The Tunnel

After watching "The Tunnel" section of the movie Dreams it first made me think of that in Shinto the human spirit is eternal. The tunnel it self was imagery to represent the passing of the spirits between the after life and real life. The video beings with the commander walking along train tracks towards a tunnel. Out of the darkness of the tunnel emerges a dog, which begins barking at the commander. After easing by the dog, the commander then continues into the tunnel. Just after exiting the tunnel the commander he begins to hear footsteps. These footsteps turn out to be a soldier that has died in his arms. Blue in the face to indicate he is dead, the commander tries to explain to the solder that he is daed. The soldier does not understand at first but soon returns to the tunnel. Next, a whole platoon of soldiers exits the tunnel and salutes the commander. They too are dead and do not realize it. The commander then apologizes for his actions and their resulting deaths. He then tries to explain that they are dead and should return. He asks them to return to the tunnel but they do not out of loyalty. They only leave when ordered. The commander was heading back to reality and the soldiers wanted to follow their commander back to reality. Also, this section of the movie made me think of the Bushido or the "Code of the Warrior" in Shinto. I felt that these men were also following out of a sense of loyalty and honor to their commander and callings as soldiers. They treated each other with respect even when confronted with the idea of their being dead.

The Way of the Pooh

Before reading this book, “The Tao of Pooh” by Benjamin Hoff, I had my apprehensions. First, I have only vague memories of Winnie the Pooh as a child and my only knowledge of Taoism is only what I have encountered in this Religion class. Well after reading the book, I can say that it was more enjoyable than I would have guessed before reading it. I enjoyed the use of Winnie the Pooh to help explain the concepts behind Taoism and more specifically the Wu Wei. It made things a lot more relatable for me. I enjoyed how he tried to explain how much easier things can be when “going with the” flow. I also enjoyed the concept of “Cottleston Pie” because I, myself, have a hard time excepting things the way they are sometimes. This leads to a lot of trouble for me sometimes because I arrogantly think I can change them. Overall, it is a good book that creatively explains Taoism.
Another big part of this book was the concept of the “Bisy Backson’s.” In the book, Benjamin Hoff tries to explain that many people are constantly busy in life searching for the “great reward” that he believes is non-existent. But, this search for this reward is what may be the motivating factor behind why these people are keeping themselves so busy. This never-ending search also makes them under value their current situation. He brings this up because this lifestyle goes completely against what Taoism teaches. This is made clear when Hoff says, ”If you want to be healthy, relaxed, and contented, just watch what a Bisy Backson does and then do the opposite (p. 95).” He brings up another great point with American culture in particular that our society emphasizes youthfulness and energy. These characteristics are not always positives according to Benjamin Hoff. He states, for instance, that in some cultures being old is held in high regard, as it is a sign of being wise.
Although I think there are many great concepts in Taoism, I cannot conclude that it solely would solve the “problem” with American culture and its individualistic ideals. We all could learn a thing or two from different cultures and religion and Taoism is just another case of this. The other main reason I think this by itself would not work is because there are so many different cultures and ethnicities in this country already. China, which is a collectivist culture, mainly consists of the Chinese (shocking I know), which I think makes it easier for them to come together and fight for the same goal. We have many different people which makes it harder to come together as one, although I think we can all agree that if we all slowed down some and began to care for one another a little more life could get easier for us all.

Buddism Assignment 1

There are many stereotypes that Buddhist practitioners have to deal with. One of the many is the idea that monks have a supernatural connection to their respective god. This is not true. They are just normal men that have an incredible connection with the religion. Their devotion can sometimes be confused with a supernatural ability to connect with their "god." This misconception can lead to stereotypes about their abilities as human beings. There is such a construed idea about their abilities that are myths that are created around these abilities that help foster stereotypes. According to Brad Warners' book entitled, "Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate," these men are "no more supernatural than any Catholic priest, Rabi, minister, shoe salesman, or fishmonger (Warner, XII)." Although this may sound like a negative aspect, this idea of monks being supernatural aids towards their survival as they rely on followers believing in these supernatural abilities. Brad Warner goes on to explain that some monks have survived quite well because of this fact. To prove this fact Brad talks about his own life. He goes onto explain that Buddhism and the practice of Zen is practiced by real people with real world problems. There is not some man on a mountain that just practices these techniques but the practice of Zen can be used by regular people and usually are. With all of the stereotypes that are out there, the general public can sometimes get a skewed idea of what Buddhism is all about. Brad Warner notes this is his book when he says, "Authentic Buddhism doesn't always come packaged the way we imagined it could." This quote gives an insight into the idea that Buddhism does come with many stereotypes that are just not true. With all of the stereotypes associated with Buddhist Monks, there is one overlapping ideal that is true and Brad Warner comments on it. This ideal is that Buddha “was not full of shit when he said the cause of suffering could be uprooted and you can put an end to it once and for all. Whether this is accomplished because people feel a supernatural aspect to a religion or because people are just trying to commit themselves to their religion makes no difference. The purpose is the same, to show people an alternate way to life and its problems.

