HW 4 - Blog Comments 2

Esther,

Once I started reading your post, this line “We have no true control over anything only the power to change it” immersed me into it. But at the same time, it contradicts in my mind, because in order to have the power to make a difference, don’t we need to control ourselves in some ways to do so? “Life is already set, we should just play along”. This line is another line that really catches my attention also. At the same time, I am surprised about how you see your life in certain limits.

The “puppet master” is great term that you have used. I think everybody wants their strings to be cut. To do so, I think the first thing to do is to admit that we are puppets and we do not have full controls in this world. Then somehow, we did cut the string that we wanted to be cut because we no longer struggle. However, we all might just end up being mentally free, but never physically. As people said, the world is “connected”. Sometimes, I even thought if everybody got their strings cut, and act as an absolute individual. That sounds pretty scary and I don’t think everybody want to be alone.

“Are we able to ‘escape our own freedom’?” This is a very profound question. To answer it in a neutral way, I will say that either we are capable of, or not, we did escape our own freedom in either ways. I hope this sounds right. To me, by making a choice “ YES/NO”, we are escaping or going away from our freedom.

Example: I love ice-cream. By saying you love it, you might think you have more freedom compare to the others, because you get to have something more than the others. But at the same time, you miss the opportunity to know how it feels to dislike an ice cream. So either way, you miss a point of view. IS THAT WHAT FREEDOM IS ALL ABOUT?

Such as many points that you have claimed in this blog, did you escape from your own freedom? Either way, you gain and you loss something simultaneously. Now it makes me think. WHAT IS absolute FREEDOM?

I personally think limiting certain things is just a life style that people have. Of course there are no rule books that say how we should act. But people limit themselves for a reason. Regardless of how the govt. is trying to control people as a whole—“fake freedom”, I think people attempt to limit themselves to create standards. It is just a way people choose to live, and whatever that way is, that is freedom. By limiting my own life in certain ways, to me is free. Because I get to choose how I want to live.

Thanks for such a great post. It really ends up that deepens my thoughts. I have to say, this is a nice try. You did a great job, as well as Amanda’s.

Bao Lin :)

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May,

I like how you start your post by connecting to the “The Cave”. It is very interesting and a great connection.

When you mentioned the mirror, I think you have raised a great question. Do mirror lies? Thinking about it, it is very interesting. We only get to see ourselves when we see the mirror, what a pity. Just like real life, if we have nothing to compare to, we will find it hard to identify who we are. Why do we believe in mirror? Haha…

Or the mirrors never have existed. We are just seeing the ones that we want to see, and avoid the bad images of ourselves.

Your last question is such a great question. “Is it possible that we aren't even here that we just think we are?” It is hard and confused while thinking about it. Just like the question, how do we know that we are not in a dream/we are sleeping?

But to answer your question based on my logic, I will say it is not possible. In order to think you are here, you have to exist in some ways. You can imagine you are in somewhere else, but you have to be in certain setting in order to be, and then think along the way.

I guess a way to improve your post is just keep writing and connect back to the reading about freedom.

I have to say this, you and Esther both have such a great post that has deepens my thoughts. Thanks for raising points that I never thought of. It is my pleasure to read your post.

Bao Lin :)

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I did not follow the ABCDEF to do these comments because I think by just responding back to what people wrote help me to keep my thoughts flow. If you prefer me to comment your post in that form, I am more than happy to do so. Just tell me if that way will help you to improve your post better.

HW 3 - Response to "The Ethics of Absolute Freedom" II

If I tell you to stop reading on my blog, can you just press Alt+F4 or Command+W right away? Or if you can, what if I just drop your iphone, can you just forgive me right away without temper?

Often times, when I want to get distracted by something else and just not to think that one thing that bothers me so much. I just CAN'T do it! Instead, it stuck in my head even more. I even doubt if I am able to control how my mind thinks or if I am able to sort my thoughts in certain ways. It is kind of like how people pinch their fingers, and it just hurt so much in that moment, though it is not going to hurt forever. But just that amount of time that pain stays in you, it is just inescapable.

Is it possible to control how our mind thinks? It seems possible when we are rational. Such as your math teacher is giving you a lecture when you were little, 1+1=2, and 2+3 has to be 5. You can change your mind so fast if you said 6; and correct your mind in a blink of an eye. This is not the situation that I am talking about, what I am trying to point out is that there are certain ideas that are deep down in your mind that it just can’t go away or take longer to modify. Am I "deceiving myself" because of having this thought in my mind or I am just being stubborn.

