360 Degrees: Agnosticism

I think the concept of proclaiming oneself as agnostic is really interesting, because it has so many degrees to it. Recent studies show that the second highest "religous group" ( if it can be called that) in the United States today are agnostics and atheists. Where did all the protestants and Catholics go? It's really interesting because all of the people that are my age (and a little younger) seemed to have that bit of religious ferver and zeal that the older generations still hang on to. It seems as if my generation is the first generation to not actually identify themselves with any sort of religious affiliation and i'm not yet sure if it's a good thing. I mean, most of my friends and fellow classmates seem to have this sort of "fear" of religion in general. Whenever I try to spark up a conversation about God or whether or not a certain person believes in it, that person gives me the most peculiar look i've ever seen.
Being agnostic isn't as bad as some may think. I'm sure that the older generations are looking down and frowning upon us, for we are nothing but sinners in their eyes, but in my opinion, being agnostic is better than being an atheist. Acknowledging that there is some type of God out there that has created us all and that even though he/she is unknown, we still believe in him/her because we so desperatley need to believe in something bigger than us. We so desperatley need to feel as if the fate of the world isn't in our hands, that we are not the ones responsible for the tragic disasters that happen in this world. If a person has the decency to acknowledge a higher being, I think they are smart to do so because they themselves are going agasint the status quo. They are essentially saying that they refuse to refuse any religion or diety that exists. That they refuse to be looked at and judged by a stereotype that a lot of us in this world fall under. But is this such a brave thing? I definitley think it is, in fact I think it's the bravest thing we can do as humans, refuse to be stereotyped, refuse to be judged by what we identify with religiously.
On the other hand, it is also very risky to be an agnostic. Since the beginning of time, people have needed something to believe in, to have faith in. This of course was hard to do until the concept of religious icons and names and stories were tied down to these religious leaders. If we suddenly slip and don't stick to a certain religion won't that be bad? Won't it ruin who we are as humans? I think only time can tell, but as for now, i'm thinking that if we have no bigger entity to stop us from becoming "sinners" or being "condemned" on judgement day, then won't we all just rebel and do repulsive things to one another? If not, then is there truly a way to accept one another and have peace amongst one another?

Carry It Forward: Hamlet

In William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, he uses the dialectic of the private vs. public persona that Hamlet obtains and has to distinguish between in almost every situation that he faces. Shakespeare demonstrated how Hamlet is very different in private because it is the only time where he can actually show who he really is. In private he is this severely depressed and over-analitical being that is trying to make sense of the choatic world around him, whereas in public, he chooses to hide his private side and act "fake" towards everyone. Instead of talking about what's really on his mind (his father's death), he represses these feelings for more welcoming ones whenever he is around others. The interseting thing about Hamlet is that in a way he does bring out his private side in public, but in a very sarcastic way and because he brings it out through sarcasm, most people don't catch on to it.
I think that this idea of being a whole person and not having to distinguish between the private and public is very important. The reason I bring this up is because I want to carry this idea into my future. I want to actually atempt to be a more whole person by showing exactly what I am feeling and thinking at the time and not having to be fake around anyone anymore. Even though most people I know have to be fake and supress their true emotions and thoughts because they either have a job that requires you to do so or are in a circumstance that never allows you to be yourself (like a persons's family) , I think it's important for people to at least realize that they are being fake. I think that it is important for them to stop doing this, and just become themselves. If we all act as two different people all the time, then how are we suppossed to know who we really are? How are we suppossed to trust each other and love each other?

Research: William Shakespeare

http://www.bardweb.net/man.html
http://www.bardweb.net/language.html
William Shakespeare was a very mysterious man because little about his life is actually known, aside from his works of literature. The only other documents that exist about his life are a few church and legal documents. Shakespeare was born on April 23rd (which is a weird coincidence that i'm writing this on April 23rd!!) 1564. He was born to a leather merchant and local heiress and he was the third of eight children (three of who actually died). Because his parents couldn't really afford an education, they enrolled Shakespeare in a free grammar school where he learned about Greek Classics and Latin but because he never chose to attend a University, his works of literature were controversial. Many people debated whether or not his works were actually acurate and authentic.
In 1582, he married Anne Hathaway and had twins Hamnet and Judith and Hamnet later died at the age of 11. Then in 1592, he once again appeared in London, after showing no signs of life for four years, establishing himself as a devout actor and playwriter. The irony of his life was, of course, that he ended up dying on his birthday, April 23rd, in 1611.
Another interesting thing about Shakespeare is that in the time period that he was writing, there was no dictionary or any word reference source where he could of looked to helped him write. He had a vocabulary of 17,000 words, which is quadruple that of an average writer which is highly impressive considering that he didn't even attend a university. Also, it is said that he added almost 3,000 words to the English language, which is absolutely incredible and inspiring. This definitley makes me respect him more as a person and certainly as a writer.

Carry It Forward: Letters to a Young Poet

Although Letters to a Young Poet was a quick and easy read that would take anyone about an hour to read, I actually took my time reading it and finished it over the course of a few days. My intention wasn't to do, but the more I read, the more I found myself thinking about Rilke's statement on solitude. Throughout the whole book, he encourages Kappus to live his life in solitude and rely only on himself. Rilke claims that the only way in which someone can get to become to a great poet (or a great anything for that matter) is by being in solitude and being introspective. He says that if you remain in solitude, you will have time to explore your most inner feeling and experiences and interpret them for what they actually mean. By doing this, one will know exactly who they are what their experiences have done for them and they will subconsciously transfer something meaningful into whatever work they are doing (in Kappus's case poetry).
To me personally, this is really interesting because it made me realize that I live my life by the opposite manner of what Rilke is encouraging people to do. Instead of spending my life in solitude and looking for answers within my own mind, I depend on other people for answer. I depend on my teachers, family and friends to provide me with comfort, security, knowledge and happiness. It's not necessarily that I don't spend time alone, it's just that in a society like this, where there is constant interaction with other people, it's hard for someone like me to live in comeplete solitude. It's hard for me to solve everything on my own because (in my opinion) i'm not mature enough and I still need some guidance in my life. In the future however, perhaps one day when I feel ready to take on the challenge of living a life where I comfort myself and am happy by simply being with myself and enjoying myself. Life is full of tragedies and i've learned that sometimes you just simply can't trust other people. I hope that by attempting to live my life in solitude in the future it will make me trust myself and truly understand the reason for my being and from this interpretation be able to live a happy life devoted to me, myself and I.