Star Trek Quotes 18

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"The captain cannot cheat death:" 
I related this quote to Jean Paul Satre's concept that death is liberating because no one can cheat death. At some point in our lives everyone is going to pass away, but with this knowledge of death we should live life to the fullest or, in the case of the movie characters, carry out our full responsibilities to the best of our abilities.

"Which path will you choose?"
This reminded me of Buddhism. A person can decide their own fate. They can decide to live a life filled with desires and end up suffering or choose to take the path of a Buddhist. A Buddhist's path would include following the Four Noble Truths and the Eight Fold Path, so that you can reach Nirvana and no longer suffer. According to Buddhism, if a person cannot achieve this, they will end up reliving a cycle of rebirths due to karma.

"I chose a life of honest labor."
This related to Kierkegaard's stages of life. By choosing to live a life of honest labor, a person would be in the ethical stage of their life. They would be living selflessly and not impulsively such as an aesthetic person would. A person who chooses to live a life of honest labor is not thinking of their own benefit and pleasures; therefore they have moved on from the aesthetic stage to the ethical stage of life.

"I'm going to give you a mild sedative"
I related this to the idea of the concept of medical paternalism. In the movie, the main character is stabbed with a needle so that he is able to go on the mission. In this situation the character who gave the main character the sedative thought it was best for him and made the decision for him and didn't even ask if for the main character's permission.

"Are you saying they're from the future?"
This quote shows that anything is possible. Therefore, I related it to Rene Descartes' skepticism theory. Rene Descartes believed that the only thing we can prove is that we exist. That means anything else in our "world" could be fake. There could even be an alternative reality. Such as how it was possible for Spoc to come from the future in Star Trek, anything is possible because there's nothing that we can truly prove wrong or right.

Learn some Star Trek trvia here!

Buddhism 17

This picture that I just took is a small section of how my dad decorates the shelves at the back of my living room. My parents are very religious and even though, I do not follow all the ways of the Buddhism religion, I do consider myself Buddhist. I have decided to relate my parent's faith to the fifth eightfold path guideline to escape suffering. The fifth one says that you must have the right conduct. This includes living life consistent with our values. Although, my parents haven't been able to escape all sufferings, they do follow most of the Buddhist ways. They have always taught me to respect elders and be grateful for my parents. They have never forced the religion on me, but I have grown up to believe that there is a Buddha that watches over me. So I have to remember to continue doing good so that in my next life good things will happen to me. My parents pray every night before they go to bed and are very careful around the shrine. My dad always reminds to never go too close to the shrine and to NEVER to touch it.

The Matrix and Buddhism 16

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The Matrix and Buddhism

           One of Buddha’s greatest teachings was the Four Noble Truths. The Four noble truths all related to suffering. According to Buddha, the first noble truth is that all life suffers. The next noble truth states that the cause of suffering is ignorance and clinging. Buddha’s next noble truth is that there does exist a way to end suffering. To conclude, the Four the noble truth, Buddha presented the eightfold path which was the answer to end suffering. After watching the movie "The matrix," we learn that the matrix is a made up world that the humans lived in. Neo, the main character escapes from the matrix and join Morpheus and his team in the underworld city of Zion. These characters work together to defeat the machines that try to control this fake world. The connection between Buddhism and the matrix is that Neo could be related to Buddha himself. Both Buddha and Neo were enlightened and were able to escape from their sufferings using the principles of the eightfold path.  

            In the movie when Neo meets Morpheus, we come to realization that while in the matrix Neo has had this feeling of dismay. Neo always had a weird feeling about the way he was living and wondered what was wrong with the world. He just always had this feeling that drove him mad. Thus, he was suffering. This feeling eventually, led him to meet Morpheus, who believed he was the “one.” What Morpheus meant by this was that neo was that one who was going to help destroy the machines (agents) and destroy the Matrix. Before Neo could do this, he needed to believe in the truth and recognize that the matrix was a false world. The first principle of the eightfold path is that you must face reality and seek the truth.  By taking the red pill Neo was going to let Morpheus show him the real world and that meant he finally believed in the truth.

 Another principle of Buddha’s teachings of the eightfold path is that you must have the right effort. When Neo enters the loading program, he asks Morpheus if he can go back into the matrix. After, Morpheus replies no Neo knows that now he has to prepare for a fight. That is when he started learning fighting moves such as, taekwondo. It is clear is that Neo did not give up even though he was afraid. He definitely, had the right effort.

     Lastly, Neo possessed right mindfulness just as Buddha had done to escape suffering. When Morpheus and Neo are having a duel against each other, Morpheus reminds Neo that he has to let go of fear, doubt, and disbelief. Neo was able to get to this point in his life when he was able to dodge the bullet shots from Agent smith. It was amazing that he was able to move faster than the bullets and see where they were going.  

At the end of the movie, Neo was able to defeat agent Smith. He was able to do this because he followed the Buddhism ways. He escaped the suffocating world of the matrix and became enlightened. Just as Morpheus suspected Neo was the one who was going to save the humans from the matrix and the machines. Because Neo chose the right path and escaped suffering he helps others escape from a deceiving world. 

Groundhog Day 15

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In the movie Groundhog Day, the main character Phil Connors, a meteorologist, continues to feel unhappy with his life. In the beginning of the movie,  he covers the news report about Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney and then tells the wrong forecast about the storm that supposedly was not going to hit the town. When the same storm causes Phil, Rita, and Larry to spend the night in Punxsutawney, Phil wakes up to face a strange day. The weird part is that this strange day is just a repeat of the previous day. As times goes on Phil notices that he is reliving that same day over and over again. This takes a toll on Phil and causes Depression. His depression is portrayed by the Kubler Ross model that describes as the five stages of Depression. These five stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

-An example of Phil in the denial stage is when he asks Rita to slap in the face when he thinks that reliving the same day is all a dream. He is in denial that it is real life that he is stuck in a universe where he has to deal with the same problems over and over again until he learns to leave the depressing life behind.

