Please answer BOTH questions 1 and 2:
1. On p. 138, Dan states, "There are no ordinary moments!" Soc agrees. Considering the other ideas in the novel, what does this statement mean? Have you ever been bored? If so, how would Soc or Dan react to your 'boredom'? If you could change society, would you redefine the concept of 'boredom'? Please explain.
2. On p. 161, Soc uses a equation to define "happiness." First, what does this equation mean? Next, Think about your own life. If Soc knew about your life, would he say that you are a 'happy person'? Third, how does your life relate (or NOT relate) to the equation? Finally, how does the equation relate to the concept of "satori" described earlier in the chapter?
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Question 1:
cosidering the other ideas in the novel , this statement means there are not ordinary moments , only there are ordinary moments when you think so....or you can't use up your time and change your time become ordinary accidentally...
of course , i have ever been bored many times , especially when i am alone.
Soc or Dan can't react to my boredom. sometimes , i don't know why i was sad, bored...even i don't know what that felling is.
but i think that if you can feel sad , you also feel happy if you want , it depends on you...as long as you don't want a lot of things, also don't be so ambitious , satisfy with everything which you're having .for example : you are walking on the street , i feel bad , bored because of pollution and smoking of motocycle as well.
but if you fall down in the hole suddently which they digged in order to pull out the water when it's flood, and there are not any body can help you... standing in the hole , what will you think? i guess that "a moment ago , i'm very happy , why i can't know that ? i wish that i can return that moment ... i'm very silly" .
if i could change society , i would delete the concept of boredom . in order that our would would not have the sadness and only have the happiness ... for the reason , sadness and happiness are the concept which the people created , why don't we delete it if we can.
question 2:
this equation
happness =satisfaction : desires
the more desires you want , the less happiness you get ... in the same way , the more satisfaction you feel by yourself , the more happiness you get ...
the happiness directs ratio with satisfaction . Meanwhile , desires inverse ratio ... it means the more satisfaction and also the less desires , the happier you are .on page 161"you are rich if you have enough money ....the capacity to enjoy less" ==> are ways to get happier.
this quote means let you acquiesce with what you 're having instead of try to change everything to be better , but is it really better?
what is good , what is bad ? who know?
if Soc knew about my life , he would say i am not a happy person ...because i 'm really a abitious person , i never acquiesce with myself , with what i am having as well . i am always worried of my future , my household . i can't live satisfactorily.... but i'm happy right now . i always think about the hole story which my friend told me ...that's why i feel happy . but i never stop trying to create my future ... i'm am ambitious person.
my life doesn't relate to the equation. my life equation is
the happiness= the desires + satisfaction.
i'm not sure about SATORI, socrate said that satori is ZEN concept which occurs when attention rests in the present moment, when the emotion are open and body is relaxed ...something like that. i'm not sure about that , in my opinion , SATORI is a concept which makes your brain and mind free ...not really concentrate on anything but only let your mind concentrate on what it really wants, it is really dreamy .... the equation is also like that ...we can't know how much the happiness is , what is the happiness ...how much the satisfaction is enough , how much desires for us to maximize the happiness... it depends on you and the way you accept which you are having.
1. This statement means that everything you do it is never the same, even putting on a pair of shorts. Dan has already done this action hundreds of times, but if he does it without putting attention on it, it happens that he could put both legs into one pant leg, loose balance and fall on the ground. On p. 151 he says: “Meditating on action is different from doing it”. Because simply doing something is like letting a “self conscious someone performing”. It often happens to me when I am driving and I am headed to the same destination every day: I am looking at the road, at the lights, at the interceptions, but my mind is wandering in another place. Instead, when I don’t know the road, my attention is focused on it: I am meditating on it and so I make less wrong things. The same thing happens when I am cooking something that I am used to cook: my mind wanders and the result is that it can outcome without salt or something else. The point is that “The warriors is here, now” (p.164), and “it doesn’t matter what you do, only how well you do it”(p.168). The boredom of doing something or of watching something is a result from creating categories for everything. Names and categories make things becoming dry and boring concepts, obscuring the vivid perception, because “you see only memories of things”(p.159). So Socrates says that you have to “lose your mind” before you can appreciate your senses. To redefine the concept of boredom there shouldn’t exist fixed schedules, names and categories, but we need of these things in our society.
