1) Please read and take notes on the packet contain selections from World Mythology by Donna Rosenberg and Downward Dogs & Warriors by Zo Newell.
2) Respond to the text in this blog space. Comment on the World Mythology section using the study questions on page 3 as a guide. For the Downward Dogs section, respond to the stories in some way, making connections to literature or your personal experience with mythology. If you follow this religion, what other insights can you share? If you practice another religion, do you see similarities in these stories? What universal elements bring us together? Next week, we will be engaging in these yoga poses. Have you tried yoga or meditation before? If so, what advice or experience can you share with your classmates? I look forward to your responses.
“The Creation, Death, and Rebirth of the Universe” has got me thinking about capitalism. According to this myth, as the worlds got progressively worse, the driving factor of that seems to be the increase in the importance of private property. The giving trees became regular trees when people tried to own them. This reminds me of what the settlers did to the Native Americans when we colonized their land. They had communal land where they planted, everyone helped and everyone got the products. There may not have been monetary gain from this work, but it was done successfully for generations and generations none the less. When the settlers came in, they made the natives claim land as their own as order for it not to be taken for them, each family was given one plot of land. This switch from communal responsibility to private property was instrumental in the native’s loss of power. Are we even playing the right game here in a society that is driven by personal gain, almost unavoidably at the expense of others. My friend who thinks capitalism is never going to work fairly would love this. In the introduction to the story the author paints out that the worst, last age is the one in which the reader is in. I hope not, but oh no I certainly see similarities.
ReplyDeleteThe study guide poses the question of whether the dharma supports of opposes social justice efforts. I think the dharma calls for radical social justice changes. The thing is, I don’t know if the believers in the dharma would approve of the social justice efforts right now, they may find them too mild if we are really in this terrible stage of a world. Like right now, we are working for a more just capitalism. I wonder if the dharma believers would think capitalism can ever fulfill our human nature, if capitalism can ever be a good thing.
This is my second year of taking yoga for gym class here so some of the theories in Downward Dog are familiar. While I’m not a devout follower of this (or any) religion, there are many aspects which I appreciate. I especially like that “there is an essence with every person on the planet. When we say namaste at the end of each practice, we evoke that unity.” I really like the idea that everyone has some basic goodness. I feel this connection with everyone in my class at the end of our practice and feel like I have a special bond with those in my yoga class. I am super excited to try yoga with this class and hopefully feel the same way! One of my best friends is actually training to be a yoga teacher this year and she is reading a lot about the spiritual aspect of yoga and how that is matched with the physical part. Much of her training is reading, writing, and discussion, not stretching or strength building. I really admire her dedication to her training and even thought I don’t plan on being as involved as her, I will definitely look into taking classes! I’m in Starbucks right now and a guy just walked in with a yoga mat! What a coincidence!
1.The ideas in religion of a repetitive cycle is much like the circle of life in real life. For example, once an animal dies, the body decomposes to become fertilizer for plants which another animal may eat. This cycle is shared in many movies such as “The Lion King” as well as learned about in classes like biology.
ReplyDelete2.The idea that life is a continuous circle is most realistic as it makes sense that both good and bad would exist in life. It is also most appealing because having everything constantly improves would mean that the baseline would be outrageously high at some point and like the iPhone, it could run out of things to improve upon.
3.Living according to the principles of dharma would mean we all have the same values to rules to live by but the idea that it never changes would be problematic as advances in society and technology are made.
The stories behind the yoga poses are quite intricate and hold supernatural elements. The warrior emerging from Shiva’s hair to hold his feelings of anger is quite out of this world but the meaning it holds of feelings of anger is the message behind the poses. It holds elements of mythology in ways the gods from greek myths would react overly and cause natural disasters out of anger.
I personally don’t practice any religion and I’ve never seriously pursued yoga but I’m quite excited to try. I’ve never really understood what yoga was or what meanings the poses held but it was quite interesting to learn more about it.
The Hindu religion is centered around the concept of an ever repeating cycle, where the life that once lived after death comes back to life in an infinite cycle. This cycle is dictated by the God Vishnu, who takes on three different forms during each regeneration cycle: Brahma, the creator of life on earth; Vishnu, the preserver of life on earth; Shiva Rudra, the destroyer of life on earth.
