My Life on Earth Personal Philosophy Project
Project Reflection
My project is about my life and how different aspects affect it. I took pants that I found at the thrift store and used photo transfer paper to put images on them. This has relevance to my creative freedom and my love for fashion. Then I painted a dotted line weaving in and out of the pictures making the line of my life there is an x at the end of it to symbolize my life ending and also my future. The side of the pants where the X is placed is blank. This is to say that I have no ideas where my life and death will take me and I am open to the options. My existence is to make a change. Every generation has done something to make a change in the world and that is what my generation should be doing too. We should be helping the world and making a positive change for our future generations. This is the answer to the essential question that my project was based on. What is the purpose of (your/human) existence?
I have gotten a whole new perspective on life and how others view it and that has helped me to understand what I think. There are so many religions that people genuinely believe in and it makes them feel like they are living under someone's protection and that there is more than just living. This makes me feel free but also stuck. There is some part of me that thinks maybe I would be happier if I believed in a higher power.
I don't think that my personal view has changed but my views on how other people think have changed. I have opened up more to why people have this need to believe in a higher power and why it helps with your self-worth. with all of these people thinking that it makes me want to live my life without any regrets so that even if some sort of god is real I did everything that I wanted to.
QUESTIONS THAT SPARKED THIS PROJECT
I have gotten a whole new perspective on life and how others view it and that has helped me to understand what I think. There are so many religions that people genuinely believe in and it makes them feel like they are living under someone's protection and that there is more than just living. This makes me feel free but also stuck. There is some part of me that thinks maybe I would be happier if I believed in a higher power.
I don't think that my personal view has changed but my views on how other people think have changed. I have opened up more to why people have this need to believe in a higher power and why it helps with your self-worth. with all of these people thinking that it makes me want to live my life without any regrets so that even if some sort of god is real I did everything that I wanted to.
QUESTIONS THAT SPARKED THIS PROJECT
- How do we look at our lives?
- What are the concepts that we think about going through life?
- Why do humans need to believe in a higher power?
- Why are some people scared of dying?
- What guides people through life?
Rain and The Sounds of Nature
I know, beloved readers, that you along with me have experienced a book or film that makes you want to jump out of your chair, bed, couch, yoga ball, cat scratcher/perch…(who am I to judge where you sit or if you do) with inspiration. The mere thought of this movie/book is now the reason you live and breathe, how your heart doesn't fall victim to cardiac arrest. “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer, inspires adventure, living on the edge, minimalism, and non-conformity and as it ties together you get inspiration but at the same time can be compared to many Pink Floyd songs like On The Run, Money, and Another Brick in The Wall pt. 2. These my friends are the books, movies, TV shows, and Songs that are the human's quest for meaning. This is where the root of inspiration stems from.
Adventure… this is in our human nature and dates back to when we had to live without advancements in society, hunting for our next meal. Something that makes your adrenalin rush and floods your brain with serotonin. For Chris, this meant quite literally returning to our roots and figuring out how to become one with himself and nature again. In the book, Chris writes to Ron “The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure.” Something he cared deeply about.
The song “On The Run” by Pink Floyd perfectly embodies how Chris, like any other being, would feel as if they are running and hunting, scavaging and searching. The song has virtually no words but those of background noise but it doesn't seem to need them this song tells a story. The story of being on an adventure, seeking to find something, anticipation, and the unknown. This unrelated song almost fully encaptures the whole story of “Into The Wild”. The song starts with a “boom” of excitement that fades slowly, the start of something unknown, yet the thing you know is you are going. This is when Chris decides to take on the role of living without any societal norms to guide him, not knowing where but knowing what. Then, the excitement starts to build in the song, and voices are heard along with walking. The pace builds and declines many times as a synthesizer is heard, referencing the book when Chris goes in and out of society, dancing almost with his grasp on the world and what he wants his world to be. A few times in the book Chris has to go back into the “world” to get jobs. He has a rocky relationship with it, at first burning his money then needing it to go places and buy things, and back to saying, “I’m going to paraphrase Thoreau here… rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness… give me truth.” Then he travels to Alaska. The song keeps a slow pace around 2:16, Chris is in Alaska hiking through the mountains. He knows what he's doing and what he wants but still with a sense of unknown. This is the underlying sound you hear at this point but it doesn't last long. The tempo starts moving faster and voices start appearing. This is when in the book he starts talking to himself, kills the mouse, and then eventually eats the poisonous berries. The song comes to an almost silent state as if Chris has died. From there the sounds of nature and rain.
