic Perspective..
Art surrounds each and every one of us everyday whether we realize it or not and many are very oblivious to the fact that we are all affected by it one way or another. Going by my personal definition of art, I consider it to be any type or form of expressing something. I think of it to bring forth a certain emotion or thought in the viewer’s head. Art is a skill or display of meaning and/or interpretation. It includes ones opinion and inner voice, without necessarily outright saying it, and makes one think broader and forces one to be opened up to new and expanded possibilities.
Following such a definition, I’ve come to the conclusion that this class is a form of art. “What is the meaning of life” course is one that I see is a technique to broaden my views and causes me to see things in a different spectrum, just like any other piece of art would. Whether it be the typical piece of are such as a painting, or a book, movie, dance, song, poem, architecture and so on, if whatever it is has a certain impact over you in a certain aberrant approach, I would consider it art. As far as this course goes, I am able to walk into this class almost everyday and I am able to see from a different outlook from each and every visit. My views are expanded to all these varied thoughts and possibilities much like it would if I were listening to some distinctive piece of poetry.
Aside from this class as a piece of art, we have looked at a wide assortment of the diverse viewpoints towards the meaning of life. Being that we have come to the conclusion that art has its way of expressing meaning without technically defining it, we came to understand that art may be a very useful way of helping us come closer to our awareness of the key to life. Much like how it seems that words cannot thoroughly define our purpose of living, we have already established that art does not take any actual words to delimit a message, so why wouldn’t art be able to give us a deeper meaning of life without the use of a typical description. It might be the exact and possibly only way to identify our significance to life.
While reviewing the many possibilities of an artistic piece to focus on, I’ve decided to compare how a story written by Stephen King (also made into a film), named “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”, a short story named, “Jump Shots” written by Robert James Waller, as well as a concise movie piece called “Ready”. Each of those examples portrays a different yet relatable way to live and look at life. All pieces gives the viewer/reader diverse way to view life and how to deal with it in a perhaps out of the ordinary, remarkable way. In the first artistic model, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”, Stephen King introduces the reader to the idea that life is about not letting life define you. King makes it clear that life is what you make it, although we don’t have complete control and choice over all oncoming circumstances, and its about making the best out of what is put in front of you. Stephen King uses a number of different techniques to emphasize such meanings, and brings about alternative questions of the meanings of life. The questions, “Is there a larger significance (to life)?”, and “How should we live” are recognized and the answers are obscurely rejoined. The main character, Andy Defresne, has experienced an overload of struggle and just pain and suffering all physically, mentally, and emotionally, and those are things he had no choice in. The fact that he’d been sentenced to life in prison over a crime that was not entirely proven to be under his hands, and getting beat and raped in jail etc. were all “natural” struggles and problems that were obviously not selective and he could not help but to deal with it in whichever way he could. Yet what I personally got out of this story, is that one cannot allow life’s uncontrollable occurrences define and characterize them as a person. One cannot have power over what life has been given to them, and can’t even completely control what happens with it, yet throughout this piece, it was quite evident that we has humans must come to an understanding of that and must make the best out of what we comes our way no matter what. It is our job to survive through any situation, learn and grow from it even if its difficult. Defresne experienced a lot of hard times and tons of torment and misery, yet he still managed to come out and fight his way through it, making sure that he defines himself and not the situation.
Such a novel/movie, similar to the short story we read in class, “Jump Shot”. With a completely different plot, and not nearly as gloomy, the message it conveyed was just as up to par. It is the story of a boy’s desire to play basketball and how it transformed his life. This story shows the process in which life experiences get on the verge to take over a person. With the author explaining his life as this small, frail, want-to-be basketball star with dreams larger than his body, as a youngster, he goes on to his mid life and how his almost fairytale dreams are actually making his reality. Waller spends his life striving to complete his one main goal, that made him happy, until he suddenly doesn’t find the same joy out of his objective as he used to. All the way up to taking his basketball career in college, piece by piece, he slowly got worn out of his desire for his love of basketball. Basketball had shaped his live and was beginning to generate what was to come for him, rather than himself deciding that. However, does that mean that live is also about the strive to find what makes one happy?
In the peculiar short film called “Ready”, this significant movie is focused around the natural, uncontrollable idea of death. Death is the one thing that no one can in anyway control and can always bank on happened. Dying is something no one can in any way work around and in this film a woman believes that she is aware of the day she will die. She spent the last times of her life with a plan, and she lived each day trying to control what would happen with each hour until her time was up. She had a timer on her life, and she figured instead of aiming to live life to its absolute fullest (whatever that may be), she decided to live as if there was nothing she could do other than following the routine of her life.
All three of those artistic pieces demonstrated the same message, yet in very uncommon ways. The fact that one must make the best out of each situation they are given, without having a choice over what exactly they are handed. The way each manages the unmanageable circumstances is how we should live our lives according to these pieces of art.
ARTISTIC PERSPECTIVE [draft]
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?
..Artistic Perspective..
Art surrounds us everyday and each person is somewhat blinded from it. By my personal definition of art, i consider it to be any type of formofexpressing something. it is a skill or display of meaning and/or interpretation. in includes ones opinion and inner voice without necessarily outright saying it,and makes one think broader and forces one to be opened up to new and expanded possibilities.
i've come to the idea that i think this class is a form of art. I am ableto walk into this class almost everday and i'm able to pull out a number of different aspects from each and every visit. especially whengoin by our definition, although it clearly may not be typical, i feel lt does fit in. my mind is expanded to all these varied thoughts and possibilities much likeit would if i were watching some sort of dance. whether it would be a modern dance piece or aficam dance etc. (those in particular i feel convey mch more andintal deeper messages) i'd be able
..Artistic Perspective..
Art surrounds us everyday and each person is somewhat blinded from it. By my personal definition of art, i consider it to be any type of formofexpressing something. it is a skill or display of meaning and/or interpretation. in includes ones opinion and inner voice without necessarily outright saying it,and makes one think broader and forces one to be opened up to new and expanded possibilities.
i've come to the idea that i think this class is a form of art. I am ableto walk into this class almost everday and i'm able to pull out a number of different aspects from each and every visit. especially whengoin by our definition, although it clearly may not be typical, i feel lt does fit in. my mind is expanded to all these varied thoughts and possibilities much likeit would if i were watching some sort of dance. whether it would be a modern dance piece or aficam dance etc. (those in particular i feel convey mch more andintal deeper messages) i'd be able
PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE [final]
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?
..Philosophical Perspective..
(YET TO POST)
..Philosophical Perspective..
(YET TO POST)
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