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1mirrani
It's not going to take long to get through A Minor Reflection, since it's just a few short essays. The author hopes that publishing them yields "some interesting introspection and discussion by those who read them." So I'm thinking this is a good place to do it. ;)
2mirrani
Also... I seem to be having trouble keeping proper track of what I am reading... My counter says this is my 13th book... Where am I going wrong. :p
3mirrani
Got this done in an hour or so... it's only three short essays, but there were some things that made me think a little. It's going to be hard to review this because I'm not used to writing reviews on essays.
"Love has become, and perhaps has always been, an all too common word, used causally in reference to nearly anything enjoyed, whether it be our wives and children or our cars, houses and vacations. We apply the word to such a variety of people, places and things that its true meaning has become lost. This is a tragedy, for the word, when applied in honesty, can hold more power and more potential than you or I could even imagine." 9%
"Indian and U.S. cultures have produced different approaches to love and marriage. For Indians, marriage produces love - while for Americans, love produces marriage. Americans see love as having a mysterious element, a passion that suddenly seizes an individual. Indians see love as a peaceful feeling that develops when a man and a woman are united in intimacy and share common interests and goals in life. (308 Henslin)" 16%
"There is no possibility of love at first sight. How can you determine that you are in love with a person without knowing anything about their personality, their interests or their goals? It is, however, more than possible to become enamored by a person's physical appearance. Physical attributes can never and will never amount to true love. Love can only be achieved with time, after you come to know and understand what makes a person unique and special." 22%
While I agreed with the end of this, I do not agree with the beginning. I think that love at first sight is more than physical attraction, there are all kinds of things involved.. of course, I might be biased in this, but... we can always discuss that. ;)
"I would argue that the major exception between a friendship and a loving relationship is purely a physical attraction. A lover is nothing more than a friend whom you find aesthetically pleasing. Therefore, one must wonder why it is that friendships often last longer (sometimes even for the duration of a lifetime) than do romantic relationships?" 38%
Um... this one is easy... you don't always /have/ to live with your friends. You /do/ always have to live with your spouse. And if you are not in that kind of committed relationship, then you at least are dealing with the nature of romantic love being something that /creates/ the need for a spouse...
So end my notes on the essay on love. We may now discuss... :)
"Love has become, and perhaps has always been, an all too common word, used causally in reference to nearly anything enjoyed, whether it be our wives and children or our cars, houses and vacations. We apply the word to such a variety of people, places and things that its true meaning has become lost. This is a tragedy, for the word, when applied in honesty, can hold more power and more potential than you or I could even imagine." 9%
"Indian and U.S. cultures have produced different approaches to love and marriage. For Indians, marriage produces love - while for Americans, love produces marriage. Americans see love as having a mysterious element, a passion that suddenly seizes an individual. Indians see love as a peaceful feeling that develops when a man and a woman are united in intimacy and share common interests and goals in life. (308 Henslin)" 16%
"There is no possibility of love at first sight. How can you determine that you are in love with a person without knowing anything about their personality, their interests or their goals? It is, however, more than possible to become enamored by a person's physical appearance. Physical attributes can never and will never amount to true love. Love can only be achieved with time, after you come to know and understand what makes a person unique and special." 22%
While I agreed with the end of this, I do not agree with the beginning. I think that love at first sight is more than physical attraction, there are all kinds of things involved.. of course, I might be biased in this, but... we can always discuss that. ;)
"I would argue that the major exception between a friendship and a loving relationship is purely a physical attraction. A lover is nothing more than a friend whom you find aesthetically pleasing. Therefore, one must wonder why it is that friendships often last longer (sometimes even for the duration of a lifetime) than do romantic relationships?" 38%
Um... this one is easy... you don't always /have/ to live with your friends. You /do/ always have to live with your spouse. And if you are not in that kind of committed relationship, then you at least are dealing with the nature of romantic love being something that /creates/ the need for a spouse...
So end my notes on the essay on love. We may now discuss... :)
4mirrani
Part two was about destiny of the soul...
