Amazon Project

Victor Vainberg

Pre-AP English

February 8, 2009

Amazon Project

1.     Finally, you might remember Queen Hippolyta was the Queen of the Amazons. How would the play differ if she had been a real indigenous person from the Amazons?

a.     I believe that the play would have been different in the sense that the Amazons would have held a grudge against the men of today and paid tribute to their murdered Queen. Also, it is possible that the event would have kindled hatred towards the men, and thus decides to kill every male that is born.

2.     Perhaps the other great mystery for the arriving Europeans that had read and studied many of the texts that you have was, did the indigenous people of the Americas take the fall of man. Many believed they had not and therefore were innocent of sin, etc. What do you think? Support your claim with details from Amazonian beliefs.

a.     I believe that the fall of man did occur to the indigenous people of the Amazon, but with means of a different set of events. The Amazonian myths like that of the Curupira, a being that sprouted from sin, can inflict misfortune and fortune to those who deserve it. It is believed among the indigenous Amazonians that when two cousins fell in love and decided to be together without concern for the village or its Shaman, they were killed after leaving behind two children in the wilderness. These children grew up with the abilities of causing good of bad to whoever they deem appropriate.  

I will give you the illustration tomorrow. 

Obama Rhetoric

Logos: "In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom."

Pathos: "We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."

Ethos: "On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord." (he has gathered for that same reason)

Another Procrastinated Blog On Procrastination: Kosher Happiness

As an experienced procrastinator, my knowledge on the subject has granted me a solid point of view from which I can analyze the pros and cons of “Sleep, laziness, and negligence” (Gita 18.39). After a desperate attempt to delay the creation of my essay, I have concluded that the more I refuse to do my duty, the harder it gets to actually do it when I want to. Procrastination is a habit that can get pretty strong once you let it. These muscles thrive when we are “self-deluding”. According to Krishna from the Gita, “…it is said to be darkly inert” (Gita 18.39). What this means is that, like a parasite, the more you feed it, the more it refuses to leave.
This parasite that consumes you (or me, in my case) gives you a false sense of happiness. It is bitter-sweet in the sense that you can’t truly enjoy what you’re wasting your time with because you know in the back of your personal to-do drawer that you should be doing something else. It’s sickening (literally… I can give genuine testimony), and it really doesn’t have any considerable up-sides. As Krishna demonstrates, there are many types of happiness, but some are not advisable to experience. As an expert procrastinator, I am telling you to stop procrastinating and get to work. The only Kosher Happiness is that of lucidity, which “at first seems like poison but it is in the end like ambrosia, from the calm of self-understanding” (Gita 18. 37). Procrastination is one of those things that you should be taught to avoid in school. And, as I elongate this blog to the extent where I have nothing else to say, I realize that I am procrastinating. I am trying to delay the composition of my final essay, caused by an internal fight that I am experiencing with a rather powerful adversary/parasite. I have just won!...

“Never Eat Prunes When You Are Famished” (Murphy’s Law)...Prison in Paradise

“Why the humorous title?”, you might ask. I believe in warming my readers up before the cold sentences ahead. After reading The Fourteenth Teaching of the Bhagavad Gita, I am stunned by a crude reality. A truth that is so revealing, that I’m curious about why none of us ever realized it sooner. Krishna explains the obvious to us in four simple, yet powerful lines, when he states that “The fruit of good conduct is pure and untainted they say, but suffering is the fruit of passion, ignorance the fruit of dark inertia.” (Gita 14.16). I have defined the passion that was stated as the human’s love for material objects. From love relationships to a truckload of money, attachment only leads to pain because of the ease with which material stuff come and go. A great example of material stuff’s ability to move around is the recent drop of the stock market. Many people who used to have money, got used to having it, and their greed grew, which led to their ambition for more. This eagerness, as we all now, has led to much suffering worldwide. People who don’t get attached to material stuff don’t miss it when it’s gone.

Another very important analysis which Krishna has provided us with, is that of people’s lethargic attitude towards change. Habits are something that enslave people… No no, forget habits. Everything you do each day has been designed by your brain. It has given you a sense of comfort in which you find yourself at ease and without worry. This routine of doing certain actions and not doing others, is called the comfort zone, as mentioned in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. When people are in their comfort zone, they are reluctant to stray from it. They do not wish to wander into the unknown in which they encounter new feelings, experiences, and people. This is because the motivation needed for this is nonexistent. We are very comfortable beings. Why would we stray from path if are already comfortable in it? From this form of thinking, people live their whole lives in a small circle which they have created to enslave themselves to isolate themselves from uncalculated possibilities. This leads to ignorance, and to a certain extent, fear. The way in which Krishna explains it, I have come to believe that ignorance is the absence of the idea of God within a person’s way of thinking. It is much easier to simply believe in the proven dinosaur era, the evolution of man, and the creation of the universe having occurred during a period lasting millions of years, rather than the 7 day creation allegation which religion teaches us to be the correct one. We are in the comfort zone in which we are unwilling to stray from. All this does, is that it disables the mind of its capacity to accept other possibilities. It makes the mind stubborn and ignorant.

Ignorance (as defined by the Gita, and as commonly used), is not something we like to have. The problem is that although we don’t want it, we lack the will power to rid ourselves from it. We lack the motivation which would cause us to exit from our comfortable prison. For this reason, as people get increasingly comfortable in their new home, they start their life-long addiction which will ultimately lead to their ignorant death.

