(NOTE to RW3: In class today I think I said that this week is the last Peaceful Warrior Blog post. I was incorrect. Next week is the last one. I apologize for my error).
Please answer BOTH questions
On p. 193, Soc says, "A fool is 'happy' when his cravings are satisfied. A warrior is happy without reason...Happiness is not just something you feel--it is who you are." What does this quote mean? Is there a such thing as "unreasonable happiness"? Is this something parents should teach their children, or should they let children discover it for themselves?
On p. 195, Soc tells Dan the story of Plato's Cave. Can you think of anyone in your life, anyone that you know, who is trapped in the cave? (this should be easy) Can you think of anyone who has escaped from the cave? (this is more difficult) Please be honest, and explain WHY you chose these people.
10 comments:
This quote means that most people feel happiness when their desires are satisfied and achieved. But, the real happiness is not even able to feel. The happiness is existence. So, Soc says that we are always happy because we are born and living.
And, I think there is an unreasonable happiness. We sometimes think that we will be dead someday. And, when we die, we do not have to think anything and also we cannot think anything. So now, everything does not matter. But, we have some tasks in front of us. Our feelings, emotions, environment, and lives make us do those tasks. So now, we just do that. If we do that and accomplish, it does not matter. If we did not, it also does not matter. I think most people have thought this kind of thing ever. This is unreasonable happiness.
And, it also does not matter whether we should teach or let children discover this thought or not. Some people will discover this thought. And, some people will teach this thought. But, some people will die without this thought. I think there is no big different.
And, all people have their caves like Plato’s story. Also, all people originally trapped the caves. For example, one of my friends thinks that young people should choose a passionate and high paid job such as a business person of big company, a doctor, and a lawyer. He thinks those are the best jobs for young people. And, he thinks low paid jobs are not the jobs we should pursue: such as public workers, manual labors, and fast food clerks. Of course, he knows that all of those jobs support big companies, doctors, and lawyers. But, he cannot widen his view. He can see only his world. And sometimes he makes us, me and my friends, upset.
And, I introduce my boss at my part time job I used to do as an escaped example. He did only part time job after graduating from a high school. He did not graduate from a university. And, he was absorbed in his hobbies: motor bikes, gambles, and women. However, as time went by, he began to worry about his job and life. He realized that he was not so young. But, he had a really ridiculous pride. So, he did not want to work at a bad condition work place. However, he could find only a job as a café restaurant clerk. Thanks to his pride, he worked very hard. After that, he realized that working as a clerk was very fun and had many possibilities to amuse customers and get money. He used to think that food services are very silly job. But now, strangely, thanks to his ridiculous pride, he thinks that all jobs have many possibilities. And, he teaches us the thought.
These two guys are very opposite. And, they are good examples to explain the Plato’s cave story. But, I think the former guy has his own life and destiny, also my boss has his own life and fate. So, whether the former guy realize the same thing as my boss or not, it does not matter.
The quote “A fool is 'happy' when his craving are satisfied. A warrior is happy without reason.....Happiness is not just something you feel-it is who you are.” is means that you should always happy and don't try to get happiness. Living in a world is most happy thing and warrior can feel it because they live every moments. Happiness is not a thing when you get a satisfaction. You can find it wherever and whenever. Just looking beautiful sky or flowers, you can feel happiness but there isn't any reason. Feel the wind, feel the seasons, everything will be happiness and warrior feel it every time,every moments. Parents don't need to teach it to their children because the most important thing to feel these happiness is realize these happiness by themselves. If parents teach this to their children, it's meaningless if children can't feel it or can't find anything from these things. I think everybody have an experience that feel happy just look beautiful things. This is the most basic and most important happiness.
I think “I” trapped in the cave because I have been the USA about 2 months but still I'm same as me when I was in Japan. I can't express my opinion in the class, I can't interrupt when Anthony or classmates speaking, and I'm still not good at thinking deeply about anything for example, thinking about the meaning of this book is also difficult for me. I still can't go out this cave. I accustomed this cave and I am imprisoned by these bad habits which I grew in my 22 years life. This cave makes me feel like I'm a not good person and I can't have confidence in me. It's very difficult for me to escape from this cave but I want to do it. I want to be a person like my classmates who speak their opinion clearly and with confidence.
And I think my friend could escape from the cave. When she was a elementary student, she always cried because she was bullied and she said she couldn't comfort even in her home. And she became think “Everybody don't need me.” However, she tried to escape this cave. She tried to be brightly and show smiles. She also talk to a lot of people(so my mother is also her friend). Gradually classmates who bully her stop it and she could male many friends. I always respect her courage to escape her cave and go outside.