"Many would wonder how this could be possible? Can a man stepping into the ocean to wash his feet some ten thousand years ago really affect me today? The simple answer is probably not, but consider the improbable, but possible, affects of such an action." 55%
The affects listed are introducing bacteria into the environment, etc... but there are many, many more. What if that man was supposed to meet someone and because he washes his feet the person walks past and he doesn't see them? They never meet, no children.. things change... Don't get me started on the whole alternate universe thing. ;)
"Over time, we became more and more intelligent, developing speech and literature, and inevitably weapons and a cunning mind. The basis of such development being, if we cannot defend ourselves using only our bodies, we will become intelligent enough to develop ways to defend ourselves using other tools. This is a very natural process and is the very reason why intelligence is not only natural, but also a vital component to our very livelihood. In short, because of the nature of intelligence, the nature of mankind is not moral and kind, but rather cunning and deceptive." 64%
I thought this was a very interesting way of looking at all of this... So we're not born innocent, but because of our intelligence, we are born cunning and deceptive. Does that explain the terrible twos? ;)
"This appears to be a very disheartening conclusion. One would then probably ask themselves what the point to life is. Why bother trying to become the best person I can be when my fate is already decided, shaped by the matrix? The reason is simple: you can never know what, exactly, your fate is to be. The matrix does not give away its secrets." 70%
Hm...
I have so much to say about these things... I found this one to be a little hard to throw my mind around... and a little contradictory. Which was probably why it was hard to throw my mind around it.
"Many would wonder how this could be possible? Can a man stepping into the ocean to wash his feet some ten thousand years ago really affect me today? The simple answer is probably not, but consider the improbable, but possible, affects of such an action." 55%
The affects listed are introducing bacteria into the environment, etc... but there are many, many more. What if that man was supposed to meet someone and because he washes his feet the person walks past and he doesn't see them? They never meet, no children.. things change... Don't get me started on the whole alternate universe thing. ;)
"Over time, we became more and more intelligent, developing speech and literature, and inevitably weapons and a cunning mind. The basis of such development being, if we cannot defend ourselves using only our bodies, we will become intelligent enough to develop ways to defend ourselves using other tools. This is a very natural process and is the very reason why intelligence is not only natural, but also a vital component to our very livelihood. In short, because of the nature of intelligence, the nature of mankind is not moral and kind, but rather cunning and deceptive." 64%
I thought this was a very interesting way of looking at all of this... So we're not born innocent, but because of our intelligence, we are born cunning and deceptive. Does that explain the terrible twos? ;)
"This appears to be a very disheartening conclusion. One would then probably ask themselves what the point to life is. Why bother trying to become the best person I can be when my fate is already decided, shaped by the matrix? The reason is simple: you can never know what, exactly, your fate is to be. The matrix does not give away its secrets." 70%
Hm...
I have so much to say about these things... I found this one to be a little hard to throw my mind around... and a little contradictory. Which was probably why it was hard to throw my mind around it.
5cedargrove
I'm fully in agreement with the first quotation, in fact the other week in my LJ I think I posted a similar sentiment somewhere. I do think we've become too casual about the use of the word love.
As far as love at first sight is concerned, I think you might be biased but then so am I. I agree that such a thing is possible. I don't know that I could describe all the things that went into making 'love at first sight' happen. Doesn't mean it can develop still further and deepen over time, but it certainly can happen.
As far as love at first sight is concerned, I think you might be biased but then so am I. I agree that such a thing is possible. I don't know that I could describe all the things that went into making 'love at first sight' happen. Doesn't mean it can develop still further and deepen over time, but it certainly can happen.
6mirrani
The final section was on the struggle for balance
"When a scientist dissects an natural act, some value is inevitably taken from it by revealing its mysteries and removing some of the emotional, even spiritual, aura of the subject. You cannot help but begin to lose some sense of the feeling of majesty from something when it is studied. The more you learn about something, the less special it inevitably appears." 76%
I don't know that I agree with this, but I also /do/ agree at the same time. If you're trying to say that science can take the beauty out of something by looking only at the pure facts, then yes... but humans have emotions too. I find it hard to believe that a scientist would look at a new nebula, calculate its size and all and /not/ be able to see the swirls of color at all.
