GUAM: Agape Love

          'Agape' love is pretty much a love that cures all.  It gives well being to all of us in order to erase the ill being in us all.  Love is what makes us happy and ultimately satisfied.  That's inherently how the author describes Agape love.

          'Agape' love is a virtue because it's a kind of love that remains trapped within itself and within us.

           According to this author, 'Agape' love is more than imaginary, which is what eros and philia is.

           Weil thinks that the world is ours, but not God's.  He believes that God lives in Heaven, and he is absent from the world.

          Weil claims that 'agape' love is passion, grace, and all things that are the opposite of cruel and sad.

          The love of couples can sometimes approach 'agape' love.  They can do this by recognizing experiences of love and by seeing if those experiences agree with their ideas of love.  That's what love is all about in the end.  Matching makes happiness.

           A person can transition from eros to philia to agape -- changing from one type of love to the other -- by loving selfishly to selflessly,  than from selfish love of the partner to selfless love of the partner, than from covetousness to benevolence, and from benevolence to charity.

"Charity" is love transfigured into virtue.

           Without charity we are all living our lives without true love.  Charity is what gives us virtue, and without virtue we are emotionless wrecks.  Life is meant to have love, and in all and all love is the most important thing in life.  Who wants to live a lonely life?  I know I sure as hell don't.  It is love that commits us to morality, and if our morals are good, than our charity is well developed, and if that's the case than our lives are worth being lived.

Metaphors for Philia

Philia, for me, is like surfing.  It never gets boring.

Philia is like drinking an oreo milkshake because.  It will always taste like perfection to me.

Philia is like my unconditional love for my parents.  It will never go away.

GUAM: Religion and Love

                   The Nature of Love as well as a father's love for a son can be quite imaginative.  According to Spinoza, love is "a joy, accompanied by the idea of an external cause."  In sum, Philia is this idea that states love is active.  All the time.  It will last forever.  The author says women might be disappointed by this type of love because women, and even young girls, feel that imaginary love would be an ultimate disappointment because it's not necessarily real.  Needless to say, Eros and Philia's concepts are inextricably mixed and intertwined but also different because there will always be different ideas of love, and that will perpetually be inevitable.

In Class GUAM: Religion & Love

The Search for Gold:

                 The story came from Aristophanes's speech, and the reasoning behind this is that the soul mates were striped of something, so they were seeking it perpetually.  When a person is separated from the thing that they want than he or she is going to fight and keep being persistent until he or she gets what they want -- either they will do this, or they might suffer.  Different people handle separation in various ways.  The logic of Eros is that one can only love what one does not have because one will always desire what one can't have.  Freud says that love will always be taken from us because we only get to experience each type of love once, whereas Aristophanes says it's a possibility that our love can be taken from us.  'Concupiscent love' is solely desirable love and nothing else.

Prompt 2: My Experience With The Transcendent

            I will never forget the day where I felt a true awareness with the Transcendent.  It was a foggy evening in Kensington, Ca on Monday March 31, 2012.  My best friend Tyler De Martini was in a comma at Highland Hospital in Oakland.  24 hours previous to this Tyler was hit by a car that was going full speed (25 mph) down Marin avenue in Berkeley.  Tyler's head injury was traumatic and fatal.  The swelling was close to 100%.  I had some notion that he wasn't going to wake up, so I prayed to God for one thing: "let Tyler go peacefully, or furthermore, do what's best for him, and please make it so he is happy.  He is a very angry kid for several reasons.  If he will be happy alive can you please awake him from this comma of his?  But if he wants to go, can you promise me that he is going to be happy."

           The next day I received a text message in the middle of my Physics class.  I discovered that Tyler took some brain tests, and he was no longer with us.  His brain was declared permanently dysfunctional, so the doctors were going to have to pull the plug.

           I immediately went to the hospital.  After being there for twenty minutes, the family and doctors went into Ty's room.  The family gathered around Ty, touched him, and as the doctor pulled the plug Tyler died in less than a second.  His cousin Mimi, a nurse, said she had never seen someone go out that peacefully.  Tyler was so happy, and all his loved ones were lifting his spirit that day.  God answered my prayer that day, and never before have I had such an experience with the Transcendent.

Thomas Merton "One Love": GUAM Sheet

The Search for Gold:


          There is no such thing as selfless love.  We all love because we are marketing ourselves as good people.  That is -- according to this article, though.  It's not my belief.

