Arturo Garcia Experience of a Natural Setting 2

Last Friday I was at the journal club. We were discussing a paper on obesity when, as usual the topic began to sway as a usual ( at the direction of dr. burke) the causes of obesity then lastly, the last time that we felt at peace or were satisfied, most people who gave an example, gave an example where they were in a nature setting. One person said the last time they were completely satisfied and at peace was when he was fishing, anther said it was when she was driving the mountains. I was left thinking about this novel concept, maybe nature has a therapeutic effect on us. We are not built for modern life, our eyes were designed to see thing in the distance, not inches in front of us. We need sunlight not florescent light to synthesize vitamin d . maybe those people were wrong, wilderness/nature  has sacred powers not because it is a foreign place, but because it id better for our selves than the modern world we have created. 

Arturo Garcia Experience of a Natural Setting

We were expecting good weather winds from the east and fairly consistent, the first four hours went smoothly, we were in the Chesapeake and were near the confluence of the Chesapeake and the Potomac river. We were about five miles away from shore ( the boats maximum speed is about six knots ) when my boss called, she had not been told that I had taken the day off, she told me that we were about to get hit by a storm. About ten minutes after this the storm hit. The clouds seemed to just materialize overhead. By this time we were worried, our boat isn’t big and we didn’t know how she would hold up in a storm. The wind picked up, gusting up to about forty knots. Waves up to 5 feet in height. At first we tried to fight it but it was futile. The storm was too powerful.  Then the lighting came. I am honestly surprised we did not get hit. We almost did, I was coming back up on deck when the bolt of lighting came down , it was terrifying, the web of florescent blue. Apparently it struck the water and was very close. 

Arturo Garcia Outside Reading 3

In the novel On Parole by Akira Yoshimura , the author makes extensive use of imagery, he explains the scenery in great detail, however he almost never mentions color. There is one color that he mentions many times in the novel. While it is easy to understand that the color of red is meant to be a symbol of his anger and violence based on context ,and the fact that in our culture the color red is a symbol of anger, sin, passion, blood, and guilt, it is interesting to note that in many Asian cultures red has a less negative connotation. In Japan the color red has a very different meaning, the color red is used in the Japanese flag to represent the sun, and the sun is  important to their culture(Nippon, the Japanese word for Japan means land of the rising sun), many Torii gates( Shinto shrine archways) are painted red, for the most part the color red has a positive meaning and is used more as a symbol of happiness and honor. The use of the color red as a symbol of murder is meant to be universally understood. 

Arturo Garcia Outside Reading 2

Kurt Vonnegut’s book Galapagos, is essentially the reverse Eden story. In the Eden story they eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, in Galapagos they cast away knowledge, they threw the mandrax into the sea. The mandrax is a computer, that can act as a translator and holds a considerable amount of literature. The Galapagos are also the reverse of the garden of Eden, the island they land on is barren and hostile. The author stated that his book has similarities with the Noah story. The novel ends with the destruction on humanity as we know it the people on the Galapagos evolve in to seal like creatures. From  the remnants of humanity that become stranded on the island 2 people are vital to the continuation of the human race, a kind of Adam and eve. 

Arturo Garcia Outside Reading 1

“ oh, well- he(she) wasn’t going to write Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony anyway.” The narrator says this after the deaths of Kazakh (canine) and James Wait ( human). The narrator then explains this line. This is a comment on how little we will accomplish in our lives.  The accomplishments of Wait are as insignificant as the accomplishments of Kazakh. In a million years the accomplishments of even the most influential people in this modern day in age will be insignificant and in consequential.  From an early age we are fed the blatant lie that we are all snowflakes, unique and special. We are told that we will do great things, that we will go on to have a great influence on the world. this is what we are told, and the worst part is we believe it, we hold the delusion that we are mighty, above average even. The so called Lake Wobegon effect, from Garrison Keillor’s radio show, a place where all the children are above average. We all cant be above average, and In all truth, even those of us who are, are probably destined for mediocrity. Even those who do great things will be forgotten 

Arturo Garcia Choice Topic 4

.  Blink is essentially about gut reactions and first impressions.   Gut reactions are encouraged in this book and are supposed to be remarkably accurate. The book begins with a story that illustrates the accuracy of gut reactions; this story is about a Greek statue that turned out to be a forgery.  At first the statue was believed to be an original, there is sufficient evidence to prove that it was not a fake, but many of the experts that saw the statue knew it was a fake.  They had no evidence to support their accusations; they just had a gut feeling. You don’t need to read to far into the book to know exactly what it is about; in the first chapter the author provides an outline of the book.

I see truth in some of the things that are stated in this book, and have been in situations where I needed to make split second decisions.  There were times that thinking about the situation would take too long, therefore my subconscious mind would take over and the decisions that were made were actually very good ones.   When I am sailing, in a regatta, and I have to round a mark I have to make very quick decision.  I really do not have time to think about it.  This is a situation where my instincts have to come into play.   I have to use my gut reaction.  