The Ancient Cheating Honest Sages That We Look Up To

After reading The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, I am faced with a dilemma: Why would anyone have unconditional faith in something they read from a book? If its philosophy only works when the person has faith, then people who don’t have it will get nothing out of the book, and after every disappointment, the level of faith drops, and so does the failure. The advantage that Jesus’s followers had, as well as the Gita’s primary character, Arjuna, is that they didn’t need to create faith, all they had to do was to be present when their beliefs were proven. They were able to see to believe. With Jesus’s miraculous healing, and Lord Krishna’s true powerful form, people’s faith was instantly kindled with a boost. It is very difficult to have faith in the unknown and invisible. It is simply against human nature. Why, then, would people go through so much trouble to have faith? According to Krishna, men that are “Neutral to blame and praise, silent, content with his fate, unsheltered, firm in thought, the man of devotion is dear to me. Even more dear to me are devotees who cherish this elixir of sacred duty as I have taught it, intent on me in their faith.” (Gita. 12. 19, 20). Jesus believes that “…Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Mathew 17.20)

What I can interpret from the previous teachings is that faith provides godly power and immunity from not only pain, but death and reincarnation themselves. The problem I see in this is that people will have faith to be able to have godly power and immortality etc…, not because of some personal will to be a better person. I can tell how this could be a problem when Krishna finds greedy people seeking him, or if Jesus sees power-hungry lunatics moving mountains around. Faith is good, but only if it is acquired for the right purposes. In this way, both Krishna and Jesus should have, in my opinion kept their enrollment benefits more discrete. It was like if they wanted to acquire disciples and faithful people the easy way.

God, as seen in the old testament, was smarter when interacting with his people. During the times that preceded the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra, he told Lot, that if he could find a number of good people in the city of Sodom, that he would spare the whole population from destruction. Although he didn’t find the required minimum, I’d like to imagine a hypothetical situation in which God himself would have informed the sinners of his plans to destroy them, and how, if he could find enough good-doers, he would save them all, a very different chain of events would have occurred. First, the sinners would have probably doubted God’s power, which would have led this hypothetical Lord to demonstrate his magic. Then, trembling with fear, the majority of the population would have become, or at least pretended to become, much better people. The town would have been saved by the good-hearted people. The problem with this plan, is that faith and noble people should not come from fear of destruction or from eagerness to have power. It should be a completely neutral situation in which the people change because they know it in their heart that they want to. The hypothetical inhabitants of Sodom would have become better people only to save their own selves, and this doesn’t count. But we all know that God doesn’t cheat (Or at least he doesn’t do so in this situation). (Hint: David and Saul).

So what I learned after reading these texts, is that I disagree with Krishna and Jesus’s methods for gathering followers with faith. I believe that faith, however unconditional, only counts if it is blind and neutral faith, and that the ancient people CHEATED.

Sorry, Jesus

Sadly, I have inherited a bad habit from my father which will terrorize me for as long as I let it: I have a recurring knack of procrastinating everything. From homework to hobbies, everything seems to be left for the last possible moment. I have faith that I can someday free myself, but I lack the will power required to do so. This causes my discipline to be close to nonexistent.
Presently, today’s culture tends to merge towards the procrastination education. I now realize that by lying to myself and postponing my duties, I am hurting no body but myself. Arjuna then explains something that nobody likes to be told, and commonly refuses to do so: Their weaknesses and their consequences. “Doomed by his double failure, is he not like a cloud split apart, unsettled, deluded on the path of infinite spirit?” (6.38) We can interpret Arjuna’s teaching in a variety of ways. One of which, is that while someone may gain a defeat (for they are said to be the be best outcome in terms of learned lessons), it is not a victory unless they learn from it. If they don’t, then they have achieved a double defeat: The one which had potential, and the one on which the battle depended. The physical outcome, and the lesson obtained from it, respectively. Errors are bad only if we don’t analyze them.
We won’t gain anything through simple faith (I’m sorry to break it to you, Jesus), but rather if we will to gain it and act through that will. By the rigorous practice of will and then action, discipline is achieved. And with discipline, anything can be earned. Today, unfortunately, I can count those with true discipline with my fingers alone.

Society Causes Suicides

When I was younger, my immature personality was bundled with a rather unfortunate bonus prize: An inherited cry-baby devil within me which would spray tears during smallest of mishaps. They would then increase because of the situation I had unwittingly gotten myself into. It was a vicious cycle which I dreaded every morning. I knew that I had earned myself a nasty reputation, but I couldn’t ponder it for too long, for this would also stimulate my curse.

After maturing some, I’ve come to realize that the first step to stopping the tear-puddle from forming was to accept myself. I had to come to terms with myself in order to make personal amends. I did not change so that others would accept me, but rather accepting myself is what caused my change. My personality was one of a mensch and my only flaw was the one that haunted me at night, my terrible tears. Now that I evoke the memories which used to terrify me, I realize that, as Lord Krishna one said in the Bhagavad Gita, “People will tell of your undying shame, and for a man of honor, shame is worse than death.” (Pg. 36) And yet, now I understand, that to a man of today, shame should not even exist within us.

Presently, the society in which live experiences a vicious cycle on a major scale. It makes people think that they are not suitable to deserve a place in the club of clones. Once a person with low self-esteem is tested, this vulnerable person chooses to change to fit in. By doing this, they assassinate the individual within them. Once their transformation is complete, they realize, at a subconscious level, that they are weak, and that the unchanged are stronger. Due to jealousy, they employ crappy rhetoric to those already vulnerable so that they too, change. This cycle will continue as long as there are unique individuals in the world, for once the world has killed its individual self, there is nothing else to kill. People will no longer have anything to be envious of. We must save the world and stop this massive suicide.