Thursday, April 27, 2017

Blog Reflection #3

This book keeps throwing me off left and right, and it seems as though one of the ways to help understand it better is through the work of re-reading certain parts. For example, I had to re-read the chapters of Spinoza and Locke a few times to grasp their meaning. Similar to the way Sophie noticed something new when she watched the Athens film again and noticed the postcard that read “Hilde” in one group. One of the parts I had to read more than once was when the novel stated that Hermes, the dog, actually spoke and said “‘Happy Birthday’” to Sophie when they were at the park on the bench. DOGS CAN’T TALK AND WE KNOW THIS. I think it's weird how Alberto continues to blame Hilde’s father for everything; such as this instance. There's no way a man all the way in Lebanon can make a dog talk all of a sudden. I'm really hoping Sophie is not buying that, and that she begins thinking outside the box. Another part I had to re-read was when Alberto called her Hilde yet again as she's leaving. They had just finished talking about the last time he called her Hilde and they both agreed that maybe it was Hilde’s father...but he says it again and it leads me to believe something's not right. I don't necessarily know how to explain it all with words, but I'm just getting some off vibes from Alberto now. It's like he's hiding something from Sophie, and she's getting pretty darn close to figuring it out.

Blog Connection #3

Well we have recently started the film Inception in class and of course it left me thinking about a few things. The entire concept of the movie, I think, is about what's real and what's not. More so as if to ask is it all a dream? What confuses me the most on all of this is the how the get into the dream state. I understand that they use some machine that makes a hissing noise and sends them into a dream state, but what exactly is it. Like how does it make them sleep? Is it a nerve type of thing? What happens if someone breaks it while they're in a dream? So many questions simply regarding the process, but more with how they wake up. What if, like normal people, they don't hear the alarm, therefore they don't wake up..how bad is that? Not to mention, is it bad to put yourself under by yourself..in case you don't wake up? I'm sure some of these questions will be answered throughout the movie, but they're just on the brain. My new question I began pondering is whether what's being said in the movie is true, such as how our subconscious acts and how they're represented. In the movie, our subconscious is represented as people; maybe even strangers. I once read something that said when we dream, we can't “make” a face we've never seen before. This means that every face in our subconscious is someone we've seen before at some point in time. Thus, could it be true that we dream of random strangers who are there to protect our mind?

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Post Spring Break Chapters

Over these past few weeks of reading Sophie's World, many chapters have caught my attention and left me questioning a few things. For example, in The Renaissance when Sophie had her dream about a girl sitting next to her and then the girl's father called her in and they shared a huge embrace, but Sophie found her gold cross chain on the bench. Then when she woke up, she found the same necklace from her dream under her pillow. Now, as we all know, this isn't the first time she has found something that belongs to Hilde. What I ponder is how this keeps happening? Mind you, Sophie is practically pondering her entire life and doesn't understand how Hilde's father seems to know everything; and I agree. It seems like he's always in the loop with everything that's going on, and not just with Hilde, with Sophie and Alberto too. I like how Sophie has relaxed a bit with Alberto and is really trying to get to the bottom of things with him. I thought it was a bit risky when she "stayed with Joanna" and went to meet Alberto at the old, abandoned church early the next morning. Maybe it's just because the set-up is weird--young girl, grown man, eight a.m., alone in an abandoned church. Anyways, once she got back to Joanna's and they had their whole talk about philosophy I was relived! It's odd to say, I know, but it just felt right that someone would call out how weird this entire situation is! For example, Sophie just sort of accepts this philosophy class and her mom just barely scratches the surface on questioning the little notes. I enjoyed these few chapters over break.

God and Fate v Free Will

In class, we are currently talking about God and getting into the topic of fate and free will. Now, I understand that everyone doesn't believe in God, but for the record I want to state that I am, in fact, a Christian and I do believe in God. I have no issues with anyone who doesn't believe in what I believe or believe in my religion, however, I do have an issue when anyone disrespects my religion and tries to degrade my faith. Everyone is entitled to have their own opinion, but I feel as though it should go without saying that everyone should respect what people believe whether they agree with it or not. 

Even though that's not what I wanted to talk about, it seems fair to mention it. Quite recently, Monday actually, we had a class discussion on God. It was here that I learned not many of my classmates believe in God. This doesn't offend me in any way, but it simply shocked me, and I can't quite explain why. I feel as though it's because all I've ever known is Christianity, and the vast majority of my friends are Christians as well. This was an eye opener to me--not saying that I didn't know there were people who didn't believe the same things I did--because I feel as though maybe I had become used to being in my "box" of comfortability. Our conversation showed me that sometimes you could be in a room full of people who just don't see eye to eye with you, and it's moments like these that tests who you are as a person: whether you stick to what you believe in or will you conform to those around you?