June Book Report (LAST ONE?)

Watts, Alan. The book on the taboo against knowing who you are. New York. Random House Inc. August 1989.

Reason: I first picked up this book because I saw the infinity symbol on the front of the book. It looked like a psychology book, and it kind of is. The novel doesn’t have a setting; it just explores certain aspects of the human mind and tries to teach you how to separate yourself and the universe. It’s about knowing what kind of good you can bring into the world. The book takes place in the 1990s, but is like a text book- so it’s kind of current.
Plot: in this book Alan Watts makes a convincing case against the separation between yourself and the universe. The illusion that the self is a separate ego, housed in a bag of skin, confronting an alien and hostile physical universe, is the cause of a great many problems we have in the world. It gives the rise to the need for "conquering" the physical world, subjugating it to our needs, and for generally having an adversarial, hostile relationship to the universe and to other people, because they are "Not Us". Really there is no meaningful and finite way of defining where a human being ends. You can not live in separation from everything else. A human body needs a continuous supply of air and nutrients. It is part of a system in which each part would not exist without the others. All the molecules in a human body gets exchanged within a few years. A body doesn't even stay itself for five minutes, but will continuously take in parts of the environment and give out parts of itself to the environment. We can not state in any conclusive way where or when a human being starts or ends. A human being is a process within a bigger system of processes. Genetically a body is formed by the genetic events that came before it, by the heredity from previous members of the species. Likewise, a given human being will have an effect that is passed on for generations to come. The psychological makeup of a person is influenced by every single event that he/she experiences, and by every other person one bumps into on one's path through life. If you start with one person and you attempt to include all the factors involved in making that person, you would gradually include a bigger and bigger sphere, until you would encompass all of the universe. There is no logically defensible boundary to stop at, there will always be a bigger system that the smaller system is part of, is born out of, or influenced by, and inextricably interconnected with. Also, no thing, no characteristic, no quality, has meaning unless it is compared with, and contrasted to something else. "Inside" has no meaning unless there is an "Outside". Inside and Outside form two aspects of the same system, they can't exist in separation from each other. Most of the dysfunctional behavior and trouble that any person or group or society gets into comes out of the mistaken assumption that one is only the Inside and that the Outside is "Not Us", "bad", "incomprehensible", "antagonistic", "of no concern". Polarization, and hiding within one's limited definition, is a perpetual excuse for not taking responsibility, for acting in a "self"-serving, narrow-minded way. The truth of the matter is that the only truth about anything is The Whole Thing. There is no Good without Bad, no Up without Down, no Cops without Criminals. All are inextricably bound to each other as aspects of the same system. And when it comes to the Self, who You are, there is no objective basis for the belief that you are only one little speck, one little bag of skin, that really has nothing to do with the rest of it. More truly, your only true, objective identity is ALL OF IT, the Whole Universe, All That Is. YOU are the root and ground of the whole universe. You can not damage or hurt any part of the universe without ultimately hurting yourself, if you take a whole enough view. The effects of what you do might be so far removed from your consciousness that you might not notice, but everything you do WILL affect the whole, and thereby yourself. It makes no sense for your right hand to try to exploit, or hurt, or get rid of your left hand. Likewise, assuming a bigger perspective, it makes no sense to draw out short-term benefits in one area of the world that have damaging effects on the whole system. The beauty of the perspective of the self as the whole universe is that it covers materialism as much as spirituality. It really doesn't matter if you take a completely materialistic view, that we are all just functions of a material universe with certain characteristics to it, or if we take a spiritual view and say that it is all God, and we are all aspects of God, and all is Consciousness. We end up in pretty much the same place by comprehending the wholeness of it all.
Character: N/A
Evaluation: I really loved this novel. The best part of this was the when they said this
“This is it
And I am it
And you are it
And so is that
And he is it
And she is it
And it is it
And that is that”
A creature in existence is not also of existence. I just found the quotes in this book extremely interesting with many good quotes. It informed me about how the universe is going to blow up in a bit. I learned that we all just end up in the same place so its okay to do what you want. Its really hard to comprehend the wholeness of life.

This book compares to real life because of the fact that this book is based off human interaction. I do not really think that this is a book that other people need to read because it is a mind stimulating book and many people I don’t think would get that much out of it. I think that they would take it the wrong way.

Put yourself in the plot: N/A

Author, Context, and Trivia: Alex Wilson Watts is the author of this book. He wrote more than twenty-five books and numerous articles on subjects such as personal identity, the true nature of reality, higher consciousness, meaning of life, concepts and images of God and the pursuit of happiness, relating his experience to scientific knowledge and to the teachings of Eastern and Western religions or philosophies.

history of hip-hop

Group members: Breeanna Wolford, Hilary Leon
Song name: undecided



Hip-hop is a form of popular music that's comprised mainly of emceeing and deejaying. The other two components that complete the four elements of hip-hop are graffiti and breakdancing. As hip-hop evolves into big business, the four elements (emceeing, deejaying, graffiti, and breakdancing) are constantly being merged with others like clothing trends, slang, and general mindset.
Hip Hop music began in New York City in the 1970's. predominantly among African Americans and Latinos. Hip hop arose in New York City when DJs began isolating the percussion break from funk or disco songs for audiences to dance to. The MCs would usually just be there to keep the audiences entertained. By 1979, hip hop had become a commercially recorded music genre, and began to enter the American mainstream. It also began its spread across the world. By the beginning of the 2000s, hip hop became a staple of popular music charts and is now performed in widely varying styles around the world.
Some of the earliest rap songs ever recorded include "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" by Fatback Band and "Rapper’s Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang. The latter reached the #36 spot on the Billboard charts (a huge feat by 1970's standards), thus demonstrating hip-hop's ability to draw commercial appeal.
Hip-hop as a musical melting pot is still evolving. It has become more eclectic, borrowing from soul, jazz and live instrumentations with the likes of De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and most recently Kanye West championing the ‘soulful rap’ movement.