ReplyDeleteOn top of such, during the period of life, called Maha Yuga, there are four different sections which progressively get worse as life continues on. The first of these cycles, Krita Yuga, is a time when everything is great, there is no struggle or wants because all needs and wants are met in life. The second is Treta Yuga, worse than Krita Yuga, but not completely horrible. During this time, people give into more of their passions and greeds and aren’t completely satisfied with life, and feel dissatisfaction, resentment, and anger towards their life and others, though happiness and satisfaction are still the primary feeling towards life. The third is Dvapara Yuga, where satisfaction and disappointment are equally split. The fourth and final series of life is Kali Yuga, where the majority of people are dissatisfied with life, and life is full of greedy and passionate people, where the only truly honest people are the poor.
Although in my belief, I think life has gotten better as according to another doctrine of the Hindu religion, the Maha Yuga belief is interesting and sometimes feels true as the conflict between people seemingly increases each and every day. But in general, I think of life as progressively getting better with the invention of technology and more rights being given to minorities in the past century than in the past thousand years.
As for the belief in dharma, I think that if it can help people live better lives and help others with living their life, it can be beneficial to follow. But if it completely dictates one’s life and prevents one from living a life according to how they want to live it, to the fullest extent they can then that’s how they should live. Not everyone can always keep giving to everyone around them constantly without ever taking the time to take somethings for themselves. Such is just a reality of life.
Although the Hindu religion has many unrealistic aspects to it, the religion itself contains many aspects to lead a beneficial and happy life. What I personally have found in the Hindu religion which has helped me both physically and mentally is yoga. I took yoga for the first time earlier this year with Mrs. Salvesen. The class helped me to start off my morning relaxed and more awake than on a day when I wouldn’t do yoga in the morning. The stories behind each pose are interesting to read, but I think of them as nothing more than stories. The whole aspects of aura and different energies I don’t really subscribe to, though I do think they reflect certain archetypes present within each individual in varying degrees.
Earlier this year, in my global religions class we did a whole unit on Hinduism and my favorite part about it was learning about yoga and the different types of yoga and why Hindu’s practice yoga. Yoga is defined as being a union between the individual spirit and the universal spirit of God. There are 4 types of yoga and each have their own way to bring the practitioner closer to God. There was karma yoga, which is the path of work and focuses on action and physical properties. There is Bhakti yoga which is the path of love and placing your feelings over your thoughts. It is a spiritual practice and focuses on a loving devotion to God. Then there is Raja yoga, which is the path of psychophysical exercise. It looks at the layers of oneself and being able to set a goal and attain it. Lastly is Jnana yoga is the path of knowledge. It is the spiritual path and ends when you attain moksha, or complete enlightenment and self-realization. It was very interesting to see how each path of yoga works together and are used everyday. I took yoga here for my gym class and am taking it again next semester and I am really looking forward to it because of the connections I will be able to make. Yoga has a way of making people feel closer to others and also understanding themselves better and it is a feeling that I have only ever experienced while doing yoga.
ReplyDelete1. The way I see it, life is in a circle because of family and birth. If you have kids, they tend to be like you, have very similar personalities and think the same way, so when you pass, they carry on that life with them. And when they have kids it'll be the same way. This could also connect to the idea in rebirth and how we could come back as something different. I like the idea of rebirth, it makes me feel like I can be connected to people in so many different ways. Its so hard for me to find people that I can connect with easily, so when I do its surprising how similar we are and it gets me thinking, what if at some point in a past life, our souls were once connected?
ReplyDelete2. The idea of life always improving is the most realistic one. I like to think that if there is something negative in life, then people would want to improve on that. I think that if life kept getting worse, then no one would want to live that long. The most ideal way of living is continuing that circular patter, and that brings us back to the rebirth. Its ideal because you can live life many different ways as many different people. Even if you aren't conscious of the idea, you still have that within your soul.
