The Divided Self I loved the beginning. The fear of the horse and rider. It tests the relationship the rider has with the horse. Clearly here he states, "The horse knew exactly what she was doing. She had walked this path a hundred times...."page 2. I have horses and this relates because a horse may spook as in the story and we always challenge why they did. I also say stop acting up. What I need to realize is trust the horse there must be a reason. As in trust in any other relationship. Which most people have a hard time doing with some one else. The paragraph describing how the mind used the freud metaphor was amazing. I have never thought of it into that text before. I was deeply drawn into the 3 parts:ego, superego, and ID.
Weakness of the will. Weakness of being able to trust (in the horse, or relationships). Weakness to admit that we are in the wrong. Weakness to have selfish desires. Weakness to have the mind vs. body ideaology. This all weaknesses that most humans and people have. I will say i have all of the above. Ethically no one wants to be wrong. That would allow in doubt and regret. Which are closely related to sadness.
Are we all automatic? We wake up go and do our daily rituals. "Controlled processing is limited-we can think about one thing at a time only-but automatic processes run in parallel and can handle many tasks at once."page 14 I always say when i get stressed I have so much on my mind! well know after reading this section I am doing automatic processes. I am focusing on many things instead of being controlled and focusing on one thing at a time. This truely grabbed me because I commit to a lot. I work 2 jobs, have 3 horses, 2 dogs, school, and watching my nephew. That is a lot and i now understand why i am doing automatic. Its almost as if I am on autopilot and not really living life. Hmmm........
Values: Living by a Love Ethic was directly relating to my life in many ways. I have had the same boyfriend for 4 years. Only to find out recently about lies that he has been telling me. Since I love him i have let my gaurd down, my domination and obsession with power have been gone, until now. I have realized what it takes to take stand, and dont let love run you down. Just because you call it love doesnt mean your voice is gone, which i have been feeling. "Love is the only sane and satisfactory response to the problem of human existence." page 92. When someone is in love they are typical happy, glitzy, showing the effects of love. From day one of our lives we ask and need love. We first experience it from our parents then in the future go out to find that particular loveable partner. Towards the end about power, the media, life enhancing values. We let all those influences effect our love. Not just our love but also ability of loving someone or something.
Why Can't We Be Good was harder for me to relate to. The quote, "the goodness above the goodness within,or, as it sometimes expressed, man is a microcosm." A microcosm being defined as a small minature model of something. We humans are a microcosm. We try to be good but we all cant be good. Why is that? Different upbringings? Different perspectives of life? What would life really be like with no bad? The real question is what is good, what is bad, what is ethical? I have my opinions and some people may agree and others may disagree. That is ethically okay. We can all have our good and bad opinions on every aspect of life. We all can't be good because then life wouldnt have difference. We learn from making "bad" choices. We expand from that to make this world a "better" or good place. We all cant be good because then there would be no need for justice. Or would justice even exist if there was no bad?
I feel we do have a choice whether or not we choose to do good or evil. Unless there is some physical (chemical) imbalance that impedes our ability to make decisions, why wouldn’t we? Sometimes that choice can be clouded or affected by social or economic situations; i.e. greed or poverty, but we still have a choice. Religion provides a deterrent to choosing evil. Decision making is also affected by temptation, and what I call mindful weakness, or will, so to speak. This is usually prompted by outer stimuli, at which point, what we deem to be right, is swayed, and we give in. Our physiological responses to outside stimulus, whether is be, emotional, chemical etc., can lead to decisions that we know are wrong (evil). For example: fear, lust to name a few. Montaigne speaks to some of these mind and body connections. [The Divided Self pg 5]. An over eater has both a psychological and physiological response, causing them to do something they should not. I think the way we are wired as humans, makes us capable of doing wrong (evil), from time to time, but these choices can be effected by life’s experiences i.e. psychological damage or unusual socialization, of course this is an exception, but we do have choices.
ReplyDeleteWhen we speak of choosing love, this usually involves others factors. Sure we can make this choice but I feel people at times, out of fear of rejection, don’t step forward. No ones wants to be left hanging out there. Other people may be in agreement with them, but are afraid of the ones with power or control, who don’t necessarily share their views. Anything from minority vs majority and in some instances, the saying money speaks louder than words, rings true. This was evident in the author’s discussion regarding the mass media. [Values Living by a Love Ethic pg 95]. I think only in a perfect world, would all people ban together or more of a majority and choose love. Is fear and love intertwined? Yes. To the media’s credit, they do sometimes interject love in their stories, but not nearly enough to strike a balance between the numbers of times that they do not. Choosing love is more prevalent in smaller communities. Being less populated everybody knows everybody, and there is a more direct stake involved; with more direct consequences.