2. The equation means that Happiness is in inverse proportion to your Desires, that is that the more you desire, the less you can be happy. Only when you have completely satisfied your desires you are really happy. So there is two ways to be happy: or you can satisfied all your desires, or you are able to cultivate a simple lifestyle of few desires. According to me the first way is impossible to fulfill and the second one is very hard to cover. If Socrates knew about my life he would say that I am not a “happy person” because I have always something to reach. From the littlest things like that pair of shoes that I saw in that stall to the biggest ones, such as to have a good career and to thrive in my job and in my life. I think that this equation reflect a real state of being, but also that aspirations make you do your best every day. So you have to find a balance point: find accomplishment in what you have, “here and now”, distinguishing from what you further desire to what you really need, heading always to the future. I think that when you do your best you are accomplished, you can sleep well and you are happy at the moment. “Satori is the warrior’s state of being”: when attention rests in the present moment and you are acting “correcting every error, no matter how small” (p.152), you can be satisfied and happy.
The equation of happiness; the equation needs two values: Satisfaction and Desires. It is too simple to understand just like fractions in mathematics. When the denominator is greater than the numerator the result goes to cero (0). Otherwise, the result goes to infinite. Talking the same Soc’s language if your desires are greater than your satisfaction’s moments you probably would have a few moments of happiness. But, this means that you have to identify and know the differences between your needs and wants. We always want everything. We always are thinking in I want this or I want that. But do we really need it? That’s the question we must do to ourselves.
Thinking in my life, my parents brought me up in a simple lifestyle. They could give me a lot of things but they didn’t. They only give me things that I really need. Now, I am doing the same way they though me. I have to decide if the thing I really want is going to be necessary. For example: The cell phones. I think is a better example. Why do you want to buy the last cell phone in the market? Are you going to use all the features that it has? Or do you really need a cell phone that permits you to communicate with other people? We know that having a last cell phone is cool, but is it necessary? Is it our really need? I think your really need is to be communicated with people.
Really, I don’t know if Socrates will say if I am a happy person or not. But I know that I am trying to live and enjoy every moment in my life. My daughter and parents are in Venezuela and I miss them but I made a change in my life, I took a decision and I have to be responsible. Nor way backs neither to take a run-up.
Socrates said that Satori is when attention rests in the present moment, when the body is alert, sensitive, relaxed, and the emotions are open and free. Satori is the warrior’s state of being. I think that Satori is part of the equation. Satori carries us to accomplish a goal and feel satisfaction about that. For example the gymnastic championship, Dan felt satisfaction, he felt satori.
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“There are no ordinary moments!” I think we do our ordinary moments. Life is full of extraordinary moments. The point is that we have to know how enjoy those moments. The best way to enjoy those moments are delighting and taking pleasure about every second of our life. If we live an ordinary life, we are living in a monotonous life and this makes our life boring. We have the freedom to do everyday whatever we want. We have to take advantage of that. Living a monotonous life can carry us several problems like depression; we could try to kill ourselves.
Every people in the world have been bored more than once and I am not the exception. I am not perfect. I don not know how Dan or Soc can react about my boring state, but I always try to do something different. A minimal thing I do can make the difference and change every moment in my life. I try to enjoy it at all with my wife.
My father always told me, don’t be an ordinary man, and be an extraordinary one. I can say the same but changing a few words. Don’t live an ordinary life be an extraordinary life. That means that we have to enjoy every moment in our live and we have to remember that is the unique life that we have and the time always goes forward.
Error in this sentence at the end.
I wrote Don’t live an ordinary life be an extraordinary life.
I try to write this Don’t live an ordinary life, Live an extraordinary life.
1、I think the meaning of “There are no ordinary moments” is that every moment is different from the other moments, even you do the same thing at different moment. Dan does some movements every day. I think at first he just repeats every movement time by time. So he just stays the beginning and doesn’t make progress. I think I have to do everything like doing this thing first time, even we do this thing every day. Because in this way, we can find some new things and learn more experience. Because we don’t just repeat the same thing in our daily lives.
I don’t like ordinary or everybody do the same thing and I like different. If I could change society, I will define the concept of “boredom” is that don’t change something or do something same with others. Everyone does the same thing. It’s boredom. In this case, people don’t thing by themselves, just fallow others. We have to make different. Every moment is new. Everything is a new thing. Whatever we do this thing every day or just one time.