Arturo Garcia Choice Topic 3

As I was reading Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, I came across an interesting situation in the book the protagonist yossarian and Ms. Scheisskopf are arguing about the nature of the god that they do not believe in. The god that Ms. Scheisskof does not believe in is loving, jus and omniscient. While the god that yossarian doesn’t believe in is either sadistic or is a bumbling fool, and that a truly good and omniscient god would not have included phlegm and tooth decay in his creation. and he cannot believe in a god that would create things like pain. The loss of faith is a major theme in the novel and in the end even the chaplain begins to question his faith.  

Arturo Garcia Choice topic 2

The protagonist of the novel Catch 22, Yossarian, has one goal to live forever or to die trying. He bases this goal on the assumption that he will fail, he understands that he will eventually die. He is haunted by Death, this manifests it’s self in the for of Snowden and the dead man in his tent. The death of Snowden has a particularly profound effect on Yossarian. With the death of Snowden Yossarian comes to the realization that man is garbage, after this event his only goal is to protect his own life and the lives of those around him. He goes to great lengths to achieve his goals. He attempts to spend as much time as possible in the hospital, by exploiting the fact that he always has a temperature of 101 degrees, and claims that he has a liver problem. During mission he orders his pilots to take very aggressive evasive maneuvers to avoid flack.  He also obsesses over the ways he could be killed an is convinced that many people are trying to kill him. 

Arturo Garcia Choice topic 1

Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos. This novel is about our big brains. On the second page, in the second chapter of the novel Vonnegut asks 2 questions: the first, “Can It be that three-kilogram brains were once nearly fatal defects in the evolution of the human race?”, the second question, “What source was there back then, save for our overelaborate nervous circuitry, for the evils that we were seeing or hearing about simply every-where?”. He also answered the question “there was no other source, this was an innocent planet except for those great big brains.” In  the novel Vonnegut was attempting to show how terrible our big brains can be, and he may be correct in this. Our brain can be terrible things that can cause us great pain. 100 billon neurons, 1000 to 10000 synapses per neuron, 10 to 23 watts of power, about 70000 thoughts a day, Don Quixote, Othello,  Penicillin, Beethoven’s ninth symphony, aqueducts, atom bombs, gladiator fights, public burnings, schizophrenia, delusions, all products of a very powerful computer locate in our skulls. 

Sarah Ritter Image and Pilgrimage #3

            One idea that is discussed in this book is the concept of communitas.  Communitas is described as a spontaneously formed community of people that are brought together by a shared liminal experience and everyone is an equal.  Communitas most frequently occurs during pilgrimages because of the liminal phenomenon of the pilgrimage.  Liminality is the conscious state of being between or on the “threshold” of two planes, specifically between the ordinary and the sacred or divine.  By sharing such an experience it makes everyone equals and creates a strong sense of “togetherness.”

Sarah Ritter Image and Pilgrimage #2

            In Image and Pilgrimage in the Christian Culture written by Arnold Van Gennep, he discusses how the process of a pilgrimage is a liminoid phenomenon.  He discusses how a pilgrimage is a period where an individual escapes from the mundane tasks of everyday life in their day-to-day world and travels through a sort of plane to reach a spiritual world.  Whether the pilgrim seeks to reach this spiritual world consciously when they set out on this journey or whether it is simply a minor thought somewhere in their subconscious, every pilgrim will at point along the journey and in some degree experience this liminality.

Sarah Ritter Image and Pilgrimage #1

            I think it was interesting how in this book, the author Arnold Van Gennep breaks down the process of going through a rite of passage into three specific steps that are always followed and always in the same order in every rite of passage.  The first step in every rite of passage is separation in which the individual breaks away and becomes isolated from their culture. The next step is limen where the individual enters an entirely new realm, and the final step is aggregation when the individual returns to the world that they previously had detached from but enter it now as a more spiritually mature individual.

Sarah Ritter Landscapes of the Sacred #3

            Lane discusses in his book Landscapes of the Sacred that the composition of place is “a dynamic exchange between a culturally formed imagination and an embodied contact one experiences.”  In his discussion he states that we are unable to see and experience a place exactly how it is.  Instead of simply seeing what our senses are telling us at face value, our cultural background forces our brains to perceive our surroundings differently.  So because of this, what we experience as place is what we are directly experiencing that is slightly altered by our cultural imagination.

Sarah Ritter Landscapes of the Sacred #2

            In this book by Belden C. Lane, the distinction between space and place is discussed. I didn’t realize there was a distinction and thought that the two terms were synonymous but Lane describes them as two separate things. According to Lane, space is described as expansiveness where as place is a safe enclosure.  He states that there is tension between the two in American culture and says that there are positive and negative attitudes to each and it displays the spatially oriented experiences of God.  In relation to space, it can be seen as open and free but at the same time space can also be threatening because of the fear of being lost in space.  Place is the opposite and can be comforting and give a sense of security and stability, but it and also be considered constricting and smothering.  

