#pre class response

[psyalcy-blog]

“Since we have mentioned these trees, we shall describe them and their properties here.”

Response:

This quote from Ibn Battuta is very interesting as he had made it a point to talk about their banana, coconut and betel trees in Dhofar, as most people would not take much notice of such things during their travels, less to mention them on their travel journals. It is quite interesting to understand why he wanted to talk about these trees and even described a lot about these trees. 

One reason could be that he was using these trees to talk about the culture of that town, where the people there have a custom of giving betel leaves as an honour and respect. Even though things like trees are something that can be easily overlooked for most people, mentioning it in great detail will also allow us to understand a lot about the people’s culture there as well as finding out the types of weather and climate of the area too. 

[psyalcy-blog]

"Thus disposed, and strengthened by the Holy Ghost, the blessed servant [Francis] of the Most High [God] (for that the time appointed was come) followed that blessed impulse of his soul through which, by trampling on worldly things, the highest good is attained."

Response:

Worldly possessions are often talked about as something that should not be so sought after in most religions due to desires. But in this text, they brought this rejection of possessions to an extreme level where Francis is one who 'tramples' on and sees wordly possessions as something so negative that it is not only not to be sought after, but it is to fully deplete yourself of all worldly possessions then are you doing good in life. Possessions are seen to be a 'disease' here, where people should never attempt to hold possessions with them.

It is very intriguing as to why they viewed possessions to be so negative to almost a full extent. Although it may also be possible that Thomas was exaggerating on this, it also represent their views that one can only live well when they do not own anything other than their holy and sacred materials. 

[psyalcy-blog]

"Let your speech be gentle towards those you meet, and your greetings kind; be modest towards women, and let your glance be turned to the ground." -Clement of Alexandria

Response:

This quote is interesting as this quote has included women, which is something that is a little rare, as this was a period where women were not given much respect and place in the society. But in this quote, it has mentioned that people should be modest towards women, this is a way of showing respect towards women in that period.

This quote is also interesting where it mentioned 'let your glance be turned to the ground'. It may be possible that this quote is about Clement telling his fellow Christians that one way to live in that world of persecution (against Christians) is to live modestly and humbly, as this can be a way of hiding themselves from their persecutors and thus protect their own lives in that time period?

[psyalcy-blog]

"Do you want to improve the world? I don't think it can be done."

Response:

This is a very interesting quote as it shows Laozi's ideals to be very different from the other ancient ideals that we have learnt thus far or even when compared to Confucianism.

This quote shows how Laozi thinks that the world is formed by nature, and only nature can gradually make changes in this world, but not by any men themselves, unlike what the leaders or ideals of other civilizations think. This is because they are more towards this idea that their kings or leaders or even their deities are what that shaped the world to be what it was that time, and they are the ones who has the rights and power to shape or change the world. 

By using the word 'improve', it also shows an interesting side about the ideals of Laozi as it could possibly mean that men cannot even do, or attempt to do anything to the world, and the leaders or kings or deities do not have the right to do anything that may change the world as it was, regardless of whether the world is in a good or bad state. Instead, it has to reach an equilibium by itself and then, things will finally fall properly into shape and then things will get better by itself. 

[psyalcy-blog]

EPICTETUS

“But the terror consists in our notion of death that it is terrible. When therefore we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved, let us never attribute it to others, but to ourselves; that is, to our own principles.”

LETTER TO MENOECEUS (EPICURUS)

“The correct understanding that death is no concern of ours allows us to take pleasure in our mortal lives, not because it adds to life an infinite span of time, but because it relieves us of the longing for immortality as a refuge from the fear of death.”

Epictetus talks about how men are always disturbed by the idea of death as they are afraid and people may tend to place the blame onto others instead of themselves. This is interesting as we are supposed to reflect upon ourselves should we die (especially from diseases or accidents) and this is something that is not seen prominently in today's society as many people tend to put the blame on almost every factors that causes death but not ourselves and our own decisions, for example, if we die from car accidents, many people tend to place the blame on the driver that knocked the victim down but seldom on how the victim may have attempted to cross the road dangerously without regards of the traffic.

On the other hand, Epicurus' idea on how we should think about how death is not something that actually concerns us at the present, so fear is very unnecessary and only causes undue distress. This is a very interesting idea as it makes a lot of sense to think about how death does actually not concern us at the present and as Epicurus mentioned, "so long as we exist death is not present with us, and when death comes, then we no longer exist", so most people's fear of death is actually very unnecessary!

This also shows Epicurus’ ideologies where it shows his views on the idea of body and soul and the philosophical idea of existence, in comparison to Epictetus where he does not mention that much about these ideas and showing his position on these matters. Furthermore, Epictetus’ idea on death is more specific and not as abstract while Epicurus’ idea on death is rather abstract and harder to understand. 

[psyalcy-blog]

“Gilgamesh is awesome to perfection.”

Response:

I find this sentence to be interesting as this shows how the people in that time view Gilgamesh to be. He had been described to be someone who is a hero, and someone who is so perfect like a god would be. However, he is also someone who has done terrible things like raping brides before the day of their marriage, or sending all the young men out to war or monument building projects, yet he is still described in the narrative as someone who is godly. This shows that people’s idea of gods at that time was that the gods can be destructive or do terrible things to the people, and people are fearful of them, but they are still very perfect beings in the people’s eyes.