Desire for Wisdom and Knowledge

Why is it that knowledge can be taught and wisdom is only learned? It would be just great if there was a book out there somewhere that would tell me all the decisions I need to make in order for me to live a happy, fulfilled life. Too bad, reality happened. I am the one who will screw up my life with a bad decision or succeed in my life with a good decision. There is no formula for wisdom. Wisdom comes with experience, and there is no avoiding it. (Not that anyone would ever want to avoid it!) Knowledge, however, is a completly different concept. We all go to school for nearly half of our lives just to say that we understand at least something about our idealized professions. Now and then, I find that if I take a step back and let life take its oscillating course, most of the time waking up another morning angry and sleep deprived won't be so bad. I don't want to squeeze all of the juice out of my life, becuase I actually like drinking the pulp. If we all just keep on adding miles onto our highways, we will find that happiness comes more naturally when we live our lives to the fullest.

My Truth

How does one obtain the truth? How do we decipher the difference between a lie and a truth? The only truth we can trust is truth that lies within us.

The only way we can become comfortable with ourselves is to embark on a quest in order to find our inner truth. Skeptics may argue that our truths are simply to be happy with our short lives. I disagree however, because not everyone knows how to achieve this. The generic formula for happiness is always: money and love. Keeping things in moderation is the difficult part. I don't even know how much concentration I need in order to get the right amount of both to be happy with my life. That is the other truth, we all seek to equate the happiness formula.

The difference between those easily satisfied and those difficult to please are exemplified by Govinda and Siddartha. Govinda is convinced quickly that Gotama has the answers to all of his suffering, and doesn't need to know anything else. Siddartha, however, needs to know more. His unquenchable longing for knowledge differentiates him from Govinda. All of us fit into one of two categories. Either we are ready to give up our questions, or not.

The Spectrum of Happiness

On the right-most end of the happiness spectrum is happiness, and on the left-most end is suicidal depression. In the middle, the emotion of contentment lies. All of us go through these different feelings multiple times in our lives due to our experiences. I felt like I had more hope and trust when I was younger, before I knew reality.

Siddartha thought that the answers to his unending questions could be simply discovered through expelling himself into another world. This is not the case however, because Siddartha must face himself in order to identify his purpose in life.

Dreams and goals are diminished and trampled upon when we all grow up. The obstacles of reality block us from becoming anything we want to be, which is discouraging.

Adjustments Through Maturation

Last night, I realized just how close I am to independence. I am not too excited about eventually having to pay the bills, or to be placed in an environment that I am unfamiliar with, but I finally get to live my own life. Although frightening and appealing, I believe that the day I graduate high school, I become an adult.

Almost four years ago, I walked through the doors into my freshman year. High School: the intimidating next step into adolescence. It wasn't until the end of sophomore year that I finally became comfortable with myself. My whole perspective on high school changed at that time. I started to care about what I was learning and what the curriculum was doing for my education, which essentially is my maturation. I am not the same person that I was three years ago. My everyday decisions reflect these modifications. To name one thing, I actually excel in school now. I try my best to succeed, because I now that proof of my metamorphosis is necessary in order to show different colleges and universities that I deserve to be in their institution.

"The Year is at the Spring" by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema reflects similar feelings that I possess. The woman in the painting, for example, seems to be fondly contemplating on a memory. Her emotions are slightly related to mine because I fondly look on into the future. I don't know what college I will be accepted into yet, but at least I know I am going. At that moment, which is coming up soon, I will be able to plan out what I want to do with my life.

Saying Farewell to Bad Choices

Is death comparable to the time of day? The inescapable coming of dawn and dusk is related to the unavoidable visit from the Grim Reaper. In my opinion, we can "rage, rage against the dying of the light" (Thomas 9), but to stop the sun is beyond human control. Shakespeare also correlates the relationship between life and light, as well as death and sleep in Hamlet in order to exemplify how little control his characters have in their plights. For example, Hamlet believes that his obligation to vengeance is beyond his control, which leads to his demise. Hamlet considers himself as a failure if he does not kill Claudius instantaneously, yet Hamlet feels that he must refrain from killing Claudius until he sees Claudius squirm with his burden of guilt. Torn between two sentiments, Hamlet's obsession with his own actions and Claudius's sins, advocates his feigned madness to become reality. Understanding when one has control over a situation allows one to avoid the crucible of indecision.

When is Madness Sane?