Inflation easing

U.S. personal spending slowed in April after record fuel costs, a slump in home values and a deteriorating job market eroded consumer confidence. incomes grew an asontishing .02%. business activity dropped for a fourth month in May and consumer sentiment decreased to the lowest level since 1980. this is bad becuase consumers are spending cautiously. The Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, which excludes food and fuel costs, slowed in April. this is important to us becuase of the fact that we are living in the US and this effects everyone. I remember when it used to be 5 dollars to have lunch and now its 8. inflation is getting absolutly ridiculous. and gas...NEARLY 5 DOLLARS A GALLON? holy wow. I think that this is riducicouls and we should just reduce the prices and take some money out of ciruclation. that way there will also be less paper.


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a7ie.CYzdpFg&refer=home

Louis Kahn: an inspiration

In 1901 or 1902 (he wasn’t sure which) he was born on an island with his parents. They took a steam boat to Philadelphia When he was three years old he was fascinated by the fire and picked up the coals. He put the coals in his apron. He accidently caught himself on fire. His dad said that he should die. His mom said that we would be an amazing person. So they didn’t let him. Kids would call him Scarface so he waited until the last bell rang to go to school. His family was very poor, they couldn’t even afford pencils for him to draw with. But that was okay because you make charcoal by burning sticks in the backyard. He won a scholarship to the university, without the scholarship he wouldn’t of gone.
He was known as the philosopher of architects. Louis Kahn majored in drawing at the University of California. He then got his bachelors in 1924 for architecture. Although Kahn did architecture for a really long time Kahn did not find his distinctive architectural style until he was in his late fifties. He was known for his unique ability to create architecture that responded to the human scale very efficiently. He also helped create strong formal distinctions between “served” spaces and “servant” spaces (spaces that serve other spaces) . He mostly used brick and raw concrete. He worked closely with engineers and contractors on his buildings. Kahn’s work has played a vital role in the influence of contemporary architects of the 20th century.
He hadn’t found himself by the time that he was 50. Something that changed his life was in his fifties was when he was invited to tour the ancient ruins. This changed his life and he wanted to make buildings similar to this. I find him a very interesting, unethical architect that has done a lot for the world of architecture. I find him to have a varied degree of success versus some of the other architects’. He has three wives, which I found ridiculous. He actually got some prestigious cliental and built the buildings at the universities in which he taught in. I found this extremely respectable. Architecture has to have the element of time, Kahn definitely understood this. He made a built some buildings in la Jolla that are absolutely breathtaking and inspirational. There are very many spiritual things with this work. The buildings are not only beautiful, but they work very well. He had enormous trust in young people and just handed over the check book. He didn’t really mind how much it would cost as long as it was an efficient building. He was very willful; he didn’t want anything in his buildings to look like he didn’t want it there. If it looked like it didn’t belong there he didn’t suppress but he made more. Instead of trying to cover it up, he made more of it and owned it. He was very upfront and blunt and didn’t mind giving people a peace of mind. He was a heavy drinker.
Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack at New York cities Penn Station. His body wasn’t identified for three days and was placed into a New York City morgue. Catz, the person that Kahn traveled to India with, said that he did not look peaceful, but yet not like a dying man. Catz didn’t even know how he died.
Louis Kahn was an extremely believed in person. He was a ridiculous architect with huge dreams and always discontent with his work. (My Architect)

My Architect- a Sons Journey. Dir. Nathan Kahn. Perf. Nathan Kahn. DVD. MediaWorks Inc., 2003.

Ethics

I do not believe that ethics is something that could be taught in school. Ethics is just a fancy word for morals. Its like teaching a kid manners-he’s not always going to use them. Manners aren’t really taught in school so why would ethics be part of the curriculum. It would be literally impossible to fail a kid based on their ethic skills. What would an ethics class incorporate? What kind of assignments can you give a person in order for them to learn such a valuable skill? Its like learning to whistle. I think ethics should be in a separate school- kind of like a manner academy. I doubt anyone could get anything out of this lesson if they don’t pay attention and realize the value of it-which many will not. Graduation requirements would be sketchy if they had to include ethics. The state would not be able to mandate such a law because everything is based upon personal. It is a personal belief, not a universal truth. It couldn’t be a universal truth because everything is based upon personal values and beliefs. It can’t be taught it has to be acquired through experience.

23May2008 Current Event

this current even is basically about how the goverment/doctors will prescribe methadone to a patient before they are even prescribed marijuana. This is funny becuase methadone is used to take heroine/crack addicts off drugs. They claim that mary jane is more harmful for you then methadone. this is only becuase the goverment is enforcing it really highly, and wanting peeople to take it. I think this is what I would call "goverment cencorship" or boosting the goverments financial control, which I believe to be really unfair and ridiculous.

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may212008/leveque_adhd_add_5-21-08.php

interminable - seeming to have no end; endless

Infinity is interminable.


intuit - to know or receive by intuition.
Women have a certain intuit that make them smarter than men.

laboriously - in a laborous manner; to work hard

The man was working laboriously to get everything done in time for the big presentation.

proximity - an area close together

The proximity of the school was very unique in comparion to the rest.

reticence - to not volunteer to do anything more than necessary

The cat is very reticence, and doesn't like to do more than is asked.

senescent - aging; growing old

The queen of england is very senescent.

shroud - a cloth or sheet in which a corpse is wrapped for burial.
The shroud was bright pink to resemble her personality- colerful.
situation - the general state of things
synchronously - in synchrony; in a synchronous manner

The students synchronously handed in their tests.
tortuous - not straightforward
tranquility - a state of peace