2、Soc use Happiness=satisfaction/desires to define “happiness”. I think the meaning of this equation is that you will be happy if you have few desires and satisfy your situation. Conversely, you won’t be happy if you have a lot of desires and not satisfy most of desires. I think desires of human are unlimited. We have to study to control our desires. Sometimes, we are not happy, because we want to own many things. But we don’t have enough energy or ability to own them. So we are confused and not happy. For example, when we have 1000 dollars, some people are satisfied, but some people are not satisfied and they want to have 2000 dollars. When they have 2000 dollars, they want to have 3000 dollars as well. So there is no ending for these people, they never are satisfied, so they never feel the real happy. We have to understand our desires are unlimited. I think if you want to own happiness, you have to learn to make satisfaction by yourself at first.
Maybe Soc will say that you are happy girl, but not enough. Sometimes I want to make everything perfect. I don’t satisfy something, because I think I can do better than that, but I didn’t do. But I think I have an advantage is that I never have many desires. Sometimes when I want to own something, but I can’t due to many reasons. I will find many reasons to persuade myself that thing is not fit for me or that thing is not enough good. So I will give up and feel relax and happy.
1.The statement “There are no ordinary moments!” means in our life, every time, every moments are the special. We don't have a normal moments and that is why Socrates always say “ Just do your best!” or “Concentrate”. We don't waste our every special moments and they are very precious. I often feel a bore;when I'm forced to do something, when I have to listen serious story and so on. When Socrates and Dan see me they will say “What a waste! You have to cherish your life more and more.”. And I think so too. If I can realize that there are no ordinary moments and I can feel it like Dan, my life will change quite a lot. I will enjoy every moments, I will think every moments and I will concentrate every moments. If I could change society, I want to redefine the concept of “boredom” but maybe I can't do that because it's very difficult to live every moments and sometime it's very exhausted thing for the people. Changing the concept is important for people to realize these things but more important thing is people realize these things on their own.
2.The meaning of the equation, “Happiness=Satisfaction/Desires” is if your desires and satisfaction is the same, you can get happiness, also if your desires are more than satisfaction, you can get real happiness. Socrates also said “cultivate a simple lifestyle, of few desires;that way you always have a rich money.” However, people have a lot of desires but it's difficult to satisfy everything so their satisfaction will less and less. It's mean that it's difficult to get real happiness for the most of the people. Also I have a lot of desires but I don't get the satisfaction so if Socrates know my life, he won't say I'm a happy person. We always live with our desires and we can't throw away them. We have to live our desires so if we can satisfy a simple life and have a few desires, our life will be a wonderful one because we can gain on “real” happy person. When you come out your hesitation, realized and get the truth, you can understand “satori”. So if you understand why you can't satisfy and what is the problem that you have so many desires, and if you can get the ability to cultivate a simple life, it's mean you understand “satori”.
Q1.
After the accident, Joy told Dan that “There are no accidents, Danny. Everything is a lesson. Trust your life. Everything has a purpose.”(p.96, l.22) And, Socrates also said that “most athletes fail to expand this clarity into daily life.”(p.146, l.7) As these quotes show, every happening in my life has a meaning. And, this Dan’s state means that there is a meaning even in sitting on the rock. So, if we live each moment actively and seriously, meanings will appear and we can find them.
Of course, I sometimes feel boredom. But, I also realize that there is no ordinary moment in my life. I always try to enjoy every moment, and consider the meanings. However, I still TRY to do that. So, Soc and Dan probably say to me that when you can enjoy every moment and laugh at every happening naturally, you certainly realize this thought.
If I could change society, I would redefine the concept of “boredom” to “realizing time.” This means that if you feel boredom, it shows you have to review something and realize new idea or thought. In my experience, when I am bored, I always think about how to make this boredom enjoyable. I sometimes get new idea I have not realized before through this thinking. For example, when I was a freshman, I realized that to think about how to make boredom enjoyable is very enjoyable. I had a lot of free time at that time. So, this realization really shocked me. Since then, I found many enjoyable things, and I became active person.
Q2.
This formula means that if we want to get bigger our happiness, there are two ways. One way is to get bigger our satisfaction such as money, things, information. The other way is to get smaller those desires: money, things, information.
Soc would say my life is unhappy. That is because I have a lot of desire. I always think that I can make current situation get better. I am not always satisfied with every situation. To try to make situations better may be good behavior. But, Soc would say that the behavior is also desire, and let all situations flow.