When Emily Dickinson wrote that "Much sense - [is] the starkest madness" and "[madness is] handled with a chain," she implies that having the trait of sensibility is equivalent to delirium. Dickinson also believes that the delirium can be controlled just like any other trait, which is ironic because delirium connotes chaos and anarchy. I believe that Dickinson is comparing the contradictory concepts of madness and sensibility in order to develop a theme of disillusionment. Due to Dickinson's prolonged isolation in her lifetime, she most likely had a lot of experience with feelings of disillusionment and therefore she integrates this theme in order to express the pain and suffering she felt. I thought "The Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dali also represents disillusionment and chaos because clocks are forms of conformity, and time is the stimulus that tells us when to wake up in the morning, and when to go to bed. Dali paints the clocks melting, turning into unrecognizable puddles being torn apart by the ants, which conveys destruction of the conceptions of control and order. The descent into madness is similarly characterized by the slow deterioration of all conformity and the perception of reality.

Pride's Role in Revenge

It is innate that every person on this Earth will commit revenge at least one time in their lives. When embarrassment, pain, or any wrongdoing is experienced there is no doubt that the next step in concession will involve vengeance against the antagonist that is inflicting agony. However, sometimes the revenge doesn't solve the problems in our lives. For example, revenge may continue the suffering exponentially. One must choose whether to move on or to face the issue with a bare-fist. I see the temptation to stoop down to revenge as irresistible. Humans have incessant need to replenish our pride when it has been broken because revenge is the exhibition of our resiliency. Our excessive pride forces us to prove that we can rise above those who put us down before. Those who are reluctant to commit revenge try to ignore their primal need of vengeance, and they may say that they are secure enough of their emotions not to commit revenge, but vengeful thoughts are impossible to ignore. The only way for humans to sustain feelings of security is to commit revenge.

Recurring Themes in Hamlet and Oedipus Rex

The plays Oedipus Rex and Hamlet both start by disorienting the reader with questions. Confusion is a recurring theme in both plays and leads the reader right into the problems and situations present in both plays. The turmoil that Oedipus and Hamlet both experience establishes their existential angst. Oedipus and Hamlet feel the weight of the heavy responsibilities to their people due to their high placement in society. The obligations to their people dictate Oedipus's and Hamlet's life. Eventual realizations expand the chaos in both Oedipus Rex and Hamlet in similar patterns. At first, Oedipus and Hamlet feel corruption germinating and don't know who to blame. In time, otherworldly sources inform them who is liable for the depravities but Oedipus and Hamlet aren't sure if they should believe the news. Then comprehension occurs and leads to pandemonium. The characters of Hamlet and Oedipus are essential in exemplifying existential angst.

How Many Years Do Words Live For?

Understanding Shakespeare involves serious decoding. To "get" the true meaning of one of Shakespeare's sonnets doesn't take just a quick read through. Shakespeare alludes to deep concepts like the meaning of life and the purpose of love in short fourteen line poems. You have to read tirelessly just to grasp those concepts, however. It is almost like Shakespeare wants us to be confused. Maybe it's all just part of his major plan to make us feel less intelligent. I really enjoy translating his sonnets, though. Sonnet # 18 gives life, beauty and love to a woman who lives through the poem. Words will survive through earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other disasters unlike other monuments. Shakespeare discovered this, and his words will live on longer than the Parthenon and Pyramids of Giza.

The Wonderful World of Fluent Writing

In my case, the most difficult thing about writing essays is using a gradual flow with rhetorics to go from general ideas to specific details that support my thesis. Connecting sentences that "flow" and gradually ease the reader into the next topic is a huge part of this process. When I finally synthesize my ideas coherently, I am still not finished. There is always something that can be changed or fixed to make a paper more understandable, or coherent. The process of writing can be categorized in steps. First, the topic of the paper must be questioned, then the main idea of your paper must take a stand on the issue discussed and eventually incorpororate criticisms. The rest of the process revolves around proofreading and revising. There are guidelines and unspoken laws about writing, but in the style a person breaks these laws in order to prove their points or evoke intrests in others defines a paper.

Ineffective Moral Leader?

What is more effective, a moral leader that doesn't have the concept of leadership or a authoritarian, immoral leader that takes advantage of their subjects? How can one be sure which type of leader is a better choice? A moral leader will base their decisions on what will benefit their people, but what if this decision leads to a failure in governance? A immoral leader may oppress his/her subjects, but at least this leader will be more successful in controlling affairs in their government. It is easier for a ruler to ignore morality when making decisions because it makes the process a lot easier to complete. Worrying about a small, starving peasent family will be the last thought on a ruler's mind when determining if there should be a retaliation to an antagonizing force. The overall best ruler will have a mixture of both authoritarian and moral traits. Observing a ruler integrating morality into their decisions will enhance the public sentiment of their subjects, and characteristics of slight domination in a leader will make the subjects look up to their ruler. Believing in the validity of the laws that a government enforces also is necessary for the leader to approach their full potential. A leader cannot be just anyone, a leader must have quality traits necessary to successfully govern. A leaders who failed to exhibit a leadership traits is Creon, for example. Creon ignored public sentiment, and all those who opposed him, and ended up alienating and losing all of those close to him. A leader will always experience failure if they thwart the leadership qualities.

