Ed Psych test

I have an essay test to do for educational psychology--Here we go.


First off, it's about applying educational psych prinicples to a creative writing exercise. Aliens are coming to earth in 5 years. Teachers have to prepare all people on earth for their arrival to teach them about the alien's nature and culture.

Okay, so what do I teach them?

I think I'm going to teach moral and philosophical principles. Human beings need to know that they're still worthwhile even though these aliens are intellectually and technologically superior. I think a fundamental concept to teach is how to deal with the loss of power and priviledge human beings will feel over losing their sense of superiority and uniqueness. I feel we have to look inside ourselves to find our common human identity and being able to look to for commonalities in the alien beings. It has been shown that these aliens have a similar laws of gravity in their universe, and they also have a similar atmosphere and can breathe oxygen. These aliens also have superiorly developed and tested the moral law of karma, which is found in Indian and Buddhist texts here on Earth. The aliens have found a way to break the cause and effect chain of morality. On Earth here, at least in Buddhist and Indian belief system, we continue to live out lives and be reincarnated when we die; our karma, the virtuous and vicious actions we carry out in our lives, determines how the next life we live will fair. The aliens have broken that cycle of reincarnation and are morally superior. We know their mission is peaceful, and they are interested in helping human beings break their cycles of suffering.

The basic concepts I must communicate to my student: the alien's intentions are peaceful; their moral, intellectual, and technological superiority should not be feared; and we can learn from these beings greatly. I forsee a great challenge and struggle with my students--I must deal with their prejudices, their fears, and their...

On self-respect

"To assign unanswered letters their proper weight, to free ourselves from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves--there lies the the great, the singular power of self-respect."

-- Joan Didion from Slouching Towards Bethlehem.

I am going to read this essay again because I'm not sure if it sank in enough, so I could allow myself to fully digest it. It sounds good, and I like it.

Yes, I do have dignity, and no one can take that away from me. Not my father, mother, brother, sister, or gandmother, nor you. Esteem for my dignity? It's difficult because it's new. I was not born into this idea; I have to become it. It's like Donne's poetry because it takes conscious work. I can understand Donne, and so, I can do the conscious work of self-respect. I can jump off this rollercoaster and not be afraid of dying. I may have to die again in order to live. I say die again because I have already died many deaths, and to die metaphorically in order to live takes place every day of my life. It's hard to articulate these deaths. But to feel free to die, to break off these chains of emotional panic and threat, is to live. That is my self-respect.

Thinking may matter

I was wrong--thinking matters. How could human beings culturally evolve if they could not think? Even some higher animals think. In fact, they have Ph.ds one can get in the cognitive sciences where you study animal cognition. It's just that thinking can lead to suffering. That may be mi problemo.

I think too much, but I don't think the "right" thoughts. I churn my thoughts like cream without turning them into butter. There must be a way to break out of this fruitless cycle. What is right thinking? What thoughts lead us to improve our lives and our culture? In addition to thoughts, what actions and feelings lead us to cultivate relief from suffering? Where could we take our intelligences if we understood them? Our cultural, intellectual, physical, and spiritual intelligences, among others I have not named, can evolve, I believe, if we can understand them.

All that glitters is not gold

Damn, my writing sucks: spelling, grammar, and style-wise. I'm just lazy or too busy. Writing does come automatically for me--just not good writing. Does good writing come automatically for anyone? I read in my Ed psych textbook that John Updike spent 10 hours a day writing and re-writing. Gosh, I wish I had his motivation and not to mention, the time. But you know, Kristen, if you had 10 hours a day to write, you would not. You'd sit around, smoke cigs, watch movies, read your damn books or half-read them.

I suck as a reader, also. I generally remember everything I read pretty well, but I think I suck at real reading, real understanding. I don't understand shit about this universe/world/life. And I'm not sure if other people do, either, but they sure as Hades pretend like they do. They get Ph.Ds in bullshitting and pretending. Maybe, I'm just jealous, though. I wish I could pretend as well as others can. I wish I could "look good."

I like my own little world where not much matters, where my imagination can journey through space at the speed of light, where I do not feel alone, where no one's watching, where no one cares. I like being in this state of being where being is just being. I don't need to interpret my being, and I don't have to care about what my being looks like to others. Everyone cares about what others think to some extent, since, even though it's uncertain, we might all just be the same ontological substance yet expressed multifariously. Wait, does that make any sense?

I mean to say. Damnit! We're all one. However, we believe in a delusion we call the self that is distinct and separate from the other. So, why care what others think when I am the other, and the other is me? Fuck cognition; we can't get anywhere by thinking.

Dr. Faustus and I Henry IV: Part 2

Second Essay--Gosh, I'm tired. But have to work, so let's go!

