The Self
In a recent exercise in my small group class, my TA asked us to remain silent for a minute and a half and find and search for what makes us, us. I did my best to drown out my classmates, and the noise, and probed deep into my thoughts. I came up with a discouraging answer as to what makes me, me. It was an endless circle of my attributes, characteristics, and ancestry, and not very satisfying at all. So now I turn to what this class has taught me, at least in the past few months, to find out what self is, and to put it on paper. So now I will use my knowledge gained from the ancient cultures and religions to compare and contrast the idea of self. First I will look at the Hindu and Buddhist religions to see what they thought of the self and its importance. I will continue by comparing their ideas to those of the Hebrews and the Greeks. Finally I will conclude with a discussion of the life suggested by the previous, and my own views of self. I believe that after this class I have a decent idea and grasp on the ideas of the Hindu and Buddhist religions. Their idea of self impresses and fascinates me, it gets my mind going. In the Hindu religion we get the first impression that self is not important. It is ta
We see very different ideas from other religions and beliefs. The Hebrews follow the teachings of their god, and later Jesus. In these teachings it is shown that the self, each self is important and worthy of love and respect. Each person has something to offer and is a valuable and important being. It is also believed that each person has a soul, a deep self that must be kept pure and clean, apart from sin. With sin we find the teachings of Jesus and his Golden Rule, declaring that everyone treat others, as they would want to be treated, exalting the idea of self as the utmost important part of life. Their beliefs claim importance in both the everyday self and the deep self. The Greeks followed a similar view of self. The Greeks idea of excellence centered on the idea of Arete. This idea basically says that every person has a duty to be the best they can be at which they are and what they do. While the idea of excellence is good and shows respect and for the self and others, it takes away from individuality and the idea of self. It is important to be your best, but to do that with the idea of self and something that sets you apart from others. The Greeks believed that if you were doing the best you could, that meant doing it for your polis, and community. We see that the idea of self is important to them, but in a lighter sense than that of the Hebrews. In conclusion I think that it is important to take a little bit of knowledge from each of the above ideas to try and understand the self. I believe that it is important to know whom you are, starting with where you came from in a sense of ancestry and heritage. From there one must decide what they believe in, their passions and desires, dreams and goals for themselves. I believe it is also important to consider the world as a whole and from individual to individual. There are too many factors in our vast gr
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1275
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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