While reading through the Sutras, I was caught to this idea of Pranayama. The idea of "Pranayama: control of breath" is "Beneficial to health, steadies the body and is highly conducive to the concentration of the mind" stuck out more then the rest partly because you do not ever hear of many practices like this and partly because of myself having asthma for 20ish years. It makes me wonder if this practice might be beneficial in helping control asthma attacks to those who understand this type of concentration.
I am a man of modern medicine and I believe we are making leaps and bounds in that of medicine for people. Having Asthma for so long has always made me wonder if there is anything else out there that may help in getting rid of this problem. I am an avid user of Advair and Ventolin and I feel I would not be living in todays world without them. Thus comes the predicament, I/We are so dependent on this modern medicine that is the fix of right now but are we overlooking easier and safer practices that can be just as, if not more beneficial then these medicines? Pranayama could be just that fix. If one could fully learn to control their breath through exercises of the mind and body then I do not see why it would not be possible. Granted Asthma deals with mostly airway constriction, it might be a way to get off these med's we have become so dependent on and open a new route to beating this condition. I for one and tired of having to carry my inhaler EVERYWHERE. To be able to fully control ones functions of the body is what I think the Sutras are getting at and why so many people follow this way of living.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Persuasion Through Speech
When we were talking about Grogias, his idea of persuasion through speech raised an eyebrow. Maybe it is because I am a communication major or because I see this thing happening all the time, but the power to persuade through speech is something I see taken for granted today. As said in the book, speech constructs Doxa. Looking at recent events from things like political elections and wars, how much of what we have done has been because of what one man has been able to say and persuade through speeches? Former President Bush had an entire country at the beginning of the War on Terror because people could feel what he was saying and saw for their own eyes. If he were not a master at giving these speeches, the country would probably have not fully backed him in our efforts. Yes he took some criticism but he was able enough to inspire the entire country to back him and the war efforts through his use of speech and emotional appeal.
In today’s society, it is highly overlooked because there are so many verbal things we take for granted. When one takes a step back and begins to dissect how such things are made possible, they will understand the full potential that speech carries. Having taken several courses on speech and studied it to some extent, many people over estimate how useful and powerful a good speaker really is. It is amazing how much it can inspire, create fear, positive/negative emotions, and many other things through that of simple vocal variations and wording. Some of the most powerful people ever were so talented in this and in our age of technology, I feel we are losing some of this power. We rely on texting and emailing so much that we are starting to become numb to speech in general.
Words have a huge effect on our everyday lives and we all interpret them differently. What can be uplifting and motivating to one person can be degrading and hurtful to another. Every speech is catered to a certain set of audience.
It is how we chose to play with these words that will ultimately have a role in the power of persuasion.
OR
Maybe we are not becoming numb to speech but merely better orators and better listeners and this is helping sift through "junk" we do not want to hear.
In today’s society, it is highly overlooked because there are so many verbal things we take for granted. When one takes a step back and begins to dissect how such things are made possible, they will understand the full potential that speech carries. Having taken several courses on speech and studied it to some extent, many people over estimate how useful and powerful a good speaker really is. It is amazing how much it can inspire, create fear, positive/negative emotions, and many other things through that of simple vocal variations and wording. Some of the most powerful people ever were so talented in this and in our age of technology, I feel we are losing some of this power. We rely on texting and emailing so much that we are starting to become numb to speech in general.
Words have a huge effect on our everyday lives and we all interpret them differently. What can be uplifting and motivating to one person can be degrading and hurtful to another. Every speech is catered to a certain set of audience.
It is how we chose to play with these words that will ultimately have a role in the power of persuasion.
OR
Maybe we are not becoming numb to speech but merely better orators and better listeners and this is helping sift through "junk" we do not want to hear.
What is Love?
The title refers to more then just lyrics of a terrible song. Throughout my life, love has been almost an on again off again thing. There are many forms of love which can be categorized in a plethora of ways. In ancient philosophy, Plato defines it as;
Love is the desire for permanent possession of the good
Love is therefore a desire for immortality
This is manifested in physical eros which seeks reproduction.
Plato, then, implicitly denigrates homo-erotic love.)
True immortality, i.e. the true satisfaction of the desire for the permanence of good, can only be found in philosophy (actually erosophy).
So is there more to it then that? In my eyes, love is more of an emotion then a desire for immortality. It is wanting to share happiness, sadness, health, time, effort, and everyday life in order for one to be happy and fulfilled. Love translates into many things that are hard to describe until you have truly felt it. If you have ever read any of the "Love is" articles in the newspaper, you get an idea of everything it entails. It is something to live your life by. You want to love everything for what it is and not what it "could be".
Love has been a huge factor for many people when dealing with the hardships of life. It can be a guiding light an a shoulder to lean on. Love has the ability to make even the worst of days turn to the best of days through small actions that define someones love for another. Love can change someones life for the better and leave an ever lasting impression. It is a binding force that is something everybody experiences throughout their entire life. Even those people who you think cannot love anything (like the Grinch) can be shown the way and turned from the worst to the best.
