Week 1 Journal

  1. One paragraph summary of the key idea summarizing the topic of the week.

    This week we studied the uniqueness of man and his varying ways of viewing the world around him. We looked at several people for examples of how to and how not to live our lives. Sometimes, humans follow their inborn nature of seeing only parts of realities, acting on their emotions, and judge others with their point of view only. Every human is prone to these things, but we can always prepare ourselves with knowledge to deal with these such instances when they come about.

  2. List and explain three of the most important ideas you want to remember from this week.
  1. First, I want to remember the differences between fact opinion, and belief. Many people do not know the exact differences btween these but if they would just try to understand them, they would have a deeper understanding of the world. Facts are ideas that have been backed up with proof and are accepted as always true no matter what. Opinions are a sort of rushed decision of what someone thinks. There is no real evaluation of the situation and the opinion is generally of the top of the person's head. Lastly, a belief is an idea that takes time to acquire. Based on personal experiences and where a person's faith lies, beliefs are founded.
  2. "The unexamined life is not worth living" -Socrates. We need to realize that this is really true. If someone does not think about his life nor reflect upon it, why should they keep on living it? By examining our life, we can come closer to understanding who we really are and where we are heading in life.
  3. Lastly, I want to remember the Five Foundational Lessons. They can be a guide in our life that helps us understand and evaluate our lives. By looking at these lessons, we find that our decisions and actions affect others and not just ourselves. With an understanding of the lessons, we can control our life better and make better decisions.

    Lesson #1: I am necessarily and unavoidably making decisions all the time. These can and do affect me, others, and my world. By these decisions, I am determining who I am and the person I will become.

    Lesson #2: I see the world through "colored lenses." I am necessarily and unavoidable (to a greater or lesser degree) biased.

    Lesson #3: The value judgments I make determine my action. My mental health and happiness (and often those of many others) rests on the validity of these value judgments.

    Lesson #4: Any change in the particular beliefs that control my life cannot help but change and modify my life. It will affect the quality and texture of all that I experience.

    Lesson #5: The most significant decisions I make in my life need to be faith decisions. Faith is an opinion based on evidence to which I am committed.

3.) One image of that reminds you of the topic. Attribute, link, your source

The Cave From Plato's Allegory

(taken from http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/cave.htm)

 

4.) One good question you should keep with you to ponder.

What do I have faith in? There are many things in life that I need to have faith in and other things that I should have less faith in. I need to evaluate my standpoints.

5) What should you try to do to make you a better person, a more faithful person, from this study?

I will try to keep in mind that I am just human and I can not comprehend all of the mysteries in this world. I am unavoidably biased and this view affects my thoughts and actions. I can only perceive reality as I experience it and therefore will put my faith in things that I think are appropriate, but I will always be open to a change or alteration of faith if necessary.




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