“A fool is Happy when his cravings are satisfied. A warrior is happy without reason… Happiness is not just something you feel—it is who you are”. This quote means that all of us in this planet are happy when we have the things we want to have; not need or need it. But the material things only give us a bit of time of “happiness” and we confuse this “happiness” with the real happiness instead. “A warrior is happy without reason”, we have to be happy without any obligation. We have to be happy because we want to be. Happiness is something that you can’t buy at any store, at the internet or even you can’t ask somebody because we are all different. We all have a unique way to find our happiness. I think the unreasonable happiness we can find it when we have an internal peace and our mind is free about all preconceptions or predicaments. In my case I prefer to guide than teach my daughter how to be happy in this irrational world. I would like she can find her own way to happiness out.
I think all the people around the world are trapped in this cave. People live in a preconceptions’ world, full of predicaments influenced by the society. The worst part of the story, people don’t see happiness inside them otherwise people think that happiness is difficult to find. If I have to choose someone I choose myself. I’m not escaped at all because sometimes I return to the cave and sometimes I escaped from it, and so on. But I try always to be happy, to enjoy every single moment in my life with or without my wife or relatives. Every single moment is an experience that I am learning. I lived 3 years alone after my divorce. In that time I realized what was missing in my previous relationship and I learn about my errors. Another person who I could mention is my oldest brother-in-law. He is a nice guy, but he thinks happiness is buying or giving material stuffs or valuable things. He is going to marry his girlfriend. I asked him “why do you want to marry her?” and he answered me just because she has a job, I have a job, she is 23 years old and I am 28 years old. I never heard "Love" in his answers. But I think when I decided to marry again was because my wife and me complement each other, and we make feel each other like 10 feet tall. We love each other, not because I have a car or she is 23 years old, which is secondary. I think he is doing that because other cousins of him are getting married and he doesn’t want to be an exception.
First quote means that happiness is always connected with everything, so who got happy just because his cravings or desires satisfied is fool. But happiness is not just feeling and it came from past or future, but who feels happiness is I. Therefore, happiness is who you are. Because happiness is who you are, that you live as you need to be happiness without reason. In other words, to keep you live, happiness is necessary thing. That is very natural for warrior like Socrates. That is why, there is unreasonable happiness in this quote. As far as parents are concerned, I think they should not teach their children from the start. It will be better that parents encouraged their children to discover unreasonable happiness on their own with giving advice or a chance as if Socrates did to Dan in Peaceful Warrior.
The story of Plato’s Cave may be related to one of my students who were in my class when I was in Japan and worked at a prep school to enter a university as my part time job. She wanted to enter Tokyo University, which is the most difficult to enter and whose students are considered as very intelligent. However, she didn’t get high value of the deviation 6 months before the entrance exam, so in my class, I interviewed her. Thorough the interview, she looked like no motivation and it was because her reason to enter Tokyo university was that their parents and relatives have said her to so. She was imprisoned by the idea there were no university except for Tokyo University and didn’t have any other reason. I think she was in the cave of something like prejudice which she didn’t think by herself. Finally, she failed to enter Tokyo University and was so disappointed. Since then, I had not met with her and worried about her, but one day I came across with her again accidentally in the following year. Then, her face and motivation were totally different from what she had. She suffered from both having failed university and what she had been told by her family, and finally she got her purpose to enter university and seemed to study hard for her purpose. By the way, she got the qualification to enter university which she has chosen by herself. She escaped her cave and got her motivation as sunlight in that story after year of labor in the end. Besides, with that I was reminded her story in this journal, I wonder if I am caught by something even though I have not noticed that yet. If I find my cave, taking advantage of this, I want to be disillusioned!
The meaning of this quote is that a fool feels happy just when his cravings are satisfied. So fools have to satisfy their craving, they will feel happy. But warriors are happy for everything even without reason. They will make happy by themselves with nothing. They are optimistic people. They even have nothing, they will feel happy because they don’t have craving. They just enjoy something what they have own. They feel happy without reason, maybe just because they are living so they happy. Sure. I think this is parents should teach their children. There are so many imperfect things in this word. We have to accept when we can’t change them. If we have to satisfy all of our cravings, we will happy. In this case, we will feel very tired to live and maybe finally we won’t feel happy. On the other hand, our cravings are unlimited. So we should like a baby, sometimes they laugh without reason. We have to change ourselves to adjust our lives and to become happy.
