Opposites

"Act without acting
Serve without serving
Taste without tasting" (Lao-Tzu 63)
There are opposites to everything in life and this is one aspect that I find completely interesting. That you can find the definition of one thing by analyzing its opposite. There is never one true clear definition because it is always built off of something else. This is something that Lao-Tzu took advantage of, and that is still apparent today. You can pick up a dictionary and every word that is defined is defined based off of another definition. Where is the starting point or the first piece of this building block? Is there one word that all others are built off of? This is what I thought when looking at the way that La-Tzu makes his statements. He utilizes opposites to clearly convey the other half. This reveals the fact that when one aspect of life is understand, so is its opposite. So there is no good, without evil. No success without failure and so on. One aspect of life is therefore revealed by the understanding of another.

Darwinistic thinking.

I found it hard to isolate one subject of interest that could be analyzed or of interest to Darwin. The first thing that came to mind is the number of offspring or progeny that are produced by two parents. In almost all species, whether it is moths, flies, birds, and humans, the parents produce more progeny than parents. So two parents may produce six children out of which four may survive. None the less there is still an increase in the species number that may be controlled in lower species by predators or diseases. However what may this next large epidemic be for humans. Humans have no predators, and are affected less than lower species by diseases. In the past we saw a large portion of the population wiped out by epidemics such as the Black Plague, but what might this next large scale catastrophe be? This is what interested me most when i looked at the number of animals and people outside. This curiosity led me to think about how nature always seems to level out the populations of all species, because the earth can only support so much life, after which, it fails to yield enough food, disease ravages the populations, etc. There is always an evening out process, but what will the next one be? Is there any way for us to predict our future demise? Is there any way that we can continue to reproduce and have children at the rate we are at right now? These are all questions of which I do not know the answer.

Taoist thinking.

Taoist thinking involved clearing my head completely. Letting everything of that day just roll off my shoulders and what I encountered was a time that where at first i felt anxious but gradually eased into a relaxed almost trance like state. After I cleared my head, just concentrating on the rhythm of my breathing (I've had some prior meditation training), my brain was soon free of the distractions and I could only think about what makes me happy. I thought about what situations could rival the clarity of meditation and realized that surfing, my favorite past time while at home, was a very meditative state. Surfing was a time when i would be by myself in the environment that cleared my head of problems. My mind was nearly empty, completely without any negative thoughts. The meditative state that i spent ten minutes under, cleared the head and relieved the stress as only surfing could do. It is an alternative for me now that I am so far from the place that I adore. What intrigued me about this was how my mind in one second could wander from emptiness to joyous memories. It revealed to me that the human mind does not want to be empty. No part of human existence wished to be empty or alone, and this transcends just meditation. I believe that this is exactly what the Taoists wrote about. It takes determination to clear your head of the infinite distractions in life.

Variations

An issue that intrigued most about today's conversation in class came from the discussion of small changes or variations that truly make a difference in the success of a species. Darwin stated, "these slight differences make a great difference in cultivating the social the several varieties, assuredly, in a state of nature... such differences would effectually settle which variety... should succeed" (Darwin 178). This observation in peaches concerning smooth or fuzzy makes you wonder how many other small variations are simply overlooked. We take for granted many of the small variations that make us effective individuals. For example the history of humans would be drastically different had we never adapted to have a thumb to grasp objects or form tools. How could this have changed the type of individual we are today? What i took form this is that even a small variation that on first glance may seem unimportant may truly be something of paramount importance towards the fitness of one species.

Observation

Dining hall abounds with physical and communicative interaction. It is a social place where people come to not merely get a meal, but also to recount stories of the weekends or what happened in that day. So when the challenge was presented to us to observe a situation, I immediately thought that there is no greater place to observe than in dining hall where people a truly in a social state. As Darwin stated, there are things that "we do not see, or we forget" to see, and that "we do not always bear everything in mind" (Darwin 165). I observed how people interacted with others, and the wide array of emotions that are exhibited by the variety of personalities that interact with each other. I also observed how important hand gestures and physical actions are towards achieving a reaction in others. The people that were truly interacting and seemed to be making the most rouse out of their audience were the ones who expressed action and enthusiasm, two characteristics that seemed to go hand in hand. This was by far the most interesting observation that i had because you could see that hand gestures made a significant addition to the conversation without having any verbal association.

Morality and society/individual

As Darwin states it, morality has a direct correlation to what society perceives as "right" and "wrong". However, I do not completely believe that this can be true for society is completely susceptible to fads, trends, and popularity swings. When you see the current swing of society, you realize that morality can not be left in the hands of a society so easily swayed from left to the right. One example can be seen in the current shift towards television almost embracing or encouraging alcoholism. Commercials that are typically comical in nature permeates the television air, portraying alcohol as something that is socially acceptable, even for the younger ages. From this, you can see how society can show something that is not always in the best interest of the general public and portray it as something that is "right". Darwin placed society as responsible for morality however it should be left in the hands of the individual.

Diversification

"So in the general economy of any land, the more widely and perfectly the animals and plants are diversified for different habits of life, so will a greater number of individuals be capable of there supporting themselves." (Darwin 197) Upon hearing this statement i immediately thought outside of the spectrum of natural selection and applied this to the diversification of people and communities. While attending my high school, I was able to travel to Costa Rica and Italy with classmates and teachers, all in attempt to assimilate a knowledge of the culture. I believe this greatly contributed to a better understanding of other people. This thought that with greater diversity of life styles comes greater knowledge applies directly to the concept of understanding. I acknowledge the existence of other cultures and wholeheartedly believe in the ability to assimilate one culture into another. this applies both to Darwin's natural selection and my point of diversity within cultures.