Love is the desire for permanent possession of the good
Love is therefore a desire for immortality
This is manifested in physical eros which seeks reproduction.
Plato, then, implicitly denigrates homo-erotic love.)
True immortality, i.e. the true satisfaction of the desire for the permanence of good, can only be found in philosophy (actually erosophy).
So is there more to it then that? In my eyes, love is more of an emotion then a desire for immortality. It is wanting to share happiness, sadness, health, time, effort, and everyday life in order for one to be happy and fulfilled. Love translates into many things that are hard to describe until you have truly felt it. If you have ever read any of the "Love is" articles in the newspaper, you get an idea of everything it entails. It is something to live your life by. You want to love everything for what it is and not what it "could be".
Love has been a huge factor for many people when dealing with the hardships of life. It can be a guiding light an a shoulder to lean on. Love has the ability to make even the worst of days turn to the best of days through small actions that define someones love for another. Love can change someones life for the better and leave an ever lasting impression. It is a binding force that is something everybody experiences throughout their entire life. Even those people who you think cannot love anything (like the Grinch) can be shown the way and turned from the worst to the best.
Animals as friends?
Can Animals Be Friends? – Blog
On the topic of animals actually being friends, I liked hearing the different opinions people had about the possibility of animals being a legitimate friend as qualified in our readings. We have addressed the emotion of Love; an emotion almost all people agree exists - even though it is difficult to define. Most would probably agree we can have true, deep love for our companion animals, especially dogs and cats - which we have domesticated and altered over centuries. By the definition we learned in class, some animals qualify as being able to be friends while others, not so much.
These animals like cats and dogs are why we have the sayings “mans best friend”. When an animal is able to give back in a form of love or a feeling of being accepted, they can become friends. Animals like gold fish on the other hand are different. They have no way of being able to reciprocate that love for you nor have the ability to rasp the concept of learning or becoming companions. This separates one species from another.
In my opinion, animals give unconditional love. Unconditional love is something we humans have a hard time comprehending. We have an infamous way of wanting something in return for our love and if we do not get it we tend to retaliate in one form or another. Animals on the other hand you can give them little attention or lavish them with attention and they will keep on sharing themselves with you.
Having a dog, I guess I can associate certain animals being friends more then others might. Zeus (my dog in my profile picture) gives unconditional love to myself. He has learned what is good and what is bad (like chewing up things that are not his). He also has a keen sense on when to comfort me when I am down or upset. His ability to show these kinds of things are, in my opinion, what sets animals who can be friends from those who cannot.
On the topic of animals actually being friends, I liked hearing the different opinions people had about the possibility of animals being a legitimate friend as qualified in our readings. We have addressed the emotion of Love; an emotion almost all people agree exists - even though it is difficult to define. Most would probably agree we can have true, deep love for our companion animals, especially dogs and cats - which we have domesticated and altered over centuries. By the definition we learned in class, some animals qualify as being able to be friends while others, not so much.
These animals like cats and dogs are why we have the sayings “mans best friend”. When an animal is able to give back in a form of love or a feeling of being accepted, they can become friends. Animals like gold fish on the other hand are different. They have no way of being able to reciprocate that love for you nor have the ability to rasp the concept of learning or becoming companions. This separates one species from another.
In my opinion, animals give unconditional love. Unconditional love is something we humans have a hard time comprehending. We have an infamous way of wanting something in return for our love and if we do not get it we tend to retaliate in one form or another. Animals on the other hand you can give them little attention or lavish them with attention and they will keep on sharing themselves with you.
Having a dog, I guess I can associate certain animals being friends more then others might. Zeus (my dog in my profile picture) gives unconditional love to myself. He has learned what is good and what is bad (like chewing up things that are not his). He also has a keen sense on when to comfort me when I am down or upset. His ability to show these kinds of things are, in my opinion, what sets animals who can be friends from those who cannot.
Can one become "God-Like" ?
It is interesting to see and hear different opinions on becoming “god like”. I am not the most religious person but I am open to the different views and opinions people have. Some see divinity as unattainable while others think we may possibly be closer then we know.
The definition that is currently in the dictionary for god is...
"a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship"
and
"the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshiped as creator and ruler of the universe"
I guess I mean being immortal, fully understanding ourselves and the universe in its entirety. Or do you believe that there our limits to our intelligence or boundaries in science that we will never be able to cross. Are humans completely capable of understanding everything given enough time, or are there limits to what we can collectively accomplish?
Depending on where you put your beliefs, you might side with either definition. In philosophy, I think it is put more so in that of being perfect in wisdom and goodness. If one has the capacity to be “perfect” then yes it is attainable. But the word perfect brings a meaning of no fault in any means and by that standard, nobody is ultimately and fully perfect.
The definition that is currently in the dictionary for god is...
"a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship"
and
"the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshiped as creator and ruler of the universe"
I guess I mean being immortal, fully understanding ourselves and the universe in its entirety. Or do you believe that there our limits to our intelligence or boundaries in science that we will never be able to cross. Are humans completely capable of understanding everything given enough time, or are there limits to what we can collectively accomplish?