The Search for Authenticity:


       Never before did I think of love in such a negative way.  Although I disagree that all love is selfish this article has made me realize that many people do get involved in relationships solely for personal pleasure and attention.

The Search for Understanding:


     The commercialized idea of love will perpetually be inevitable in society for the rest of the earth's existence.  People will always want to look better than everyone else.  500 years from now, if the "hip thing to do" is marry two husbands and two wives than most people will do it because that's what will be trending, and that's all that people care about: what's trending.  Moreover, human beings are always worrying whether or not they will "fit in" with the rest of society.

The Search for Meaning:

What is the trouble with commercialized love?

Does this author suggest that there's no such thing as true love?

GUAM: Student Socratic Conversations: Individual and Society

The Search for Gold / The Search for Understanding: 
      We are controlled by society in many ways.  Our image is what controls us.  We're perpetually worrying about what others think of us.  Media and propaganda cause us to be this way, and in today's day and age our society is completely influenced by media.  Human beings are mere instruments whereas society is the music itself.  Humans and instruments will always die and be reborn, but music will always live on as well as God and society.

The Search for Authenticity:
      I always thought that we, as humans, controlled society, but according to this article we are controlled by society.

The Search for Meaning:
       Is an individual just a mere instrument to society?
       Are humans actually controlled by society?

a.) How has your family, friends, and community affected my religious beliefs?

              I am a young man who believes in God, however I am not extremely religious.  I never attend church.  I don't read the bible.  I do believe in him though.  I believe in after life, and I truly think that our souls will live on forever.  These particular religious beliefs of mine have been influenced by my family, my friends, and my community.

             My father gave up his faith at the tender age of thirteen.  He completely stopped attending mass and church for several reasons, the main being that he was always threatened by nuns and priests that he was going to Hell for committing all these silly sins.  The sins that he committed weren't evil at all; it's just that my dad grew up in a time period where Catholicism was quite brutal and strict.  My mom didn't grow up in an extremely religious household, but she was still raised to believe in God.  Both of my parents's upbringings have caused me to be a believer in God but not in a religious way.

              My friends are always stating, to myself and all other peers, their religious beliefs.  A lot of my friends don't believe in any sort of God.  In fact, a good amount of my friends are complete atheists.  I even have Jewish friends who label themselves as "Atheist Jews".  Inherently, my friends's negative attitude toward religion has given me even more reason not to attend church on sundays.

              My community is not very religious either.  I live in the Bay Area.  In Berkeley, we champion the "freaks".  I'm not insinuating that these freaks are bad people, but I'm merely suggesting that the majority of my community's citizens are not religious but rather scientists and innovators.  I do, however, attend a catholic high school, though, so St. Mary's has influenced some of my faith in God.

           Needless to say, my family and friends and community have influenced my religious beliefs.  Thanks for tuning in to the J Rik on the Mic blog.

GUAM: The Quest for God: The Problem of Evil and Free Will

The Search for Gold / The Search for Understanding:


           God does exist.  Some people beg to differ because there is evil and corruption in the world.  A common rebuttal to the existence of God may be "if God's real than why do human beings commit crimes, harm others, and even murder one another?"  The main idea is that God can't cause the world to be perfect.  He can't prevent evil from happening because evil is not thing but a wrong choice made by an individual, and God can't make our choices.  If he made our choices we wouldn't even be human beings; we'd merely be robots.

The Search for Authenticity:  


             This topic challenges me greatly.  Never before did I think about this notion of evil and corruption.  I never really thought that God is a bad person for not preventing evil from happening.  I have just sort of thought that there's no such thing as perfection, but now when I look at both arguments in this topic the more I realize how both make all kinds of sense.


The Search for Meaning:


Does God exist?
Does God have the ability to stop all evil?
Does God want our world to be imperfect?
Can God inspire evil doers to eternally become good, or is it all up to the person to change his bad ways?

Visual Representations for Arguments

Argument from Religious Experience:
In this illustration a man is praying to God.  As we can see he is quite religious.  He truly believes he is having a divine connection.  He believes he is speaking with God himself.  Many spiritual people like this man have 'religious experiences' like this on a day to day basis.  Whether or not people actually speak with God, or Buddha, or who ever, nobody knows the truth except for that particular individual, and the god whom he or she is praying and conversing to.

