In this blog posting, I shall discuss about some reflections of my own.
Values we adhere to and experiences we go through often change our emotions based on the circumstances. Happiness is often associated with laughter and physical gains, but it goes much deeper than just that. Fortunes and positions of power only bring us temporary satisfaction and self-fulfilment, but what we really want to achieve in life are friendships and love. When we do feel real happiness, we think of such memories with nostalgia when we look back at them. It teaches us to treasure what we have around us, and not take them for granted. "No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change." ~Barbara de Angelis
Sadness takes on many different forms and comes in different levels. Sadness can be losing a loved one; it can be losing in a competition; it can be losing a precious item or it can also be failing to meet expectations. Whatever the case, our body's most natural reaction would be to shed tears and cry one's heart out, hoping to forget all the grief and agony one suffered. Sadness makes us reflect upon our own memories and experiences, and change ourselves for the better. Even though sadness is said to be the opposite of happiness, a healthy body requires a balanced mix of all these emotions.
Anger can have forms such as revenge, hatred, and dislike. Hatred is commonly seen in racial prejudice, dislike could be due to envy or jealously, and revenge, when one is wrongly accused of something or has been done a great wrong. Anger is mostly said to be harmful to one's soul and body; when we frown we get more wrinkles or; a frown uses more muscles than a smile. However, I feel that anger can be beneficial if we know how to express it and use it to our advantage. Anger can commonly lead to violence, depression, and various mental disorders. In order to prevent ourselves from falling prey to these effects, we need an avenue to change this anger into something we could use to our advantage, similar to sadness above.
In the world of media, advertisements have become a part of our everyday lives. What makes advertisements successful is that they appeal to our emotions, like our sense of humour. Advertisements which really touch our hearts reflect our personalities and the values which we live upon. Two advertisements, which I will mention below, have story-lines which really touched my heart (and can relate to based on our experiences).
This video was shown in the Assembly session, but I had watched the short clip a few months back. If one ignores the last few seconds of the video and follow the plot closely, the last scene where the girl plays the violin with amazing vigour and skill, represents the girl's anger of suffering over the past few months, by being bullied physically and tormented mentally. It is similar the eagerness of a caterpillar to "burst" out of its cocoon to become a magnificent butterfly. To me, I feel that this story is very relevant to our current society. Many of our disabled individuals are being ostracised by some members of our society, and we are able to see how someone else can save such an individual from giving up on himself.
The second video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZhJqhXpEio&feature=youtu.be
The underlying plot is very common in many advertisements we see today which promotes filial piety. The reason why this video stood out was because firstly, the language and culture, and secondly, the effective use of music. Third, the continuous emphasis of how the old mother is not being tolerated by her family members, and fourth, the scenes which the action are set in are much relevant to our society today. With the fast pace of today's society, we often neglect those who are closest to our heart, and those who looked after us in times of need, or when we are unable to look after ourselves. “百善孝为先”, which can be translated to filial piety is the most important among all virtues. Refer to the 24 Stories of Filial Piety, a collection of 24 stories of filial piety in Ancient China.
Our emotions are affected by our experiences, and our experiences shape our character and determine our strengths and weaknesses. Emotions are natural; and we should try our best not to hide behind a mask when we come into contact with others.
Dear Ivan,
ReplyDeleteI wish to point out a couple of points that I wish to make on your reflections. I feel that you are erasing the necessary difference between sentience and sapience. Scientifically and philosophically, sentience is generally accepted to be the difference between say, a clever robot and a fool, that one can actually feel and experience things while the other is algorithm based, it has no "self". Sapience, on the other hand, would be the difference between a tuna and a dolphin, or more accurately the difference between a person who is brain-dead and a person who is conscious. A tuna cannot interact with anything outside its species, while a dolphin has the intellectual capabilities to understand and react to other species. Simply put, sentience is to be able to feel, while sapience is to be able to think.
I need to show this distinction because I feel that the real distinction between us and other living beings is sapience. We are Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Our differentiation is because our species has invented great things like quantum physics, abstract mathematics, wars, television, and mass marketing, while the insects, which have been around for nearly the entire history of life on this planet, are still stuck with having six legs and no prosthetics to wear after one got broken. The other difference, is that our species defined the word "humanity". To a human, it is human to take care of another species. We have animal rights activists going around saving endangered species. You do not see the vultures saving tigers, do you? But humanity has a deeper meaning. In it, we eclipse many other species by being human. Only in humans do we have scruples over every action that we take, and ironically, only in humans have we found explanations to cover such scruples. Other animals, like the damselfish, may farm their food, while other animals, like the elephants, may keep graveyards, and still some other animals, like dogs, would follow their masters to the underworld. However, amongst other animal species, none embodiment humanity as much as man. Our emotions are meant to direct us. We feel guilt at commiting a wrong, because our history inculcates in our genes the need to help another human. We feel anger at a provocation, because to lash out and silence the provocation is the most efficient way to destroy it, if not the best way. We feel sadness at the loss of a loved one, because sadness makes us treasure what we have all the more. This is what I feel is our human spirit.
Regards,
Jian Shern
P.S.
The video about filial piety is adapted from the storyline of one of the Grimm brother's fairy tales, about two parents who made their aged father eat at the fireplace using a wooden trough and not at the table with a plate because he spilt food, and only stopped when the son made a trough for them to eat from when they grew old.
Thanks for commenting. I certainly did learn something new ("sapiens"), and understood a different viewpoint.
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