This definitely means something...

Out of all the meaningful, meaningless things in the world, it is truly difficult to find something that means something. As  I experience more and more of the world, the value in things change. Certain things become insignificant while others increase in importance. What I find that is unchanging in meaning is Music. Music is without a doubt means something. Wait, I lied; it has not only not change in it meaning, but it actually has grown in purpose. Yes, there is some music out there that just sucks and advertises the shallow things in life, but for the rest, there is something really powerful within it. It's exactly as Peter Gabriel sings, "The book of love has music in it, In fact that's where music comes from. Some of it is just transcendental. Some of it is just really dumb."  I also find that humanity lacks empathy, but music helps fill that gap. When people compose and peform their music, that's usually their heart they pour out there. People manifest how they feel into something which other people can also easily feel. That's pretty potent right there. Music is the thread in which people can be connected and to know they are not alone. Music helped band Estonian citizens to overthrow their Soviet occupators . Mass demonstrations of Estonian citizens would break out into singing their national songs which were strictly banned by the Soviet Union., and it led to their freedom. If Music can do that, it has a defnite place in our world.

I'm thankful Kirsten Brooks.

Kirsten Brooks has saved my as many a time in Philosophy. To be honest, I forget to do the reading for the book. I come into class with no idea how to contribute to our discussions. That's when Kirsten comes to the rescue.  She gives me "raw material" from the book which I can easily form and refine into something articulate. And in times where I am stuck on a question on our group work, the Scotese-battle-hardened Kirsten just flies through it and reluctantly helps me. Thank you, Kirsten.

Sita Ram

See, I have absolutely idea what to write about. I don't have any unanswered questions, suggestions to improve the class (because, well, I'm pretty satisfied with our class), and points I wanted to get out there. To be honest, I only have praise for this class. I truly believe that I have learned more in this single quarter than my three years of English, and the sheer presence of Artem Potemkin in our class makes it more deserving of this praise. So instead of wasting my time trying to find a question (that has been answered from multiple points of views already ) or unneeded suggestions for improvement, I will give you readers some information in my life that is currently giving form to my convictions. This is going to be a long read.