I think most people are trapped in the cave. The wall of the cave is the illusions. Most people are imprisoned in the cave. Some of them always think many things and some of them live by other people’s way. They don’t think something by themselves. Some of them don’t know many things we have to accept and some of them want to become happy but they don’t know how to become happy. They just satisfy their desires though many ways. I think these people are all live in the cave. I think there are a few people can escape from the cave. Soc is the man can escape from the cave. As if he knows everything. I think it’s very difficult to escape from the cave because everyone has the illusions. Some people have few illusions and some people have more illusions. I think few people can live like a baby or Soc. So we have to find the sunlight from the dark cave. We should find a very different way to work out. We even never think about that but maybe it’s a right way to live. We have to save us by ourselves. We have to clear our mind and think everything by ourselves. Don’t think something which not necessary. Just focus on now and here and do our best. Finally, everyone can escape from the cave in this way.
The first quote means that usually people need a reason to be happy, instead a “warrior” is always happy because he has found that his life by itself means happiness. The way of the peaceful warrior takes to anywhere, it is only how the warrior lives that make his life special: it is the life of the peaceful warrior. “Unreasonable happiness” means to be happy without a clear reason, means enjoying every moment of life just because you are living and you can be aware of all the beatiful things that are surrounding you. If children are left by themselves in today’s society, it is quite sure they are manipulated by surrounding media, so I think that parents have an important duty. They have to teach to their children that happiness is something different from accomplishing all their cravings, and they have to start this teaching when the children are very young, showing them that an hug is more appreciated then a gift.
Thinking about the people I know, I see that everybody are accomplishing their duty every day, the most of them are tired of their life but they perserve in their style of life because it is the only one that let them to live and to take care of their family. Maybe their family needs only more presence and love, but in today’s society people are spurred to think that material things are the essential things to survive. They think feelings come after them.
Actually I can’t think of nobody who had put the feelings above material things. I think that if a person doesn’t stop for a moment thinking about this question, he will be aware of it only before diying, and then he will have many things being complained in his life.
1. the quote means
if you don't want to be a fool ...
be happy without reason all the world , because hapiness is not only just the way you feel but also how you safisfy with who you are ... act happy , be happy , you will be happy , you should accept your feeling , accept who you are ...it is the way of a warrior ...the happiness is always in yourself.
there are the unreasonable happinesses . in condition that you must accept who you are , satisfy your desire
the parents never teach their childen to discover the happiness by themselves. they said that if you want to be happy , you must do this , you must do that ... create the path from generation to gneration ..all the people treat , act in the same way ....
2.i think all people are trapped in the cave , maybe there is anybody has escaped from it ...
but in case just me escaped from the cave , will choose to stay in the cave forever ...because i don' t want to be alone . the world , the universe are very huge . how can i change it by myself , beginning with what ? i will let the world opposite to the way it should be forever ...
At first, most people have their own cravings, and I have it, too. I always want to get more and more, and if I had enough things what I wanted, I satisfied my life and I felt happy. People think that happiness is in proportion to satisfaction. At all times, people desire something that they want to have or want to do. However, warrior is happy without reasons. They are different from normal society. They don’t care about their possessions, or their jobs. They just try to get a special meaning in every time. From this, they can get an unreasonable happiness. However, it’s very difficult to have. I always think that reduce cravings in my life, and satisfy to my situation, but I have a tendency that I want something naturally. It’s very hard to avoid these things. Thinking positively is very important things in each life. If we have our children, we have to try to teach it. We should make them have an unreasonable happiness naturally, and we have to help them. It is duty of parents.
I think that all of people are trapped in the cave. Plato’s cave is very dangerous, and it can make people have stereotype. Sometimes we just believe what we can see. Sometimes it can be true, but sometimes it can be not. Even if situations are not true, people thank that these are whole thing in their life. Moreover, people satisfied their life. I think that most people live like these and me too. It’s very hard to find people who escape from Plato’s cave. In Korea, people said that a few percentages of members of nation can do. Buddhist priests can ignore side feelings and materials. This story gives to people a lot of meaning of their life.
Over here Soc means that fool people are happy when they win a race or having anew thing that they dream about. Then after a while they become unhappy because they got use to the old things and then they will start dreaming about another things. At the end they wont be happy because they will keep dreaming and dreaming. Happiness is not emotion or feeling. It is how you accept your self and the things around you. People should be happy for no reasons, just because they are a live. You should not be unhappy just because you did not go to a good school or you did not get a good job. This is the way it should be unreasonable happiness. Parents should teach their kid to be happy with no reason at all. They should teach them at the early age and make sure that they understand it very well. I think it is the parents duty.
I really don’t know pacifically someone who is trapped in a cave. But I do think that most of people in this world are in that cave the one Soc was talking a bout.
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