Pascal's Wager:
Does God Exist? Does he not exist? Does he help us get through struggles? Does he have nothing to do with us getting past hardships?  No one has any definite answer to any of these questions which is what Pascal's Wager is all about.  Isn't the green question mark just beautiful for this topic?

The Argument from 'Degrees of Perfection':
Everything is labeled on a scale from lame to perfect.  That sounds a bit harsh, but it's entirely true.  Than, there are things that can't be ladled.  God, according to his followers, can not be labeled.  He is perfect.  He can not be more perfect.  Just like these block shapes.  They can not fit any more perfectly into their selected little holes.  

The Argument From Aesthetic Experience:
1.) Look at this kid.  He's a talented young violinist.
2.) Is his talent God given? Or did his talent just happen?
3.) Is this boy lucky, or was he given a great work ethic and desire to improve his violin skills?
According the Aesthetic Experience this young boy has all these attributes, and they were handed to him by God.

The Argument From Miracles:
This is in interesting photograph.  It may seem dark, but it really isn't.  Let's say this man's name is Steve.  Maybe Steve is a fluke of a person.  Maybe he's a drug addict.  Well, according to most people, flukes like Steve are going to need miracles in order to escape their miserable lives.  Maybe a miracle as ridiculous as a dolphin flying in the sky.  Who knows? The point is that miracles seem impossible, but they are actually plausible - not likely to happen, but that's all up to God - thus the power of miracles is right in God's hands.  Hopefully, people like Steve will find their flying dolphin, so they can get on the right path and live their life as good as can be.

The 'Design' Argument:
Our universe was designed by an intellectual.  This is a picture that illustrates God's mind.  As we can see a lot is going on in that brain.  This brain can hold infinite memories, facts, and everything else possible and imaginable.  God knows all, he has to know all, and that is how he was able to create the Earth's existence.

The Argument From Time and Contingency:
There is only one being.  Nothing else has to be, and furthermore in accordance to this article nothing is in being.  No one except for God, and this is a picture of God.  Needless to say, there has to be one who is existing otherwise there would literally be nothing.

The Argument From Change:
This is a photograph of people walking in a city, and as we can see they are in a hurry.  It's a visual representation of people having desires to change - change their current positions to go elsewhere which is why they are walking so quickly.  According to The Argument From Change nothing changes.  Desires may come along, like people wanting to move from one place to the other, but nothing actually changes itself. 

Guam sheet for proof of "The Argument from Degrees of Perfection"

      The goal of this activity was to gain a more definite understanding of God and religion as a whole. My group studied the "Arguments of Degrees of Perfection".


       From this article we learned that everything in this world is labeled on some scale - from rotten to perfect.  Whether it's a pet or a person or even a painting, every little thing and every single person is judged.  Everyone except for God.  God is the only being who is perfect.  God can not be any better than he already is.  Nobody else has that power because everyone, other than God, is labeled on different degrees of perfection.  Then, there's God, and he is perfection.

The Quest for God Blog Question #1

Where do I ‘see’ or ‘experience’ God?:


          I have experienced a connection with God in several ways especially since the passing of my best friend, Tyler.  I asked God of one thing -- to make sure Tyler is no longer angry, to give Tyler eternal happiness in his afterlife.  The entire week after his death the sky was blue, the weather was amazingly warm, and the birds were chirping with joy.  I don't know if I'm crazy or if this was a sign, but somewhere in my heart I truly believe that God granted my request, and now my best friend is watching over me as my guardian angel, and he has come to his eternal happiness.  Rest In Peace Tyler Joseph De Martini.

Unit 1: Moral Vision: Reflective Essay: Prompt 1 "Hustling"

          Although I call myself a good sport I often hustle people.  I'm always competing with my friends and family.  My personal hustle manifesto consists of several things:

            I frequently hustle my dad because he is one of my role models.  I like to compare myself to him because I want to be just as good a man as him but even better.  It may sound selfish that I want to be better than my father, but really it is a compliment to him.  Whenever my dad makes fun of me for saying something stupid I say in a joking way, "at least my high school grade point average is higher than yours was."  Obviously grades have nothing to do with intelligence, but the fact that I even bother to compete with my dad in the first place proves that I think very highly of him.

          I also hustle my friends on a day to day basis.  My best friend and I are always competing when it comes to grades, working out, playing video games, and pretty much everything else imaginable.  We don't hustle each other in a negative way; it is completely positive and healthy.  By hustling him I am motivated to perform better in school, become stronger and more intelligent, and just overall improve my skills in all categories.

