TOK

http://images.google.co.cr/imgres?imgurl=http://www.creationism.org/images/DoreBibleIllus/nIsa27010Dore_TheDestructionOfLeviathan.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.creationism.org/images/DoreBibleIllus/index.htm&usg=__zc9WxHe_Yf61w6xI_d8BMwTrA00=&h=714&w=526&sz=145&hl=es&start=4&tbnid=GSFnNjHikNbeIM:&tbnh=140&tbnw=103&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dleviathan%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Des%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DG

            This is going to be a little related to my post of the fortune telling since I’m going to talk about… MYTHS!!! A myth can be seen in many ways, it can be an oral story that has been passed from person to person in order to preserve the story of it, it could also be seen as a story written in books with a certain extent of truth but its function is primarily entertainment. And the myths that I most like are the one that still haven’t been proved or that there isn’t an “overwhelming amount of evidence” (IB God!). Some of them include: the Loch Ness Monster, The Kraken, and my personal favorite The Leviathan. Should we believe in these stories? The Loch Ness Monster myth talks about an ancient creature that has lived for centuries in the bottom most part of the lake in Scotland (If I’m geographically wrong I’m sorry my internet isn’t working, don’t think of me as an ignorant I sometimes mix up certain countries…). This myth has caused so much confusion to people that there are some individuals that are willing to look for a proof (or evidence). And I see this somewhat weird since there are some pictures that show a certain blur of the presence of this creature. Human beings tend to reject evidence (related to mysticism) if it isn’t theirs, if it is too bad then it isn’t real and if it is too good then it was manufactured in Photoshop or with another tool. The Kraken is similar and could be seen as a more “realistic” myth since it is an ancient squid that is as large as a ship (Like a cruise). It could represent a certain amount of “truth” since there are squids around the world (we haven’t seen as big ones as ship –from what I know-), and the way I see it is that the ocean is so vast that human beings haven’t been able to find “everything” that lurks in there. I believe that this creature could have some potential to exist since if one can see it with a historical basis, there are ancient drawings that state that there was a humongous creature representing a squid. If we combine this with the era of dinosaurs, creatures (in most or some of the cases) are believed to be extremely large (this is presented as proof – the bones -), and there could be a certain possibility that some of these creatures took the shape of a giant squid that prowls at the bottom of the ocean. My personal favorite is the myth of the Leviathan since I’m a great fan of mysticism and magic related events. I believe the Leviathan has more mysticism than the Kraken and the Loch Ness Monster because it is one of the oldest myths. This creature hasn’t been able to be identified with a clear shape. In some cases it represents the Kraken as well as the Loch Ness Monster. But the way I see it is as the King of the Seas. So… what does anything of this have to do with TOK? Well… it presents a certain doubt by a group of individuals that state that is true and false at the same time. It gives us a lot of information that is or isn’t true and at the end it is the individual that decides whether or not to believe in this. And it is also interesting to bring up certain culture or traditions some people possess and adapt it to our own culture. 

            Magic… the use of supernatural powers in order to create or perform different spells. I have heard a long time ago that human beings only use about 10% of their brain capacity. With this statement I kind of start thinking that if we find out how to evolve (maybe faster), we are going to be able to have certain abilities we haven’t even imagined. Once again, life can be seen as a miracle since we are not sure from what we started and how that unknown started from the nothing or if there’s a nothing. Having this type of thinking gives the possibility that maybe anything is possible to make to a certain extent or level of our life. If you think about it, magic can’t be that hard to become real. It has reached the level that human beings know as illusion which establishes certain tricks in order to maintain mysticism. I was once told that there are a certain group of people that are capable of spoon bending. This was somewhat surprising for me because I had always wanted to be able to do something as outstanding as to bend a spoon with my mind. They told me it takes years of practice but that it is possible since, once again, since the mind just uses 10% of its capacity then it can be possible to perform certain actions such as levitating objects. Telekinesis, teleportation, as well as telepathy are terms that are used in order to represent incredible abilities. These abilities are mainly portrayed in videogames, media and or television. For me these skills, besides being pretty amazing, are possibilities. I believe that these types of talents can be connected somehow with quantum mechanics. Since this theory presented the arrangement of particles creating certain figures, routes and warping through time, then it could be possible that if we manage how to control it, we could possibly try to create our own “powers”. It can be presented as something crazy since it is something that has never appeared or that there isn’t something that assures us that it will happen sometime in the future. And why are all of these statements related to TOK? Since Theory of Knowledge presents all of the principles related to the “knowing”, then the possibility of having a certain skill relates to this. For example, with levitation, human beings would be able to “float”. To prevent your body from touching the ground would related with the area of science since it can be presented in a particle basis as well as with physics. The only possible solution for something to “float” would be that, with electrons, there is a certain rejection or repelling of atoms that would enhance a certain object or in this case the human to sustain himself without having the possibility of touching the ground. With physics, it relates with gravity since it is the force that attracts every object to the center of the Earth (in the case of planet Earth). If there is a way to reject this force, internally or with the help of science, then it would be possible for humans to have this ability. This can also apply to the other skills in different situations. So at the end, I still have some hope that magic could exist primarily because I like the idea of having these skills and because there is a possibility for human beings to develop its brain and become much more wiser and capable of performing new tasks.

            Fortune telling has been a tradition for many years, and now it can be seen as a hobby for many. Crystal balls, mystic cards, bones and other items are used by this group of people in order to interpret the fortune. But to what extent are people willing to trust this? In this case scenario I’m going to use a traditional method that perhaps guesses the future… and it is the Tarot. This method consists on the use of special cards. Each and every one of them has a different meaning, whether it is courage, disgrace, enemy, ally, or more. This reminds me of the book that I bought a while ago, it is magic related and explains certain myths of how in the past enchantment was seen. It was in this book that I was able to find some cards that supposedly will guide a certain individual to his/her future. Although there were only eight cards when the “usual” deck uses approximately 76 cards, I was able to have the experience of “guessing” the future. Three of my guesses were correct; I interpreted my cousin’s future as well as a friend’s and someone else. I took the cards and gave them to my cousin so she could mix them up, I place them in certain order and what I was able to see (without knowing the question she was thinking) that it was related with “love” since you could see a pattern for that interpretation. What I told her was that she was in loved and that she wanted to know if that relation was ever going to work, and I told her that a new arrival (the meaning of one of the cards) was going to be a woman (another card) and that she was going to steal her love. She laughed at me because she thought that was never going to happen, but some weeks after that she came back scared since all of the interpretations were true. It could have been a huge coincidence or maybe destiny plays a big role in life and the cards were connected in some way. The same happened to two of my friends, I can’t recall what was what I told them but they were also astonished to see that everything I was saying was true. Tarot is really simple, you simply give a certain individual the cards so she or he can mix them, you get the cards back and you need to place them in certain order which is: center, left, right, top, bottom. The card in the center represents the question, the left card the past, the right one the future, the top and bottom cards represent certain individuals or events that are going to happen when you are about to reach the interpretation of the future. The way I see it, is that the world holds many mysteries in life and that anything could be possible in a certain year to be “discovered” or stated as “true” (to some extent). I believe to a certain extent that if we were able to be created from the nothing and that the nothing was created from a previous nothing or something it’s already a “miracle”. Fortune telling might not be something everyone can do, but maybe there could be certain individuals that have this “ability” to predict what is it that is going to happen in the future (depending on the area they focus). Mysticism is really interesting for me since there isn’t an absolute truth of whether something can be proven as correct or as wrong. For me, the tarot fortune telling could have some extent of truth (don’t think of me as someone crazy) and until someone gives me an “overwhelming amount of evidence” (IB God!!!) I won’t stop having the doubt that this could possibly be “true”.

The three leaders that are going to be presented are:

Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Beatrix

Yuliya Tymoshenko

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Queen Elizabeth II

Some background information: Queen Elizabeth II became queen at the age of 25, she is the Head of State of the UK and 15 other Commonwealth realms. Her parents were King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. She is married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and has four children and eight grandchildren.

Interesting facts: Her grandfather called her Lilibet when she was a child. Her clothing is very formal and can be seen in some way as an “educated fashion”. When speaking, her voice seems rough (men-like), kind of neutral and without high pitch when she is adressing to the outside “public”, when she is in a more private environment her voice changed a little, it became softer and with a more feminine pitch.

Political career: The Queen is Head of State in the United Kingdom. She doesn’t “rule” the country but she fulfils important ceremonial and formal roles respect to Government.

Blok’s theory: First of all, she is seen as a female power (Queen), and she is married to a PRINCE (King > Queen > Prince), one can say that she has more power than he does.

Queen Beatrix

Some background information: Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, was born January 31, 1938 in Soestdijk, Utrecht, Netherlands. She has been the queen of Netherlands since 1980. Her father was Prince Bernhard and her mother was Queen Juliana (Once again a Queen and a Prince). She was once married to Claus von Amsberg (He is dead) and has three sons.

Interesting facts: She has the nickname of Prinses Glimlach (not sure if “princess” was a grammar mistake of the website or if the nickname was like that), Glimlach means smile in Dutch. Her voice is somewhat rough.

Political career: Her marriage with Claus von Amsberg create some controversy. Claus von Amsberg was related in some way to the NAZI party, he is German.

Blok’s theory: It applies since she is a Queen that was once married to a prince, once again, the woman is seen with more power than the man.

Yuliya Tymoshenko

Some background information: She is the Prime minister of Ukraine and leader of the All-Ukrainian Union “Fatherland” party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. She worked as an engineer-economist in a machine-building plant in Dnipropetrovsk until 1988. She is married to Oleksandr Tymoshenko.

Husband’s life: He was the son of a mid-level Communist Party official, a board member of the United Energy System of Ukraine Corporation and was arrested along with the company’s managing director, Valery Falkovich. An interesting fact is that he is seen with his wife very rarely in public.

Interesting facts: She has two nicknames – Peasant Princess Leia and a country farm girl. Her clothing is very formal, delicate (not extremely feminine) and how she dresses depends on the occasion (There is no common style). She has an accent that makes her voice seem a little rough, and when she adresses to the public she speaks in a “cheerful” way.

Political Career: The Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko doesn’t share the idea of a two-chamber parliament aired by the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko. She has criticized the idea of President to elect members of upper chamber of the parliament according to the majority system.

Blok’s theory: The most striking idea is that she is rarely seen with her husband in public.

Information taken from:

http://www.royal.gov.uk/HMTheQueen/HMTheQueen.aspx

http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/TheMonarchyToday.aspx

http://www.nndb.com/people/958/000024886/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yulia_Tymoshenko

http://www.tymoshenko.com.ua/eng/about/

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/598141/yulia_tymoshenko_ukranian_prime_minister.html

http://blog.kievukraine.info/yulia_husband.jpg

http://images.google.co.cr/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fantom-xp.com/wallpapers/12/Time_on_the_Woter_-_Adobe.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fantom-xp.com/es_12__Time_on_the_Woter_-_Adobe.html&usg=__IschkJS2CPgIPfXTLPOwiq3gHco=&h=768&w=1024&sz=35&hl=es&start=22&um=1&tbnid=Oc9JRcdSnXIrqM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtime%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Des%26sa%3DN%26start%3D18%26um%3D1

            The objective for this TOK journal is have a more open mind with what is considered with time, and all of its aspects. How did this come up as an idea? As I was watching videos on “YouTube”, I found an interesting game and I searched more into it I found out that one of the aspects this game was reflecting on was time. Since then I have been wondering.

            First of all, what is time? “The continuum of experience in which events pass from the future through the present to the past” (http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=time) Experiences, a big factor that is connected with what is reality and what is illusion (if there is any). Human beings have stated that for something to be real there has to be an interaction of some of the senses that most of us posses. This quality allows us to determine what is really happening… or not. And for time, it relates what has happened, what is happening, and what is going to happen. Is the present the only correct or actual “reality” it exists? The past had its moments and the future will. What I’m trying to say is that there isn’t just one moment in time, there might be several, as mentioned in the investigations Albert Einstein made about time, space, and dimensions (don’t think of me as someone crazy…). I believe that what Einstein is trying to prove was going to be correct, I see this world as a vast compartment that needs to be explored, and one of these explorations might guide us to what is another dimension. Hypothetically speaking, why is it impossible for the individual to travel through space and time? Wasn’t flying, going to space or even creating internet (wireless devices) something that was unthinkable? We have all of these and now we can try to investigate how time actually works. I see time and life as many particles of energy that arrange themselves in a way to perform different actions that many mechanisms would also react (as in a chain) in order to have… life.

            At first glance this might sound as something that is very uncommon, but isn’t every discovery first seen as something uncommon, the example I want to express was how Galileo was seen as someone that was trying to challenge religion as well as society when he came up with his point when he just wanted to point out a possible reality.

            So… relating it to what I experienced from the game, there is a creature that starts explaining time and states that life is just an illusion that is being destroyed by time. This for me is shocking since I can relate it as something true, one is slowly dying and yes it is because of time and how it is constantly moving and changing us. But, what if sense perception, reason, language and emotion are an illusion as well? I believe that time can be something that can be harmful in the means of saying that it destroys things as it goes, but since I saw that game, I became aware that sometimes video games must be trying to portray some type of reality as well or a teaching. Since it appealed to me it might have appealed in some other way (perhaps) any other player.

            To finish… I would just want to say that these statements might be confusing since I’m trying to express an idea that is wordless (language deceives me and doesn’t allow me to present my thoughts to the full extent). But, the other reason I wanted to create this journal was to present some type of discussion (if someone reads it) and see what is that TOK students think about what they cannot perceive, if they could take it as something possible or fiction. (I hope you can understand what I’m trying to express Lissy =p)

            First of all, the words nature and beauty must be defined in order to continue with this commentary. With natural, I mean that (in this situation) you were born in that way by nature (you didn’t make any “artificial” changes by your own will, nature was the one that caused you those changes whether it was by means of climate, altitude, etc.). This means that only “natural” causes made turned you in a given way. With beauty, I mean the facial perception, as well as the figure as a whole, of an individual that makes another entity react positively with given aspect.

            Why are we discussing all this? To show how these aspects are related to human beings and how some of them decide to have a plastic surgery, this is when your facial aspect changes by means of tools and/or devices. This relates to the article I read about how an 18-year old woman decided that she wanted to be seen and took this as a “weapon” as she says. (http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/1101020805/story.html)

“Men noticed me,” she says. “I became outgoing. Suddenly, I had a life.”  (Saeko Kimura) these are strong word for a woman that young. With these two phrases she is indicating us that one: she is a desperate woman that has a desire for attention from men, and second, when she says that she has a life it points us out that society has made individuals think that one of the basic needs that a human being needs is to portray beauty. This directs us to the meaning of beauty that once again is determined by an individual that reacts in a positive way just by glancing at the entity. But humanity at this point has created something that makes it much more difficult for people to understand what really is defined as beauty… I’m talking about advertisement. This aspect has one view, revenue, cash, funds, money! And who is the individual that has most of the money? Yes it is, teenagers and young adults are in the point that they have their own money by means of working or just getting money from mom or dad. As stated in the English class A-II (1), advertisement gains most of its income from teenagers, making them look for a way to make them spend their money on their products. This reflection can once again be related with a video that portrays the idea that advertisement has caused human beings deceive to what really is the “natural beauty” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHqzlxGGJFo).

            My point: plastic surgery, a “powerful weapon” (as said in the article), or the creation of a mask in order to cover your real you. Why is it that human beings believe they are ugly and need to have plastic surgeries in order to look… “Prettier”? Once again, I believe that the actual beauty is the natural one, a beauty that hasn’t changed the individual but it presents it without any external changes. I consider that beauty is far more than having the “perfect” skin color, weight, hair, teeth, legs, arms, neck, head, etc. it is something that comes inside the person that makes them special, something that can never be changed with any surgery (as far as I know). 

http://images.google.co.cr/imgres?imgurl=http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/witchcraft1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/moravia3a.html&usg=__c7X0uLIZ9tGIn2QW6FnMi6FytZY=&h=493&w=300&sz=162&hl=es&start=2&um=1&tbnid=erMZeym7rVPmIM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=79&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwitchcraft%26hl%3Des%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1

            Fear, a great factor that human beings deal with every day, it might relate to time, to events or even to people. This is an aspect that has caused most of the troubles that the world has faced. One example of this is witchcraft. “The art of sorcery” (http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=witchcraft), first of all sorcery has to be defined since it has a negative connotation for part of today’s society (From what I have experienced). Hearing the word sorcery is related immediately with “dark magic” another term used to define this aspect. Now we have more “negative” words.  Once human beings hear the word “dark” it automatically makes us think that it is wrong. Wrong in the sense that it’s not of common practice, common practice in the sense that it isn’t present by the “normal” group of society. With this I’m trying to connect that having these doubts and worries create fear, and when fear is present human beings tend to eliminate the factor of fear no matter what it takes. I can relate this issue of witchcraft with historical events (what happened with the witches… yes! 1692 Salem, Massachusetts time of the original witch), with a current event (Pleas for condemned Saudi ‘witch’) and there is even satiric jokes in the TV (Referring to a segment in Family Guy).

            So… yes Salem! It seems that during 1692, people had this FEAR of what was happening with the disease (History later proved [by now] that the cause for the pain people had was due to a swamp that was infecting the bread of the citizens causing them to deliberate in a “possessed” way as they would describe this, but they preferred the easy way out and blame witchcraft.) they were facing. This disease was so abnormal that the infected stated that they presence beasts or monsters trying to take them (hallucination) as well as a great pain as if “needles were piercing their skin” (secondary effect of human body reacting with the disease). These conditions were so abnormal in that time that the common belief, as well as religion, stated that this was the act of the devil and people who accepted the devil in their lives and now were serving him with witchery. With this in mind we are heading to what is happening right now (current event). “…the rights group described the trial and conviction of Fawza Falih as a miscarriage of justice… illiterate woman was detained by religious police… allegedly beaten and forced to fingerprint a confession that she could not read.” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7244579.stm) any similarities? For me there are, religion is once again involved, there is the fear factor since they forced her to obtain an answer (not necessarily the correct one) and there is a court to “obtain” JUSTICE! Justice is this seen in the past years… I think so. Someone is blaming another individual just because there is a little chance that, that someone is actually a witch. And what is justice? “the quality of being just or fair” (wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn) right… beating up people to force her to sign a petition is justice, of course it is fair and right… hasn’t society learned from the past? I mean, is force really necessarily, are there any proofs that was actually witchcraft and why does religion has to get involved? Isn’t justice decided by the community as a whole? I believe that human beings can’t learn if the fear factor is present. For me, having fear means that an individual won’t respond as it would usually do. This is a case that has been going on since 2005, it has been 4 years that this woman has been accused of this and why? … fear.

            This has made the community start to publicize “jokes” for humor in a sarcastic way. The example I have is from the show Family Guy, there is a point in which there is a young girl answering a math problem (the answer was exaggerated to something like: b² + 2q – 412.53²) and then the teacher says: “A girl has answered a math problem; you all know what that means… SHE’S A WITCH!” (Family Guy) They are trying to present how an event from the past can be seen as something as simple as a TV show. They are trying to present that judging someone for something that is uncommon (I’m not saying the women can’t answer math problems) isn’t right.

            For me, witchcraft hasn’t been proven yet (if it does or doesn’t exist). I consider it as some sort of myth that can still live, but blaming someone for something that can’t be proven is just wrong (ethically and morally) and I believe that religion shouldn’t get involved in this trial since for me whatever the woman was doing was just some sort of freedom of speech, trying to communicate what she thinks. 

            As soon as Pope Benedict XVI arrived at Africa he stated “handing out condoms is not the answer in the fight against HIV/Aids.” (Pope Benedict XVI). I had to read this article since it is an event that is striking the beliefs of a culture and at the same time religion is being imposed to “offer” a proposition. I believe that going into a country to “fix” the situation is something that can’t be done. External sources can’t just pop in a country and start saying what the people should basically do. I know that the Pope has some arguments that express why the use of condoms isn’t the best one… but going into a country to “help” isn’t what is really happening. In my opinion, I Believe that religion is once again going into a not well developed culture in order to obtain more followers for the catholic religion. And when I say “once again” I base my statement with the actions from the past such as colonizers imposing the “correct” belief into an undeveloped society full, with undeveloped meaning that it isn’t the same as how Spain was at that time.

            I don’t want to really criticize the Pope as he is doing “his job”, but I think that going into a country to start planting an idea and how civilians. “A Christian can never remain silent” (Pope Benedict XVI) this shows that the reason he went there (in language means) gives the idea that is just because of religious interests and not because he is concerned by what is happening in Africa. I believe there is a conflict with language here, he could of have chosen the words better, he is expressing himself as a Christian before a “human being” (in terms of someone that doesn’t impose religion before what s/he thinks). “The Pope called on Christians to speak up in the face of violence, poverty, hunger, corruption and abuse of power.” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7947460.stm) once again… religion. This quote is striking since it refers how a “superior” entity (in terms of social position in religion) arrives to a country with the mere intention of “helping”, he is just calling the Christian community, and I believe that he should be directing his speech to every human being that is currently facing this problem not only in Africa but in the world but it could have been at least in Africa. “Baptised Catholics made up 17% of the African population in 2006” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7947460.stm) is this a casualty? … I don’t think so. With what I have experienced, I have concluded that, sadly, human beings are just interested in aspects in which they gain some profit (from my point of view in general, general referring to high entities that express themselves publicly with what they think) and this case isn’t the exception.

There is a conflict: HIV/Aids situation in Africa

There is an entity “helping”: Pope Benedict XVI

There is a something the entity wants: More African citizens being Catholic

For me this is the basic pattern that some human beings take (not generalizing but just taking this idea from my past experiences.) I don’t want to just sound harsh but I believe (from what I saw) that the mere fact the Pope is going to Africa was to “gain” more believers, since for me religion has a common goal… having more people believing in them and/or not having people lose faith.

1.       Confuzzle (verb)

·         -To be confused and puzzled.

2.       Hungrill (verb)

·         -The state of beings hungry and ill

3.       Greddire (verb)

·         -The desire of being greedy

4.       Amorring (adjective)

·         -A way to describe something amazingly boring

5.       Dumgly (adjective)

·         -A way to describe something dumb and ugly

6.       Koobecaf (verb)

·         -The state of referring all thoughts and actions to facebook

7.       Junkam (verb)

·         -The act of using objects for a purpose foreign to its nature.

8.       Smirkle(verb)

·         -The act of thinking before talking

9.       Urgnoy (verb)

·         -To have the urgency to continue to annoy people

10.   Stekrimar (adjective)

·         -A way to describe every positive attribute related to awesomeness.

11.   Tokinosh(Adjective)

·         -A way to describe an annoying environment full of tension

12.   Strired (Adjective)

·         -The act of being stressed and tired.

13.   Fufum (noun)

·         -Way to describe something made of plants

14.   Hepoo (noun)

·         -An herbal shampoo