As Chris starts to think about his life and why he wants to stop living a “normal life”, living on the edge one might say. What I wonder is why he wants this. You can take from the story that he doesn't want to live life on the edge and says things about not wanting to feel trapped in a structured lifestyle, and wanting to feel freedom. He also talks about not having obligations or being judged. Wanting to be truly himself. This is the core of the story, what makes it so great, and why the book has the effect that it does on people. It makes us think about the fucked up things in this world things that we normally don't bat an eye at. The same thing can be said about the two songs, “Money, and Another Brick in The Wall pt. 2” by Pink Floyd. All of these pieces refer to the things in society that make us feel stuck, trapped in a bubble with no way out, except Chris found a way, more like made a way. He popped his bubble. At the end of Another Brick in The Wall Pt. 2 a father is heard yelling, “If you don't eat your meat you can't have any pudding”. This symbolizes the ways in which society's rules are deeply engrained into a system. There are certain things that you must do to live and be accepted, rules you must follow. This was exactly why Chris wanted to leave. The entire song Money is about how it's the core of our society, the way we think and live. In the song, the lyrics state things like, “first-class traveling set”, “New car, caviar, four-star, daydream”, and “You get a good job with more pay, and you’re okay.” all pointing to the fact that money rules us. Then it goes on to say things about how “money is a crime but don't take a slice of my pie” and “it’s no surprise they are giving none away” hinting at the 1% and people being greedy about sharing. If you think of why Chris wanted to leave these two songs encapsulate the very reason.
If we think about what other species do they arent living in houses, and have laws about what they can and can't do. Of course, there is basic decency but no rules about public nudity and taxes. They are free to live on the edge one adventure after the other with no constraints of where they can go or what they can do. These rules we have set in place to “keep us safe” are only stopping us from living and on that note, a good day dear reader.
Adventure… this is in our human nature and dates back to when we had to live without advancements in society, hunting for our next meal. Something that makes your adrenalin rush and floods your brain with serotonin. For Chris, this meant quite literally returning to our roots and figuring out how to become one with himself and nature again. In the book, Chris writes to Ron “The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure.” Something he cared deeply about.
The song “On The Run” by Pink Floyd perfectly embodies how Chris, like any other being, would feel as if they are running and hunting, scavaging and searching. The song has virtually no words but those of background noise but it doesn't seem to need them this song tells a story. The story of being on an adventure, seeking to find something, anticipation, and the unknown. This unrelated song almost fully encaptures the whole story of “Into The Wild”. The song starts with a “boom” of excitement that fades slowly, the start of something unknown, yet the thing you know is you are going. This is when Chris decides to take on the role of living without any societal norms to guide him, not knowing where but knowing what. Then, the excitement starts to build in the song, and voices are heard along with walking. The pace builds and declines many times as a synthesizer is heard, referencing the book when Chris goes in and out of society, dancing almost with his grasp on the world and what he wants his world to be. A few times in the book Chris has to go back into the “world” to get jobs. He has a rocky relationship with it, at first burning his money then needing it to go places and buy things, and back to saying, “I’m going to paraphrase Thoreau here… rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness… give me truth.” Then he travels to Alaska. The song keeps a slow pace around 2:16, Chris is in Alaska hiking through the mountains. He knows what he's doing and what he wants but still with a sense of unknown. This is the underlying sound you hear at this point but it doesn't last long. The tempo starts moving faster and voices start appearing. This is when in the book he starts talking to himself, kills the mouse, and then eventually eats the poisonous berries. The song comes to an almost silent state as if Chris has died. From there the sounds of nature and rain.
As Chris starts to think about his life and why he wants to stop living a “normal life”, living on the edge one might say. What I wonder is why he wants this. You can take from the story that he doesn't want to live life on the edge and says things about not wanting to feel trapped in a structured lifestyle, and wanting to feel freedom. He also talks about not having obligations or being judged. Wanting to be truly himself. This is the core of the story, what makes it so great, and why the book has the effect that it does on people. It makes us think about the fucked up things in this world things that we normally don't bat an eye at. The same thing can be said about the two songs, “Money, and Another Brick in The Wall pt. 2” by Pink Floyd. All of these pieces refer to the things in society that make us feel stuck, trapped in a bubble with no way out, except Chris found a way, more like made a way. He popped his bubble. At the end of Another Brick in The Wall Pt. 2 a father is heard yelling, “If you don't eat your meat you can't have any pudding”. This symbolizes the ways in which society's rules are deeply engrained into a system. There are certain things that you must do to live and be accepted, rules you must follow. This was exactly why Chris wanted to leave. The entire song Money is about how it's the core of our society, the way we think and live. In the song, the lyrics state things like, “first-class traveling set”, “New car, caviar, four-star, daydream”, and “You get a good job with more pay, and you’re okay.” all pointing to the fact that money rules us. Then it goes on to say things about how “money is a crime but don't take a slice of my pie” and “it’s no surprise they are giving none away” hinting at the 1% and people being greedy about sharing. If you think of why Chris wanted to leave these two songs encapsulate the very reason.
