Railroads

Gandhi takes a distinctly negative stance on the addition of railways. He states that, "it is beyond dispute that they propagate evil." (pg 24) Where the English stated how it connected the nation and therefore should unite the people together as one. This is where a connection to current times occurs. Today, when we see a new piece of technology, meant to make life easier, we automatically assume that it is for the betterment of society and that it is a step towards progress and the future. We often fail to see the negative aspects that are associated with almost any piece of technology. The Internet is one such example. The pros heavily out weigh the cons, however the cons are still present and have a resounding effect on people today. It takes away from the face to face social contact that is imperative to becoming a functioning individual.

Railroads to Gandhi seem to take on the same role. Although it does connect the country and make transportation more convenient, it does not cloak the problems that still exist. Gandhi speaks of how, "I do not wish to suggest that because we were one nation we had no differences, but it is submitted that our leading men traveled... They learned one another's languages and there was no aloofness between them." (pg 24)

The Internet today and the railroads of Gandhi's time, although completely different, encounter the same difficulties.

Nationalities

Today in class we talked about how America is the only nation that defines themselves by another nationality i.e. Irish-American or Italian-American. The reason for this could be due to a number of things, but i think that the most plausible answer may come from our past. It is only natural that because there was such a mixture of nationalities, people wish to stay close together with people that they can associate with. Most of other nations share a common lineage, however, Americans draw from such a diverse pool that most do not share in a common past. Therefore, people want to be with other people who have experienced the same things, and their way to do so was to bulk together, for example Chinatown, or Little Italy. All of these things carry over and contribute to why we think the way we think today.

Good Men

There are a number of situations in which N. attempts to define a certain group of people by one term. One example of this is his concept of "good men". What truly makes a good man? How is one person able to label an entire group and yet not be able to define what makes this person "good" or "bad"? This is a certain topic that doesn't seem to make sense to me because I do not think that N. is the man that should be appointed to label an entire group of people.

Memory retention

While browsing other blogs, I picked up an idea that struck me in Alex's blog. The quotation on page 61, "If something is to stay in the memory, it must be burned:only that which never ceases to hurt stays in the memory", is an exact quote that interested me while I was reading. I think this is an interesting thought and although it may be harsh, its not totally unrelatable. We don't see the everyday extreme punishment that Nietzsche may be speaking of, pain is one of the best ways for people to retain information. If you go through a situation that is truly painful, it is not easily forgotten. Sometimes, the situations that hurt us the most are the things that stay with us the longest. You may want to forget these things, deleting them from your history, but they never seem to leave.

Suffering

If there is one point that I agree with Nietzsche wholeheartedly on is that of the idea of suffering and not letting ourselves feel pain. We have to feel pain to feel human. No one enjoys going through the suffering that comes with life, but you must endure this and not numb yourself of the pain. If you never feel hurt of a sense of loss, than you can not truly appreciate what you do have in front of you. You have to deal with grief, hurt, hatred and other sensations of pain to be human and understand all that is around you.

Sea animals

In class today, we discussed the imagery of Nietzsche and more specifically, the metaphor concerning the "situation that faced sea animals when they were compelled to become land animals" (84). Nietzsche thought that there "has never been such a feeling of misery on earth" (84). However, when I thought of this metaphor, I was reminded of a saying my crew coach would tell us during many of our practices. He would tell us "to row and think outside of our comfort zone. Because if you live outside of you're comfort zone, you're going to be more alert, more active, and more understanding." This saying made me think of the other side of this "feeling of misery", and focus on how it also made them think, leaving them constantly aware; because they were outside of their comfort zone.

Ripe fruit

Nietzsche presented the visual image/metaphor of a ripe fruit from a tree. Nietzsche states, "The the ripest fruit is the sovereign individual... liberated again from morality of custom... the man who has his own independent, protracted will" (59). By this definition, a ripe fruit, or sovereign individual is a person who thinks on his own, against the standards of society and customs of religion. This individual is described as a (sensation of mankind come to completion", an "emancipated individual", and a "master of free will" (59). So this individual is relieved from the constraints of society while being completely in control of choice. The opposite of this individual in the "late fruit" (60). This Late fruit is the opposite of the ripe fruit. The late fruit sits in the tree to long because it can not escape the pressures to conform with the rest of society. Where the ripe fruit falls the ground or is plucked form the tree, the late fruit fails to leave and the tree, rotting away because it steals from other individuals ideas or adopts the ideas of society.

