Bewilderment and Certainty

As a whole and individually we need certainty. There are many unknowns out in our planet. Just for example, the purpose of life, how things are created, and what lies beneath the ocean that we have yet to study. These phenomenon’s are all unknown and are very unlikely to be answered. Although we have these questions unanswered we are still able to live with some certainties. These certainties can include something like the loved ones in your life. This certainty gives us a sense of comfort, there are many things that are mind boggling, but we do have a foreground that has allowed us to almost look past our questionable existence. Certainty has given us something to fall back on when these questions may overcome our thoughts. The question of reality can be puzzling and a lot of the time feels like a complete cycle of not knowing but the things in our lives that we are certain about has allowed us to find that foreground once again. I do also believe that over thinking things can cause bewilderment, which I believe is not necessarily necessary for our lives. When we sit and over think about how the world works, we never can fully come to a conclusion. This cycle is often overwhelming and incredibly annoying when one tries to wrap their head around.

Team Minotaur-Melisa

Animal Minds

I do agree that the pure goose excludes humanity, but I don’t necessarily agree that the human-animal interactions is an inherent loneliness. First of all this would be a case by case basis. I have never had the experience of raising geese or even observing them. I do have dogs and have raised a few cats. How can an animal be lonely if it doesn’t know any other way of life? There is nothing to be missed if the animal has never needed, experienced it or understands it. They have a much simpler lifestyle than humans. The basic of food, rest and survival are the necessities and while some don’t require the love and companions like a dog or cat does they seem to be quite content. Paul Nicklen seem to experience something quite extraordinary. I didn’t hear the story as though the Leopard Seal was lonely, it just appeared to be taken by Paul’s presence and luck was on his side that she grew fond of him for a short while unlike the woman that was killed by the same species of animal.

 

Serpents of Paradise

I think it could be beneficial for someone to live as Abbey does in this story. We need people who are able to learn from other animals and species to advance our own knowledge and to share it. I personally would not be able to live as he does but we need to allow nature to take place without disturbance in order to expand and understand diversity. He has a respect for nature and rightfully so. Humans have an instinct to destroy the things that cause us fear, to be able to see the beauty and allow the nature a chance must be an amazing thing to witness if you have the courage to do so.

 

The Serpents of Paradise- Samantha Wiktor

I think it is very interesting how Edward Abbey describes his encounter and experience with the snakes living around him.  He sees them as equals or even superior to himself and even goes so far as to say he would rather “kill a man than a snake.”  To me this seems too drastic.  How can you value and put a human life above an animal?  This is too extreme of a thought.  The fact that someone can take a human life and set it to equal or less than a human’s life is inconceivable.  I can understand how he might see a snake as a companion or in a strange way a friend just to keep company.  But to compare a snake with a human life is too far.  I think the right thing was to take care of the snakes and release them far away from his house.  It was strange for me to see the way he treated snakes as friends and was so distraught when he came home from working only to find the snake had gone away.  He treats these animals as his friends and the line is stretched further than just friends.  He is overcome when he can’t find ‘his’ snake.  It’s just too much when he takes the snake with him around on tours and allows it to be around other tourists.  It mainly made me uncomfortable how much of an activist he was for the rights of animals and saying he would kill a human before a snake. 

How might humans learn “animal” and then be able to think in animal ways?

1. Humans can learn “animal” in exactly the ways Clive Wynne does.  By observing very closely the interactions animals have with other members of their own species.  Watching how a dog interacts with a person only shows how dogs interact with people.  To truly attempt to understand a what a dog might be thinking, or at the very least become better at predicting its behavior, one must observe the dog interacting with other dogs.  Learn how the dog asserts itself.  How does it attempt to fit into a new group of dogs?  A clear understanding of the behaviors dogs exhibit in these situations can then give us an idea of what it really means when a dog growls or barks.  Is he barking at the mail man to say, “Go away” or is he barking an alarm to tell his owner that there’s someone approaching the house?  Maybe the dog is just excited because he knows that particular mail man carries treats with him. 

Clive understood and acknowledged that the divers who rescued the whale genuinely felt that they were being shown gratitude by the whale.  But he wouldn't confirming that that is what the whale was actually doing because he doesn’t “speak whale.”  Being a scientist, this is a fair point.   For him to confirm that the whale was thanking these divers for saving it from the crab traps, he would likely have to spend years observing whales closely enough to witness (many times) a whale A bumping whale B several times, then starring at it for 15 minutes or so after whale B did something to help whale A like removing a crab trap.  His point being that it’s impossible to truly know what that whale was doing.

