Tour 3

The third world tour about anthropology was very interesting. I found it easier to understand than the second world tour where Del was talking about the cosmos and what the different perspectives and thoughts towards it were. Because Anthropology is the study of man, Del was looking at what the mentality of man is and what consequences will follow because of this. He looked at Abraham Marslow who was a famous psychologist who developed the hierarchy of needs with self-actualization being at the top. This idea has been so hyped up by most Americans with them supporting different causes that have to do with self-esteem. They think that everything should begin and end round them not realizing that there are more important things in life than having a high self-esteem. Also recently popularized is the idea that evil is not inherent in human nature. Carl Rogers was misleading people hen he brought up this thought. He said that human beings were basically good and that other things influence us to be evil so we cannot really be held accountable for our sins. This makes us loose sight of the more important things in life like the knowledge of God and of ourselves.

There are also two contrasting ideas about how we were created. Some say we were created in the image of God “Imago Dei” and some say we were created from random stuff within the cosmos “Imago Goo”. Imago Dei says that we are created in His image but despite that we have fallen short of his glory and we are in need of redemption. Man has existed or currently exists in 4 states, Innocence, fallen, redeemed and death (either hell or glorified). We were originally innocent, not knowing of all the evil that existed in the world until Eve picked that apple off of the tree and that immediately opened our eyes to the evil of the world. God was not pleased with this so man became fallen with the choice of being redeemed by repenting for all of his sin and worshiping Him. And finally after we die, we either go to hell or heaven depending on whether you chose to follow Christ or not. I think that this tour was eye opening because I did not see how much blame we tend to put on everything else and take none of the responsibility on ourselves. Which is wrong to do especially because everyman should be able to think independently and not rely on other people.

Building poem

Passing by it everyday
Time flies by
everything changes
but it seems to stay the same
They say the only things certain in life
are death and taxes
well,
I say the only things certain in life are
death,
taxes.
and change!

Lesson 2

I have to be honest, I was lost for the most part of lesson two. mostly because it was hard to figure out exactly what point he was trying to make especially since his particular method of teaching isn't systematic so when he starts speaking about one thing, that subject divulges into something else for a while and then goes back to the topic at hand. This also proves difficult to take comprehensive notes because it is almost impossible to tell what points are more important than others.
However it seemed to me that he was teaching about how philosophy answers some of the most crucial questions in life but there is an irony to the definition of philosophy because it leaves out God completely, yet He is the answer to all the questions like "Why do we exist?" and "What is the purpose of life?". One thing I also did not quite understand, but would like to is what he was trying to teach about the cosmos. After watching lesson two I conclude that perhaps we might have needed some background knowlege as to what he is refering to when he says some things and maybe it would have heped in understanding the video more.

Truth project

This video really opens up our eyes as to what is truth. In the compass of worldview, truth is found. It puts everything we know to the test and shows you if you really know what the scripture says. I like the fact that he can support everything he says with a verse from the bible and that I get to learn about things that i might have forgoten about or never knew in the first place. As human beings we tend to think that we are always right, and that we know almost everything but in an explanatory video, they showed how difficult it could be to answer even the simplest question "what is truth" almost everyone paused in their answer because truth, is a word that we use everyday but yet nobody could define it well.
The question "why did Jesus come into the world" was also an eye opener for both his students and myself. The first thought that came to everyone's mind was "it was to save us from sin" but again he showed the bible verse in John where it said the he came to testify to the truth. The lecturer hypothesizes based on the bible which implies that he lives acoording to the bible and that should be an inspiration to every christian.

House MD

In the tv show House, Dr. Gregory house is somewhat of a genius in the field of diagnostics. Whatever seems unsolvable, he can figure it out. However, as expected, he has a flaw; he is hooked on vicodin. The hospital administrator/ his on again, off again love intrest Dr. Cuddy worries about him. Because of his rude behaviour towards everybody, she is one of the two people who can be considered as his friend.
Although she tries to set boundaries, it never works because House is never concerned for anyone else's feelings but his own. She is also aware that he is hooked on vicodin but she can't really act upon it because she has feelings for him,he is a great doctor and he just happens to be a functioning drug addict. Her approach to dealing with his addiction is a mix between "blindness" and the "eyes open" approach because she often tries to get him to stop but she also ignores it sometimes and lets him continue practicing medicine. I think she made the wrong decision by not being tough on him, she in a way enabled him because maybe if she was tougher then he would had tried to change sooner rather than later.

Anxiety

The feeling of axiety is not an estranged feeling to me. I ususally get anxious about all kinds of things, good or bad. Personally I think that everyone needs that feeling of anxiety from time to time because otherwise we would just be complacent with everything we do. Whenever I get anxious, I try to calm myself down and talk myself into doing whatever it is I need to do. However, I am often thankful that my anxiety does not get the best of me. I can't imagine how different my life would be if I had anxiety attacks, it would be such a disruption in my life because I wouldn't be able to do anything with worrying that I might have an anxiety attack.
Little self motivational talks however cliché sounding they are, really do help. The difference between success and failure could just be a little optimism. Although sometimes I do let my fears get the best of me,even if i try to convince myself otherwise sometimes it doesn't work but this is no excuse to always be held back by your fears. Whenever I argue with someone, it takes time for me to resolve the conflict but when we are actually talking, I would try to undserstand their point of view and try to understand the origin of the conlict. In any argument it is best to swallow on's pride and attempt to resolve the disagreement before it gets out of hand.

Ending of Oedipus Rex

The play Oedipus Rex is very unique. The plot of it is like nothing I’ve ever read before. After reading the end of the play I remember thinking about how melodramatic it was. Oedipus was so torn apart by his discovery, but what I enjoyed the most is the dramatic irony. Sophocles manages to cleverly clue in the audience of what is going to happen before Oedipus himself knew what was going on. When the sphinx asked him the riddle “What has four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon and three legs at night?” Oedipus had no idea this had double meaning, that it was also foreshadowing him having “three legs” or being blind and using a walking stick.

The unfolding of events in the final act was much too dramatic to my liking although it was tragic how Jocasta ended up hanging herself to death out of shame. Oedipus blinded himself because he couldn’t bear to lay eyes on his mother who was also the woman he had married. He said a very emotional goodbye to his daughters and begged Creon to take care of them. Another thing I liked was that Creon wasn’t rude about the way he cast Oedipus out, he showed grace in a situation where he didn’t have to.