Tuesday, 7 December 2010

Reflection #8 Islam: Two Perspectives

The articles that I have picked are about the nuclear talks that Iran has been having with the United States of America, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and the E.U. (European Union). The talks began in July 2009 and other countries had decided that they should not interfere in what is happening in other countries. In 2009, Iran blamed everything on the western countries and they all decided that they should leave this talk after Iran had said things about the other countries. Many of the people in Iran thought that this was the right thing to do (agree with Iran). It was out of the western countries to say anything since they are sitting in Iran and if something goes wrong, they will be blamed for it around the globe. In 2010, Iran convinced other countries that it would like to continue the talk and tell them how they are feeling about what they said in 2009. And this is what happened in the two articles I read:
This article is telling the reader how Iran will not be backing out on their nuclear powers and will continue to make the nuclear weapons which are used by the home country and exported to the other countries who buy nuclear weapons from them to protect their own country. The 6 countries that are involved in this say that Iran will not do anything that will harm their country and think before using the nuclear weapons. Last week a senior scientist who was involved in the making of these weapons died in bomb attack on his car. The western countries say that they had nothing to do with this and should not be blamed about what happened to one of Iranians. They say that whatever happens in their country is planned by the people in their own country and that other countries have nothing to do with what is going on in the country.  The west wants to talk about enrichment in uranium and how it should be distributed but Iran disagrees with this and the story will continue. As of now, “Iran has remained defiant in the face of the sanctions, and Sunday's announcement on yellowcake production will do little to ease the Western concerns over the deadlock.”
This article is telling the reader how the west thinks that Iran was acting really calmly and did not get aggressive about any of their points. It says that previously Iran had said that they did not want to talk about this topic anymore with anyone and the west had agreed with their idea but in December, Iran itself mentioned that they wanted to have a talk with these countries about there nuclear powers. The west was shocked that Iran had finally made a decision to talk about this. This article mentioned how “Iran has insisted its nuclear program is only for civilian purposes”, whereas in the first article, it says that they did not want to share any of their nuclear powers with the other countries in the world and wanted to keep it all to themselves. There are two very different perspectives in the news. The first one is from the perspectives of the Iranians and this article is the perspective of the other countries which are not Muslim. The article from the west mentions says that Jalili said that the assassination has cast a gloom over the talks, whereas in the first article, it is completely blaming it on the west and this article means that they are not blaming it on the west but they are saying that it happened because these talks were planned and people did not want this to happen. 

Monday, 29 November 2010

Personal Commemoration- Reflection #7

Since the day that i have been born, my family and i have commemorated every person's birthday in my family. On the day of my birth, my family celebrated because i was born and commemorate all the birthday by having parties. One of the parties is for the family members, this is where we invite all the people in the family and go to a restaurant to eat dinner. Another parties is with family friends and my friends, this is where we invite all of our family friends, even if they don't live where we live. We do this because all the birthdays mean a lot to everybody in my family and we all want to be happy together and celebrate that special day.

Something that my family and friends say to me on my birthday or something we all say on someone's birthday is:
Happy birthday!! That is what all my friends say but to my family, these words mean a lot and do not just say it to wish me but they actually feel something that makes them want to make me feel special since its my birthday. People also say that "MAY THE PAST BE THE WORST OF YOUR LIFE AND MAY THE FUTURE BE THE BEST YEARS OF YOUR ENTIRE LIFE". This is something that really changes the way i think about the people who say this to me.

On birthday, we generally go out and not tend to do the usual thing. We go out and have fun. In the Indian culture, it is said that you are supposed to wear new clothes on your birthday and forget about what memories have you have with the other clothes. It is the way to start a new year and have the time of your life ahead.

Tuesday, 23 November 2010

The Morality of Greek Myths- Reflection #6


Apollo

In the skit that we did in class, I was Apollo. He is basically the messenger and comes in only in the part where Persephone gets kidnapped/forced to go with Hades. Hades falls in love with her but she hates him and doesn't want him to even touch her. She asks him, if she can go but he doesn't want her to leave and live with him. Apollo goes to Persephone's mother and tells her about what has happened and she gets emotional and starts crying. She thinks about what to and tells Apollo to go to Hades. Apollo goes there and tells Hades that Persephone has to go back (it was an order) and she cannot stay with him and everybody is really angry at him. Apollo takes Persephone and Hades want her to eat pomegranate with him and she agrees that she will go and do that and leaves as soon as she is done with the fruit. They leave and then, the people find Hades and hit him since they are taking out their anger at Hades. This is the part of the the story that my friends and i took part in. This is the end of the story but watching the skit was really a good moment of life and i think that doing skits leads us into learning things in an easier way and can remember it for a long time.