3. I agree with Alicia, if we are all living with the same values and same rules, then it would cause more problems. I think its good and healthy to have discussions and to disagree, thats how we learn and grow. If everyone was the same, then we wouldn't learn how to adapt. I also think that life would be boring because you wouldn't have that joy of learning about someone, because they are just like you, you practically know them already.
Many aspects of life promote the idea that it is a repeating cycle without end. Specifically, the way that the basic aspects of traditional life have not changed since the dawn of civilization: you are born, raised by your parents, move out, get married and have kids of your own. This cycle has been at play since well before modern developments like women's rights, and also since before inventions like medicine, electricity, or love. Personally, this creation story makes more sense to me than that of Christianity, despite being a Catholic myself. Life was not created in 7 days- it took many tries over many years for us to have a world shaped the way ours is, so full of complexity. Also, I found the idea of life by the principle of Dharma to be very interesting. If there are set roles for each member of society to follow, ideally there will be prosperity, but I think more likely the same values will be passed down to children in the same roles, but the world will have changed, and the values and roles will matter less, causing a society to continue living in the past rather than facing the future and adapting to it.
ReplyDeleteOn a slightly different note, I am taking yoga as my gym class this year, and don’t really enjoy it. I don’t mind the class, but I lack the discipline to hold difficult poses for a time past when I feel comfortable. I thought it was interesting that the gods created yoga because people often get so caught up in the misery of sickness, elderliness, and death. I can see where developing this skill could provide happiness to a devout student, and I have a great deal of respect and envy for anyone with enough focus to become a master.
I found the almost formulaic nature and detail in the cycles described to be interesting. The Maha Yuga was certainly a new concept for me. However, while definitely unfamiliar, there are traces of it that can be seen throughout the rest of life. For example, the nature of our existence is also cyclical. We are born, we live, we raise young, we die. Our young are born, they live, they raise young, and then they die. On and on, this cycle has occurred for every single human being alive today. All of their ancestors since the first human walked on two legs have completed this course. It is crazy to think about when phrased like this. The other piece of life that I find strangely cyclical is that of our behavior. As J. Cole says in his song “High for hours”
ReplyDelete"Here's a thought for my revolutionary heart
Take a deeper look at history, it's there to pick apart
See the people at the top, they get to do just what they want
'Til after while the people at the bottom finally get smart
Then they start to holla revolution, tired of living here, destitution
F*** that looting, can you tell me what's the best solution?
I used to think it was to over throw oppressors
See, if we destroy the system that means we'll have less of greed
But see, it's not that simple
I got to thinking 'bout the history of human nature
While this instrumental, play
Then I realized something that made me wonder if revolution was really ever the way
Before you trip and throw a fit over these words I say
Think about this s*** for second, you heard the way
The children in abusive households grow up knocking girlfriends out cold
That's called a cycle
Abused becomes the abuser and that how life go
So understand
Look at the power, but you know what power does to man
Corruption always leads us to the same shit again
So when you talk about revolution dawg, I hear just what you saying
What good is taking over, when we know what you gon' do
The only real revolution happens right inside of you
I said
What good is taking over, when we know what you gon' do
The only real revolution happens right inside of you"
This is a concept that has been echoed in my psychology class - nature and nurture. A major part of our behavior, our personalities, our disposition, it comes from genetics. At least 70%. The other 30% is due to environment, or the nurture. This means that, like J. Cole said, we are likely to grow up to be like those who raised us. Further more, behavior begets similar behavior, anger causes anger, “eye for an eye” etc. It is a cycle.
I believe that dharma is good, for it is a positive to try to live more virtuously and unselfishly. However, strict adherence to any sort of code is not a good thing, as this leaves an individual no flexibility to adapt as a situation needs, especially in our modern world. Also, living for the good of everyone else is, at a certain point, too much. One must care for themselves, for it is not a perfect world and you must fight to survive.
As someone who does not practice a religion, I still can see the appeal of some of the aspects of Hinduism. I believe in the importance of mind and body, and after reading the yoga instructions I am excited to try them. There is a definition connection between physical, mental, and emotional, and if changing the first two to change the third works, then I am all for it. I also like the concept of namaste, and unity. In our increasingly divided world, I find myself wishing for a more unified people more and more, both on a societal and community level.
