Essay about A Journey of Self Examination

While enrolled in Existence and Reality, a course offered at Allan Hancock College, I was tasked to reflect on my beliefs concerning the seven most prevailing philosophical questions; what is life, what is death, is there a God, is there life after death, why is there so much evil and suffering in the world, and what is the good life? Due to my religious beliefs, I am certain that there is a God, but when talking about the concept of life, I found myself questioning what my purpose was. I have always had a calling to help

People seem to think that everything that happens to them everyday is real. The question is, though, “What is real?”. Is everything you see everyday really real or is it fake? We might see fantasies that other people or machines have created for us. Maybe we are the ones that are not enlightened yet. Numerous essays and films have been produced on this subject. One essay is “The Allegory of the Cave” written by Plato in 360 B.C. Also, the movie The Matrix was filmed in 1999. Even though many differences can be drawn between “The Allegory of the Cave” and The Matrix, there are many similarities as well.

Having read the synopsis from The Matrix, the excerpt from Plato, The Republic, Book VII, 514A1-518D8 “The Allegory Of The Cave”, and the excerpt from Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641 “Meditation I Of The Things Of Which We May Doubt”, I am able to conclude that there are similarities as well as differences among these readings. Each question the state of reality in which we live. Is our reality a true state of reality or is it a state of mind we have allowed ourselves to exist in?

What is reality? What is known? These questions are constantly being reviewed keeping people anxiously waiting for the real answer. The Matrix is a popular movie dealing with many philosophical ideas from, Gods, Beauty, Reality, and existence. The Matrix deals with an intelligent “computer hacker,” Neo, who questions many things such as reality as he lives two different lives day vs. night. With that being said, Neo starts to ponder how does he know what is real, true, or all knowing. As humans we face this challenge everyday, how do we actually “know?” We know because of our senses, evidence, observations, assumption, and Epistemology.

The film ‘The Matrix’ showcases many philosophical perspectives, such as the question of ‘what is reality?’ .Throughout the film character Neo asks the question what is reality, after finding out about the matrix. To help understand Neos’ question we can look at the theory of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave which explores the idea that the real world

My gut reaction about my style and way of being during counseling session has changed. For example, certain things came along so natural and others were and are still in transition. In the counseling process certain techniques (e.g., exploring, silence, restatements, and probing questions) with already in my tool kit without even knowing they were skills. Then, other techniques such as guiding the client through insight, immediacy, and homework strategies started of f as challenges. Perhaps, it was just feeling comfortable using these techniques in a more natural way. At first, I kept second guessing myself by

I had decided that life was too short to spend time thinking about why we might be here, especially since we will never know the truth. Over the past semester, I have learned that it is important to think about these things. Even though I haven't decided what I believe the meaning of life is, it is important that I have taken the first step and started to establish my positions.

The second philosopher that analyses the problem of what is reality and what is not in the Introduction to Philosophy textbook is Christopher Grau. Grau, in his essay, expands on Descartes idea of the “evil demon” by basing it off of The Matrix with his theory, The Brain in a Vat Theory. The theory is just like it sounds. Just like in Total Recall, an extremely intelligent device has the ability to give humans and gives them a false reality of a life. What Grau is purposing is that we, as people, could quite possibly be hooked up to a super computer and given false memories and experiences as well.

John Locke believed, the enduring self is defined by a person’s memory. With memory there is an enduring self, and without it there is no self at all. I believe there is an enduring self, but it is a little more complicated than that. Even if a person encounters a dramatic change to his/her life, they are still the same self, the same person. I believe memory is not the only factor that defines the self. Many things form this enduring self, and these things work together to form an identity, to form who you are now. These things are your memories, your experiences and your personality. You may change and grow over time as you are exposed to new experiences, but under it all you are still ....you. But is a

Before taking this course my writing styles and habits were very different. I was the typical procrastinator because I would wait until the night before a paper was due to start it. This did not allow me enough time to properly proofread everything, which resulted in getting points deducted for simple grammatical errors that could have been avoided if I would have had the time to proofread. My writing styles have many strengths and weaknesses and I have been able to improve my writing because of them. I have learned from my strengths and weaknesses how to become a better writer.

What is the meaning of life? Well known Greek philosphers such as Socrates and Plato believed that our purpose in this life was to gain knowledge in preparation for the next life. Other Philosophers such as Epicurus believed that pleasure is the main goal in life. After giving these ideas lots of thought, I have come to my own conclusion that the true meaning of life is far more complex than either of these; far too complex for any human to fully comprehend. In fact these two different philosophies are only part of the grand picture. If it were that easy for men to figure out our lives wouldn't be so messed up now. The meaning of life revolves around many different things. I

Through out history, as man progressed from a primitive animal to a "human being" capable of thought and reason, mankind has had to throw questions about the meaning of our own existence to ourselves. Out of those trail of thoughts appeared religion, art, and philosophy, the fundamental process of questioning about existence. Who we are, how we came to be, where we are going, what the most ideal state is....... All these questions had to be asked and if not given a definite answer, then at least given some idea as to how to begin to search for, as humans probed deeper and deeper into the riddle that we were all born into.

School, to me and among many peers of my age, is not a distant term. I have spent one-third of my life time sitting in classrooms, every week since I was seven years old. After spending this much time in school, many things and experiences that happened there have left their mark in my memory. Some are small incidences while some have had a great impact on me. However, regardless the degree of significance, things that happened all contributed to shape the person that I am now.

As a very small child I don’t remember too much, but the things that I do remember were seen through a child’s eyes that has made me the person that I am today and I will always have those memory’s with me until my last breath on this earth. In this essay I intend to show how my childhood and adult life to this point has influenced my life, my journey. By utilizing the adult development theories from this class I also intend on showing how they relate to my Life experiences and where I am today as an Adult student.

The Self Every situation that an individual is exposed to throughout life, helps mold our “self.” As humans we have the ability to see ourselves from the outside, and all through life we try to see what others see and our “self” revolves around the generalized other. We observe how others perceive us and we make conclusions depending on our observations. How we act around others depends on the image we feel they have towards us.