Sarah Ritter Landscapes of the Sacred #1

In Landscapes of the Sacred, Lane discusses how the ordinary is a mask of the sacred. When I first read this section I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about and I thought he was making no sense but the more I read it the more it started to make sense.  Lane describes how like a mask, the ordinary simultaneously hides and reveals certain aspects of the holy.  Ordinary actions and places give you a glimpse of the holy which is behind it much like the eye and nose hole of an actual mask yet still reveals much of it as well.  In addition, the ordinary is actually a simplification of the holy which makes itself obvious in everyday things but because these things are so abundant and we see them all the time and they are constantly there, it actually hides the holy because we stop noticing it and end up not seeing the holy’s presence at all.  In other words the ordinary identifies and displays the character of the Holy but hides the actual identity just as a mask shows the character of the person behind it but hides their actual identity.

Sarah Ritter Natural Setting Experience

Out of all of the places that I have gone hiking, camping, and backpacking one of my favorite places is Great Falls in Maryland.  On the Maryland side of Great Falls is the C&O canal, which runs almost 200 miles along the Potomac River.  Right before you get to the falls there is a three-mile trail called the Billy Goat Trail that I have been hiking ever since I can remember. The trail is only about a 30 minute drive from my house so its really convenient and its one of those places that even though I’ve hiked it more times then I can count it never gets old. The trail goes along the Potomac River downstream of the falls and over the years that trail has provided me with hours and hours of quality hiking and great boning time with whoever I take out there with me.  I have so many memories all along the trail and it remains an important place in my life.  

Sarah Ritter Noland Trail

Although I unfortunately was not able to make it to the class that was held on the Noland trail due to underestimating the time I took to walk there which caused me to be late and was unable to find the class, I still had an enjoyable experience wandering on the trail looking for the class and it gave me time quietly reflect on my surroundings and on myself.  I have not been on the Noland trail very many times before but every time I do walk on it I feel so grateful that as a CNU student I have such a beautiful and sizable piece of nature that I can enjoy that is so close to school.  Walking distance the trail is only a short walk from campus and the trail itself is a five mile loop that goes through many acres of forest that contain all kinds of native wildlife.  Many times when my life is in turmoil and I’m stress out or upset by something, this trail has been a source of comfort and by walking in the peace and calm of the forest it helps to calm me down and soothe my mind and emotions.  

Sarah Ritter Outside Reading #3

            Over this past summer I read a book called The Shack, written by William Paul Young.  This was one of the most powerful and deeply thought-provoking books I have ever read and it really gave me a new perspective on spirituality.  In the book the main character goes through a horrifying trauma and his happy life is shattered.  Many years after this tragedy he receives a note from someone named Papa that summons him to a shack in the woods.  He hesitantly goes and when he reaches the shack he essentially has an intense divine encounter in which the shack is transformed and he gets to spend several days with God Him- or in this case “Herself.”  The shack is a deeply sacred place for him and although in Lane’s book Landscapes of the Sacred, he states the ordinary masks the Holy and the Holy and the Holy can’t be viewed without this mask, in the novel the main character does get to look under that mask and with the authors powerful use of language, he describes what he believes he would see.  This was a fantastic book and I definitely recommend it because it made me really think about my beliefs and my relationship with God. 

Sarah Ritter Outside Reading #2

            One book that I just recently started reading but haven’t had the chance to get all that far into it a book by Jon Krakauer called Into Thin Air.  This book is about the author’s attempt at climbing Mt. Everest and the tragic events that occurred on his expedition.  In the beginning of the book Krakauer gives some background of the history of the mountain and describes the many people that attempted to climb it over the years, some successful, some not so successful, and some who lives were claimed by the mountain and will forever rest in their icy tombs.  He describes how since the British discovered that Mt. Everest was the highest mountain in the world in 1856, masses of people have been captivated by the mountain and because of its staggering altitude, has become one of the most famous peaks in the world.   Much of the fascination of the mountain is because of its imposing presence and the immense liminality of the place.  From a geological standpoint, Everest it the most physically liminal place on Earth because its peak is literally where heaven and earth meet.  In the book the author discusses how for many people, that draw of being able to stand that close to the heavens is so powerful they are willing to risk their lives to get there. 

Sarah Ritter Outside Reading #1

Recently I have been rereading the Harry Potter series in order to give me something to do while I’m at work and after taking this class I was kind of surprised about how many of the themes and ideas that we discussed in this class appeared throughout the books.  One of the ideas that appeared in these books was the idea of mysterium tremendum and mysterium fascinans, particularly in relation to the Forbidden Forest.  The Forbidden Forest is a large forest on Hogwarts grounds and it contains countless magical creatures and other unknowns.  Through J. K. Rowling’s imagery of the forest throughout all of the books the forest is described as a place with many wonders and beautiful creatures, but at the same time filled with unknown horrors that make entering it a possibly terrifying experience. Because of these two characteristics of the place, it gives it a sense of having some sort of power that in the book is described as magical, but in a more general sense is very similar to the divine.