Of course, it is natural that we cannot explain all happiness with this formula. But, this formula teaches me that do not expect someone and environment. It also means that desires, such as to want someone and environment move in a way you like, should throw away. That is because it leads to get bigger our desires.
There are many meanings of “satori” in Japan. So, I am not sure what is true meaning. But, in the novel, it is like something zone and state where we can feel, act, and move our body automatically. And, this meaning of “satori” leads us to lessen our desires. That is because the state which we can feel, act, move our body means that we are flowing the moments. And then, we never expect our future look back our past, but we just live each moment at each place. There appear no desires, because desires are from future and past. It is very difficult to get “satori” for us. But, I really agree with that “ satori” will give us true happiness.
1, “There are no ordinary moments!” means that every moment is different one. If it apparently can be look like same, there are not same moments, day, time. Besides, every moment and behavior has their reason respectively as Dan thought why students laughed at him when he was in the movement of T’ai Chi. So it is the meaning of Dan’s statement that all moments are different and have reasons. Of course, I have ever been bored at many times. For example, when I was in Japan and attended my class of university, I didn’t know whether the class was important or meaningful for me, so I got bored and did another thing like mailing. Although I didn’t think my behavior especially then, I think Soc and Dan will advise me to make much of that time, because the moment are not ordinary and come just at that time. Moreover, I will be told that I have to live my “now”.
2, The equation of “happiness” is used to mean that it is difficult to define happiness firmly and happiness depends on the situations that are what you desire and how you got satisfaction as a result. An amount of desire, satisfaction, and happiness is endless thing, so we can’t measure happiness in just itself and compare happiness to desire and satisfaction. In my case, I think I may be looked like happy person by usual people, because I can live with family, go to university, play and study as I like without any uneasy to lead a usual life. But if I am seen from Socrates and I who have read this equation, I am not completely satisfied with myself and my present situation for dream. That is why I am not happy person in this meaning. Besides, I will take a look at my life to show how my life relates to the equation. First I agree with this equation. It is the reason that I hardly thought I am totally happy compared to my desire as Soc says. Happiness is an abstract feeling, so I need some comparison to know how happy I am. In short, my life relates to the equation as far as happiness concerned. Lastly, “satori” is a particular thought based on Zen concept. Satori needs to know what and how something is going on at the present, so the understanding of happiness by the equation relates to satori.
1- he meant that in our life there are no such things as ordinary moment because we should enjoy every minute in our life as if it is our last minute in our day. When ever that moment end it is just gone and we can’t got it back to enjoy it again. I believe we shouldn’t be board because as I said every minute is unique and it won’t come again even though sometimes we could feel our self drowning in our busy life an there is no time for our selves but this the real life and instead of being bored we should just feel it and enjoy it. In my opinion it is not easy thing to deiced that we can change our society about what they believe or what they do however I would start with the people who are close to me to help them focus in the thing that they are doing as if I was the last thing they are going to do in other words that is mean to do every thing with love and a lot of care and just enjoy it with your feelings and emotions and be happy with it our and that is going to give us the best feeling in the world which is satisfaction with your life .
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2-happenies means that to feel satisfy with what you have or in deferent definition is to have every thing you want ( desires) to satisfy you in your life. Yes he could say that in my life because I’m really happy with every thing that I have so far in my life and I’m enjoying it . My life it is related to that quotation; as he said to be happy simple life with a few desire will satisfy you and makes you feel like a king. Anther important thing that we should know the different between WANT and NEED in order to enjoy your life in peace.
It is related to satori. It is mean to mediate your actions and moves and focus while doing it and enjoy it and it is lead us to the same thing which is happiness because when we do something with our attention and care and the most important thing with love. You can easily obtain your goal in happiness.
Question 1
"There are no ordinary moments!"
I think that this sentence have a lot of meaning. We live in complexive society, and it has a lot of types. Although we do something repeately, it has own meaning. It means that every situation has different meaning.
Actually, we don't like boredom. We always try to avoid this, and we try to find something interesting. So, how can we find something interesting? It just depends on our mind. Even if I fell sad, it will be fine when you think positively. All of things depends on how you think about it. Therefore, we have to try to avoid sadness, and try to take a cheerful view of life.