If we think about what other species do they arent living in houses, and have laws about what they can and can't do. Of course, there is basic decency but no rules about public nudity and taxes. They are free to live on the edge one adventure after the other with no constraints of where they can go or what they can do. These rules we have set in place to “keep us safe” are only stopping us from living and on that note, a good day dear reader.
Rogerian Rhetoric
Reflection
For my project I decided to look at the middle ground between the two main sides/opinions about the death penalty. I chose to make an interrogation room featuring the different opinions on the walls. The message that I was trying to convey was how the different sides have a middle ground to agree upon and that maybe there is a reason that people believe it is the right way of going about things.Once looking at this topic more deeply I have come to the opinion that I don't have a very strong opinion on this topic. This is guess what i was trying to do to my audience and it worked on me as well. The more I researched both sides the more I realized that they both have good points they are bringing to the table. I have learned that as long as you have good communication on what you want to convey and good reasoning by using rhetoric you can change someone's mind or at least bring to the table some aspects they haven't thought about. In today's society many people are stuck in their own opinions and have very strong ideology but if you word what you are trying to say right that could be hindered. As I was saying before, if you are open to change and your willingness to be disturbed your opinion could get looser and have slight to dramatic change just because you listened with an open mind to someone else's.
For my project I decided to look at the middle ground between the two main sides/opinions about the death penalty. I chose to make an interrogation room featuring the different opinions on the walls. The message that I was trying to convey was how the different sides have a middle ground to agree upon and that maybe there is a reason that people believe it is the right way of going about things.Once looking at this topic more deeply I have come to the opinion that I don't have a very strong opinion on this topic. This is guess what i was trying to do to my audience and it worked on me as well. The more I researched both sides the more I realized that they both have good points they are bringing to the table. I have learned that as long as you have good communication on what you want to convey and good reasoning by using rhetoric you can change someone's mind or at least bring to the table some aspects they haven't thought about. In today's society many people are stuck in their own opinions and have very strong ideology but if you word what you are trying to say right that could be hindered. As I was saying before, if you are open to change and your willingness to be disturbed your opinion could get looser and have slight to dramatic change just because you listened with an open mind to someone else's.
Artist Statement
What is middle ground? Can we really agree in this day and age, because everything that has been going on between people with slightly different views has ended in chaos. We are all human. This seems to be one of the more ridiculous things that the human race has seen. To narrow this down the topic I will be focusing upon is the death penalty.
Of course nobody or very few people want death and especially not crime. So to put it bluntly this is where the two main sides on the argument coniencide. Rapists, sex trafficking, and serial killers… What do all of these things have in common? Crime. All of those things and more are why we have laws in place. Because all of these things are unjust and wrong.
There is the one side to this augment who think people that do horrible things like intentionally killing people ect. Should be punished and to some by death if the crime is substantial enough. If you do something to harm another you should get a bigger retribution than just jail. It is also a way to stop people from committing serious crimes, and yes these big crimes are usually committed by mentally “challenged” people for lack of a nicer word. But if there is a law stating death for some crimes then people are most likely to not commit these crimes. So middle ground screams crime is bad. While on the other side of this argument is the belief that it won't stop crime and that if someone is willing to do something with that serious of a punishment attached they are mentally challenged and should be helped instead. As Well as being innocently accused as many have been. Nobody should die for someone else's mistakes.
Of course there has to be some kind of decision on this topic but it's up to the people to think about what is truly the right thing to do and decide from there. Look at the other side and realize that they are human too and have reasoning for why they think what they think. Possibly if you do this you can change your mind or maybe be more okay with what happens if you were to not get what you want in the end. Everyone comes from a logistic point of view and that is more important to recognize than anything else.
Work Cited
“Early History of the Death Penalty.” Death Penalty Information Center, Death Penalty Information Center, 2021, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/history-of-the-death-penalty/early-history-of-the-death-penalty.
Bedau, Hugo Adam. “The Case against the Death Penalty.” American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, 2012, https://www.aclu.org/other/case-against-death-penalty.
Death Penalty Information Center. “The Military's Death Penalty System.” Death Penalty Information Center, DPIC, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/military/the-militarys-death-penalty-system.
