More Meditations

The following is taken from Book Nine of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.

"Do not despise death, but be well content with it, since this too is one of those things which nature wills. For such as it is to be young and to grow old, and to increase and to reach maturity, and to have teeth and beard and grey hairs, and to beget, and to be pregnant and to bring forth, and all the other natural operations which the seasons of thy life bring, such also is dissolution. This, then, is consistent with the character of a reflecting man, to be neither careless nor impatient nor contemptuous with respect to death, but to wait for it as one of the operations of nature. As thou now waitest for the time when the child shall come out of thy wife's womb, so be ready for the time when thy soul shall fall out of this envelope. But if thou requirest also a vulgar kind of comfort which shall reach thy heart, thou wilt be made best reconciled to death by observing the objects from which thou art going to be removed, and the morals of those with whom thy soul will no longer be mingled. For it is no way right to be offended with men, but it is thy duty to care for them and to bear with them gently; and yet to remember that thy departure will be not from men who have the same principles as thyself. For this is the only thing, if there be any, which could draw us the contrary way and attach us to life, to be permitted to live with those who have the same principles as ourselves. But now thou seest how great is the trouble arising from the discordance of those who live together, so that thou mayest say, Come quick, O death, lest perchance I, too, should forget myself."

This is basically the definition of Stoicism: to abide all according to nature.

You Choose...

You choose the topic.

*sigh*

That was easy.

Soipsism

http://www.indopedia.org/Solipsism.html

Cull your side! And try not to break out into paroxysm while being frustrated with the idiot who disagrees with you. And don't bilk yourself by creating a short answer. Just exude your opinion!

Wondering what that was about? I had to use four of my vocab. words for an assignment here. I bet you can guess which ones they are.

You Will Be Forgotten

In a little while you will have forgotten everything; in a little while everything will have forgotten you. -Marcus Aurelius

Shall we relate this quote to the importance or lack thereof of historians?

What is the Work of a Human Being?

The following is taken from chapter five of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.

"In he morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present- I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie in the bed-clothes and keep myself warm?- But this is more pleasant.- Dost thou exist then to take thy pleasure, and not at all for action or exertion? Dost thou not see the little plants, the little birds, the ants, the spiders, the bees working together to put in order their several parts of the universe? And art thou unwilling to do the work of a human being, and dost thou not make haste to do that which is according to thy nature?- But it is necessary to take rest also.- It is necessary: however nature has fixed bounds to this too: she has fixed bounds both to eating and drinking, and yet thou goest beyond these bounds, beyond what is sufficient; yet in thy acts it is not so, but thou stoppest short of what thou canst do. So thou lovest not thyself, for if thou didst, thou wouldst love thy nature and her will. But those who love their several arts exhaust themselves in working at them unwashed and without food; but thou valuest thy own own nature less than the turner values the turning art, or the dancer the dancing art, or the lover of money values his money, or the vainglorious man his little glory. And such men, when they have a violent affection to a thing, choose neither to eat nor to sleep rather than to perfect the things which they care for. But are the acts which concern society more vile in thy eyes and less worthy of thy labour?"

What exactly is the work of a human being?

Nihilist: The Intellectually Honest Atheist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exiCcOcjbBY&feature=related

Discuss!

Vegetarianism: Rational or Emotional Choice?

Well, I think that the title says it all. Currently my mind is blank and I don't know what to write... But I plan to actually participate in this one.

Make it interesting! (Please...)






























:)

Gender Equality/Superiority and Gender Roles

I'm not covering everything below, feel free to add much more.

Men are far better at some things, as are women opposed to men. The stereotypical man is logical, rational, so forth, and the woman just the opposite: basing life off of inspiration,impulses, et cetera.

So then you could say that each gender should have a role because that particular gender can do that job better than the other. What's wrong with that? Should women, of the petite figure, be allowed to work in the police field? How is it that she can properly protect her partner if so small and easily physically manipulated?

Since it's clear that humans naturally have roles where they are better at than the other gender, we need to determine which jobs are more important to determine the "superior" gender.

Also, this tool to change your post into Hindu is awesome.

जूलिया That might be how you say my name in Hindi; you don't know because it could translate incorrectly...

Transhumanism (H+)

Open for discussion (Research first, please.)

To live forever.

No suffering.

No disease.

No disability.

The perfect human being.

This is simple! Post your opinion. I will not be posting my opinion but rather questioning all that participate. Though I'll say I am leaning towards being a transhumanist and am against very little of the broad concept.

No.

I. Love. Posting. (And these commas... Exquisite is an understatement for my love of these.)

Do you ever set yourself forth on this stage of blogging simply to post?

I do.

How ridiculous, right? Yes. If you answered "no" you lose. Boo hoo, I have no sympathy. Yes, Julia, the unsympathetic, selfish, geek.

What would be interesting to have in this blog? Ah, of course, discussions. I love the calming atmosphere of people telling one another how "wrong" they are. Look forward for me having a topic set. Though I'm basically certain this will be pretty inactive, I'm going to commit to this, anyways.

Ciao

Take off to the Great White North

Currently I'm being informed of how to stuff a mouse into a beer bottle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsgVspgy184

Now, I'm watching about The Mutants of 2051 A.D. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4KTebUT6Mw

I think I'm done with Bob and Doug McKenzie for a while now, it was fun, though.


Take off, eh.

Assignment: Instructions

Engle1

Julia Engle

Mrs. Ballard

September 15, 2009

How to Memorize Historical Dates Using a Crossword Puzzle

I. Visit this website: http://www.puzzle-maker.com/CW/

II. Follow the given instructions noted on the website using events and dates. For example: Tricameron / Battle in the year 533 A.D. Add as many events as you want. (Make sure to have a space between the dash on each side of the date and event as you see I have done above.)

III. Remember to add a title. You can do that by scrolling down to the page and seeing a box for it. When you’re done, click on “create puzzle” on the bottom of the page. After doing so, you will be directed to a page where you will need to click on “puzzle” to go to the puzzle.

IV. Copy and paste the puzzle onto Microsoft Word if you wish to have the puzzle printed not looking like a webpage.

V. Print out the document.

VI. Fill in the puzzle to the best of your ability. For the dates you don’t know, if so, look them up and repeat them.

If you repeat this method, you’ll likely learn those dates well because it has been proven that crossword puzzles help one’s memory. Of course, this is contradicting to the Multiple Intelligences theory and if you know the style of which you learn and it’s not according to this method, feel free to ignore my advice.

Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree

Yes, spring has brought me such a nice surprise: popcorn popping right before my eyes!

If you know where that's from... HAHA

I used to write poetry, it was great. Some how, though, I lost the interest. During school last year I was scribbling down some ideas for a poem about happiness and got onto the topic of how much happiness one needs or should have/control. That's when I started to notice how much I enjoy thinking of ethics and such...

Dear Mrs. Ballard, Creative Writing last year was a blast. Perhaps I did not show it enough, but I had a great time. I did not take the class this year because I wanted to take the history electives and I knew the class would be larger, which=not good. There will never be a time when I pass that coffee shop and not remember the good memories I experienced. I feel like I should pay you for those steamers... Eh, yeah, I will, I'll bring in the money some time next week. In conclusion: thank you.

Uh huh

This is an awesome font... Just look at the commas:, Oh, I love it.

By the way, this is a test of loyalty, if you don't pass, you don't get to be an ally of mine. What a terrible, disastrous thing!

1) Am I amazing?
2)Am I sly?
....I'm out of questions. If you answered true on all two of them, you may be a friend. No, I was just kidding about the ally thing, I'm not that way.