Question 2
“Happiness=Satisfaction/Desires”
It means that happiness is in proportion to satisfaction, and is inverse proportion to desires. So that, if you have a lot of satisfaction, you can be happy. Ethier way, if you have a lot of desires, you can't be happy. I usually have a lot of desires and I couldn't satisfy my life. I always want to get more, want to be perfect. I guess that most people are like to Dan, or me. Socrates want we to be happy, and he explain easy way to be happy. For example, Brazil's GNP is less than half of U.S.A's GNP, but the Brazilian level of happiness is higher than the American one. It shows that happiness is not related with money. Happines is just depends on our minds. So we have to control ourselves to get more satisfication. It will help to improve your life.
Elyas Mourcy
The statement, “There are no ordinary moments!” is meant to indicate that no two moments are the same and each one should be treasured. If not treasured, each moments should at least be used to its fullest potential. In the same context, the author goes on to tell about how Dan begins to make a special effort in the gym with every visit he makes. One can tell from the comments made by his fellow gymnasts that Dan is pushing himself very hard and making a special effort to make sure each practice counts. In regard to being bored, of course I have been bored before! Socrates and Dan would probably think very bad of this and encourage me to make every moment worth while. They would tell me to be creative with my free time and learn to enjoy the moments that I have. If I could redefine the concept of ‘boredom’ in society, it would just be another name for free time. Because everyone in America is always so busy, free time is very valuable. If boredom became another word for free time, people would start to treasure being bored and it would be something to be envious of.
2. The equation is happiness=satisfaction/desires. Socrates explains that this means that a person can only be happy and rich if they have enough money to fulfill all their desires. In order for a poor person to be happy, they have to have only a few desires. Socrates also says that this option is the most simple and wise option for a true warrior. If socrates knew about my life, he would think that I am a very happy person. This is because I feel that I have much more than my money deserves to buy or in other words I have more desires fulfilled than my money is worth. In the same way that Socrates would think that I am a blessed person, this is also how the equation relates to my life. I am very happy = Lots of satisfaction/ not many desires. I have always received more than I truly need or want ,and for this reason I am happy. The equation is similar to the concept of ‘satori’. Satori has a variety of meanings but the one that I think the book means is being happy in the moment that you are in. This is related because is one is happy in the present moment, that means that they have no desires and that every thing is good as it is. If one has no desires, they don’t need any money to buy their desires and are thus, satisfied. As the equation says, Happiness= Satisfaction/desires, and thus Satori means one is happy.
1) There are no ordinary moments means that moments in your life are never similar to the others. Even if everything is same such as place, people, events, you are not same because you are older than the first one. Your reactions will be different. When you expose same situation, for example; abandoned by your girlfriend, you feel different and behave more consciously because of your experiences. Experiences will bring you to control yourself. Therefore, you will learn to relish from life and boredom will increase. You will be happy. If there were ordinary moments, if everything was same, life would be bored. Nobody wants monotone life. Although I have not ordinary moment, I am sometimes bored. This is real. All people may be bored. I can’t guess how Socrates and Dan would react to my boredom but I am happy with my boredom. If everything was great in my life, I think I would not enjoy after a while and boredom occurs again. I don’t want to redefine boredom because I am happy with my boredom as I said before.
2) Equation is that happiness equals to satisfaction divided by desire. In mathematics, as divider is getting bigger, result is getting smaller. Quote means that you can be happy as much as your desires. According to Socrates, you are rich if you have enough money to satisfy all your desires. There are two ways to satisfy yourself. One of them is to have a lot of money; you can earn, borrow or steal. The other one is to reduce desires. A warrior’s aim is unreasonable happiness. For unreasonable happiness, warrior should decide what he needs and he wants. Wants are endless so warrior choose second way, easiest one.
If Socrates saw my life, he would think I am not happy person. Most people have different ambitions like me; best job, best life, best house, best furniture, best, best… this is unlimited. In my whole life, I wanted to have best of everything but I saw this is impossible. Now I am trying to live with my possesses. This is the easiest way to be happy instead of to be upset by the thing that you don’t have.
Satori means instant attention. This occurs when body alert and emotions are open. Satori is important during a competition. Satori is the key to the gate for a warrior. Time is always now for a warrior and also that time is important during satori. Past or future is not important you need to think that time. Satori is related to happiness and this equation because a warrior must focus moment, not past or future.
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