How do the plays Doctor Faustus and Henry IV, Part I reflect the ideas and values of Renaissance humanism? You might consider such things as Pico’s concept of "self-fashioning"; man’s place on the chain of being; human potential, ambition, and achievement; the importance of reason (as humans’ distinguishing attribute, opposed to the passions and animal appetites); and the emphasis on classical literature and philosophy. Support your answer with specific arguments and examples.

All right (crack knuckles).

Thesis: While Dr. Faustus and I Henry IV each have distinct dramatic structures, they, nonetheless, share common philosophical attributes--values and ideas from Renaissance humanism--that shape their works. In Dr. Faustus, we find an emphasis on the ideas of Pico's self-fashioning in Faustus trying to determine his own fate on the chain of being, the great heights of Fautus' ambition and potential, the importance of Faustus' reason (or lack of reason) in determining his fate, and allusions to classical literature and philosophy. In I Henry IV, we see the ideals, again, of self-fashioning displayed by Hal and King Henry IV, the importance of reason Hal uses to transform himself, and the ambitions of Hotspur and other Yorkists who try to claim the throne. The central characters in each play represent Renaissance humanist ideals.

In Dr. Faustus, Faustus represents what we call today, a "renaissance man." He was very well-educated and learned in many subjects, achieving the highest degree one could in that time, the doctorate in theology. In the beginning of the play, he quotes Aristotle and phrases in Greek and Latin, showing his extensive knowledge of classical antiquity. However, Faustus is disatisfied with the knowledge he has attained and has the audacity to try and attain the ultimate knowledge (knowledge of the universe--planets, stars and such; natural knowledge--plants, animals; and knowledge of death and how to raise the dead). His ambition and thirst for knowledge reflects renaissance humanist conceptions. Before the renaissance, in medieval times, emphasis was placed on the individual adhering to the social norms of the community, and Christianity assumed that an individual was essentially flawed with sin on earth, and salavation in the afterlife was one's best hope. Pico della Mirandola countered this ideology and positioned man as the most wonderous of creatures in the universe, whom by using reason can
arise to a divine state on par with angels. Faustus adheres to these ideas of self-fashioning. He exemplifies this by trying to fashion himself into a godhead by selling his soul to the devil. He uses his reason to do so because other avenues for gaining knowledge were not available.



Okay... too tired.. going home. I'll finish this at 6 am tomorrow morning.

Letting Go

"As rain penetrates an ill-thatched house, So lust penetrates an undeveloped mind.
As rain does not penetrate a well-thatched house, So lust does not penetrate a well-developed mind."

-Dhammapada (13-14)

http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/articles/sensualdesire.html

Okay, Kristen. Just let go.

What am I letting go of?

First, I am letting go of the physical tension I percieve in my stomach. It feels tight a lot of the time. Breathe through it. Let go. You can let it go. Why? Because it causes you suffering and all beings whom you encounter, especially her. Let go of the tension in your stomach. Breathe.

Second, it is easier to let go of the physical tension. I already feel some peace. I'm beginning to let go of this tension in my stomch and now feel it in my fingers and hands from typing; it's an expected, tolerable suffering.

Third, where does this tightness originate from? I don't know believe it comes from my stomach.

Of course, it orginates in my mind, but I place my mind in my heart. There is want or desire in my heart. Want is a synonym for desire; desire in Buddhism means clinging, and clinging is the cause of suffering. We suffer because we cling.

Why do we cling? Sometimes, it has to to do with the other defintion of want: absence. I want to fill the absence/emptiness in my heart. Why is my heart empty? It's a delusion, a trick of the mind, and I will not believe that delusion. I will cultivate mindfulness and forgive myself--forgive my anger, my desire, my emptiness, and fill my heart with clear observations, right endeavors. This is part of letting go. Always remember: P.A.C.K.

Prevent: Keep unskillful thoughts, feelings, and actions from occuring. Unskillful means simply, things that cause suffering. Skillful means cultivating or keeping that which does not cause suffering and brings peace, happiness, and awareness for you.

Abandon: Relinquish the unskillful states that have already occured. These unskillful things cause suffering, and one can let go of them. You let go physically, first, and then, psychologically. Breathe.

Cultivate: Promote skillful behaviors, feelings, and thoughts. Like a garden, prevent and discontinue the growth of weeds; cultivate and promote the growth of flowers, whatever brings peace, happpiness, and beauty for you.

Keep: Retain skillful states-- states, which one works hard to attain, will prosper and stay with you wherever you go. Peace, happiness, love, and beauty, whichyou define subjectively, will butterfly your existence. Sure, we all forget these principles and forget to apply them. Desire is strong, so you must keep moving ahead and forgive yourself, keep practicing the dharma and other spiritual principles.

My faith is strong; there is no way we won't get there. There is no way I won't get there.