“You can trust me, 'cause I'm your priest, I'm your shrink... I am your main connection to the switchboard of the soul. I'm the magic man... Santa Claus of the subconscious. You say it, you think it, you can have it.” –Lenny Nero, from Strange Days
Now, Lenny is referring to a futuristic device which allows the user to “live” certain memories that people have recorded. You could live a robbery without getting your hands dirty or relive cherished moments of your past.
I believe that is much the same. Composers isolate emotions, feelings, parts of their lives, and express them in ways words cannot. Music really is the switchboard of the soul. Whether one of Chopin’s heartrending Nocturnes, one of Mozart’s light melodies or one of Beethoven’s furious Sonata’s, music captures and expresses life. Why certain combinations cause humans to feel certain feelings is unknown.
Music is not the art of love; it is the art of life. Every listener takes the feel of music and relates it to their own experience. Somehow, a composer can make a universal connection to anyone. Music brings out our own memories, stimulation of memory spurred by emotion. Much like reality, a piece of music, a single measure, can be perceived and played countless different ways, everyone hears and plays in ways specific to their own experience. Music is not simply TV for the subconscious; it’s a piece of a person’s life.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Carry it Forward: Religion- Atheist-found value in the Church
Some would say that (and I agree) that I rather failed to keep myself from Christian-bashing in my previous post. I will now try to do them justice, though the topic differs slightly from the one before.
Several things have recently piqued my interest. For one thing, I have a friend who was a devout Christian. Last year, I managed to destroy his faith; I made him realize how ridiculous certain parts of his religious practices are. As a consequence, attending church with his “religious friends” has become very depressing. As such, my guilty conscience forced me to reconcile him with a bunch of reasons why he should continue to maintain his relationship with America’s favorite deity.
Also, ideas from history class regarding the reformation and stimulation from “Birches” made me wonder whether the faith in religion was actually what mattered. It was a question of the actual subconscious human appeal.
Ignoring disputes over the existence of God, religion serves as a connection to other people. The faith itself isn’t what’s important. The connection you have with other people is what is important. But, like in my response to Daniel’s post, “God” has power through the people. Not miracles. People are contributing to the idea. It represents something greater than oneself. Even if it isn’t really God, it is the power to change. And that is why informed Christianity is good, if educated citizens can contribute to a greater power, we can make the world a better place.
Of course, this is all from a heavily atheistic standpoint, and that is why this is a “Carry it Forward”, I already felt this way about the issue. I also realize that if all Christians adopted this view, their faith would dissolve and the social connections would be destroyed.
Several things have recently piqued my interest. For one thing, I have a friend who was a devout Christian. Last year, I managed to destroy his faith; I made him realize how ridiculous certain parts of his religious practices are. As a consequence, attending church with his “religious friends” has become very depressing. As such, my guilty conscience forced me to reconcile him with a bunch of reasons why he should continue to maintain his relationship with America’s favorite deity.
Also, ideas from history class regarding the reformation and stimulation from “Birches” made me wonder whether the faith in religion was actually what mattered. It was a question of the actual subconscious human appeal.
Ignoring disputes over the existence of God, religion serves as a connection to other people. The faith itself isn’t what’s important. The connection you have with other people is what is important. But, like in my response to Daniel’s post, “God” has power through the people. Not miracles. People are contributing to the idea. It represents something greater than oneself. Even if it isn’t really God, it is the power to change. And that is why informed Christianity is good, if educated citizens can contribute to a greater power, we can make the world a better place.
Of course, this is all from a heavily atheistic standpoint, and that is why this is a “Carry it Forward”, I already felt this way about the issue. I also realize that if all Christians adopted this view, their faith would dissolve and the social connections would be destroyed.
Monday, October 13, 2008
First, I commented on Albert's blog, because I also really despise having to work. Albert's post was about homework and the lack of need for it sometimes. I basically said that I agreed with him, but could see easy ways to extend his points further into the education system. I felt that though he explored his own opinion very well, it wasn't quite a 360.
"Well...
First off, I agree with you at a fundamental level. The way classes are now, more intelligent people have to suffer and plow through busy work and don't receive any benefits. In math and most of our classes in general, once you understand a concept, no amount of practice will help you. In fact, I wish you would extrapolate this further and talk about how teaching in the Math, History and Health areas esp. have essentially become a agenda advocated by the government to decrease unemployment rates by paying people to dig holes in the ground.
Now, I'm not necessarily saying this is true, I'm merely pointing out that with the combination of simply reading from the textbook in class and students that get things more quickly, some teachers seem to be useless in the learning enviroment. Why not just buy a textbook? Why have a teacher? This of course isn't always true, as one can see in areas that requires critical thinking (i.e. English, foreign languages and more experimental and groundbreaking sciences) rather than mechanic understanding, a teacher for guidance and to start discussion is necessary. In other words, meaning of life as opposed to simple arithmatic requires instruction.
I feel that too much help from a teacher can actually stunt a student's learning ability in order to jam a few facts into their head. For instance, it is shown that potential ESL students end up doing better in all areas of learning when not receiving support from an ESL teacher.
Of course, not discussing all of this is not your fault, as I have simply strayed from the topic at hand: homework.
Let me say that, in some places, I feel you did not do the topic justice.
The way I see it, your blog post isn't quite a 360. It is rather similar to mine in that it is largely a critique. While you do occasionally indicate that requiring homework is good, you always either define the instance when homework is good to fit your view, or just return and counter the point. For example, if you say that homework is good, you will turn around and say that homework is only good when it is necessary for learning (i.e. for those behind in class). In this way, you serve to only push forward your own viewpoint by the end of your post. While I agree with most of your points, I feel that this is not a 360. However, it is a good exploration of your opinion and how you came to believe it."
______________________________
Second, I posted in response to Daniel's 360, as my mind connected it to religion as soon as I read it. The idea was basically that faith in people is taken advantage of or used to create a larger power. Examples of this are Daniel's Band and the influence of the Pope in Medieval Europe.
"Hello Daniel,
I reacted differently than Ali did upon reading your post, I was reminded of God.
Now for atheists, God doesn't have any power s/he doesn't have any direct control over our lives and we simply don't recognize a need for belief in him/her.
Of course, for theists it is the exact opposite, God has a definite hold over their thoughts, actions and lives in general. For one thing, attending church/temple provides an additional social aspect of a person's life and religion has been used as a social tool to control people's lives.
And, in this way, religion and thus the idea of God has much influence in daily life. It is common for a Christian mother to pray to God when one of her children becomes ill and it is natural for the mother to become overcome with thankfulness when her child recovers. Misdirected respect for God thus strengthens said mother's belief, as well as religion's hold over her life.
Relating back to what you said, her individual faith in God continues to spur religious development allowing for more children to become "educated" and thus increasing the power of religious institutions. That is why successful relgions have a supportive base and thus can advocate things like religious wars and disbelief in logic. (Though both of those things are increasingly becoming things of the past as humanity has become more educated)
In this way, every individual matters as, like you said, they contribute in order to construct a greater power (in your context, music).
Overall, good post."
"Well...
First off, I agree with you at a fundamental level. The way classes are now, more intelligent people have to suffer and plow through busy work and don't receive any benefits. In math and most of our classes in general, once you understand a concept, no amount of practice will help you. In fact, I wish you would extrapolate this further and talk about how teaching in the Math, History and Health areas esp. have essentially become a agenda advocated by the government to decrease unemployment rates by paying people to dig holes in the ground.
Now, I'm not necessarily saying this is true, I'm merely pointing out that with the combination of simply reading from the textbook in class and students that get things more quickly, some teachers seem to be useless in the learning enviroment. Why not just buy a textbook? Why have a teacher? This of course isn't always true, as one can see in areas that requires critical thinking (i.e. English, foreign languages and more experimental and groundbreaking sciences) rather than mechanic understanding, a teacher for guidance and to start discussion is necessary. In other words, meaning of life as opposed to simple arithmatic requires instruction.
I feel that too much help from a teacher can actually stunt a student's learning ability in order to jam a few facts into their head. For instance, it is shown that potential ESL students end up doing better in all areas of learning when not receiving support from an ESL teacher.
Of course, not discussing all of this is not your fault, as I have simply strayed from the topic at hand: homework.
Let me say that, in some places, I feel you did not do the topic justice.
The way I see it, your blog post isn't quite a 360. It is rather similar to mine in that it is largely a critique. While you do occasionally indicate that requiring homework is good, you always either define the instance when homework is good to fit your view, or just return and counter the point. For example, if you say that homework is good, you will turn around and say that homework is only good when it is necessary for learning (i.e. for those behind in class). In this way, you serve to only push forward your own viewpoint by the end of your post. While I agree with most of your points, I feel that this is not a 360. However, it is a good exploration of your opinion and how you came to believe it."
______________________________
Second, I posted in response to Daniel's 360, as my mind connected it to religion as soon as I read it. The idea was basically that faith in people is taken advantage of or used to create a larger power. Examples of this are Daniel's Band and the influence of the Pope in Medieval Europe.