Thursday, 21 October 2010

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #5: Bongwonsa Temple and Nature Walk

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #5: Bongwonsa Temple and Nature Walk
: "After visiting the Zen Buddhist Temple, Bongwonsa and attempting to see nature as a Taoist, answer this question: What is it about creation,..."

While walking towards the Zen Buddhist temple, Bongwonsa and attempting to see nature as a Taoist I realized that there are similarities between nature and religion. The total environment was pure and peaceful and similarly we turned towards god to attain peace and tranquility. I think that nature was made by god so that people could just release their stress into the air and stay calm. When I think about nature, it leads me to think about Buddha sitting under the fig tree meditating for long hours and how he released his stress and tried to not think about anything. People spend lives seeking out religious truth because they want to know how, why they were created in this world. What was the reason for god to create all this beautiful stuff in the world? Personally I believe that religion and nature are very closely related. When I get stressed of school, I go outside, a place where I can rest in peace and I just breathe there for a few minutes, I release my stress and fill myself with fresh air, happiness and energy.

Thursday, 30 September 2010

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #4: Buddhist Meditation

In the 20 Minutes that I tried to meditate in, I had thoughts in my mind but later on, it was all black, which according to me means that I was empty minded. At first I could not concentrate and I was thinking about cars, since cars are really important to me, but 2 minutes later I was empty. Everything had gone black. At that time I tried to seek life’s truth and I imagined how a person become rich and spends a lot of money but the truth was that when you are rich, you have to manage your money because if you don’t, you will end up on the street one day. I had trouble not thinking about anything since I cannot sit for a long time not thinking about anything. While I was meditating, I did not receive any inspirations. The reason for that can be because I was trying to be empty minded and after being empty minded, I could not think about anything. Though meditation is really difficult, I think that meditation can take you in a different world where you can relax and don’t have to think about anything.

Thursday, 16 September 2010

Reflection #3- Gandhi: Hindu and Activist

Gandhi was a spiritual leader during the peace treaty movement for India's independence.  


 Gandhi idea of Hinduism was that if people do good things in there life, they will be rewarded with good things too. This can be proved by looking at the scene when a Hindu man comes and throws bread and says eat. Gandhi tells him that if he has another child, he should raise it as a Muslim. The man said that he was going to go to hell because of this, and Gandhi said that if he raises the child as a Muslim then he will not. Another idea of Gandhi was the acceptance of all the other religions in the world. This was shown in the movie when Gandhi was in the car and a person says kill Jinnah, and Gandhi gets frustrated and says i am a Hindu, Muslim, Jew, Christian and other religions. This shows us that he appreciated all the religions in the world and didn't let anyone say anything bad about other peoples religion. 


"A vow is a purely religious act which cannot be taken in a fit of passion. It can be taken only with a mind purified and composed and with God as a witness."  Gandhi lived a very pure and simple life.  He practiced what he preached. Gandhi used to meditate everyday for his entire life. He made no discrimination between rich and poor and a Brahman and Dalit. Anyone could talk to him anytime, he did not give preference to people, believing everyone was equal. This was seen in the seen where the man throws the bread at him as mentioned in the previous paragraph. He would sit next to a Dalit or eat along with them whereas everyone else would stay far away from them. Gandhi had a very balanced thinking and never took any decisions in haste.  

Tuesday, 7 September 2010

Prehistoric Symbol Poem


Lotus flower, grwoing in muddy water
Rising above surface beautiful and clean
Standing so strong even when sun is hotter
Everything around pure and green.

Lotus flower, the symbol of purity and peace
Symbolizing that life is simple and beautiful
Importance of lotus on the increase
To god be always dutiful.

Thursday, 2 September 2010

Modern Religious Experience: Assignment #3- Sacred Poetry

Lotus flower, grwoing in muddy water
Rising above surface beautiful and clean
Standing so strong even when sun is hotter
Everything around pure and green.

Lotus flower, the symbol of purity and peace
Symbolizing that life is simple and beautiful
Importance of lotus on the increase
To god be always dutiful.

Tuesday, 24 August 2010

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection Question #1

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection Question #1: "According to Mircea Eliade religion has 'not vanished without a trace; [it] has contributed toward making us what we are today and so, after reading the Hindu spiritual book 'Geeta', my belief in my religion Hinduism increased and became more strong. in this book, Lord explains to his devotee the nature of correct action and the role of God in protecting his devotees. in one of the paragraphs, Lord says that whatever happened, happened for good, whatever is happening is happening for good and whatever will happen will happen for good.

Mahatma Gandhi, the great freedom fighter in Indian history had said that whenever he got stuck on any decision in his life, he would read a verse from the Geeta and he would immediately find a solution. Thus after reading it your belief in God increases manifold.