As you can see from the title and my current blog background, I am participating in a musical called Sita Ram, which is being shown December 14th and 15th. Sita Ram is based on an ancient hindu epic called the Ramayana. Long ago, there was a god named Vishnu whose responsibility is to keep the earth in a state of order. When the world needed to save itself from chaos, Vishnu would come to earth in a form of (usually) animals and help out. Ravana, a servant of the gods, was an upright person and proved himself to the gods that he could be trusted. Because of his good deeds, the gods granted him immortality. This immortality corrupted him with pride, selfishness, and greed, and Ravana started wreaking havoc on Earth. The gods called upon Vishnu to go to Earth and restore order. After going multiple times, Vishnu would only go to Earth if his true lover, Lakshmi (another god), would go down with him. And so, they do go down to earth as humans, but they would not know of each other. Vishnu was born as the human, Rama. Lakshmi was born as the princess, Sita. Vishnu had also had a special bow, Shiva's Bow, that was also sent down to Earth. This bow was so heavy that it took 1,000 men to move it from place to place, but it was special because it had the ability of love. Let me elaborate. These are not cupid arrows. These are arrows that cleanse you and essentially revert you to the good you once were. Now, the bow was placed with Sita and her royal family. Only a suitor who had the strength to string Shiva's bow could have Sita's had in marriage. So yeah, Rama is wandering the world, and he stumbles upon the princess. Sita and Rama's eyes meet and at that moment they knew that they were meant to be together. It was literally love at first sight. The literal translation of that meeting was,"The beautification of beauty was beautified." So yeah, you can imagine that once their eyes met that you could see rays of light, flowers blooming, etc. Sita, then, invited Rama to compete with the suitors to gain her hand. Many lords tried and failed, and even Ravana could not lift the bow. Rama stepped before Shiva's bow. He closed his eyes and asked the gods that if he is worthy to lift the bow. Right there, Rama started meditating until finally the gods granted permission to him. Rama then took his pinkie and tied Shiva's bow with his pinkie. After Rama does this, celebration ensued, and Sita and Rama get married. This happiness didn't last for long, and the two lovers get exiled from the palace. In the forest, a shape-shifting demon tried to seduce Rama because, well, he's hot. He refused, and Surpanakha devised a plan with Ravana so that Surpanakha could get with Rama. Convinced by Surpanakha, Ravana kidnapped Sita into a faraway unknown place, and Rama slumped into a depression. A new character was now introduced. A talking monkey named Hanuman came to Rama to ask why he was sad. Rama told Hanuman the depressing story, and Hanuman told Rama that he and all the monkeys of the world could help him find Sita, if he sorted out a problem for him. Hanuman explained that the monkeys are currently in a civil war, and if Rama could help one side win, the monkeys could search for Sita, unified. So, Rama, with Shiva's bow, helped end the civil war. Since the war ended, the monkeys decided to celebrate, and celebrate they did. They held a celebration that lasted three months, until Hanuman noticed that Rama was getting pissed. The monkeys remembered their promise to Rama and started to search the world for Sita. After much searching, they finally find Ravana's palace and start a war with him and his demons. It was an epic battle, and the monkeys were losing. However, the monkeys had an ace in the hole. See, Hanuman wasn't just a special talking monkey. He was also a demi-god. Hanuman used his powers as a demi-god to become enormous, like bigger than King Kong enormous. He lifted a mountain, which Rama was on, and flew it to the battle. Since Hanuman was flying so high, the mountain caught on fire from the sun. The herbs on the mountain started burning and sprinkled down to the injured monkeys on the ground, which healed them. With this reinvigorated boost to the monkey army, Rama and Hanuman pushed towards Ravana. Due to Ravana's immortality, every time Rama would cut off one of Ravana's heads with an arrow, another head would grow, until Ravana grew ten heads. Finally, Rama had an epiphany. He used Shiva's bow's ability. Rama prayed and meditating before setting up his shot. Rama, then, shoots Ravana in the heart, and all the darkness is freed from him. Ravana reverts back to his old self where he remembered why he was granted immortality in the first place. More celebration is done on earth, and Rama and Sita go back to the heavens as Vishnu and Laksmhi. All the while as this is happening, Hanuman is left alone on earth. Hanuman became filled with distraught because his best friend is gone. Hanuman asked to take him with to the heavens since he's a demi-god. Another monkey comes up to Hanuman asks why is he filled so much sadness. Hanuman says, "Oh no, Rama and Sita have gone. I'm all alone." The monkey responds, "What are you talking about? Just open your heart, and they will be there." Imagine how much faith that would actually take. To literally pry open your chest with your hands hoping that you don't die is ridiculous, but that is exactly what Hanuman did. The monkey did not lie. Once Hanuman opened his heart, there was Sita and Rama sitting there. So yeah, after this test of faith, peace overcomes the world.

Now, how the hell is this so important to me that I have to tell you about it? Is it because I want a little spot of fame? Or is it because my choir told me to promote this?  But, it is not because of any of that. First of all, I believe in cultural awareness. Mark Twain once said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” This quote holds much truth. Though we can't all literally travel, stories can be shared to change people's perspectives. I mean, to this day, people regard this as sacred text, use lessons from this story as framework for their life, or truly believe that this story happened. To be honest, I don't find that many people know much of the eastern culture which makes this great service to the public. Even if they don't care much for it, it's still a great story of love, adventure, and action.

There is also the fact of 100+ choir members from multiracial, multicultural, and different socioeconomic backgrounds performing with some kind of purpose or conviction. They are literally pouring their hard work, beliefs, and heart into this production. I think that's just absolutely beautiful. The youth of my generation all using different philosophies to get to a place where they can perform with a purpose. Not only are they performing with a purpose, but they are performing at a level that strives for excellence which makes it all the more powerful. This applies to the conductors, auditioned actors/singers, directors, composers, dancers, acrobats, set-designers, etc.

Well, now for the sprinkles on the ice cream, the music, choreography, costumes, set, and acting is culminating into a refreshing astounding experience. The set music is a mix of jazz, world music, classical, some rap, gospel, etc. (all with eastern style music influence). Yeah, that's right. Sita Ram is a westernized version of the Ramayana, but in the pre-production phase of Sita Ram, our director went as far as to go to India, talk to his friend's grandfather about the story of the Ramayana, and basically ask permission to westernize the story (by asking questions to preserve the story so that it still respects the Indian culture). There is almost literally nothing out there like this music set. The choreography of the choir is a mix of modern styles of dance with inclusion of traditional Indian movements. The team that's working on this is just incredible.

How do I wrap this up? Well, I will say that I find a person with no meaning a sad thing. I will say that I find a person with meaning but with no means to reach it even sadder. Though I find it beautiful for the person with conviction and carrying it out, the culmination of a diverse people, all with different beliefs and philosophies, excellently performing a unified, original production is gorgeous. And, even, more astonishing is that this is done by our youth. So yeah, I believe that this production is my form of "cultivating my garden." And it's looking pretty good.