"Hello Daniel,
I reacted differently than Ali did upon reading your post, I was reminded of God.
Now for atheists, God doesn't have any power s/he doesn't have any direct control over our lives and we simply don't recognize a need for belief in him/her.
Of course, for theists it is the exact opposite, God has a definite hold over their thoughts, actions and lives in general. For one thing, attending church/temple provides an additional social aspect of a person's life and religion has been used as a social tool to control people's lives.
And, in this way, religion and thus the idea of God has much influence in daily life. It is common for a Christian mother to pray to God when one of her children becomes ill and it is natural for the mother to become overcome with thankfulness when her child recovers. Misdirected respect for God thus strengthens said mother's belief, as well as religion's hold over her life.
Relating back to what you said, her individual faith in God continues to spur religious development allowing for more children to become "educated" and thus increasing the power of religious institutions. That is why successful relgions have a supportive base and thus can advocate things like religious wars and disbelief in logic. (Though both of those things are increasingly becoming things of the past as humanity has become more educated)
In this way, every individual matters as, like you said, they contribute in order to construct a greater power (in your context, music).
Overall, good post."
Sunday, October 5, 2008
360 Degrees- God
God. Never anything more baffling to the human mind has been “discovered” or “existed”. Let’s look at the human-tied origin of this supernatural being. In the early centuries, God or nature, rather, served humans in a quid pro quo relationship. We would sacrifice and they would provide. As time went on, these celestial beings became personified as humanoids, as we could imagine no creature more worthy to bear the image of the gods. As centralized states began to emerge, gods were used to back up a certain leader, and threw the “voice of god” priests gained immense power. Why follow a mere man, when your neighboring state followed a God-king? You can imagine what persuasive power such divine rule could have over a people.
Nowadays, religion and belief in God has warped dramatically. This general population has become increasingly informed and belief in magic and miracles has dwindled significantly, and religion has needed to adapt in order to survive. We now believe in chemistry as opposed to alchemy. Most of us prefer astronomy to astrology, and magic has been left behind in favor of physics. However, Creationism has been surprisingly stubborn.
People will ignore a billion year database full of evidence (the earth) as well as the changes that are occurring around them. Why? What is the driving force that defeats all logic? Well, simply put, man is above the animal. God created us in his image; we are his children of divinity. We cannot have come forth from lower beings.
It is not surprising that of all of the religious ideas, this one has survived, as the entirety of Christian faith is essentially built on the notion that man is the highest of beings on this earth. Why else would the Son have been manifested in a human body? Humans possess greater knowledge and reasoning than that of the other beings. Have we not built great works, composed great songs, written great literature? And what has the monkey done? And the foul snake? Barbarian nature does not even compare to the brilliance of man.
Why does literature make man better? How are great works the medium for deciding if a race is better? Who placed this definition? A lifestyle built on an arbitrary guideline?
Oh, but this is why believers are undeniably right. Religion is built on faith. I, being a religious man, can answer anything you bring up. I have FAITH in my God. I am NOT a monkey. God loves me. I believe that the Earth is a few thousand years old. Fossils are tricks orchestrated by the devil. Fossils were placed to test my faith. In the end, I realize that past events do not matter. God tells me to be a good person, and I must be. The love of God will always win.
Religion exists to teach the lost children of God to be a good person. The Bible is not to be taken literally, neither are fables. The underlying moral is what must be communicated. Without a moral code from the heavens, the devil would surely consume the entirety of humanity. Without God, without the guiding light, there is only darkness and deceit. Atheists throw morality to the winds, if there is not order there is chaos.
On the other hand, why does there need to be a God for one to be good? Are you admitting that if you didn’t believe in God you would be a worse person? Why can’t humanity just decide to be good because we are human? If we are all good to each other, everyone is happy. It is depressing to think that humanity needs a carrot of salvation and a stick of damnation to be nice.
A study conducted by psychologists John Darley and C. Daniel Batson found that people that were instructed to give a speech about the story of the Good Samaritan and its modern day implications later stopped to give aid to as much as people who were instructed to give a speech about job opportunities. The deciding factor ended up being how much of a rush the subjects were in rather than what they knew or were going to give a speech about.
Nowadays, religion and belief in God has warped dramatically. This general population has become increasingly informed and belief in magic and miracles has dwindled significantly, and religion has needed to adapt in order to survive. We now believe in chemistry as opposed to alchemy. Most of us prefer astronomy to astrology, and magic has been left behind in favor of physics. However, Creationism has been surprisingly stubborn.