          Needless to say, the art of hustling is quite significant in my life.  Some say it's not good to compete with others, but I completely disagree.  Without competition I would not be motivated to perform tasks to the best of my ability, and furthermore life would be boring.

          

C.S. Lewis Chapters 3 & 4

The Search for Authenticity:  For the topic in chapters 3 and 4 I had no preconceived assumptions that were challenged by this material.  I say this because I already know that humans fear their own behavior.  We all try to be perfect, yet it is an unachievable goal, and some of us can't handle that, so they start to make bad decisions.  This main idea -- that humans can not be perfect -- really applies to my life.  In my early teen years I began to realize that I can not be perfect, and I will make mistakes, but as long as I can be the best person I can possibly be than that's all that matters.  

The Search for a Meaningful Conversation:  Important questions from this reading are:

1.) What is the difference between imperfection and perfection and how does it apply to the Law of Nature?

2.) How do us humans find the truth in ourselves?

3.) Are all these theories and concepts religious or philosophical?

The Search For Gold:       Main ideas in Chapters 3 and 4 are:  

Humans are afraid of their own behavior.  Humans want to perfect the Law of Nature, but it is impossible to do so.  Humans disrespect each other one's behavior causes conflict to the other's.  In a sense, all of this powerful information (having to do with behavior and the Law of Nature) is just as powerful as Religion. Both Religion and these concepts are belief systems.

The Search for Understanding:  We all have battles with our inner emotions.  Whether we're fighting our heart, our brain, our morals, or even our instincts, we all have to resist and fight forward.  Our decision making is like a see-saw.  We're always going back and forth with our thoughts.  Sometimes we make the unwise decision hoping for a positive outcome.  It's really difficult to comprehend all this, but the best we can do is try.  Needless to say, we are all imperfect in this dark and scary world.  Yet in this dark place there will always be light, and it is up to us to reach out and grab the light as opposed to sit back and curl up in our own shadows.  We all have choices.  Remember that, people.  

C.S. Lewis Chapter 1 & 2

The Search for Authenticity:     In regards to this unit, my preconceived assumptions were that humans act based off instinct, and that it is our instincts that help us determine whether something is right or wrong.  However, the ideas in chapters 1 and 2 actually say that good decision comes entirely from our morals and not instincts.  A main idea that is discussed often in these chapters is "The Law of Nature" (the ruling behind 'Right and Wrong').  Moreover, according to Lewis, our morals establish our foundation in the Law of Nature.  


The Search for a Meaningful Conversation:  The Most important questions that this reading inspires are:
1.) Why is the Law of Nature so significant in every human being's life?
2.) What is the difference between making decisions based on morals and making decisions based on instincts.
3.) Do we help others because of the "Law of Nature", or do we just want to feel good about ourselves?


The Search for Gold:     The main ideas in these chapters are:


1.) Everyone can learn from quarreling.
2.) We all participate in the Law of Nature.
3.) Our good and bad decisions are based entirely on our morals and not our instincts.
4.) Human beings think they're supposed to behave a certain way, but they end up not doing so, and that is when the Law of Nature comes into play.
5.)None of our instincts or impulses trigger our morals.


The Search for Understanding:     Inherently, chapters 1 and 2 is about decision making.  When it comes to the Law of Nature, all humans know the difference between right and wrong.  Whenever one is confronted by anything one has a decision to make, and that choice is either good or bad.  Generally, there is no line in between.  We make decisions based on our morals; in other words our upbringing and lifestyle.  Instincts have nothing to do with decision making - according to C.S. Lewis anyway.  Furthermore, all humans want to behave in a certain way, meaning we all want to behave righteously, but it is impossible for us all to do this.  We all have different morals, and some of the unfortunate folks who have bad upbringings may make bad decisions in their life.  

GUAM Sheet

The Search for Gold:  The Law of Nature, Morals, Instincts, Hustling one another, and the Veil of Ignorance are all key ideas in this unit.
The Search for Understanding: The Law of Nature is the inherent idea of "Right and Wrong".  Everyone lives by these guidelines - that one has to make a decision based on whether it's right or wrong. These decisions come from our morals.  According to C.S. Lewis, instincts have no influence in our decision making.
The Search for Authenticity: I never before thought of this concept known as "hustling" (competing with one another on a daily basis), but the more I think about it the more I realize that I myself hustle every single day.
The Search for Meaning: These are questions that I would like to ask to my fellow classmates: Is it really true that our instincts have nothing to do with our decision making? &  Does the Veil of Ignorance apply to everyone's life or only to those who are religious?