-An example of Phil in the anger stage is when he punches Ned. Even though, Ned annoys the heck out of Phil he shouldn't have punch Ned. That was very impulsive and immature of Phil to put his anger onto other people who come across him at the wrong time. If he was annoyed he could just walk away from him. He does not need to lay his hands on other people.

-An example of Phil in the bargaining stage is when Phil tries to make Rita fall in love with him. He'll do anything to try to get close to her and takes advantage of reliving the same days over and over again. At first he tries to sleep with Rita and she gets very upset with him so the next day he builds a snowman with her and tries to do all these sweet things. After making a bunch of mistakes, he treats Rita right and becomes a better man for her. This is him in his bargaining stage because he's taking a chance everyday to see how to besomeone worth loving for Rita.

-An example of Phil in the depression stage is when he tells Rita that she loves him, but Rita insults him and says that the only person Phil loves is himself. It's depressing because even if Rita and Phil have a really good times, she forgets and only remembers the miserable Phil who thought the whole world was against him. He even tries to kill himself throughout the movie several times. One time was when he was in the bath tub fill with water and dropped the toaster inside.

-An example of Phil in the acceptance stage is when he fixes the the tires for the old woman. After realizing how much of  a jerk he has been and the miserable life that he's led he changes his ways and starts to help others instead of being selfish. By helping others he makes himself feel better and realizes that this life is better than his old one. Not only does he fix the woman's tires on the car, he saves the man from choking at the restaurant, and the tries to save the homeless man from dying.

Specchio Falso 13

Specchio Falso (The False Mirror) Pic URL

One of Descartes’ many great accomplishments was bringing out his skepticism theory. He doubted everything he once knew and came to the realization that the only thing he could prove to be true,  was his existence in the world.  “Cogito Ergo Sum,” is a famous quote from Decartes that means ,”I think, therefore I am.” What I took from the outcome of Decartes’ experience is that this world we live in can be deceiving and the way to get close to the truth is just to doubt and think carefully before believing everything and everyone. A painting that reminded me of Descartes’ skepticism theory is, “Specchio Falso (The False Mirror),” by Rene Margritte. After reading the title of the picture, my interpretation of the painting is that our eyes can be very deceiving. Sometimes, our minds will trick us into thinking that we have seen something that we haven’t. This relates to times when people are in denial and refuse to see the truth in life (a cheating boyfriend, death of a loved one, etc.) Because sometimes people are in denial, they would rather lie to themselves and be at peace with believing what makes them feel better. I believe this peacefulness is represented by the blue sky. Sometimes believing in a lie is much easier than dealing with the truth. Decartes’ skepticism theory  teaches people that they should not be naive and should not become a part of a false reality.

Asking for an ID 14

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When you work in retail, you already know you are going to have to deal with all sorts of customers, especially if you are a cashier. Dealing with people's money is a really big deal. Some customers will make life easy for you and the purchase will be a breeze. Some even have long interesting conversations with you, or make you smile and laugh. Then, there are customers who are in a bad mood and like to put it on other people. When you work at staples and someone uses a credit card you are always required to ask for their card, look to see that there is a signature on the back, and make sure that the customer's signature matches the signature on the back of the card. If the customer does not have a signature on the back of the card, then we are required to ask for an ID, regardless of how much the total comes out to be. Other stores are required to do this as well, but some people just automatically use the card without even looking at the back of the card. The reason I am writing about this is because there are too many customers out there who get extremely angry when I ask for their ID. It honestly makes me really upset. I don't get it at all. I am doing them a favor to make sure that there is no fraud happening. They should be grateful like most customers. Not yell at me and create a huge scene. What makes me the most mad is when a customer writes on the back of a card, "Ask for ID" and when I do they yell at me for asking for an ID. Some people don't understand that fraud can happen anywhere anytime and I'm only helping to ensure that their money is not being stolen. I related my blog to Aristotle's philosophical idea that human’s highest function is reason. I realized that I could easy get away with not asking for an ID just to avoid these rude customers, but life is about the right use of reasoning. I shouldn't just let these customer's get away without showing me their ID, because I could be really doing some damage one day if fraud was actually happening. Aristotle said that you a person's reasoning should not have bad motive behind it and it's true. All of our actions should be in virtue.

The Truman Show 12

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After watching the movie, "The Truman Show," I can see the irony behind the character names such as, Christof and Truman. First off, I am going to start with the name Christof. If you break down this name it would be "Christ Of." After looking it up, I found that Christ means the anointed one. Anointed means to make sacred. So basically, Christof the character in the movie, creates this imaginary world that revolves around the character Truman. He treats Truman as someone who is sacred and thinks he is protecting Truman by controlling everything and everyone that comes across Truman's path. For instance, when Truman tries to leave the show, Christof decides to control the weather and turns the ocean into a huge storm. The irony behind the name Truman is that if you were to break down this name, it could be "True Man." In the movie, Truman who lives his life on set of the television show, is the only character who is true to himself. Throughout the movie, he shows his true feelings and emotions while everyone one else is acting and playing along for the television show. Furthermore, Truman seeks the truth. By the end of the movie, he notices that everything that happened was really not a coincidence. He noticed all the weird things going on and figured that he was being filmed. For instance, he would catch the crew members talking to each other from listening to the radio. He also, notices how the back of the elevator wasn't a wall.