"Furthermore, while it may be dangerous to consume the opinions of our superiors, we must acknowledge that they are our superiors for a reason. We must maintain a certain level of trust in their opinions, especially in the fields of science. Not blind faith, mind you, for even our superiors are human and will inevitably make mistakes, but rather we must simply understand that they are likely to make fewer mistakes than us." 80%
This is very true. I had to listen to it a few times because I agreed with it so much.
"If we were to allow ourselves to always be consumed by the value and beauty or that which we intend to study, we would never learn anything but emotional nostalgia." 92%
I think or was supposed to be of, but never mind that... I simply can't agree with this. I think the importance is /balance/. You can't have learning without an emotional attachment to what it is you /are/ learning... otherwise you just forget it later on. This is why we remember those teachers who helped us add an emotion to what we were learning... And so on... and so on... Never mind that it's why people go into the field that they "love". Yes, back to that again.
"If we do not work to understand how the world works, than we can never advance as a society." 92%
I can agree with that also, I think.
"What if we could not anticipate the arrival of hurricanes because we are too busy marveling at the beauty of the weather to bother to learn how it works? What if we did not learn to harness the power of electricity because we were too busy enjoying the majesty of the sun? What if we did not learn to battle fierce dieses and medical condition because we were too busy being amazed at the process of life?" 92%
More typing problems in the book.. I type what I see to the letter.. not my mistakes... but again this is in part true. I push for balance still... every time. The enjoyment of what you are studying is what pushes you that much harder to learn about what you are doing.
"We need both emotion and education to receive the greatest benefits from life, and only the person who is willing to struggle for that balance will live as best we are capable of." 100%
Oh, so /now/ we get to it!? lol!\
And that's all, folks.
"When a scientist dissects an natural act, some value is inevitably taken from it by revealing its mysteries and removing some of the emotional, even spiritual, aura of the subject. You cannot help but begin to lose some sense of the feeling of majesty from something when it is studied. The more you learn about something, the less special it inevitably appears." 76%
I don't know that I agree with this, but I also /do/ agree at the same time. If you're trying to say that science can take the beauty out of something by looking only at the pure facts, then yes... but humans have emotions too. I find it hard to believe that a scientist would look at a new nebula, calculate its size and all and /not/ be able to see the swirls of color at all.
"Furthermore, while it may be dangerous to consume the opinions of our superiors, we must acknowledge that they are our superiors for a reason. We must maintain a certain level of trust in their opinions, especially in the fields of science. Not blind faith, mind you, for even our superiors are human and will inevitably make mistakes, but rather we must simply understand that they are likely to make fewer mistakes than us." 80%
This is very true. I had to listen to it a few times because I agreed with it so much.
"If we were to allow ourselves to always be consumed by the value and beauty or that which we intend to study, we would never learn anything but emotional nostalgia." 92%
I think or was supposed to be of, but never mind that... I simply can't agree with this. I think the importance is /balance/. You can't have learning without an emotional attachment to what it is you /are/ learning... otherwise you just forget it later on. This is why we remember those teachers who helped us add an emotion to what we were learning... And so on... and so on... Never mind that it's why people go into the field that they "love". Yes, back to that again.
"If we do not work to understand how the world works, than we can never advance as a society." 92%
I can agree with that also, I think.
"What if we could not anticipate the arrival of hurricanes because we are too busy marveling at the beauty of the weather to bother to learn how it works? What if we did not learn to harness the power of electricity because we were too busy enjoying the majesty of the sun? What if we did not learn to battle fierce dieses and medical condition because we were too busy being amazed at the process of life?" 92%
More typing problems in the book.. I type what I see to the letter.. not my mistakes... but again this is in part true. I push for balance still... every time. The enjoyment of what you are studying is what pushes you that much harder to learn about what you are doing.
"We need both emotion and education to receive the greatest benefits from life, and only the person who is willing to struggle for that balance will live as best we are capable of." 100%
Oh, so /now/ we get to it!? lol!\
And that's all, folks.
