Philosophy: August 2012

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Final Post

Final Exam

Introduction to Philosophy

Online Course

Professor David Christopher Lane, Ph.D

1. Bertha M. Navarro

2. Bee

3. http://bmnphilo2012.blogspot.com/

4. Midterm grade C+/B-

▼ July (36)

▼ June (1)

How did Socrates Die?

5. FLIPPED VIDEOS Answer’s:

a. Every ones in a while things happen! There is always a probability after enough chances are taken. Once in a great while someone will roll a seven, an odd number will fall in and you might have a winning. But again just like you said, we count of the times we have successes and not take into account all the many times we have failed. This game of probability is just like the string theory. Probability does not have an exact number but yet an array of numbers or chances that our desired outcome can have. Our few successes can fall into the spectrum of possible occasions, which we in turn find as winnings. Prayer on the other hand, depending on who or what you pray to does determine if that prayer fall on death ears or of an answer that is least desirable for the asker and claim that their prayer was not answered, but we should realize that we don’t always get what we want and what we want is not always the best thing for us in the first place. As children we don’t understand how that works. My son who has autism is having a difficult time understanding why he cannot have frozen entries or take out every meal. He has grown up, so far knowing that if dad eats out he can eat out too, and if dad doesn’t want to eat what mom made he doesn’t have to either. 9 years later, and two physicals with lab and all, my husband has realized he has to lose weight, and when my son had his physical this year the dr confirmed not just to me but also my husband that if we let our son continue with his eating behavior he was going to have difficulties later on in life. This again going back to the probability, my daughter and I eat the same things my husband and son do but our weight is within our normal index, even though I am a full 16 inches smaller than my husband and I eat just as much as he does. The difference in the two equations is that my daughter and I add to our meals plenty of water and fruits and vegetables, which our other half does not. Now, because my husband and son have chosen to follow their desire to eat whatever they crave instead of being modest and eat what is tasteful and better for them, they now have an undesirable outcome. So as we go through this journey of modifying both their behaviors they have learned that it is not easily changed and not everything we want is good for us. Finalizing with, ‘NO’, can also be an answer. Not necessarily the answer we are looking for or care to acknowledge but what is handed to us.

b. In an Age of Faith

For those who have believe untested nonsense and claim that what a man made hand would ever do anything for society or mankind is seriously confused and is being lead by the master of confusion. How can a manmade object be a reincarnation, like your said, “It’s completely nonsense.” If ideas cannot be falsified and must be rationalized, tested and then the theory or idea should be repeated enough to find its truth standing, if there is no truth to it then it deems its self false . Several believe systems have fallen into the realm of Gumby Land. Others with the same masquerade have devised them just for profit, unfortunately. Many have declared themselves spiritual with hope of finding other ways of spiritual help, concentration with the hope of reaching nirvana, to the point of attachment of fallowing a deception. This brings me back to Maya, the deception, false illusion of perception. Individuals fallow the illusion because they want to believe the illusion not necessarily because it is true. How can a piece of clay that has a mouth but cannot talk, eye’s but cannot see, and lack of ears to hear, be more enlightened and bring forth probabilities when it has no power to do even the basic human abilities? How can something that is manmade and could be destroyed with those same hands be an essence of spiritual growth? It is with much imagination and desire to be deceived that one can get attached to Gumby, a lucky item such as a horse shoe, rabbit’s foot, or any other item that can perish.

