Megan Dille - Final Blog Post

Humanities has opened my eyes to the broader aspect of what it means to be human. They way in which we think is shaped by our communities, childhoods, experiences, and morals. Everything we do and say has a meaning, and it truly is based on those factors that meaning stems from. Looking at many different cultures and religions had helped me understand where people and ideas come from and how it influences the lives of others. Humanities studies the connections between important human affiliations such as language, art, music, philosophy, and religion, while questioning what it means to be human and live a “good” life. This semester I have gained a much greater understanding of humanity and am more aware of my interest in the differences between communities, religions, and morals.

The first unit was on some background information such as mythology, the concept of time, and how the right brain and left brain differ. In “A Short History of Myth” by Karen Armstrong, the concept of mythology is talked about. What is interesting about mythology is that, similar to religion, it offers a way of idolizing other beings that will push humans to be good people. Mythology in itself is just a collection of stories. Yet, it is essential to human beings to encourage them to work, live a plentiful life, and strive for a goal. This can be seen in The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram, who spoke about “Dreamtime” and the Aborigines. In a sense, mythology is tied in with “Dreamtime” because it is specific to a group of people or culture, but has not been physically proven to be true. The concept of “Dreamtime” is that those who believe in it, the Aborigines, do not live on the same clock as we do in our own lives. They live on the clock of the “Dreamtime”, which puts them at the bidding of the Spirits, or their gods. They don’t count days, or hours, or have appointments in the same way we do. Everyday is different in that they do important tasks first, but not at any given time. The mythology of the Aborigines has been tested in the past years as writing had taken away from many of the spiritual power. The Aborigine people were strictly based on oral tradition, and when Europeans had discovered the area, writing had been adopted. The stories that had once been strong due to only a few elders understanding and telling them were now on paper for all to read. People who did not respect or believe the stories were now taking away from the weight it has on the Aboriginal community. The Aborigines did not have the same understanding of writing as the Europeans, but they had great memories. Leonard Shlain talks about the differences in the left and right brain, in which he explains the left brain is known for memory, analytics, and movement. The right brain is of emotions, music, and dance. Though writing is of the left brain, and memory is also of the left brain, writing has to be interpreted, which is a right brained concept. The Aborigines, though seemed to be more left brained, were big into song and dance within their rituals, which allows for them to utilize both their right brain and their left brain in the essence of their mythology, or “Dreamtime”.

The Aborigines believed in the idea of “Dreamtime” in which the Spirits live within the earth and the living work toward keeping it healthy to please their Spirits. Their creation story is built upon the idea that the Spirits forged the Earth and then turned into specific elements of the Earth. This is a great contrast to how Genesis portrays the creation of the Earth, as God had created a place for man to live, things for man to eat, and then created man. The world was essentially created for man to thrive and live. Compared to the Aboriginal creation myth, this gives the impression that humans are much more selfish and they focus on their own health before anything else. What does this say about us as humans? It seems that those who had been touched by Genesis shared many of the same qualities as the myth portrays. How is it that one savage can be better than another? Montaigne expands upon this question in his work “Of Cannibals”, explaining how those of South American only went to war if they needed land, or needed resources. Within those wars, there were no prisoners of war, but heads on stakes and bodies on plates as they were seen to be a sign of power and dominance. Though, they were always quick deaths. Cannibals are much worse than “noble savages” as the Europeans were considered. They took land and went to war out of greed and power, not of necessity. They murdered for fun and tortured out of boredom. Montaigne takes a jab at his own community as he talks about how a “noble savage” is not noble at all, and has no reason to believe they are better than the tribes in South America. It is in our human nature to test our boundaries, but it is not in our nature to murder our own kind and torture the souls we could learn from. It poses the question whether we understand our place in this world, or even in nature. We feel as though we are the superior beings on this planet, and so we find that all communities are our own communities in a sense. Herzog shows us the end results of not knowing our limits in his documentary Grizzly Man. Treadwell was a lover of grizzly bears and had set out to protect them by emerging himself in their environment. The wild is a dangerous place for humans because we do not understand our place within it. Treadwell lost his life as he had tried to be the dominant species with the grizzly bears, and even as he said he understood the danger he was in, he got too comfortable being in the danger zone which blinded his judgment. Human beings have a hard time realizing their is a time and a place for everything, but we are not always meant to be apart of certain things in this world.

Though our place in nature is very finicky, there is no question that humans are meant to be around humans. The way in which we act in society is very dependent on the type of person we are and our physical characteristics. Sometimes, it is our physical characteristics that shape the type of person we are. This concept is explored in both The Shape of Things by Neil LaBute, and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Adam and Dorian are similar to each other in the same sense that Evelyn and Lord Henry are. Adam and Dorian were pure characters; untouched by the effects of society. It wasn’t until Evelyn and Lord Henry had come into their lives that they began to change. Evelyn had taken an out of shape Adam and turned him into a fit, handsome man. This had changed his character for the worse as he started to receive extra attention, which made him more confident. Possibly even too confident, as he cheated on Evelyn. Dorian is dissimilar to Adam because he already had beauty, Lord Henry just exposed him to the power his physical beauty can have on others. Dorian had become a greater influence on himself than Lord Henry, as he continued to think only of himself throughout the novel. Adam and Dorian saw their own reflections at the end of their stories when Adam was called out by Evelyn and Dorian saw the results of his picture. Physical beauty often leads to a less than beautiful character, which is a lesson the two had learned the hard way. Though beauty is important to society, it is not always a key factor of love. The Romance of Tristan and Iseult by Beroul tells the tale of two Sir Tristan, who is gravely ill, and Iseult, his lover who has the ability to heal his soul before his death. Iseult traveled rocky seas and nearly died herself before she made it to Tristan’s bedside, only to find him dead of heart break. The most compelling part of their love tragedy is the sole fact that their love was not based on one of physical desire like that of Egyptian love poetry and stories, but of a love of character and being. Iseult only wanted to be by his side and be there for him emotionally. Their love goes beyond the beauty that Adam and Dorian had desired and fell for, but of a real love that both Adam and Dorian could never have.

In the Unit of law, ethics, and human frailty, moral structures are explored. “The Ten Commandments” and “The Four Noble Truths” have dissimilar purposes and expectations of their moral structures. Within “The Ten Commandments” that that followers are to live a structured life based on the word of God. Though they are in place to allow people to do good things, the commandments are really just a way for the church to never question the word of God. Many of them are not moral truths, but protection of the power of God’s word. “The Four Noble Truths” believes in doing good to benefit the community and to stimulate personal growth. The Buddhist understanding of morals allows for more forgiveness and understanding, which leads to greater growth. These moral structures were tested in Crimes and Misdemeanours as the characters struggled to maintain relationships and follow their moral guidelines. Morals help us to understand what other believe to be good and bad. If we are more aware of what others find to be moral, we should be able to take the time and reflect on ourselves. The characters in Crimes and Misdemeanours had reflected upon their situations, but not necessarily their morals in general. If they had taken the time to truly look at their moral structures, they would have been able to think of better ways to deal with their individual struggles. “The Four Noble Truths” would have been a great moral structure for Judah and Cliff, because it allows room for personal understanding in relation to difficulties, and encourages growth.

Within the stories of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, The Story of Siddhartha by David Grubin, and Hamlet by William Shakespeare, there is an overarching theme of purpose, either in life or in soul. Oedipus faces a prophecy that he only became aware of nearing the end of the play. It was of his nature to reject the idea that a greater being or power had bestowed upon him this future, a future that was not pleasant. I find it hard to believe that one’s path can be predetermined, which is why I took such a liking to Siddhartha’s journey. When he was young, Siddhartha had believed he had a plan in life to become just like his father. That changed when he decided he wanted to go out into the world and explore who he wants to be, for himself. Siddhartha was very spiritual and so he worked on finding his own personal Nirvana. It is interesting to me to look upon the characters within The Story of Siddhartha because only a few of them had reached Nirvana, despite practicing for so many years. I find that personal growth and reaching one’s own purpose in life is to explore and experience as much as possible to become a well rounded, understanding, compassionate person. Siddhartha had taken many falls throughout his time in the city, and even at the river with his son. But his suffering was what eventually led to his final practices at the river and aided in him reaching Nirvana. Creating one’s own purpose in life is something that Hamlet had done after the death of his father in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Everyone deals with grief differently, and for Hamlet it was creating his own purpose, to find justice for his father’s death. Though Hamlet understood he was in line for the throne, he didn’t necessarily find the position appealing because it didn’t have any meaning to him. Hamlet found that his purpose in life was to do what was right and do what he felt was just by finding his father’s killer. Having a goal in life is just as important as living it. It gives meaning, encourages, and rewards those who strive for it. Oedipus may have had a purpose he didn’t ask for, Siddhartha found his purpose through emotional suffering, and Hamlet found his through grief. Not only do the three have in common that they had found their purpose, their destiny, but they all found it through suffering.

Living is much more than studying, working, and remaining healthy. Living is taking in every aspect of the world, and taking those aspects and adjusting them to better who you are. The right and left brain aid us in analyzing data, reading, writing, dancing, and caring for others, which is the baseline of all of humanities. It is the study of being human and aspects of human culture. From studying the differences between mythologies, understanding our place in the world, understanding our purpose, to understanding our morals as they relate to beauty and personal growth, humanities has covered nearly everything from the basics of how we think to which ethical philosopher we match up with best. The broad knowledge of these many topics has allowed me to discover what I believe in the most, and how I want to live my life.