By saying all these “I can’t” phrases, to Banach, it seems to be an excuse. But to me, I think people’s abilities are limited. I sometimes even think there is a little person in my mind that is controlling my brain. I want to be creative, but just that moment, I felt limited. “I am more than just these…I am free to do whatever I choose”, is that true? It sounds right, but is it possible to keep having this thought in my mind? Banach sounds like people are absolutely free, and there should not be barrier that can stop me to do certain things. Within this idea in my mind, it seems like my state of mind often have to be controlled in order to do so. By not believing in this, does it sound like what Satre calls that I am having a “bad faith”?

Referring back to the example I mentioned in the beginning, can you just don’t get mad at me for dropping your iphone right this moment? If you can’t, is it that you mind is controlling you that you can’t, or you just can’t forgive me right away. Either one, it reveals how we are not making “ourselves into little pictures on our mental TV screen determined by the script written by the expectations of other people”. I just simply don’t think we are absolutely free in certain moments in our lives even though we have the freedom to choose. Especially for the ones who don’t hide their feelings, and express their emotions right after the happening, before even think about should I cry or laugh. Of course we can decide whether to cry or not through the process of thinking, but arent't doing that will show that I am not "being authentic"? Emotions/feelings is just something that comes up to you, they are inevitable. We are not trying to meet other's standard in this case, we are just expressing how we feel. Does being sad or cry count as limiting my freedom since every single human being is living for happiness?

It might be true that we often be the one that others want us to be, which it limits many things that we want to do. It might be true that “the raw material that makes up our experience is determined by outside influences” can affect the way we think as many things as impossibilities. Aren’t this lecture is one of the idea that is telling me how to be free and gain more freedom in my lives? This is so ironic while I trigger my thoughts along the way.

How can I make myself “anew at each moment” and how can I be free if I listen to what Banach said, “Be authentic”? I thought we are suppose to be “ourselves” and create our “own nature and values”. Banach’s lecture might sound unique and profound, but by taking a side and making a statement, it creates an alternative. Such as reading Banach’s lecture, by following it, I feel like I am making myself as the image that “other people have” of me. By doing so, I make myself “into characters in the plays” in my mental screen TV “determined by the script written by the expectation” of Banach.

Having absolute freedom requires following what Banach said in his lecture. This means if you are not truly want to be the one that he has described,"the secret of human flourishing and of moral action lies in avoiding bad faith and honoring the responsibility we have to create our own nature and values", but still want or think you have absolute freedom, you are not "being authentic"(or do you still consider yourself real for being someone you don't want to be?). The moment we are born we are being tie to many things, just like we have a fight with ourselves. We win, but we lose. What is the point of this fight?

Banach’s lecture is definitely one of the great lectures I ever read by now with numerous suggestions of pursuing human happiness. But is it necessary to have “absolute freedom” to have a great life? I truly doubt about this question. It may seem we can do more, but I felt we did less. The way I identify absolute freedom is a person who does what he/she wants without being told by anybody and they just follow their hearts.

Instead of struggling for freedom or trying so hard to control our mind to be mentally free, I rather just be myself and accept the fact that I will never be free until I die. You can say that I am having “bad faith”, but by accepting the reality is like I just cut off one of the string that is attached on some part of my body. I am more free.

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>>>>>It is just hard to keep our state of mind to be free all the time. Just like you are in the jail, staring outside the window. Stars hanging out there or gates in prison? Keep in mind, there are days in this world. What will be the replacements of the beatufil sky with stars?

*OF COURSE HAVING A GREAT OPEN MIND WILL MAKE US HAPPIER, BUT AT THE SAME TIME, I DON'T THINK WE ARE BEING HONEST TO OURSELVES--AVOIDNG REALITY.*

So the question now is not about freedom, but being authentic or not (to be or not to be, that's the question)...

HW 2 - Blog Comments 1

Esther :),

From reading your post, somehow you created the mood of loneliness. (It really drags me in) I can sort of relate to your personal story about how your foot fell asleep, I guess most people do have the similar experience as you do. Sometimes not necessary that our foot fell asleep, perhaps you have a stomached or sort of pain that is invisible, I find it hard to make somebody to believe that I actually feel pain. I think people might have experienced what we all have experienced, but it is just hard to make someone to actually feel the exact way as you feel. I guess… to make people feel how you exactly feel, it has to do with trust rather than sympathy. (I don’t know how I come up with this, hopefully making sense)

Sometimes I wonder, it is our own fault that we did not explain ourselves clear enough, or is it the other person who finds it hard to understand.

When you say “I sometimes wished that I could be alone. But David already claims that I’m already alone in the world”. I wonder how you define alone in this case. Do you mean spiritual alone or really isolated from everybody in the school?

I have to agree with what you said at the end. It is kind of difficult to just put this all at once… Perhaps, this connects to what Andy has said in class that people often don’t think. But I guess, it is just hard to put all the thoughts together...and thinking required a lot of that. (Figure things out, and lead to another thought)

Definitely OVERWHELMING...

