This is that really good quote that we talked about in class today. Its from John Donne's "Meditation 17":
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main."
I like this quote a lot because it is still accurate today. Although we, as a society, have many differences, we have more similarities. It seems like the differences are all we focus on, and that has hurt our world.
I completely agree. When differences are focused on we are intentionally building walls. If we could take a step back, let go of our ignorance's (mind included) we would be able to build bridges where these so called "differences" happen. And possibly be united more then we currently are..
ReplyDeleteIf everyone could focus on their similaritys and put asside our differences I agree the world would be a happier place, but human nature and also the easier route to take is focusing on our differences, secluding ourselves because we feel safer or more powerful in this way. The Meditation 17 would be a good meditation for all to focus on and try to embody it would just be extremeley dificult.
ReplyDeletesory excuese my horrible spelling please!!
I love the fact that you brought up power. It is so true that often when we think that we are different then other people we are embodied with some sort of power. This idea that we are better then them. This again is a human flaw that I see, this need to be better, this need for power, or social satisfaction.
ReplyDeleteHoly smokes Tonya... I wish this blog had spell checker! I think I need to buy you a dictionary. :) I love this quote too! If historically we had focused on what ties us together rather than allow trivial differences to split us apart--the world would be a much different place today! (And divorce rates would be lower too!)
ReplyDeleteTonya are you really that bad of a speller?? Lol but anyways I agree with this, this quote stuck out to me too I wrote it down when reading it. People in todays world get too caught up in thinking about themselves, as one single person with no connection to the outer world. If we thought of ourselves more as peices to a puzzle, in that we all fit together to form what we were originally created as, society would work together alot better!
ReplyDeleteDeege I think that's a great quote, in any type of group of people they need to learn to depend on each other and realize that all of their actions affect someone else.
ReplyDeleteI started to write a disagreement to this blog, two different times. But every time I begin to expand on my thoughts, I realize I come back to the same consensus. I was going to say that we don't need one another to survive. But facts be facts, a new born cannot fend for itself. And even if you ignored that 'small' step of life, and set a teen off to live, you would SOME HOW be using a source that is dependent on another human being. Its like the idea of 'the flap of a butterfly's wings'. This idea says that a butterfly flying in Michigan could (in the end) have set off the earthquake in Japan. (I'm pretty sure it is a book) But the idea is that even the smallest things around us today have an effect on another somewhere else. So even in John Doe could survive by himself out in the middle of no where living off the fruit of an apple tree, meat of the deer, and the water from a spring... Someone (wayyyyy back when) planted that tree, or planted the tree that seeds blew away to plant that tree. Some hunter somewhere shot a gun, that made the deer run in the direction of our John Doe. And the stream that was built flows in the direction it does by the land carvings done by a man a hundred years ago trying to get water to his cattle. So no matter how you look at it, somewhere in time, you would be effected by another human being. We are intertwined creatures. We were not created by God to be alone. Look at Adam and Eve. God even says (Genesis 2:18) "It is not good for man to be alone..."
ReplyDelete1. Tonya if you had firefox then you would have spell check on this! It's pretty much amazing.
ReplyDelete2. I know I'm probably going to get heat for this but I think this quote can relate back to religion. So much of the pain in this world is cause by religious conflict. The concept of hating one person or group because of what they believe in. Every piece of religion can be a piece of the continent. A lot of people can argue this but I believe it's all one God with different interpretations of that God. I took World Philosophy and at the core of the main world religions it the same concept. One man who sacrificed himself to allow his followers to be saved. It's the same values- doing the right thing, love, faith, accepting those different then you. Maybe if people realized this then there would be less hatred. Less wars, less bullying, less murder, and hate crimes.