But, if you're actually interested in buying a ticket for this, click here.
Shout out to my friend Samantha Frondoso for coming to the show! 

Voltaire and Camus's vote goes to...

Even though Voltaire is not discriminate in his satire of the world, he would probably dislike Mitt Romney based on Candide. Voltaire satirizes religion and the aristocracy (wealth). He definitely would not vote Romney if he wrote a sizable portion of the book satirizing those two things. See, Mitt holds a view that we should have government cut off help to  people who haven't "earned" it. His argument is that we do not need to do that because America is the land of opportunity, and anyone can build up something if they work for it. Voltaire would satirize Romney because I'm pretty sure the Mormon religion calls for selfless giving which is the opposite of what he wants to do with the government. Obama would be an easier choice for Voltaire. Sure, there are some things Voltaire would disagree with, but he would be better than Romney. But maybe, Voltaire will stop thinking of which candidate to choose but actually implement the things he agrees with, in each Candidate, to the best of his abilities.

For Camus, he would definitely vote for Gary Johnson. To be honest, he would probably think, "I don't like either of the two major candidates. Should I vote still? YES, I WILL! Yeah, I like Ron Paul, but he's not running so I'll vote for Gary Johnson. Hm, my vote is meaningless, but I still will vote to revolt in this two party system." Yeah, that's exactly how it will go.

Our Stranger Meaning.

At this moment of time, I am thinking about how enormous our universe is, and how what we're doing here is so insignificant that, if the Earth were to just disappear today, nothing would be truly affected. Then, again, I see, how out in the vast cosmos of space, we seem to be the only planet to produce and sustain something truly unique. We are either something truly beautiful and rare, or we are a petty thing that the universe barely glosses over.

Maybe, we do have a higher meaning, and we should strive to reach at least something close to fulfilling that meaning. On the other hand, there is absolutely no meaning to our existence, and everything just stops mattering. To be honest, I don't trust anything that seems too solid or absolute like these two philosophies anymore.

This is why I really like Camus's philosophy. There is most likely no meaning to our existence. We are probably just a tiny-micro-spec in the meaningless scheme of it all. BUT. We must revolt against this and engage in finding a meaning in it all. I mean, it's kinda romantic and admirable. We still go forth even though it is futile.

Now, so what should be the meaning to our meaningless life be? Why not, love? I don't think you could go wrong with love. Love encompasses understanding, acceptance, tolerance, etc. Strive for love, do some self reflection more than a few times, and never stop growing. Really corny, but I think it is the true only thing that will quench our thirst for purpose... in a purposeless life.

Candide's Punishment fit his crimes?

I will argue that Candide's punishment did fit his crimes. If someone is living under my roof and feeding off of my wealth, his defilement of my daughter is an insult to my hospitality. It is a very reasonable punishment. Does it actually matter if Candide and Cunegonde were ignorant to what they were doing? No, it does not! Does it lessen the evil, of an act, if a man kills twenty people because he thought he was freeing them from a life of misery? I don't think the judge or jury would think so. Would a person's, who thinks that the punishment is not fitting, opinion change if Candide had intercourse with Cunegone? It should not. From a small kiss to intercourse, they both take advantage of the baron.
The real question is, "Do we consider all evil the same? Or are they at different magnitudes?" I think all evil is the same. Why should we discriminate in our punishment if the perpetrator is of different age, race, condition, gender, etc.? Stealing is stealing is stealing is stealing. I don't even know why I'm arguing this. I don't believe in this. I'm writing because of word count. Everyone is writing about how the punishment is not fitting so I decided to be devil's advocate. I can already see the flaws in this. "How about if they were stealing bread to feed starving families?" Bla bla bla: Life has hard choices.

How Do I Know What I Know?

Sitting here, I struggle to find something to write about. Trying to find out how I know what I know, I found out that I don't actually know anything. Do I know if there is an afterlife? I don't know. Do I know there is not an after life? I don't know. Every time I seem to find something solid, it is convincingly challenged, and I find out again that I still don't know. When I was young, I thought that being a nice was a valued thing for girls when going into a relationship. I learned this from my movies and my parents. Movies told me that the nice guy always wins the girl. My parents encouraged that thought also. After some experience, I realized  that being nice was far from a girl's priorities. If you're nice, you get whipped, used, and friend zoned. You kind of have to be a jerk to get a girl to be attracted you. Then, again, is the girl worth it if she is only into jerks? Is it worth going through the whipping, getting used, and friend zoning for a girl who sees the good qualities you exhibit? I have no idea. It all comes with discernment. I don't think there's one way you can treat everything. Yeah, why not? Be an asshole sometimes. Be a nice guy the others. That's my answer. My "half-knowledges" come from the testings of what people have taught me through my own experience.