Assignment #2 - Success and Liberation

5 Songs Related to Success:
1) Drake Ft Trey Songz, "Successful," Rap (2010) *Explicit*
2) Pink Floyd, "Money," Rock N' Roll (1973) *Explixit*
3) Notorious B.I.G, "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems," Rap (1997) *Explicit*
4) Gang Starr, "Moment of Truth," Rap (1998)
5) Eric B. and Rakim, "Paid in Full," Rap (1987)

Video for Success:

5 Songs Related to Liberation:
1) The Beatles, "Revolution 1," Rock N' Roll (1968)
2) Bob Marley, "Redemption Songs," Reggae (1979)
3) Akon, "Freedom," R&B (2008)
4) Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "I Won't Back Down," Rock N' Roll (1989)
5) Stevie Wonder, "Free," Pop (2009)

Video for Liberation:

Just like last weeks assignment one aim was considerably easier to find songs related to it and this week that aim was, success.  I found myself thinking of songs off the top of my head that I wanted to use for success.  Liberation, on the other hand, took a lot more time to find songs.  I do not know if this is because there are so little of them or that my personal knowledge of music in general is more limited than most.  It was challenging to find songs and artists you never heard of.  I found several songs by thinking of groups of people that had been recently liberated from oppression and searched by topic rather trying to think of specific artist.  There were a couple of things I noticed now that I can compare the two weeks against each other.   I noticed that some of the same artist that I found singing songs for community service last week were some of the same artist that I found songs for liberation.  An example of this is the two Bob Marley songs I chose.  Also I noticed that the songs having to deal with liberation the artist spoke of liberation differently.  Some spoke of literal meanings of being liberated or freed from some form of oppression and others spoke of liberation in more abstract ways.  It just showed me that there are varying ideas of what liberation is.   I believe that the biggest difference between the Hindus’ ideas of what success is is the materialistic aspect to American culture.  A vast majority of the time that a songs deals with success in popular American culture it usually involves getting money, power, cars, houses, etc.  This was exactly the case that I ran into when finding songs about success.  I believe this is due the power we give these inanimate objects in todays culture.  The current culture in America is that what we owe defines us and more importantly what we do not owe as a result drives us to fill a void that can never be filled.  But thats just my take, let me know what you think.

Assignment #1 - Pleasure and Community Service

5 Songs Related to Community Service:
1) USA for Africa "We Are The World"--Charity song done by supergroup USA for Africa (1985)
2) Ben Harper "With My Own Two Hands"--Reggae (2003)
3) Bob Marley "One Love"--Reggae (1965)
4) John Lennon "Imagine"--Rock 'n Roll (1971)
5) Toby Keith "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue"--Country (2002)

Video for Community Service:
John Lennon's "Imagine" (1971)

5 Songs Related to Pleasure:
1) David Lee Roth "California Girls"--Rock n Roll (1985)
2) Prince "1999"--Rock n Roll (1976)
3) Notorious BIG "Party and Bullshit"--Rap (1993)*Explicit*
4) Rick Ross "Magnificent"-- Rap (2009)*Explicit*
5) Slim Thug "So High"--Rap (2010)*Explicit*

Video for Pleasure
David Lee Roth's "California Girls" (1985)

Of these two aims, the more prominent of the two was definitely pleasure.  I noticed it was very easy to find songs that had to deal with pleasure and found myself having a hard time picking just because of too many choices.  For community service, there were far less examples.  I think the most obvious reason for this is peoples appeal to pleasure themselves than to perform community service.  And in popular culture the saying goes "Sex Sells" and all 5 of my songs in the pleasure aim mention beautiful women.  Also, drugs were very prevalent in the pleasure songs.  I did find more songs for community service than I originally thought but most were made for some charity function.  I was hoping to find artist that solely focused on social issues and community service and there was not much I found.  I did learn about some of the work Bono of U2 has done but there are not many others like him.  I also noticed with the songs dealing with pleasure they almost always-included sex, drugs and money.  I think the prevalence of this in today’s music is not because people’s idea of what pleasure is has changed but that societies ability and willingness to publicly express this has changed.  In the past, it was taboo to speak of sex in public but for some it’s a conversation visited daily and I think our music reflects this change.  Based on what the Hindu believe about community service, I believe that all though there are not many songs in quantity they do represent what the Hindu believe which is commitment to help others.  With pleasure however, I believe that American Pop culture does show how we seek pleasure it does not show how we do it intelligently.  Most examples of pleasure I found in popular culture showed complete excess with no self-control in place.  Although I think there are people out there that do not have self-control, many of us do know how to seek pleasure intelligently.  I do feel though as America has earned the title of the nation of excess.  Overall, I believe that there is just as much community service happening as pleasuring it is just popular culture focuses on what sells/entertains the best.