2. I think it is definitely important to have a connection with one’s environment.  A feeling of connectedness is what people mean by being “grounded.”  I think its important that we all feel grounded in some way.  We need to have some deep sense of our place in our world to keep us from feeling overwhelmed by all the things we try to do in our lives.  People seem to get busier and busier all the time.  We have class, then work, then more class, then sports, then family and we try to juggle all these things every day.  While advancing technologies boast abilities and features designed to make people more productive, this constant immersion in digital screens and the constant race to the next appointment pulls people away from the natural environment.  When we take time to quiet ourselves and take even just a minute to look away from the screen and watch a squirrel run, stop, look, run some more and scurry up a tree, we can find a sense of calm and tranquility that can’t be found on the Discovery Channel.  And taking just that minute to notice a squirrel going about her business, can cause one to notice more squirrels crossing one’s path.  Soon enough, if one pays attention, one finds oneself looking for squirrels in the trees and in the grass.  I do this myself and that little bit of enjoyment that comes from watching cute squirrels be cute and frantic in their own lives helps me feel just a little less frantic in mine.

Animal minds and Serpents of Pardise

Animal Minds
1. One of the divers from Animal Minds explains, "when

she was only inches away from my chest…she stopped and pushed me on the chest backwards, then released then pushed again… she swam to the surface and just stared at me, she wasn’t looking at anything else. She was just looking directly at me…she went to the next diver and did the same thing…one by one”.  I completely agree with this! At the beginning of this story they describe the wall as first being very cautious of the divers until the whale soon begins to learn what the intentions of the divers are. The divers soon begin to cut these ropes that was holding the whale down, when she becomes free her gestures towards the divers is a gesture somewhat like a thank you. I believe that her gesture shows how animals other than humans also have a sense of feelings. The whale has full gratitude towards these divers, which leads me to believe that the mind of other creatures could be as complex as the brain of human beings. I don’t believe that the whale was “distorted” in this scenario, I believe the whale learned what the divers were doing and full heartedly showed her gratitude after she was freed. When thinking about feelings in other creatures, I just believe that they have another way to show feelings unlike we do. There are so many things in our world that we aren’t 100% sure about but that is because with some things we don’t have the power to study. For an example, we have not even been able to study the brain to its complete capacity, so it is hard to say that another creature does or doesn’t have feelings and can connect with other beings. I believe that all creatures have the ability to feel the same emotions as all.

2. I do believe that dogs and other creatures are able to sympathize with others, in this TED talk, Abumrad and Krulwich describe the scenario on how dogs began to feel shameful when talked down to. These dogs although may not fully understand what they have done they are still able to decipher our feelings and have reactions to our words or emotions we portray. I also do believe that animals do have a sense of knowing what is happening with another creatures thoughts or feelings. Especially dogs, I believe are able to decipher many things. It has been seen before that dogs have empathy with those around them. With humans dogs are really prone to feel what their “master” is feeling. In some cases it has been seen that dogs have a sixth sense almost that allows them to feel differently than we do. In many cases, dogs have been the reason humans have found cancerous tumors or other medical deficiencies. This could be evidence that dogs do feel and are able to communicate with others, this is seen usually in drastic situations when things are needed to be communicated.

Serpents of Paradise

 

1.

I do also believe that animals are a superior as human beings. Growing up my dad consistently reminded me the value of animals. He had a sense of relation with every creature he came in contact with. I believe that sometimes more than others, people can have relations with creatures. In this reading, Abbey states, “the snake is passive, apparently contented, and makes no resistance when I pick him p with my hands and drape him over an arm or around my neck”. I personally viewed experiences like this many times while I was growing up. My dad always had a way with animals, every animal loved my dad and consistently remember their relationship with my dad. I fully heatedly believe that we are all connected with animals but others are more empowered to this connection and are more susceptible to act on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can we really know another person? Team Sphinx