People will ignore a billion year database full of evidence (the earth) as well as the changes that are occurring around them. Why? What is the driving force that defeats all logic? Well, simply put, man is above the animal. God created us in his image; we are his children of divinity. We cannot have come forth from lower beings.
It is not surprising that of all of the religious ideas, this one has survived, as the entirety of Christian faith is essentially built on the notion that man is the highest of beings on this earth. Why else would the Son have been manifested in a human body? Humans possess greater knowledge and reasoning than that of the other beings. Have we not built great works, composed great songs, written great literature? And what has the monkey done? And the foul snake? Barbarian nature does not even compare to the brilliance of man.
Why does literature make man better? How are great works the medium for deciding if a race is better? Who placed this definition? A lifestyle built on an arbitrary guideline?
Oh, but this is why believers are undeniably right. Religion is built on faith. I, being a religious man, can answer anything you bring up. I have FAITH in my God. I am NOT a monkey. God loves me. I believe that the Earth is a few thousand years old. Fossils are tricks orchestrated by the devil. Fossils were placed to test my faith. In the end, I realize that past events do not matter. God tells me to be a good person, and I must be. The love of God will always win.
Religion exists to teach the lost children of God to be a good person. The Bible is not to be taken literally, neither are fables. The underlying moral is what must be communicated. Without a moral code from the heavens, the devil would surely consume the entirety of humanity. Without God, without the guiding light, there is only darkness and deceit. Atheists throw morality to the winds, if there is not order there is chaos.
On the other hand, why does there need to be a God for one to be good? Are you admitting that if you didn’t believe in God you would be a worse person? Why can’t humanity just decide to be good because we are human? If we are all good to each other, everyone is happy. It is depressing to think that humanity needs a carrot of salvation and a stick of damnation to be nice.
A study conducted by psychologists John Darley and C. Daniel Batson found that people that were instructed to give a speech about the story of the Good Samaritan and its modern day implications later stopped to give aid to as much as people who were instructed to give a speech about job opportunities. The deciding factor ended up being how much of a rush the subjects were in rather than what they knew or were going to give a speech about.
Furthermore, an experiment conducted by Solomon Asch concluded that one third of people will supply an obviously wrong answer if they see three other people give the same completely ridiculous answer. Subjects were shown the image above and asked which line in Exhibit 2 was the same length as the line in Exhibit 1. One third of subjects answered B or C after they witnessed three other fake subjects answer either B or C (all three times).
There does not need to be a God, but it is true that adoration and lust will only lead to suffering. One must seek enlightenment and attain Nirvana. The world is full of sin and hate and only through inactivity and moderation can this suffering be replaced with true bliss.
Through SUCCESS, not inaction, humans find happiness. The ability to provide for our children is an evolutionary imperative. As times change, the means by which we must ready our children for the world changes correspondingly.
You need look no further than the earth itself to find evidence of God. A painting must have a painter. The complexity of the human body is undeniable proof for intelligent design.
No, you cannot apply a human biased relationship to the universe. The dust on the windowsill is a product of physics not a dust-maker. The tides come in and out due to the gravity of the moon, not because of the hand of a god. A human template cannot be extrapolated as a trend for all of nature.
Atheists have provided the idea of the Big Bang, and claim to be the agents of reason, but it is they who are making leaps of faith. Something cannot come from nothing. “A high composition of heat and intense mass caused the universe to explode into existence.” And where did this high composition come from? Your answers lead nowhere. God is uniquely key to explaining the existence of anything.
Why must the universe have a beginning? Matter cannot be created or destroyed. Remember the conservation of mass law. I suppose it’s natural for scared and insecure humans to apply truths about the fact that their birth and death did/will occur with certainty to the universe. This is much like the fact that the notion of “heaven” now exists solely to comfort children and the infirm.
Again, there are no grounds for believing that a beginning or a god exist(ed). More importantly, this brings up some intriguing things about time. Our perception as we experience it is an infinitely small unit of time. Theoretically, a human could be alive for an infinitely small amount of time and only REMEMBER the past, as memory is a physical manifestation of a tendency to avoid harmful things or to strive for ecstasy. (see post on “Memoria ex Machina”) But more to the point, one cannot dispute that time can be perceived infinitely small, thus isn’t time infinitely long in either direction, by definition? The universe is boundless; can time not be as well?
But, in the end, we can never really know. An atheist can never prove, with all certainty, that God does not exist, and a theist believes on grounds of faith, and thus cannot prove to science that God does. Thus, it is better to accept that people will believe different things and that one can simply never know… or can we?
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