Question #2: The Hindu thought that life repeats in cycles seems to be the most realistic. While at times it may appear otherwise, life is never strictly getting better or worse, it is always some combination or alternation of the two. It is also commonly said that history repeats itself, and there are experiences that many people share at certain times in their lives. For example, having a “midlife crisis” is a common experience. Similarly, the majority of seniors are currently very stressed as they await their college acceptance letters. The idea that, for periods of time, human life has a certain flow is interesting, although some parts are possibly not as realistic. The first portion of the Maha Yuga (great age), the Krita Yuga, has moral perfection and no sorrow. This idea does not sound possible, as people are always going to be unhappy with something in their lives or have disagreements with others. It may have been possible though, when humans were hunter-gatherers, as their main concern was survival, not socializing. The concept of a cycle is still more realistic than that of just getting better or worse throughout time.
ReplyDeleteFrom the minimal meditation I have done, I have found it relaxing to clear my mind, and be able to just slow down my day for a little bit. When I’m stressed, to a certain point I will be trying to be as productive as I can. Taking the time to meditate allows for me to more calmly complete the tasks, rather than frantically trying to get it done. It is also just nice to have that quick break from needing to think about everything in life.
As an agnostic person the idea of religion always riddled me, the irrational morals they would propose and the self-righteousness of those who attempted to impose it seemed like an oppressive rather than liberating approach. But Hinduism doesn’t feel like that. Although I know very little about the religion, through the conversations I’ve had with my Hindu friends, I have come to view the religions as more of a “way of life,” as silly as it sounds. The concepts of reincarnation and cyclical life strikes me as extremely compelling, and although I have not yet arrived as any conclusions on my personal beliefs, I find them to be of extreme importance.
ReplyDeleteLife does indeed work as a cycle, it often gets worse before it gets better and it usually does not stay there for too long, I think that is what makes it exciting. However, the idea of being stuck in a never ending cycle seems rather despairing to me, being born, growing old, watching your children do the exact same, though likely, it is rather boring. I like to think about life as more an endless strand of cycles, some big, and other so quick we barely notice them. It makes it so that we, although we are constantly being faced with similar things, what we learn from them changes, we are not stuck.
I have practised yoga for a while now, I find it to be extremely relaxing. The awareness it raises about our own mind-body connection is very beneficial for our own understanding of self; I do however find it ironic, if not shady, that every single yoga instructor I have been to was white, and although I am happy the practice has spread across cultures, it seems rather strange that something so closely tied to religion is being used by those who do not truly believe in it, and by a demographic that often oppresses those who practice it.
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ReplyDeleteWhen I was thinking about life as a repetitive cycle, my mind directly thought about the actions that people made. I feel that for every action someone makes, that action leads to another action and so on. This process repeats all throughout life, until you are dead. In regards to life improving over time and life deteriorating over time, I think it depends on the actions that you choose. I feel that if you make the do the right thing for your whole life, your life will get better. But if you do bad actions, your life will get worse. Going off of my logic, I find a life that improves over time to be more appealing because you are doing good deeds and helping others, and, in turn, you are being rewarded for your deeds.
ReplyDeleteAs I read “Downward Dogs and Warriors,” I was very surprised to hear that Shiva, the destroyer god, created yoga. Though I consider myself Hindu and knew that yoga originated from India, I had never learned this fact about yoga. I feel that one of the reasons that yoga is so popular is the connection between mental and physical. Though there are many “exercises” that you can do to work on improving your mental or physical health, such as meditation and sports, I feel that there are not many that involve both. I feel that the increase in the popularity of yoga is because of this, one is able to improve their mental and physical state doing one thing.
This myths description of life as a continuously repeating cycle appeals to me because I think that it is realistic. No one is perfect, and life is a continuous cycle of mistakes. The four ages in each Maha Yuga and the repetition of the Maha Yuga show how perfection and happiness are impossible to maintain indefinitely. There will be ups and downs in life and disappointments. People will make mistakes and learn from them. Throughout the four ages of the Maha Yuga, a deterioration of people’s values takes place. Their values go from meditation, to knowledge, to wealth. Then, at the end of this cycle Vishnu destroys all living creatures and the earth in order for people to start again.