Conformity to Laws

Antigone was portrayed as brave, but was she really trying to be valiant when she gave her brother his death rites? Breaking a law is more than just demonstrating against conformity. There has to be a purpose and reason to break a law for the action to be justifiable. A higher cause must be fulfilled, or the disobedience is hollow, and without meaning. The whole point of publically demonstrating a law is to attract people to a cuase, and when there is no cause, people will lose faith in the behavior and the opposition to the specific law. Laws should be broken to prove that the law in question is immoral, or not applicabble to society. Furthermore, breaking a law should benefit the greater good.

What If?

Would you could chose the path of your own destiny? What if you could pick out all the milestones ahead of you in your life and decide what will happen? There would be no stress and anticipation. If doom was destined, you could prepare for it ahead of time. The doom would be inevitable, and it could be a test of your resiliency. If you manage to maintain sanity during the crisis, you pass the test and stay orientated. Fail, and you spiral into the oblivion of disoreintation. Take Oedipus for example. He lost his sanity, gouged out his eyes and doubted his capability of continuing life normally.The question is, however, what aspects of our life do we actually have control over?

When I Think Silently

As the dark cathedral that holds my inner thoughts is fills up with knowledge, the time is speeding past me. I sometimes wonder, "how did it get so late already?" I constantly have to be on my toes in order to accomplish the things I need to do on a daily basis. Even now as I am thinking about time limits, I wonder about "The Voice You Hear When You Read Silently." I never really thought about how different thoughts are from spoken words. Your thoughts are your own, they can mean anything. No one can interrupt you in your sacred hideaway, and your inner voice is different, as Thomas Lux explains. I can't say that the inner voice is rational, but it is definitely what makes us unique. Even when the world is spinning around you, you can rely on that inner voice to speak reason.

I just realized today how quickly the days are going by, and instead of being happy, I am actually worried. All the responsibilities that revolve around college stress me out. I am similar to Lot's wife slightly in how she doesn't want to leave Sodom, because I don't want to step out of my comfort zone. Overcoming that speed bump in my life's highway will change the final destination to my adulthood. It would just be too easy to have my highway laid out for me, but there are so many twists and turns, dead ends, and exits that distract and change me along the way. I don't want to end up like Bartleby, either, with the only way off his highway being the dead end. I will be make sure that my highway has just the right amount of speed bumps and turns.

Nose to the Grindstone

I am wondering about how this year will go. Life doesn't always go according to plan, and that just makes everything more complicated. All of the obstacles I have to overcome are going to be different and difficult. That makes me think about what I actually can do to make the road a little less bumpier. Just one decision that I make can change my entire story. Just like in the "Three Girls," what if they never helped out Marylin Monroe? How would the story have changed? Better or for worse? And in "Richard Cory," if he made a different decision, at least his story would have continued for a little while longer. The decisions we make are our character. Without our character where would or induviduality be? How could anyone survive without standing up for something they truly believe in?

The Upcoming Adventure

I was in Ireland this summer for a family reunion, and on the way back to the Dublin Airport we stopped to see William Butler Yeats' grave. I was expecting something elaborate, considering how well known he is. The grave was simple, and there was a small evergreen plant right in front of the headstone. There was a small statue in front of the graveyard, but it doesn't count because Yeats' skeleton is not lying underneath it. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture because my camera ran out of battery due to the difference of plugs in Ireland. I don't remember ever reading any of William Butler Yeats' poems before "The Second Coming", but when I did in class this week the poem seemed to have more importance because I have seen his resting place. There were crows all over the shady graveyard and the ground was soggy with mud so I had to jump around to avoid stepping on a grave or mud puddles. The dark, foreboding tone of "The Second Coming" was an inside look into how Yeats' thought about all the turmoil of his time. There will be turmoil in my life in this last year of high school due to all the stress and studying, but it will be worth all the hardwork. I want to be in Ireland again.

The Wanderer

The man in "The Wanderer" seems to be confident and doubtful at the same time. The man seems to be confident because of the way that he is standing at the edge of a cliff. He also seems to be doubtful about his life, looking over the ocean. Maybe he is questioning his purpose in life? The way the man is dressed also gives an onlooker an idea about where the man stands in society. The man is well dressed, and is probably part of the upper class. "The Wanderer" relates to our senior class because the man is unsure about his future, as most of the seniors are, and because the seniors are on the edge of stepping into a new life represented in "The Wanderer" by how the man is just on the edge of the cliff.