Aphorism

"I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying."  Michael Jordan  

I really like this aphorism, and it is one I feel that I can relate to.  I like that it is motivational, and it is from Michael Jordan who is a basketball legend (basketball is my favorite sport).  It is very concise yet it has a very deep message.  I think the message is a great motto to follow, and one that I try to follow in both sports and academics.  The aphorism is basically saying that its ok if you fail as long as you tried your best, and I personally feel that is very true.  For example in Binationals when we lost to Coalba in the quarter finals we gave a great fight even if they were superior, and the feeling when we lost wasn’t necessarily defeat, but more like pride that we didn’t let them just sweep us away.  Maybe they were better, and we did fail in our goal to win Binationals, but we were the young underdogs that went out with a fight.  In academics its kind of like the same thing, but I feel that whenever I really give it my best its nearly impossible for me to fail.  If I truly give a project all my effort there should be no reason I fail it, and I think it never has happened.  Its like every time I have a big exam coming up, and I don’t feel prepared, I don’t just give up.  I try to face the problem, sit down, disconnect from my phone and computer, and just study.  If you really take the time to study there is no way you can fail.  I also feel like currently I am having to face a lot of hardships from life, but I’m trying to overcome them, because that’s the only way I can truly reach the level of success I want.             

Reflection to Joseph Campbell:

I believe that this aphorism relates to Joseph Campbell’s idea of heroes in many different ways.  The most obvious one in my opinion is how a hero must go through trials, and is going to mess-up every once in a while.  You can see that in Siddhartha when he gets caught in vice once he is rich; however, he was able to overcome that.  This aphorism basically states that you can fail, but you have to at least try to get back up, or even succeed the next time.  All of the heroes we´ve read about, both with physical and spiritual deeds have faced a situation were they failed.  What makes the heroes different from everyone else is that when they failed they managed to bounce back, and completely their journey.  That’s why they are the ones people remember, and they are the ones that are worth writing about.  

Reading Blog #4

I felt very sad  Siddhartha, and his son. Personally I know how hard and painful it is to lose a parent, so I definitely feel for him.   I relate the new relationship that Siddhartha and his son now have to the series The Following.  A child is reunited to his father who he hasn’t seen since he was very little (in Siddhartha’s case never).  The child struggles a lot to adapt to his new lifestyle, but its just two different for him.   I think that if I was in Siddhartha’s place I would never be able to let my son just go I think I would change to make him feel more comfortable.  Even if that means taking a step back in the process to become enlighten.

 It looks like that the wiser he becomes the less he feels superior to others.  He really gets people, and he appreciates everything they have to say and struggle with also.  He has to live with that constant pain of losing a son, which I would consider unbearable.   Seeing that he is finally enlightened, and finally became the Buddha confused me.  If he had already met the Buddha and then became the Buddha, does it mean that it is possible for any person to reach that stage, and become the Buddha?  I was also confused about Vasueda being like G-d , because I never understood G-d´s role or meaning to the Buddhist.  Seeing that Govinda and Siddhartha meet again was very interesting, and it reinforced the relationships and its importance.  Again at the end you can see how Siddhartha was just always better at everything than Govinda.  Govinda would always be in Siddhartha’s shadow.           

Blog #3

Part 3 of the book start to refer to Siddharta´s new life since he met Kamala, and became a rich man.  He starts turning to vice, and I feel that the change was very drastic and exaggerated.  I personally don feel that it is wrong to have money or be rich, but clearly he is a Samana.  He feels more comfortable being a wanderer, and his wife knew that so she let him go.  I feel that the love he shares with Kamala can’t be that real if he can get bored of it.  It sounds like a pure physical attraction. 

I found it actually pretty funny how Kamaswami would send people to search from him thinking he was kidnapped, when he really just wanted to leave. It’s like the typical story of a prince who is bored of the easy life, and wants to go out and live.  When he thinks about suicide I have always found that to be something selfish to do.  In Siddharthas case he even has a child, and it’s not fair in my opinion that because you feel pain your family has to suffer.  I like how when he sees Govinda he instantly feels better.  That just reinforces the whole idea of how special their friendship is, and also the idea we discussed in class about Govinda acting as a protective symbol in his life.         

The river plays a very Taoist part in the story.  It refers to how the rivers path is not forced, and that you can learn m ore from it than any book you could ever read.  I feel that he contradicts himself when he decides to turn into the ferryman’s disciple, but it is like if he is trying to turn back into the spiritual man he is.   I guess that the love he had with Kamaal kind of becomes real again or just seems to appear once she finds him with their child, and she dies.          

Siddartha Reading Blogs

Siddartha Reading Blog 1:

I was very surprised while I was reading the book when  I saw this perfect prince who could understanding everything so easily, and was loved by everyone would want to leave all of that behind to become a Samman. I understand that the reason he does it for is pretty much because he is bored, and he wants to feel more connected spiritually, but I have always felt that is something stupid to do.  I personally don’t feel that you need to let go of everything you like, and pretty much starve yourself just to be more pure.  I feel that you should be able to enjoy yourself more. 

About some of the characters like Govinda I feel like he is extremely weak by just completely idolizing Siddartha and by following.  He never really expresses his opinion unless it is something that praises Siddartha.  I found very interesting the conversation that Siddartha had with Buddha were I think he shows a lot of character to tell him in his face that even though he knows that Buddha is a great teacher he feels like the only way he can really learn is by learning from the lesson through experiences.

Reading blog 2:

I think that Siddartha is probably scared of having to go on the journey alone now that he left everything behind.  I found the dream extremely creepy, and I think it shows just how deep the relationship between Siddartha and his friend was.  I think it was one of those you don’t know what you have until you lose it feelings.  The whole milk thing was kind of disturbing also, but it was probably Siddartha’s way of like realizing how big the world was and made him more eager to learn its secrets.

I think it was interesting seeing how Siddartha’s thinking works when had the chance to get something he wanted with the girl, however he just didn’t feel he was ready for it(it was his lack of experience in that area).  I like the details he uses describing stuff like the river, he just makes it look even magical.  He finds another woman, and he knows what he wants with her however this time it becames like a goal he sets for himself.  He talks to her about it, and he starts convincing her with his poetry which back then it was probably very hard to find someone that could produce that type of writing.  It was very interesting that his appearance was too much like the one of a Samman, and that worked like a disadvantage in his quest to fulfilling his new goal.    

The Tao of...

I feel that in the movie The Butterfly Effect strongly shows one of Tao´s ideas:  how by doing a small action you can produce a huge reaction.  That is practically what the butterfly effect is all about.   The butterfly theory states that the flutter of butterfly can produce a typhoon half way across the world.  In the movie the protagonist wants to change peoples lives by changing events they lived.  Each time he changes something it has a drastic change on the persons life. 

In the movie Dodgeball   Taoism is reflected in the way they learned to play the sport.  Instead of going through an intense fitness program or doing special activities, they learned by doing normal activities and developing a muscle memory.   Also they were like the simple team that wasn’t very extravagant and where content with themselves while their opponents could be like the Confucius people, because they were an elite gym, which wouldn’t let people join easily.  Its like the scholars that try to keep the info to themselves.

In the movie Happy Gilmore the main character is a person that represents Taoism very well, and a lot like Winnie the pooh would.  He lives very simply and doesn’t care about getting the best and newest clubs.  He learned the game based completely by muscle memory and experience.  He started winning once he controlled his mind state.