Self Discovery: An Evaluation of the Present, a Thought About the Future The necessities of life are slim you absolutely need four things but you want more. You need shelter, you need food and water, and you need clothes on your back. But like me and everyone else, we always want more. We think that we need lots of money, a laptop, a nice car, etc. We don’t need a majority of the things we use on a daily basis. Think of the Navajo living in the desert of Arizona and New Mexico. They do not live by malls, restaurants, and they barley live by each other. Most live in a 480 square foot trailer surrounded by a whole bunch of dirt and horses spread way out in the middle of the desert. Yes, they have cars, not porches and Range Rovers, but simple old tractors, quads or Toyotas to get the work around home done. “Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit” (Abbey). The Navajo embrace so much the wilderness that when we drive through the Navajo nation we think, “how could they live here? There is no phone service, no shopping, no anything.” When in reality they have everything, they have all four necessities, nature, love and simplicity. In a way they are lucky, they aren’t brain washed to think they have to have a phone, or a car, or lots of money. “How we spend our days, is of course how we spend our lives” (Dillard). So why not spend our day with people we love doing things we love? You do not need any of those extra things to have a good life, now or in the future. When you are old and on the verge of dying are you thinking about the very first car you had and how expensive it was? Or are you thinking about all the places you have been, all of the things you have done, experiences, people you have met and memories you have? Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “It is not the length of life, but the depth of life.” Meaning its not how long you live but how you have lived, your memories not money. You can be broke and still have had a great life with a ton of amazing memories and achievements. “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals” (Thoreau). The purpose of life is to experience, live freely and simply, just like the Navajo. “Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best.” (Abbey). So why not live like the Navajo? They are not surrounded by the evil and corrupt but nature, openness, love. “You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down” (Dillard). Play outside and do new crazy fun things. Instead of living in a bustling city with tons of people, where everyone or many are just trying to be number one and will do wrong just to get there. Don’t you think if it were actually that bad the Navajo would leave? After all Thoreau said, “I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.” The Navajo are living and experiencing just as much, even more than us, it is just in a different way, a simpler way. And what is the point of trying to be number one? To get all of the money in the world and then die so you can either be buried or cremated? Last time I checked you couldn’t use money or items when you are dead. What is the point to being ostentatious? What does it do for you? You will not remember the money and all of the items like you will friends and family. So what are we working toward? In truth we are all working toward happiness. “Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values” (Rand). We don’t want to be sad, and we think that money can make us happy because we can buy all of these great things. “I have learned that to be with those I like is enough” (Whitman). You need love, friendship, people
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variety of symptoms. Psychological symptoms include; continuous low mood or sadness feeling hopeless and helpless having low self-esteem feeling guilt-ridden and tearful feeling irritable and intolerant of others having no motivation or interest in things you used to enjoy finding it difficult to make decisions and not getting any enjoyment out of life feeling anxious or worried having suicidal thoughts or thoughts of harming yourself Many people with depression also struggle with physical symptoms…
Society has made it hard for individuals to exist when things like popular culture seemingly brainwash youth into doing whatever is considered "cool." Transcendentalism is a powerful concept which should be acknowledged by this generation, for the points encompassed in Transcendentalism are more vital today than ever. Through the writings of Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman, transcendentalism is explained as the philosophy of striving to live a life of independence, simplicity, and oneness with nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson was the foremost pioneer of Transcendentalism…
Jane Crawford’s life to pursue her quest for identity, and to find out what love truly is. This journey coincides the philosophy of Transcendentalism, which stresses emphasis on the individual, and emotion over reason. Despite Jane’s hardships throughout the story, she doesn’t forget her aspirations and what she truly believes in. These same principles are reflected in both Ralph Waldo Emerson’s, “Self-Reliance”, and in Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”. As a result, the story portrays her…
modern world, and to be a completely unique individual within this mass, that is truly to live. The Transcendentalism movement began in the 1830’s through its father Ralph Waldo Emerson. He and his student Henry David Thoreau created multiple pieces of brilliant literature to showcase their ideology and philosophy. The philosophies cultivated the movement centralized around a belief of a higher reality than human reasoning. Transcendental ideals are highlighted through their tenants to live a life…
Enlightenment, transcendentalism, and puritan theology: 3 philosophies that shaped 3 centuries in America. Since the time periods of each philosophy overlapped with the others, all 3 had similarities as well as differences. From these philosophies came different writers with different views, shaping American prose. A major Enlightenment author was Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine wrote a piece called "The Age of Reason." In this piece he fully encompassed the ideologies of the Enlightenment. These included…
Several things I know to be true: First, my dad always gave me the freedom to think for myself, which aided in the development of my ability to acquire the tools I needed to become independent and self-reliant. Second, I always felt that I was at the mercy of my parents sometimes poor decision making as I was growing up and how it didn’t always reflect my best interest. From that I vowed to be sensitive to…
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observations and thoughts, feminist ideals and philosophies are clearly evident, demonstrating Hawthorne's own beliefs, as well as oppositions to the theory. Feminism, as defined in Miriam-Webster Online, is "the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes". Zenobia and Priscilla are the embodiment and antithesis (respectively) of the feminist model. Hawthorne based Coverdale on himself, expressing his own views on feminism philosophy through Coverdale. Coverdale's views and actions…
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will supply their deficiency. Joshua Reynolds, American female essayist 如果你很有天赋,勤勉会使其更加完善;如果你能力一般,勤勉会补足其缺陷。 乔舒亚 雷诺兹 美国女性小说家 Knowledge is power. Francis Bacon 知识就是力量。 英国经验论哲学家 培根 Histories make men wise; poems witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Francis Bacon 历史使人明智;诗词使人灵秀;数学使人周密;自然哲学使人深邃;伦理使人庄重;逻辑修 辞学使人善辩。 英国经验论哲学家 培根 三.理想 Where there is a will, there is a way. Thomas Edison 有志者,事竟成。 美国发明家 爱迪生 We must accept finite disappointment…