Jackie Trono - Animism

As Wikipedia defines it,

“animism is a belief system that does not accept the separation of body and soul, of spirit from matter. As such it is based upon the belief that personalized souls are found in animals, plants, and other material objects, governing, to some degree, their existence. It also assumes that this unification of matter and spirit plays a role in daily life” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animism).

I have chosen to write about animism because it is a view I have come to respect, one that I also used to reject. Growing up philosophically, I had encapsulated the world into a materialist framework, repudiating all things ethereal or spiritual. I believed the world to be no more than what exists in the physical realm. Accordingly, I was also a nihilist, believing the world to be utterly meaningless. I was so focused on the meaning behind Sartre’s comment that

“Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance” (Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea 180).

My thoughts centered on all the misery abound on the Earth, the suffering and tragedy. I had no concern for anyone or anything besides myself. Now, as a result of a personal telepathic experience, an experience that shook the footholds of my materialist views and made it impossible for me to continue believing such exclusionary nonsense, I no longer hold such a depressing worldview. The shocking thing about the telepathic experience was that it happened to me in spite of the fact that I did not believe such a thing was possible. I realize that citing telepathy as the source of my paradigm shift makes me sound sort of cuckoo, but I can’t change the fact that it occurred that way.

Whatever the cause for the change, all I can say is that I am so much happier for it. I feel fuller and I have greater warmth for other people and earthly life in general. The shift has caused me to care about things that I used to think were just more symbols of a dying planet. That destruction of which I speak is clearly the fault of humanity, and I hope that I can help others in eradicating the pessimistic, close-minded, and inaccurate materialist ideology that pervades intellectual society and is at the heart of such irresponsible behavior.

Christopher Carter - How food and food alteration has changed us

With all of the craze in "organic" food recently, it's sad to see its' general unpopularity because it's so expensive. People simply can't afford to get everything organic because why pay $3.00 for a can of pasta sauce when you can pay $2.00 for a larger whole-sale one? The efficiency of the global economy drives out the practicality of these organic foods and I don't know if they ever will catch on. I think it's an endless spiral that will never stop because no one wants to make less money. Even the organic companies, if the fad doesn't catch on, will have to either sell their businesses to non-organic organizations, or adopt more efficient methods of production.

I've only had a few "organic" foods myself and they really didn't taste any different. I know they're "better" for you but does anyone here really swear by "organic" foods? I'm wondering when time goes on if anyone really will make their diets consist only of organic foods; they probably would have to be of a higher social status. I also wonder if all of the pesticides and chemicals that they have been putting in foods for years have proven adverse effects on us. We do consume and have been consuming that kind of food for a long time now, and I wonder if any serious diseases have been directly linked to or created by pesticides and the like. I really don't know how to solve this situation, all I know is that I can't afford an entire diet of organic food.

Christopher Carter - Diassociation from Ecology

Nowadays we are so disassociated from Ecology it's hard to even know what's natural anymore. The other day I took a walk out on the Noland Trail and it was really refreshing to see what I'm missing with having to constantly go to school and work indoors. It's easy to see how park rangers and people who have professions that keep them outside all the time have a greater appreciation for nature; it's their life. For many of us, we don't even like to go outside; it's a nuisance.

I don't really know what it is in particular that disassociates us from nature. Maybe we don't care enough? Maybe technology and other means have made it so we don't "need" the outside anymore? Either way, there has to be someone out there that likes "dealing" with the outside enough to farm, and produce our food that we take for granted at the supermarket. Maybe people would appreciate food more if we all have to grow it ourselves; and we didn't have as many choices to eat. If it wasn't for all of the grants and money given to farmers over the years in America, we would be in some serious trouble as far as the availability of domestic food goes. It's mind blowing to think that nowadays no one actually wants to get out there and get their hands dirty to get food into the hands of people. In fact, I would do it if asked, or if it was needed, but we really don't hear too much about America "needing" farms. People just kind of "do it." Of course now we get a lot of our food from imports, but we also export a whole lot that never sees domestic supermarket shelves. We export millions of dollars worth of food goods constantly and on top of that, we need food for ourselves. The whole food economy is mind-blowing when you think about it.

Christopher Carter - Food Movie

Christopher Carter - Food Movie
Food can bring us back to places that we have been before, and otherwise never would have remembered. Also, when you get together with your relatives that you really don't have too much in common with, food can be a common language. Different cultures have different perceptions on food, whether it be food should be conserved and cherished, or food should be plentiful and simply enjoyable. Personally, I don't relate food too much with other things in life but I can easily understand how many people do. Sometimes I can feel it when I eat something that my Mom used to make for me back when I was in high school, but for the most part I just remember the things my Mom did for me outside of making me food, and reflect on those memories.