Bird of Prey

To elaborate on some of the issues that I had presented in class concerning the bird of prey metaphor; one subject being the issue strength. The Bird of prey I believe is meant to convey power and strength over others (the lamb). If someone has considerable power, why waste it. Nietzsche may be trying to tell people to stop being timid and shying away from situations in which you utilize your power. A person with strength, should be expected to act accordingly, and therefore a weak person must follow in line and act according to their set. When Nietzsche stated, "To demand of strength that it should not express itself..." (45) he may be implying this very concept. That people are expected to act a certain way because of strength or power.

Style

Nietzsche has a distinct style when it comes to persuading his reader. What I gathered from his writing is that he doesn't seem to be bothered if the reader understands, however, his writing style is methodical and purposeful. One point that seemed to be recurrent throughout was the use of question and answer. This seems to be how Nietzsche opens up almost every different section. When reading each section I inevitably fall into a pit of confusion which seems to deepen if you don't understand the direction that Nietzsche is going. However, each section seems to almost have an outline of issues that he plans on discussing, and if/when you get confused, refer to this outline to be somewhat relieved of the question, "What is Nietzsche trying to say?"

Hate from religion

"The profoundest and sublimest kind of hatred, capable of creating ideals and reversing values." To understand what Nietzsche is trying to say, I think we need to step back and reanalyze what hate truly means, or what it means to Nietzsche. If we look at this at the surface, its reasonable to believe that he is taking stabs at religion for brainwashing the masses. However, what does he mean by hate? Could Nietzsche actually mean ignorance instead, for if so, I would agree. A person can not take the religious belief at face value and apply it to every facet of life. This is the first institution that i have attended that has no affiliation to religion, and I still maintain a descent understanding of religious beliefs, yet I know better than to allow religion to control how I think. I can believe, but when it comes down to how I view the world around me, I use my intellect. This might be what Nietzsche is trying to make us understand. He may not be a blatant persecutor of religions; Nietzsche may be attempting to convey the necessity of your own intelligence to create meaning in the world.

Personal Bias Arguing Religion

The last section abounds with personal bias concerning the subject of religion. Nietzsche does not try to hide his emotions when he speaks of the evil and the states that it is because of the priests "Impotence that in them hatred grows to monstrous and uncanny proportions" (Nietzsche 33). He then switches from attacking religion and priests as a whole to isolating his hatred and distrust towards the Jewish race. Despite this obvious hatred towards religion and especially the Jews, Nietzsche wavers against this hatred and points out inconsistencies in his ideas of distrust. He stated that out of the Jewish hatred comes a sublime love. This pure love grows out of the hatred as a crown. This is where Nietzsche loses me. This is a topic that could lead to interesting debate in class, for I can not grasp what ideas are leading towards. I do not understand how love can arise from a "poisonous hatred", and furthermore, I do not understand the associated analogy.

Introduction to Nietzsche

My first thought on Nietzsche's work is utter confusion. The concept that intrigued me the most concerned the idea of good and bad people being judged not by their actions or based off morality. Nietzsche states, "I'm supposing the "good man" to be of greater value than the "evil man", in greater value in the sense of furthering the advancement and prosperity of man in general" (Nietzsche 20). So Nietzsche is stating that man should not be viewed or considered bad based solely off of morals, however they should be judged by their contributions to society. He goes as far as say that the "Future of man is included" (Nietzsche 20). So as far as Nietzsche is concerned, a murderer could be considered a good man if he contributes positively to the progress of the world or contributes to the success of our future. I find this to be both an intriguing aspect yet disturbing cold and malice. This leads me to believe that Nietzsche has no regard to human well being, merely the well being of humans as a race, creating his perfect world, one that is unflawed by the hands of God or any religious affiliation. This concept of good and evil in man obviously shook the very ground that people stood on for his concepts completely oppose the ideas that stand and that have been ingrained the minds of people.

