Happiness and Meaning project
Taking our place in the cycles of life
For this project I studied many different philosophies about happiness and meaning. I read the omnivore's dilemma and learned more about the current human relationship with nature. In my art piece I illustrate the importance of the creatures that we share this world with. All of these animals play a role in the living web on earth. Right now our society does not put enough value in our relationship with nature. We look for ways to exploit nature in order to further our own personal agenda. Life is sacred and we have forgotten how to respect that. I wrote a little ditty about how to give back.
Effort and Courage are not enough
Without purpose and direction
JFK
A question worth asking
Who do you want to be?
Its up to you
How to win and lose
We often cannot choose what comes
But the way we react is up to us
Wealth in what?
First its toys and tasty snacks
Then its ten sacks and 24 racks
How about wealth in experience and perspective
The truth is there are so many paths
Lives before ours, we can learn from those drafts
Do something about it
Whatever injustice you see
Because it's the right thing to do
Because it's what you want to do
Because it's what you were made to do
We don’t want to have to regret our inaction
To stand and watch as the wrong thing happens
Push and pull.
For every mountain must be met by a valley
Give and take
Let's make a fair trade
Be kind to your neighbor and you’ll get the same
And take care of this earth and it can be sustained
We all can bring are own valuable gifts
With these things we spurr any shift
Bring your laughter, bring your jokes
Don’t take yourself so seriously
Crack a smile at your homies
And don't forget to breath
Effort and Courage are not enough
Without purpose and direction
JFK
A question worth asking
Who do you want to be?
Its up to you
How to win and lose
We often cannot choose what comes
But the way we react is up to us
Wealth in what?
First its toys and tasty snacks
Then its ten sacks and 24 racks
How about wealth in experience and perspective
The truth is there are so many paths
Lives before ours, we can learn from those drafts
Do something about it
Whatever injustice you see
Because it's the right thing to do
Because it's what you want to do
Because it's what you were made to do
We don’t want to have to regret our inaction
To stand and watch as the wrong thing happens
Push and pull.
For every mountain must be met by a valley
Give and take
Let's make a fair trade
Be kind to your neighbor and you’ll get the same
And take care of this earth and it can be sustained
We all can bring are own valuable gifts
With these things we spurr any shift
Bring your laughter, bring your jokes
Don’t take yourself so seriously
Crack a smile at your homies
And don't forget to breath
reflection
In this project we learned about many well known philosophies of how to go about life and the search for happiness. One way we did this was by reading books. Through this we learned more about the human relationship with nature as well as social aspects of our society. In this I got to see some of the negative aspects to our relationship with both nature and how we deal with others. Not only was I taught the importance of relationships with others but also the relationship that we have with ourselves. My project looked into how nature and humans should interact and how that can help on the path to meaning and happiness. Omnivore's dilemma opened my eyes to the problems in the way we treat nature currently and it inspired me to focus on this topic.
The biggest insight that I have gained during this process has been that realization that life is only going to be as good as your attitude. We can choose to react to the world however we want. It seems cliche but it's just that simple. We will face challenges and doubts but the only thing you can ever do is your best. Bring your best attitude and hopefully the circumstances will allow you to shine. One thing that I am still puzzled by is the how to deal with the objective negativities of life. What to do about the cruelty and suffering in this world. The only thing I can say about this is that everyone has a responsibility to do everything in their power to keep these evils at bay and to not shun those who have made cruel mistakes. We cannot generalize anything in this world because we are all so unique and every situation must be handled in it own personal way. Bring your best and you will usually get the best back.
Why do humans make simple things so complex and then oversimplify the things that are so complex. I think a great example of this is the way we as a culture have decided to go about existing. Almost 85% of humans choose to chalk this world up to god or religion when the truth is what we have here is way too complex for us to ever understand. Why do we need to understand it, can we not just try and appreciate it? I think as a collective species we think we have much more value than we do. We think that the universe operates around us when we are truly lucky to even exist. Just think of how many things had to happen exactly the way they did in order for you to be born. Our very existence is somewhat a miracle so we must appreciate it as such.
The biggest insight that I have gained during this process has been that realization that life is only going to be as good as your attitude. We can choose to react to the world however we want. It seems cliche but it's just that simple. We will face challenges and doubts but the only thing you can ever do is your best. Bring your best attitude and hopefully the circumstances will allow you to shine. One thing that I am still puzzled by is the how to deal with the objective negativities of life. What to do about the cruelty and suffering in this world. The only thing I can say about this is that everyone has a responsibility to do everything in their power to keep these evils at bay and to not shun those who have made cruel mistakes. We cannot generalize anything in this world because we are all so unique and every situation must be handled in it own personal way. Bring your best and you will usually get the best back.
Why do humans make simple things so complex and then oversimplify the things that are so complex. I think a great example of this is the way we as a culture have decided to go about existing. Almost 85% of humans choose to chalk this world up to god or religion when the truth is what we have here is way too complex for us to ever understand. Why do we need to understand it, can we not just try and appreciate it? I think as a collective species we think we have much more value than we do. We think that the universe operates around us when we are truly lucky to even exist. Just think of how many things had to happen exactly the way they did in order for you to be born. Our very existence is somewhat a miracle so we must appreciate it as such.