ReplyDeleteI’ve always found it very difficult when trying to meditate in the past. It takes a lot of practice to just sit and keep your mind quiet, which I am not very good at it. My mom meditates a lot, and she says that at first it was difficult, but as she kept practicing she gt better and better at it. She says that now when she does it she feels completely relaxed and can lose track of all time while meditating. I like the idea of meditation as a relaxation tool, but it takes a lot of practice and time in order to fully enjoy it. That is why patience is so important when meditating.
I took yoga Junior year, so I am a little familiar with yoga and some of the other thoughts intertwined with meditation and that type of thing. I am not very good at meditating but between the class and this reading, I have a new perspective on what meditating actually is. I'd like to try it more properly sometime soon. Anyways, I can see that idea of cycles in everything, though most specifically in the yoga class I took last year. Every class we did a different combination of poses, but we always ended with savasana, basically just lying down and meditating. We did this same thing every class. Now, as I think about it, the whole class was a cycle. We started learning poses and did them over and over throughout the year, ending with the same ones we started with. I do have to say, the downward dog was one of the most difficult poses for me. It was something I could barely do correctly for a couple seconds in the beginning of the semester. But, as I worked at it almost every class, I discovered that I could do the post better and better. By the last class I could hold it well without bending my knees or collapsing after half a dozen seconds. I connected this to the reading as seeing yoga as a representation of the progress in your own life and that how you're doing in yoga connects to your own life. Like if you are giving up easily or something like that. I'm not sure, but I'm seeing the connections between taking time to do something like yoga and your own mindset.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the view of life as a continuously repeating cycle, alternative views of life include one in which life continues to improve and one in which life continues to get worse. Which of these three views of life do you find the most realistic? Why? Which do you find the most appealing? Why?
ReplyDeleteI think the most realistic one is Dvapara Yuga. Everything that is talked about in the third age describes what we are going through in life, “In the Dvapara Yuga, disease, misfortune, suffering, and death are part of everyone’s existence; people have become more passionate and greedy, and war is commonplace.” I find the first age the most appealing because it is the “age of virtue and moral perfection.” Everyone lives a happy life no one is lying to get to a means.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of living according to the principle of dharma? Does the concept of dharma support or oppose an effort to correct social injustice? Explain.
The advantages of living according to the principle of dharma is that you would always speak the truth and you could trust everyone’s word because there would be no deceit or lying. The disadvantage would be that you would always have to report yourself when you break a rule and do something bad.
I am not that familiar with yoga, since I haven’t really been to yoga classes before but I have done it a few times during track practice. I would love to start taking classes because of how content you could feel after. I feel very peaceful when I am trying to do the poses and it almost feels like you’re meditating.
Overall I found the myth of the cycle of rebirth to be very interesting. Personally, I don’t follow any religious or mythological beliefs, but I did enjoy learning about the core values that are stemmed from Hinduism. It was an interesting perspective on the meaning of life and the purpose that is destined upon humans. I think I found the description of the timeline of rebirth insightful. I think that the amount of time it takes to get through a cycle, as well as the severe differences of them, adds to the reality of how long life can be. But this is also challenged when they say that “each one thousand Muga Yugas… is one day of the life of the world”. I also found that in each stage life became progressively worse, and that life is consistently bad. At these stages, I’m not sure how someone would be able to survive in such environments of constant greed and inequality, I also feel that the “best” stage of life, the first one, is too perfect. I don’t think that living such a happy content life without flaws or unease is possible to achieve, human psychology is built on the basis of reaction and action. Also in the stage of Krita Yuga, there is the least description of humanity, its just labeled perfect. But as they continue on it seems that there are people who want to gain and enter the perfect world. How would a believer in the cycle of rebirth interpret this world, as obviously, the reality of life is not perfect, would one continue to believe that they are in one of the later stages continuously, generation after generation. But maybe I am thinking too literally, trying to understand from my own nonreligious perspective. Though I did find the myths interesting to learning about a new culture.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see in “The Creation, Death, and Rebirth of The Universe how Vishnu actually takes on all three of the positions (Vishnu, Shiva-Rudra, and Brahma). While the Christian faith has one who is God and one who is Satan, the Hindu myth shows how the divine power takes on the roles or creator and destroyer, implying that it is within human nature to have dualities, such as good and evil or loving and hating.