*In What Cases Are My Self-Interests More Important Than Others's Sufferings?

Truly, this is a really difficult question for me to answer.  I guess the only scenario I can come up with has to do with money.  For instance, if I haven't eaten all day long and I cross paths with a homeless man, and I have two dollars in my pocket the righteous thing for me to do would be to give this man my money.  However, because it'll be in my self-interest to satisfy my hunger I guarantee that ninety-five percent of the time (if I'm that starving) I will feed myself over feeding a homeless person.  Call me an asshole or even rude, but that's just the type of person I am.

* Does The Pursuit Of Self-Interest Poison A Community Or A Culture?

I believe, in general, that self-interest has no significant negative impacts on communities or cultures.  However, when genocide comes into play than it's a whole different ball game.  A simple example of this is found in World War 2 when Hitler dictated Germany during the Holocaust.  Hitler wanted to eliminate Jews, Communists, Gypsies, Homosexuals, and various other groups from society.  He wanted to do this out of self interest, and not only was this damaging to Europe but to the entire globe as well.

* Is It Irrational To Try And Eliminate Self-Interest From Decision-Making?

It is completely irrational to eliminate self-interest from decision making.  Sure, when I make choices I try my best not to be selfish, but then again I always have to look out for myself before others.  There's a saying that "One must take care of him or herself before tending to another."  I'm not sure who came up with this theory but regardless I agree one hundred percent.  Looking out for myself is essential when it comes to me making decisions.

4.) The Most Difficult "Moral Dillema" That I've Faced

My best friend since the seventh grade had a problem. A pretty big problem.  He was addicted to marijuana.  I don't have a problem with kids who smoke pot, but my friend was abusing the drug as well as abusing his body, and he didn't get high because it felt good.  He get high to enter a different state of mind, so he could release all of his anger.  Growing up, my friend had the most difficult childhood.  He would stay up very late at night due to drunk and angry parents.  The circumstances he had to deal with as a young boy caused him to become such an angry young man, and with all honesty it was not his fault.  I love him with all my heart.  My moral dilemma was wether or not I should talk to someone about his problem.  Is it right to betray my best friend or to tell somebody about this?  That was my biggest moral dilemma, and if you want the full on details - just approach me in person, and I'll gladly tell my story.

3.) Is Flattering A Teacher To Get A Good Grade Immoral?

Are you kidding me?  Of course it is.  I can not stand teachers's pets.  For crying out loud, any good teacher isn't going to grade a student based on how much of a kiss ass he or she is.  If the teacher is normal or sane than he or she will grade the student based on their work not their ability to compliment sweaters and ties.

2.) Is Talking Behind A Person's Back Immoral?

This is one of my big pet peeves.  I can't stand it when people talk behind others's backs.  I think this is what makes me such a nice person.  Most of the time, when I speak upon somebody else I do it in a positive way.  There's no reason to say something rotten about someone else behind their back.  If I have something negative to say to a friend or even to an acquaintance I'll say it to their face.  Only cowards kiss ass when one is present and mock when one is absent.  Pathetic.

1.) Is Cheating On A Test Immoral?

This is a funny question.  Personally I think cheating is wrong.  One who cheats on a test is one who lacks academic integrity.  However, if a teacher does not prepare a student for the material he or she will be tested on than it's perfectly understandable that a student has a fair reason to cheat in order to obtain a good grade.  What is the big deal with grades? Well, let's just say that D's and F's on report cards will give an aspiring college student no chance of attending college.  Needless to say, though, cheating is wrong, and I am not promoting it in any way whatsoever.

Question # 1

         Some people choose to act selflessly as opposed to selfishly, and sometimes they do this because they'll feel better about themselves if they're helping others.  The reason it is difficult for some people to help others is because they're sacrificing some of their self interests.  For instance, if I have five dollars, and I'm going to buy some lunch, but my friend needs lunch I may want to give him or her my money.  I would feel good because I was able to feed my hungry friend, but I would sacrifice my hunger for doing so.  Needless to say, people commit acts of selflessness because they will feel good for doing it.