By the way, thanks for bringing up the personal story about the foot fell asleep. It is a very resonant point.

Bao Lin

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May :),

I like the way that you connected this to your personal experience from many trips that you have taken. Somewhat, I can connect to your experience because I am Chinese. Yes, there are the poor and rich, regardless of the culture; we are all the same at some point. People all went through their hard times and everybody have their own afflictions at some point in lives. However, I am not very sure which part of David Banach’s speech has made you see how close we really are from China. (Perhaps a quote and tie back to your point?) I am assuming you are relating to the idea of we are all individuals in this world. If that is the case, then we are all close to each other because we are individuals, but very far away because every individual have their own thoughts.

Yes, if this is the case that I mentioned above. I do agree that there are no such boundaries on the map. We are just all individuals in the world. At the same time, it raise up the point that this contradicts with each other. We are the same and different, because we are all individuals in this world. What makes us different is that we all have different ideas. What makes us the same is that we all have our own difficulties, but different kinds. I guess this is what you mean by saying “Maybe we all just think there is a China and don’t really know that there isn’t one.” Nevertheless, I find this point very contradicted depending on perspectives.

I also like Banach’s metaphor about TV screens and how we see others and ourselves. In my opinion, I think a lot of these have to with the way people perceive things. We can see ourselves as getting trap, but we might also see that we are free. This very depends on the situation and our perspective.

I will like to answer to the question that you asked in the end of your post. Is it possible that everyone around you sees you differently than the person next to you? For this question, in terms of everybody’s appearance, yes! I think people do look at you differently compare to the person next to you, because we barely know everybody. Therefore we judge before we get to know the person. But in certain points, when people shared the thoughts and ideas about certain things, then people will see you as the same, more like a group that believes the same thing.

Your post is very interesting with some crucial points that deepen my thinking. Thanks.

Bao Lin

HW 1 - Response to "The Ethics of Absolute Freedom"

While reading "The Ethics of Absolute Freedom" by David Banach, it feels like I am in a big plastic see through ball. Not really being able to reach out, just individual self. Trying to speak, but a voice from myself reply. Trying to see, but only with my own vision and point of view. Trying to feel, but my heart is either selfish or too small to fit another. This sounds very lonely and isolated, but simultaneously, I have "absolute freedom". If we are "absolute individuals' in this world, then whatever I do will only mean to ourselves. Regardless of what I will do, anything will have no effects to the others. It sounds I am very "free".

In certain way, I do agree with what David Banach said in his lecture that "only we feel our pains, our pleasures, our hopes, and our fears immediately, subjectively, from the inside." In my opinion, I believe that we all know ourselves better than anybody. It is impossible to be a shadow of someone else other than yourself. When we feel pain, our self is really the one who know how that actually feels. Somehow it makes senses, because if other really know how you feel, they wouldn't hurt you so badly. Everybody came to the world as individuals with their own life experiences and perceptions. In many ways, it is difficult to put ourselves in some body's shoes. Even we are not individuals, as human nature, we all tempt to be the greedy and self center. We often think for ourselves and try to make everything that benefits ourselves before satisfying others. It is just hard, to be selfless!

As mentioned before, if we are consider ourselves individuals, it seems like we will have more freedoms. We felt like we have less, because we always have to care about how other feels. It is sort of like connections between each other, whatever we do or act, it will have some effects to the others. But if we imagine ourselves as an independent individuals, we might have less boundaries in our lives and dare to do more things regardless whether it is right or wrong. By saying that, it doesn't mean having lots of freedom is happiness. This might sound weird, but it makes sense to me. Sometimes having so many freedom will cause a person to have no limits in life which means no standards. If we do not have boundaries in our lives, I will consider that as a meaningless life. I believe that everybody should have their own personality and standards in life that we should have our own life styles. We should pay more attention to the things that we like and pay less to the ones that are not. This is what makes life meaningful, having boundaries. Additionally, this shows "each of us is trapped within our own mind". It is all because we have boundaries in life with our own styles.

To get even further, if what David Banach said is right that we are all alone in this world. I don' t think it is very that lonely. From last year in Andy's class, we talk about different types of therapies. The one that I studied is called "Existential Psychology". Many therapist used this when people find no meanings in life or afraid to proceed. In order to keep the patient motivated, we should lead them to think that we are all individuals in this world. Then we should start to think that we have to be responsible for own lives. This often helps people to make decisions, because no matter it is right or wrong, as long as we are willing to take responsibilities in our lives, no matter what will happen to us, we will be able to handle the situation. The overall idea this draws, it is that we have much more freedom in lives. As long as we take the first step to make a decision and completely committed to ourselves that we will take responsibilities, then nothing should be limited and therefore, we have the "absolute freedom" in life.