ReplyDeleteI think that living in such a way that adheres to these principles suggested in “The Creation, Death, and Rebirth of The Universe” and “The Ramayana” makes a lot of sense from a figurative standpoint. Similar to the Christian faith, it is not helpful to take the stories literally. Taking away the messages and the lessons are what I believe should be the intent when reading myths and relying on religion as a moral compass. A lot of social division comes from people believing too strongly in the written word of religious texts, especially The Bible, and not interpreting them as meer guidelines that can be used in a constantly changing world society.
This relates to one of the final lines in “Shiva, Parvati, and Yoga,” which states “all the characters in the stories were aspects of our own minds, making the stories instructive as well as entertaining.” The connection between the stories and the way we think and feel is much more apparent than between how we act in our own physical world. The entertainment aspect also plays into how important it is to enjoy life, creating a duality between pleasure and perspective that people who find a proper balance between will be the happiest.
As a Unitarian Universalist, My church has no text or credo, and people from all different religions come come to the services and participate in the church community. One thing that I love so much about this is that I, and others in the church, get a wide perspective of interpretations of being good and the meaning of life. I am exposed to stories from all over the world from many different religions which I think has caused me to interpret the meanings figuratively. As a runner, I have my own sort of meditation that comes from exerting myself in an extreme physical manner. When I am alone, I can pay attention to how I feel, whether I am in pain or in a fluid rhythm. I can focus on different parts of my body and how they feel, similar to a full body scan thing. As much as running gets me in shape, it also acts as an activity for me to practice mindfulness.
This myth describes life as a continuously repetitive cycle. I really enjoyed reading about this World Mythology especially because I think a lot of it contributes and appeals to our world. I believe that a lot of the aspects surrounding the four ages of life are existent and very realistic. When something is first created, those witnessing and experiencing it for themselves are on top of the world, filled with happiness. But when it is repetitive and they have the time to find flaws, they understand the imperfections and want more - leading to greed as well as other unfortunate events such as “kali” - quarrel and war. But, as I read through more of this packet and with my experience taking yoga last year, I understand that it can help one find who they truly are while going through these four ages. It helps one to find the good and focus on what matters rather than what one “wants”. I feel that the fourth age continues to improve because there is change everyday. Whether there is good or bad change, there are many ways to escape and find ways to relieve yourself from being in the “dark age”. When thinking about this age realistically, there are bad issues in society today which can cause “kali” and what Kali Yoga describes as there being no existent virtues in the world. However, looking around more, there are all kinds of protests as well as people enacting change everywhere. I think good can come from the dark age and it’s hopefully improving a lot.
ReplyDeleteAs for my connection to yoga and the world of mythology, I took yoga last year and really enjoyed it. It not only helped me to relax and understand what it’s like to meditate, especially using it in one’s everyday life. It taught me how helpful it can be to focus on one thing, rather than thinking about multiple issues at once. I loved the class and would recommend yoga to anyone because it can be extremely helpful and actually fun. It took me a little bit to learn how to focus my mind on one thing, specifically when I was having a bad day, but after a little while and a few practices, it’s important to understand that on your worst days, it can help the most!
I infact follow this religion. However I feel as though that this religion is more important to my parents than it is to me at the moment and thus im implicated in it. I don't know how strictly I would adhere to the religion if i had the freedom of choosing, not to say that my parents force it on me rather i'm slightly indifferent but more often than not adhere to it when I can. There are many elements that I see in these stories that are evident in other mythological stories from other religions such as from Greece, or China. I pointed out in class how alot of what we see in religion is also applicable to the stereotypes that are present in today's societies. What I mean by this is how pandoras box and with adam and eve and in the cities in the passage the woman always seems to get the short end of the stick. The woman always seems to be the cause of the downfall or is looked as the lesser of the sexes. I find this intriguing is due to how even now we're fighting for equal wages and there are still people who are subejcted to seixsm and yet we see it so evidnetly in religion which so many people follow regardless of their political stance.