REPUBLICANVIEWS.ORG. “Republican Views on the Death Penalty: Republican Views.” REPUBLICANVIEWS.ORG, REPUBLICANVIEWS.ORG, 3 Feb. 2018, https://www.republicanviews.org/republican-views-on-the-death-penalty/.
Farber, Emma. “Public Opinion on the Death Penalty: Where Republicans and Democrats Agree (and Disagree).” Georgetown Public Policy Review, 3 Mar. 2021, http://gppreview.com/2021/03/03/public-opinion-death-penalty-republicans-democrats-agree-disagree/.
Arango, Tim. “Democrats Rethink the Death Penalty, and Its Politics.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Apr. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/07/us/politics/death-penalty-democrats.html.
Chammah, Maurice, and Keri Blakinger. “Can the Death Penalty Be Fixed? These Republicans Think So.” The Marshall Project, The Marshall Project, 15 Apr. 2021, https://www.themarshallproject.org/2021/04/15/can-the-death-penalty-be-fixed-these-republicans-think-so.
Ghosh, Palash. “Support for Death Penalty Slips in U.S., but Remains High among Whites and Republicans.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 3 June 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/palashghosh/2021/06/03/support-for-death-penalty-slips-in-us-but-remains-high-among-whites-and-republicans/?sh=c2e91c83c37a.
What is middle ground? Can we really agree in this day and age, because everything that has been going on between people with slightly different views has ended in chaos. We are all human. This seems to be one of the more ridiculous things that the human race has seen. To narrow this down the topic I will be focusing upon is the death penalty.
Of course nobody or very few people want death and especially not crime. So to put it bluntly this is where the two main sides on the argument coniencide. Rapists, sex trafficking, and serial killers… What do all of these things have in common? Crime. All of those things and more are why we have laws in place. Because all of these things are unjust and wrong.
There is the one side to this augment who think people that do horrible things like intentionally killing people ect. Should be punished and to some by death if the crime is substantial enough. If you do something to harm another you should get a bigger retribution than just jail. It is also a way to stop people from committing serious crimes, and yes these big crimes are usually committed by mentally “challenged” people for lack of a nicer word. But if there is a law stating death for some crimes then people are most likely to not commit these crimes. So middle ground screams crime is bad. While on the other side of this argument is the belief that it won't stop crime and that if someone is willing to do something with that serious of a punishment attached they are mentally challenged and should be helped instead. As Well as being innocently accused as many have been. Nobody should die for someone else's mistakes.
Of course there has to be some kind of decision on this topic but it's up to the people to think about what is truly the right thing to do and decide from there. Look at the other side and realize that they are human too and have reasoning for why they think what they think. Possibly if you do this you can change your mind or maybe be more okay with what happens if you were to not get what you want in the end. Everyone comes from a logistic point of view and that is more important to recognize than anything else.
Work Cited
“Early History of the Death Penalty.” Death Penalty Information Center, Death Penalty Information Center, 2021, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/history-of-the-death-penalty/early-history-of-the-death-penalty.
Bedau, Hugo Adam. “The Case against the Death Penalty.” American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, 2012, https://www.aclu.org/other/case-against-death-penalty.
Death Penalty Information Center. “The Military's Death Penalty System.” Death Penalty Information Center, DPIC, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/military/the-militarys-death-penalty-system.
REPUBLICANVIEWS.ORG. “Republican Views on the Death Penalty: Republican Views.” REPUBLICANVIEWS.ORG, REPUBLICANVIEWS.ORG, 3 Feb. 2018, https://www.republicanviews.org/republican-views-on-the-death-penalty/.
Farber, Emma. “Public Opinion on the Death Penalty: Where Republicans and Democrats Agree (and Disagree).” Georgetown Public Policy Review, 3 Mar. 2021, http://gppreview.com/2021/03/03/public-opinion-death-penalty-republicans-democrats-agree-disagree/.
Arango, Tim. “Democrats Rethink the Death Penalty, and Its Politics.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Apr. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/07/us/politics/death-penalty-democrats.html.
Chammah, Maurice, and Keri Blakinger. “Can the Death Penalty Be Fixed? These Republicans Think So.” The Marshall Project, The Marshall Project, 15 Apr. 2021, https://www.themarshallproject.org/2021/04/15/can-the-death-penalty-be-fixed-these-republicans-think-so.
Ghosh, Palash. “Support for Death Penalty Slips in U.S., but Remains High among Whites and Republicans.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 3 June 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/palashghosh/2021/06/03/support-for-death-penalty-slips-in-us-but-remains-high-among-whites-and-republicans/?sh=c2e91c83c37a.