Can we ever really know a person? I believe we can never really know a person because each person has their own secrets and each person will only let people know certain things about themselves. We may think and believe we know a person inside and out but we really don't we all have a best friend a sister or a brother or even a cousin or someone who we believe we know but the truth is we don't know that person. For example I really thought I knew who my childhood best friend was but truth is once we got into high school things changed for the worse and her true colors came out. Another example is I'm a twin and I really thought I knew who my sister was because we were always together and we told each other everything well at least I thought we did, but recently she became engaged and didn't tell me and she even went dress shopping with out me and through the entire engagement she left me out of it and ever since we were little we always talked about being there for each other. This goes to show that you never really who a person is just like I didn't really know who .my childhood best friend was and even my twin. I agree with Morrison when he said “an image can determine not only what we know and feel but also what we believe is worth knowing about what we feel”. We create an image of the people that we really want to truly feel like we know them and that image almost makes them perfect in our mind and when they back stab us or disappoint us we feel betrayed because in our mind we believed that we knew that person inside and out and never thought they would do such a thing. It almost makes us feel like we've been living a lie because we thought we knew that person and we made them seem like such an amazing person.

Team Phoenix: What responsibility do we have to one another?

In “Strangers,” Morrison writes that he “denied [the woman] her personhood, the specific individuality we insist upon for ourselves.” I think the main responsibility we have to each other is to appreciate that we’re all different from each other. Our similarities to each other (hobbies, similar upbringings, etc.) might be what bring us together initially, but it’s our differences that actually make us closer. I think Morrison might’ve been suggesting that it’s a bad thing that we see ourselves in other people. I don’t necessarily agree with that. I don’t think a lot of us can really see where a person is coming from until we walk a mile in their shoes, at least not at first, but I think once we’re able to understand who they are (and why they are) without having to put ourselves in their place, we’ve achieved a much stronger bond that’s more intimate and meaningful. I think a lot of the times that we start to feel tension in our relationships – because of faults in each others' personalities, clashing opinions, etc. --we tend to shut each other out. MLK mentions in his letter that he “is not afraid of the word ‘tension.’…there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.” I think our main responsibility to each other is to face the tensions we feel with each other head-on; Make an effort to grow from the tension instead of dismiss it and run in the opposite direction. Once we’ve managed to achieve that, I think we become much closer to coming to terms with the fact that we’re all different from one another – and that our differences are not something to be afraid of. I know that my strongest relationships are the ones that have had some ups and downs. I’ve learned something from those people and that’s what brought us closer together. If I didn’t allow myself to face the tension, those strong relationships and meaningful friendships would’ve been reduced to “kind of okay, not that deep, not irreplaceable” acquaintances. Closing ourselves off from truly understanding the experiences of others prevents us from bettering ourselves (and vice-versa.)

Can we ever really know another person?

    I think it is impossible to really know a person. We might think we do if that person is really close to us; a sister, a best friend, a boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife, etc. You might share big secrets and confide in this one special person things you would never tell anyone. Even in that case that person will never fully know you. For starters it is really hard to even know and understand ourselves, let alone fully understand someone else. Each person has to have their own inside world, their own personal feelings and thoughts that they would never reveal to anyone. I really think that if we were an open book, even if it was to only one person, we would loose our identity. We tend to make our own personal image of a person, like Morrison told in his story. An image that is convenient to us and that will serve a purpose in our lives. That is why we get disappointed when we realize that a person is not what we thought. Although that person never lied to us. We lied to ourselves, wanting that one person to be as we wanted them to be.  I agree with Morrison when he said “an image can determine not only what we know and feel but also what we believe is worth knowing about what we feel”.  It is very true that we rely on images all the time. We even think we might know a person just by looking at them. The truth is that no image, no body language or even experiences could make us really know a person at all.

1. Can we ever really know a person?

I believe that we can never really know who another person is fully. There are things and events in a person’s life that they normally wouldn’t share with everyone. Everyone has an internal mind, which consists of our personal thoughts. These thoughts are apart of us, which makes us separate from others. Also, when people go through traumatic experiences the cause of them could leave a person changing in a matter of ways. One’s personality can completely change because of the feeling they received that may have altered the way they view the world or even how they view themselves. A lot of the time when big impact events occur, the thoughts of that person can cause them to hide there true feelings. There are so many cases when a person will commit suicide and there close family and friends will say that they never saw it coming. We hide so much in our minds, that a person who may seem happy on the outside may be struggling and fighting on the inside.In Morrison’s essay, she creates an image on how she wishes her new neighbor could be. Over time she develops a mental picture and becomes very disappointed when she discovers that her neighbor is not who she imagine them to be. This occurs a lot for me personally, I have met people before and without even really knowing them I have created a person who I think they are in my mind. In time I learn who they are and most of the time I am disappointed that they are not what I wanted them to be. Also, many people have multiple personalities that can be deceiving when trying to get to know a person.