ReplyDeleteI have really gotten into yoga and some concepts of hinduism and buddhism this past year. Yoga is such an amazing practice and it has definitely changed my thinking processes and approach to life. The concept of being mindful and free of judgement is such a huge thing to tackle but it is so important. In meditation, they tell you to just be observant of thoughts coming into our head, not judgemental. This has been really challenging for me because I tend to be really hard on myself (something I didn’t fully acknowledge before) and it is hard to simply identify the thought and move on, rather than getting frustrated with myself for letting my thoughts wander. This fall I went to a hospitalization program for mental health and they do some super cool groups about mindfulness- some of my favorites are the grounding exercises. These usually involve identifying things around you in a methodical way. Like 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, etc. This works really well for me and helps keep me in the moment rather than spinning around in my head.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that I learned which I think is SO interesting is that one of the pillars of Buddhism literally says that “life is suffering”. At first this sounds kinda dark, but the more I think about it the more comforting it is. Like life is just suffering, but that's what it is and were going to make the most of it. I like that
In eighth grade, I was forced into a meditation “flex-time,” essentially a more structured h-block where the teacher decides the topic. At first I was interested but a little bit apprehensive as my other friends had movie flex-times or reading flex-times that I enjoyed. As the year progressed I grew to truly despise that class more and more. None of the students signed up for it and it was very structured and assignment-based despite the fluidity of the topic. I took away two main things from that class: one that meditation was clearing your mind of thoughts so it is completely blank, otherwise you fail. Two, that meditation was not for me. Later, I began practicing Bikram Yoga, a form of hot yoga and took yoga my junior year. These two experiences have completely changed how I think about yoga and mindfulness and make me truly resent that class because it turned me away from yoga and meditation for years. Aside from physical health, yoga has helped with balancing my mental health more than any other form of treatment has so far. I either have a very scattered mind that goes a mile a minute or one that can only focus on one thing. Going from 0-100, there really is no in between. Mediation has taught me to recognize this and accept it whereas yoga has taught me to recenter myself and find a steady in-between. It is definitely still a work in progress but these things have worked better than any of the countless methods I have tried before.
ReplyDeleteQuestion #1 from “World Mythology” was very interesting to me. I would identify as agnostic but I believe very strongly in an afterlife, reincarnation, and the idea that everything happens for a reason. These things allow me to be more focused on living instead of worrying about the mysteries of death. So I do see life as an endless cycle. I think mind and soul are completely separate entities and when you die, it's just your body dying but your soul lives on forever just in different bodies. I understand why many people don’t agree with this idea, especially since there is no physical evidence to support it.
I have a strong sense of morals that guide me through life rather than a specific religion with a set of ideals. I don’t think either one is better than the other. For me, my parents aren’t particularly religious so we didn’t not go to our episcopal church very often.
Life is filled with repetition. We do the same routine everyday for the most part, and stray from it rarely. We go to school, get jobs, and do that until we die. People everywhere do that, and give birth to more people that will go to school, get a job, and then die. To the bare bones, that is life. Personally, I see there is obviously more to life than just working until you die. There is light and life and happiness and sadness and chaos and it is all terribly wonderful. I believe in rebirth, and that we continue on doing this cycle and sometimes it's better and sometimes it's worse but we still are reborn because we still have that energy, it still exists, and it will repeat. I really liked what they told of the story of the Ramayana because it sounded very similar to the epics it related it to, like The Iliad and The Odyssey. In the end, we are all storytellers and we learn the same lessons over and over and over again. The story of Sati, the first wife of Shiva was heart-wrenching. She is like any other normal person. She is in love, and wishes to marry the man she loves. But her parents disapprove and eventually she is mocked so much that she sacrifices herself. It's a story that echoes throughout history. The only relief is that Sati is reincarnated into Parvati, and her reincarnation's father is much more supportive and she can freely love Shiva as his wife. I really enjoy the stories in relation to yoga because it gives reason to why we do what we do. Everything has something that started it all, and yoga has a deep and rich history.
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