Reflections
3. “Until now, we have supported the fiction that adult roles depend largely on the flowering of a single intelligence. In fact, however, nearly every cultural role of any degree of sophistication requires a combination of intelligences.” Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice, 1993.
Of all the essays we have gone over this semester, I have found this one to be the most informative. Not only did I learn information that would be useful to me later in life, but I also learned a lot about myself while reading this essay and writing about it. Until I had read this essay, I too had believed that any activity took one intelligence, but upon reading Gardner’s theory and explanations of the different intelligences, I realized that no matter what your skill is, you will always be using at least two intelligences. From the way that Gardner wrote his essay, it appears as though we are born with all of the intelligences, but that we do no not use them all, we just choose to strengthen our skills on some of them and neglect the others. Gardner’s essay was probably the most informative of all the essays I read, and due to this, I will most likely end up reading the entirety of his books on the theory of multiple intelligences.
4. “But, more fortunate than he (Oedipus), we have meanwhile succeeded, in so far as we have not become psychoneurotics, in detaching our sexual impulses from our mothers and in forgetting our jealousy of our fathers.” Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, 1899.
While this essay is taken from a book on dreams, it is about a psychological condition that affects every one of us, whether we want it to or not. Granted that it is a natural occurrence, that does not dismiss the fact that it can be overcome, and usually is. This essay, as most of us know, was written about the ancient Greek myth about Oedipus, the boy who ended up killing his father and marrying his mother. This condition, known as the Oedipus complex, is usually overcome for the most part by the time a child reaches puberty, but it can linger in the subconscious until the party in question moves away from the safety of their parent’s home. In rare cases, the complex can indeed not be overcome. I think this essay is an important one because it provides insight into the human psyche, which is always welcomed, because the more we know about humans in general, the more we know about ourselves.
6. “Behold! Human beings living in an underground den, which has an mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chains so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads.” Plato, The Allegory of the Cave.
I thought that this essay is pertinent to many things in life; the main example that comes to mind is college. The main message I took from the story was that you never know what is out there until you have seen it. College probably the best example of that phrase, because while most people do not like school, it really is not school that they do not like, it is the mandated curriculum. With college, there is a world of opportunity and freedom to be had that just was not available in the public schooling system. Another thing is paying for college; I have many friends who are not attending college because they do not have the financial resources to do so, and I have told them about all the different ways to get your college paid for. In a sense, in doing that, I am playing the role of the one who got out of the cave and into the light. I am not keeping my newfound secret to myself, I am going back and helping others to enjoy all that is out there.
8. “But with love, by sharing in others’ suffering, by recognizing ourselves clearly in all others-especially those who are disadvantaged and those whose rights are not respected-by helping them to be happy: yes. Through love, through kindness, through compassion we establish understanding between ourselves and others. This is how we forge unity and harmony.” The Dalai Lama, Ethics for the New Millennium, 1999.
The Dalai Lama is correct, with love, kindness, and compassion, we can forge unity and happiness throughout the world. Without following this advice, the world will only continue on its downward spiral into chaos and mass genocide. Mankind really does not need to learn love and kindness to make the world a better place to live; we just need to learn tolerance and acceptance. My Sunday-School teacher told my class in one of his lessons that “the opposite of death is not life, but rather, it is love that is the opposite of death.” This is true, because if we were not loved by at least one person in this world, we would become useless, and become a drain on society until we die. Another example of my Sunday-School teacher’s statement being true is Christianity; had Jesus not died on the cross out of love for us, when we die, we would become null, but since He did die for us, we have eternal life with Him.
Grade Hoping for: 90
Grade Earned:
