Being Virtuous Though Confucius, Krishna and Socrates Essay Example for Free

Being Virtuous Though Confucius, Krishna and Socrates Essay From the beginning of time, the quest of all humans has been to discover how to live the good life. What is a good life exactly? This term will mean different things to different people, and yet I believe there are the same ingredients that all â€Å"good lives† share, even from the classic Eurasian time until present day. Virtues of character, which are also called ‘moral virtues’, seem to be more complex and are an integral part of the completeness of life that is said is necessary for a good life. There seems to be a pattern with people of always trying to achieve being a good person. Is being a good person the answer to having a good life? The Author, Robert W. Strayer makes the point that Confucius, Krishna and Socrates had opinions of ways to a good life but they are all different from one to the other. I will argue that there is a pattern between the three and that the belief to the good life is the same throughout the writings. The saying that history repeats itself is certainly true, but it is also true that people all want to live good lives. Confucius believes living a good life is being virtuous and treating others with respect creates the kind of person that then is given the good life. Being a leader he believed that ruling under an iron fist didn’t create people that respected him and that listened to the law, instead using kindness and sincerity gave the people an example of how to live. He says, â€Å"Let him be ? nal and kind to all; then they will be faithful to him. Let him advance the good and teach the incompetent; then they will eagerly seek to be virtuous† (pg. 218). He also goes on to describe forgiveness which is an essential component in all of the opinions on what is a good life. If one is not being virtuous they can change, which tells us that people are never intended to be perfect but to continue to strive for goodness is always better than to never attempt to be good. That same ideal is true to our modern world. â€Å"To subdue one’s self and return to propriety is perfect virtue. If a man can for one day subdue and return to propriety, all under heaven will ascribe perfect virtue to him† (pg. 219). According to Confucius seeking to be virtuous will bring the good life. In Strayers words he associates the ideas of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita as being different than those of Confucius. I believe that essentially they are one in the same. Krishna says, â€Å"a man possessed of a pure understanding, controlling his self by courage discarding sound and other objects of sense, casting off affection and aversion, who frequents clean places, who eats little, who’s speech, body, and mind are restrained who is always intent with meditation and mental abstraction and has recourse to unconcern who abandoning egoism, stubbornness, arrogance, desire, anger and all belongings, has no thought that this or that is mine, and who is tranquil becomes fit for assimilation with the Brahmah† (pg. 21). Krishna is telling us that controlling one’s self and the environment one keeps one’s self in, the abandonment of being stubborn and arrogant all contributes to a virtuous soul, which in turn leads to the good life. This point is exactly what Confucius and Krishna share the same opinion finding that mean or middle ground, that balance or yin and yang, is essential to establishing a completeness which develops virtue is vital in order to lead a successful, fulfilling life ultimately leading to happiness. Socrates also collaborates these same thoughts He states, â€Å"For I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons and your properties, but ? rst and chie? y to care about the greatest improvement of the soul† (pg. 223). He spent his life trying to convince people to strive to be better people. This is one of the most important things to do in order to find happiness. Socrates believed that the state of one’s soul is the answer to happiness and that there is always improvement that can be made to one’s soul. His mission was to encourage people to think for themselves and thus become more virtuous. Socrates was sentenced to death and as he is near his final moments He says, â€Å"The dif? culty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness† (pg. 223). He also shared the same ideas of Confucius and Krishna that living righteously is the key to the good life. In conclusion what creates a good life for an individual person? It appears to be the same answer that Confucius, Krishna and Socrates had during each of their lives. They learned the same thing that people look for and believe in today. We continue to search for the same answers, but I think the answers are very clear in what history tells us and we learn from these brilliant men, Confucius, Krishna, and Socrates. To be virtuous is having a life with moral integrity and having or showing moral goodness or righteousness. It means being honorable to others and yourself in which will gain the honor and respect from others. Virtue is a belief used to make moral decisions. It does not rely on religion, society or culture; it only depends on the individuals themselves. Virtue has more to do with the character of a person than their earthly riches and possessions. As people continual strive to become a better people, practicing virtuous acts regularly helps develop the good life and they are examples to others striving for the same thing. I believe in what Confucius, Krishna and Socrates taught us, that being a good person is the foundation on which everything else in life is built on, and this I believe is the answer to having the good life. Being Virtuous Though Confucius, Krishna and Socrates. (2016, Oct 02).

Unit 2 Discussion art and Humanities Research Paper

Unit 2 Discussion art and Humanities - Research Paper Example According to the stylistic features seen in the portrait, it can be assumed that Andy Warhol did not show some seriousness in his work. This was so because many artists perceived designing of a self portrait to be very difficult for it involved a lot of research. Though this particular portrait is considered to be one of the most famous portraits in the world, it still does not meet the viewers’ expectations (Frei and George, 202). The portrait in this case does not earn fame because of the stylistic features used but being the first self portrait to be designed. Actually, no one still understands the main purpose of the portrait as it does not display the real Warhol. The viewers of this portrait are still expecting more insight and depth as they claim that there is nothing displayed but a whitish brown sketch that is behind sunken eyes (Fieldman and Jorg, 193). This shows that the color background of the portrait was not also well set as it tend to resemble or match that of the main portrait hence making it very difficult to see the portrait clearly. Some hidden parts of the portrait such as the eyes appear to be dark hindering clear view. From the features seen in this portrait, it can be concluded that the portrait is one of the famous self portraits that from which many artists drew their experience from. This portrait only brought some idea in the artistic industry as it showed that there is a possibility in designing a self portrait. The designing of portrait though took decades; it is considered a sketch work that only a partial image of the artist. This is also considered to have been so because Warhol who was the designer of this portrait was only advised to do so by a friend after designing many portraits and art works in the art industry. Frei, Georg and Neil Printz, editors. The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonnà ©, Volume 01, Paintings and Sculpture 1961-1963. 503 pp. New York and London: Phaidon Press, 2002. (and Volume 02, 1964-1969. 423

Project 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Project 2 - Essay Example Modern society is filled with hollow people who worship power and materialism, and it is a bad situation because they cannot be redeemed, until their deaths, when they whimper with the sight of their own emptiness and darkness. â€Å"The Hollow Men† is about the modern society of hollow men because people are empty and dark without meaningful identities. They are empty because they are like Kurtz who are consumed with pursuit of power and wealth. The allusion to Kurtz in the epigraph says something about this pursuit: â€Å"Mistah Kurtz- he dead† (Eliot). The native who says this is lost after their master is gone, a master who nurtured them to believe that power and wealth are the only things important in the world. He is one of the hollow men with hollow gods. The repetition of â€Å"we† signifies the rise of the majority that has the same thinking: â€Å"We are the hollow men/We are the stuffed men†¦Headpiece filled with straw† (Eliot 1-2, 4). They are hollow because they have stuffed their heads with the thinking that modern life should be based on the accumulation of wealth and power. Furthermore, the hollow men are dark because they conform to meaningless social norms. The poem describes the way they move: â€Å"We whisper together /Are quiet and meaningless/As wind in dry grass/Or rats' feet over broken glass† (Eliot 6-9). ... The rats’ feet over the glass shards indicate the rat race that they run, and the glass is broken because they cannot see that materialism has dehumanized them completely. Their identities are empty, hollow without meaning in and after life. Aside from meaningless identities, the poem shows that the hollow men want to be redeemed, but they cannot achieve it because they fear the knowledge of their wasted lives. The allusion to Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy is present in the poem. The hollow men say: â€Å"Eyes I dare not meet in dreams/In death's dream kingdom† (Eliot 19-20). These lines can pertain to Dante who cannot look into Beatrice’s eyes yet because he is impure. In addition, the hollow men cannot be saved, until they die and see the depths of their emptiness and darkness. Eliot revises the children’s song on the mulberry bush: â€Å"Here we go round the prickly pear/At five o'clock in the morning† (70-71). The hollow men want re demption, as Christ died during this time. But they cannot be redeemed until their deaths: â€Å"This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang but a whimper† (Eliot 97-98). The whimper comes from seeing their lives as Kurtz had- horrified at the emptiness and darkness of their hearts. â€Å"The Hollow Men† is a reflection of the dead on the living. It manifests their desire to know what led them to be hollow. The hollow men are real men in modern society. They want power and wealth for itself, and as it becomes a constant pursuit, they are dehumanized. They become hollow with gaping space of darkness and emptiness in their souls. The saddest thing is that they vastly multiply, for the whispers of power and wealth have taken easily over the lives of many women and men, ringing loudly, turning