The most interesting section was the part that covered Ramadan. It's really hard to imagine eating before the sun-rise. What if you wake up late and the sun is already up? I guess you can't eat anything until night-time. I think it would be a challenging experience, considering the lengthy time of Ramadan. It was funny to hear that the person being interviewed in the video said "my family cooks better during Ramadan." I guess if you are sparingly getting food, you want to make sure that the food you are getting is delicious and nutricious. I think it would be cool to go over to someone's house and sample Ramadan cooking; not only do you get a taste but you also get to eat later if you want a snack.

Christopher Carter - Baraka

The Baraka movie came this close to stopping me from eating Chicken. I didn't know that the little chicks came and went into the factory in such abundance. It was mind blowing also to see that many chickens handled constantly in that manner, with their beaks burnt to a crisp and thrown down a sorting chute. I know that it could always be worse, and there is much worse (veal), but it's still pretty bad actually getting to see it.

Easily my favorite part of the movie was the exorcism/war dance with the tribe. I liked the leader a lot and thought he was very charismatic and

eccentric. He seemed like the type of leader that was wise, and people would follow and depend on; just by the way he was leading everyone in that song. I liked all of the transitions that the tribe made and how they all seemed to be in unison when they were performing the ritual. They had it all memorized obviously, because it seemed long, and since it was a story, it had to have been previously practiced or they had to have some previous knowledge of how it kind of went. I also really liked the expressions on the people's faces; I think that was a really nice touch on the part of the film maker. It's an effective device that shows us the discontent of the lovers of the land.

I thought it was really weird when we saw the part with the Asian high rises and the bubble hotel rooms. I never expected that out of the movie considering everything we saw up until then was natural or tribal. I didn't think that we'd get to see all of the things that modern culture has created and destroyed. It was a very nice segue into the destruction of the modern world by having the natural disaster sequence before.

Myth

zach fauver, a powerful thought

“Too say that we are snatching food from our children’s’ mouths is to put it too gently; what we are snatching from them is the very possibility of feeding themselves.” This is a bold claim from Eisenberg’s text, The Ecology of Eden, but the punch packs some truth. We are taking from and abusing the earth in a manner that does not allow it to naturally cycle everything back at a healthy rate. Do we ever think about how much energy it takes to have a nice prepared meal on our plates? Or how much is wasted in our developed means of waste disposal? Its quotes like these from the far right extremist like Ann Coulter that makes me hesitant to admit that I am a republican, “its your planet, take it, rape it.” Has she not even used logic and considered the reproductions for the future generations? It is pure selfishness to support continued destruction of our planet and not take steps toward conservation. So next time you enjoy that meal at the dinner table, or flush your toilet, take a minute to think about the bigger picture and what the world might look like for the next generations.

Myths - Christopher Carter

I suppose this blog is starting off with random posts, so i'll go with Monday's class, just like Amy did.

Myths are amazing. I can't think of many things that are better at passing time than reading myths. I even don't mind, as a Christian, looking at some of the teachings of the Bible as potential "myths", because no matter how real they are, they are still great stories and have great value. My favorite types of myths are the legends of Greek Mythology, because they are the most vivid stories ever told. Not only are they colorful, but they also give us explanations for everyday occurrences very similar to the stories in the Bible. It used to bother me when people would comment on the Biblical creation story, or the Parables as "myth", but it doesn't both me anymore because they are just as "mythical" as the legends of Buddha and his witnessing of the four sights.

To disagree with the last post, I think it is important to question myths all of the time. Even though they are extremely enjoyable, you can still question the fact that they actually existed, or in some cases where the "myth" is taken as truth, whether it is justified. It's natural to question when we find out that points of authority are not telling us the "whole" story. If the church told us that we can only ask God for forgiveness through them and not on our own, it would be important to question this belief, and look into the Bible to possibly find a story that can help us find out whether or not that is right. Of course, you cannot look into the Bible for an answer to everything, it's just an example.

To conclude, we shouldn't look at just one source of myths, we should look at them all. If we spend all of our time looking at just one viewpoint it would be hard to relate with anyone outside of your faith. Of course, this is what many want, but I enjoy looking at all myths, whether ancient or still practiced, to see the source of belief and practice for all people. I think it's easily possible to be constantly questioning all myths, and still believe in your own; as long as you question it as well from time to time.