The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living? And Who is the Modern Gadfly?

The unexamined life is the life that chooses to be without struggle. Why does this seem like such a bad thing? If something seems absolute, why question it? Why give up that stability? Could absolute truth even exist in our reality?

I believe that absolute truths exist in our world. Finding those truths is extremely, unbelievably difficult. I think it's near impossible to find even one absolute truth. 99.9999999999% of us will, in my opinion, never get there. I do think that most of us can get close, and that's what we should all strive for. If absolute truth is out there, we must try to get there as close as we possibly can. To live the unexamined life is to give up on these truths. IT IS OUT THERE. To ignore it, you might as well be dead. I would like to think that we made a deal when we were given the gift to experience life. You can't have life without struggle or death. If you're not struggling with something, you're dead. Vice-Versa.

This ties in with perfectly with Gadflies. Some people think they have found their absolute truths. How can that be? In response to that notion, the Gadfly pokes holes in their "absolute" truths. Many people hate that their boat is being rocked and, in some cases, sunk. Who does this today?

Jon Stewart is the perfect example of the Modern Gadfly. On the famous his famous interview with Bill O'Reilly, O'Reilly tries to show a point that it is ridiculous that Common, the rapper, is even at an event in the White House. O'Reilly asserts this by saying that Common supports cop killers.  He says a guy like that should not even be invited out of all the candidates that could be chosen. Jon Stewart responds by first saying that he does not think, if he was Common, that he would support them for killing cops but, instead, support them because he thinks they are innocent. Then, Jon Stewart has the perception of a hawk. He starts to list people that should not be in the White House according to Bill's logic.Jon uses Leonard Peltier as an example to Bill, and Bill brushes it off as nothing. Jon, then, calls him on his bull and says it is the exact same thing. Jon lists Bono, Bob Dylan, and Springsteen (All have been to the White House). They were all people who showed some support of convicted criminals and murderers. Bill O'Reilly tries to say it is different because their songs did not directly say that they were innocent. Jon, again, calls him on his bull because it is the exact same thing. Then, Jon does the greatest burn in the world. He calls out the Fox network by saying that they are a selective outrage machine. If they are going to call out Common, they must also be outraged by all these other artists. Why do they call out Common? Is it because he's black? Is it because he raps? Well, that's left to the viewers to think. Yep, Jon is definitely a Modern Gadfly.

Eulogy of Jeremiah Ilao

Jeremiah, as a little child, was very peculiar. Unlike many children around him, the unexplored was not a frightening place for him; he embraced it. This was not always a good thing. Sometimes. it got him into some trouble. One time, as candy vendor was passing by his home, Jeremiah thought it would be a good idea to chase it. As he was running after it, he bumped into a group of thugs who almost through him off a bridge. He escaped only by his Grandpa being right behind him to scare off the thugs. Another time, he thought it would be a great adventure if his 4 year old sister were to put him in a suitcase once. After being locked in there for 4 hours, he realized that it was not as fun as he planned. Nevertheless, this ambition did separate him from others (in a good way). He would participate in things that other kids were too shy or too "cool" to do. This made his childhood much richer. He never grew out of it so he was always the goofy kid. He didn't take what others thought into account so the things that would spill out of his mind were kind of silly. Though, even if he were criticized for it, he wouldn't even care. He just loved to laugh. Though as he grew into high school, he was not as ambitious as he was then. Every now and again, you could see the twinkling of that ambitious youth come out of him.

Jeremiah established a foundation of what he stood for in elementary school. Through great teachers and role models, he came to an idea that would decide how he lived his life. The world was not black and white to him, and some problems in the world that his figures would present and challenge him with were not easy. He realized that some problems did not have absolute solutions to them. So what did he decided? He decided to strive for and struggle with it. He knew that if he ever settled; truth and righteousness would be lost.

Did he ever told you what his last name meant? Ilao, in the language of tagalog, means light. He was the light to kids who would have missed opportunities of adventure, laughter, and new experiences. He was torch passed down from his teachers and role models to continue their teachings and values into his life. Jeremiah Ilao was this light. If he didn't write this himself, he would be very flattered.