Depending on where you put your beliefs, you might side with either definition. In philosophy, I think it is put more so in that of being perfect in wisdom and goodness. If one has the capacity to be “perfect” then yes it is attainable. But the word perfect brings a meaning of no fault in any means and by that standard, nobody is ultimately and fully perfect.
Broken Home to Good, Is it Possible?
We had talked about how coming from a broken home can somewhat cause a predestination effect on the life of kids. It is easy to see how this is a common thought amongst most people because home life plays a huge part in shaping who we are. It is how we associate how to act when we get outside the walls of our house and how we govern right from wrong.
Coming from a home that has witnessed its’ share of bad events, I for one can attest that while it does play a huge factor, if you can push beyond this, you can and will become the thing that you may fear most. One will realize that there is more to life then taking the “easy way out” and that hard work, and dedication do pay off in the end.
My childhood was based in a fairly rough part of Dallas due to the fact that my mother was a single mother raising three kids. I had been witness to many violent things and have seen first hand, how a broken home can turn a person bad. It is interesting to think how things for my family might be different if my mother had not been the strong person she is. She instilled a sense of right and wrong in us and taught us that even though times are rough and you can be down on your luck, you have to push on. For tomorrow is a new day and with new days bring new opportunities.
With the right kind of morals and ethics instilled within us from child hood, we can turn the worst of situation into the best. It is not always the easiest thing to do, but if we actually come to a sense of realization, then it is extremely possible to break the common mold and become a “good person”. It is something to be admired and reckoned with because hard work and determination are what it means to make this society work.
Coming from a home that has witnessed its’ share of bad events, I for one can attest that while it does play a huge factor, if you can push beyond this, you can and will become the thing that you may fear most. One will realize that there is more to life then taking the “easy way out” and that hard work, and dedication do pay off in the end.
My childhood was based in a fairly rough part of Dallas due to the fact that my mother was a single mother raising three kids. I had been witness to many violent things and have seen first hand, how a broken home can turn a person bad. It is interesting to think how things for my family might be different if my mother had not been the strong person she is. She instilled a sense of right and wrong in us and taught us that even though times are rough and you can be down on your luck, you have to push on. For tomorrow is a new day and with new days bring new opportunities.
With the right kind of morals and ethics instilled within us from child hood, we can turn the worst of situation into the best. It is not always the easiest thing to do, but if we actually come to a sense of realization, then it is extremely possible to break the common mold and become a “good person”. It is something to be admired and reckoned with because hard work and determination are what it means to make this society work.
Beauty is Not Skin Deep
In today’s world, beauty is defined in so many different ways; from short hair to large rings around necks. Beauty has been one thing that has always been around from the beginning of time, it just differs from one culture to the next. We often place such importance on “being beautiful” that we tend to over look such small things like what actual beauty is. The old saying, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is more relevant then ever. People in our society go to such great lengths to make themselves beautiful that they often do not see what they possess and just want to be like the celebrities they see within the magazines or the internet.
Beauty is such a magnificent thing. It can make you feel like a prince or princess, it can make a bad day turn good and it has the power to make the sick feel whole again. It saddens me to think that people seem to gravitate towards the negative sides and often do not see the beauty within. It is always easy to say that I am not beautiful but to be beautiful is not just an aesthetic or visual thing.
Inner beauty is one of the most golden things any one person can possess. It cannot be taken away or classified as ugly. It is a feeling from within whether everyone sees it or not. It is easily the most gratifying emotion to have. In America, beauty is almost solely focused on the outside. How skinny you are, what you eat, the make up you wear, and the hair cut you have. These are all exterior, basic, almost primitive wants and needs. What happened to the simple things like; how healthy you are, you smart you may be, how personable you are? It is everything that actually means something to us and the thing that is most often not included into our everyday vocabulary and meaning of beauty.
The world would greatly benefit if we could get back to the fundamental meaning of beauty and hold onto what little bit we have left. It would do everyone so much good if we had a chance to travel the world and see how I every country, the meaning of beauty is different. We might finally come to a realization that beauty truly is “In the eye of the beholder”.
Beauty is such a magnificent thing. It can make you feel like a prince or princess, it can make a bad day turn good and it has the power to make the sick feel whole again. It saddens me to think that people seem to gravitate towards the negative sides and often do not see the beauty within. It is always easy to say that I am not beautiful but to be beautiful is not just an aesthetic or visual thing.
Inner beauty is one of the most golden things any one person can possess. It cannot be taken away or classified as ugly. It is a feeling from within whether everyone sees it or not. It is easily the most gratifying emotion to have. In America, beauty is almost solely focused on the outside. How skinny you are, what you eat, the make up you wear, and the hair cut you have. These are all exterior, basic, almost primitive wants and needs. What happened to the simple things like; how healthy you are, you smart you may be, how personable you are? It is everything that actually means something to us and the thing that is most often not included into our everyday vocabulary and meaning of beauty.
The world would greatly benefit if we could get back to the fundamental meaning of beauty and hold onto what little bit we have left. It would do everyone so much good if we had a chance to travel the world and see how I every country, the meaning of beauty is different. We might finally come to a realization that beauty truly is “In the eye of the beholder”.
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