The meaning of Tao

When I was presented with the issue of choosing ten lines in Tao Te Ching, I found it difficult to isolate just one passage. So instead of adding lines that i believed to be irrelevant or less important to the issue at hand, I chose to pick lines from 3 separate passages. The first that i chose came from page 8 and dealt with an analogy utilizing water to convey non action or passiveness. It states,
"Best to be like water
Which benefits the ten thousand things
And does not contend
It pools where humans disdain to dwell." (8)

This is something I found to be of the utmost importance because Lao-Tzu stresses a laisseiz-faire style and the being of non-action. When you understand the passage, you understand that water stops when it comes to a blockage in its flow, whereas if humans encounter a problem, instead of being patient and using the Tao of non-action, humans fight and try to find ways around the situation. There is no patience in their action and therefore it is right o be like water.

Flow and Entertainment

There a couple of unique aspects that strike me in Rives. The first aspect is at some points less noticeable but is nonetheless omnipresent. This aspect is flow and rhyme. Rives carefully selects each and every word that he utilizes. He uses descriptive words that often abound with rhyme and always transfer easily to the next word he selects. Rives' word usage is powerful and directly plays into the next aspect that intrigues me. This is entertainment. Often, Rives draws his entertainment value from word usage, yet other times I draw interest from his usage of hand gestures and excitement that constantly keeps the listener interested in his points and the knowledge that he is trying to convey.

"Poet or puppet"

Rives proposed the question, "Am I a poet or a puppet?", and what this brings me to is the debate between poet and performer. Rives is energetic, enthusiastic, and holds the audience as if a comedian would do. He makes extremely enthusiastic hand gestures that not only captivate the person watching him, but also enables him to persuade people to believe what he is saying. I say this because if a person enthusiastically believes in what they are saying, I am more prone to believe this and therefore the opposite applies. If someone were to perform something lackadaisically, than I am more likely to be unconvinced of their argument. This is where Rives begins to transcend performance and become a poet. It is through his energy and spirit that the audience becomes captivated not only in his actions on stage but the words and their meanings. Rives thoughts and concepts portrayed through his action on stage is what makes him a true poet. His words hold power and his concepts are ones that seem virtually untouched. Rives speaks of many things in his poems however, a reoccurring theme in his works are the power of words. Many of his sets are devoted to the comprehension of words. Rives is a performing poet, one that possesses extraordinary intelligence, uniqueness, and enthusiasm.

Unlock the Air

What can words do? What power can words convey? Rives made use of this notion. He analyzed something no one else may have thought before. The thought of "mockingbird Molotov cocktails" doesn't mean putting birds in a burning bottle, but that there is a specific power in noticing the words of others. He spoke of listening to how people communicate, the way they interact, and the notion that whatever they may be saying, it is still important. He wanted to "unlock the air" and understand what everyone was saying. The quotation that shook the entire poem was when he said he wanted to "unlock the air, I'll listen to what's missing, and I'll put it there." He wanted to find out what people fail to say and what could or should be said. To Rives, it appears that speech is something of untapped potential for power. What a person form any aspect of the world may or may not say is of the utmost importance. What he spoke of sounded like a form of eavesdropping in which he finds what goes through the very mind of the every person.

Personal Tao

Ku shen fei tao wei
Strong body is not the way to power and success

Strength without determination,
reaps few benefits
strength without confidence,
leaves much to be desired

This is called the Te of determination
this is called the power of mind over body
this is called the Tao of success

I intended this personal Tao to reveal the power that the mind has over the body. It points out two specific aspects of the mind, determination and confidence, with regards to performance. These two attributes aid in permofming to the maximum of your abilities and they are often the difference between under and over acheiving. This does not discount certain physcial impairments that may impede with some activites, nor does it say, for example, that a 140 pound person could fight a proffesional boxer with just determination. There needs to be a healthy balance between body and mind.