c. The real message about finding a perfect coke or metaphoric point of the film is to be aware of our surroundings and possibilities so that we do not miss out in once in a life time experiences that can transform or add to the fulfillment of life’s joyous moments. Even though not mentioned, it can also be portrayed by the birth of a child, moments of a wedding, not necessarily the big or small event, but moments that fill those amazing memories we are to hold later on in life. I have memories of my mom and grandmother cooking authentic Mexican food out of the very little amount of food that we had, take-out for us was a huge luxury that we could not afford. Now I realize how fortunate I was to have had experienced such great food that has not been able to be replicated once since my grandmother died in 1997. My husband has taken me to some of the best Mexican restaurants in Southern California and Nevada, but still with their high prices and attempt to come close to my grandmothers cooking, it does not reach perfection. I remember wanting to have a Bob Big Boys burger, and still till this day I have not had one and would still like one and am tempted to know what it would be like to taste what I so dreamed of as a child to have but could not afford. I’m sure I’ll order takeout from one someday. Now as an adult I have learned that even though my grandmother, who comes not from a city or even a town but from a hill in the outskirts of a town, could cook with very simple inexpensive ingredients a meal unlike any other. Now as an adult I learned how to appreciate what I had as a norm back then, my poor people food, that a rich society has tried to replicate, and at least from my experience has fallen short. I truly miss my Mamaria, and will always remember the memory of her simple loving ways and how she would cook for us, what I did not realize then but know now, the perfect sensations of tasty meals. It’s times like this that are cherished in our memory banks of taste, smell, and visualization that enrich our lives and can be found where and when least expected.

d. Disneyland Consiousness

“That what we believe is conscious turns out to be in closer inspection unconscious.” I can see how this can be perceived. When trickery of the eye in magic occurs, when others are skilled in the art of slide of hand and forming illusions that again trick the vision and mind of the observer to believe, if they did not know any better, that what they just saw or experienced was real. In this day of age we see many illusions throughout our daily lives. Illusions, perceptions and the deceitfulness of the public is what our unconscious is being molded daily. Magazine covers, billboards, tv commercials and all different types of multimedia seem to be conditioning our conscious, subconscious, and ultimately our unconscious. “We can experience this in our dreams as well as when we are awake.” Consciousness has us believe our own imaginations. Sometimes we want to make our imaginations become real. This is when we are very aware of our actions knowingly injure our own bodies attempting to reach and achieve a perception. Perception can be harmful, deadly even, a self-destructive very conscious action.

We cannot always be Aware of each and every mechanical movement that happens in and throughout our body. That would over stimulate our consciousness, just like we are not aware of many stimuli that is around our exterior. In this multitasking lifestyle that most of us live, we could just imagine having to multitask our heart beat, temperature regulation, fluid regulation, breathing and much much more that we need to make us function. The fact that we are not aware of all our internal mechanisms probably saves us from forgetting to breath or have our heart beat at the right time proportion to the amount of oxygen the rest of our body requires.

e. The metaphor of a mobius strip as it is, is useful when describing the study of consciousness via the first and third person. Consciousness can be altered and when altered it cannot be turned back to what it was originally because it will have eminence of the alteration that had occurred giving it a different, but could be similar, in imaging, in story line, characters or roles. Just like with relationships, our consciousness has a role in how we demonstrate ourselves to others and how we treat others as well. Now with that said, our past relationships, like the mobius strip, once influence our current and future relationships. This could be with our experience of our parents, siblings, friends, classmate and our intimate relationships from our past. That will relate to how we treat our children, future friends and or future spouse, for the good or the bad. This also influences the probabiltiy of divorce. If a person has suppressed or changed their feelings or moral view of marriage and the sanctity of it or the lack there of the next time they are faced with a difficult choice in there live regarding marriage or if they should stay married or even get married, to their second wife or husband, the experience and ability to go through a second or third divorce becomes more common and easier to withstand. This in turn changing the direction of the mobius strip and even when attempting to reconstruct the alterations done to the original form will still have reminisce of the changes, damages caused to it. Leaving a permanent impression, just like leaving a scar, it doesn’t have to be visible to the eye to see that it does not flow seamlessly anymore but has that little bit of an edge that cannot be smoothed out without causing more damage at the end.

f. String theory has not been proven and is open to experiment. That is why it is potentially scientific. The sample that was given with the gulf ball and attempting to break it down to its smallest form was a great example that can be mimicked to everything else in life, in the attempt to breakdown to its smallest form. Giving us the possibility of testing the theory and actually giving it an opportunity to be proven. Now as a believer that our galaxy and the galaxies that are out in space are not formed by chance and or a big atomic bang, I do believe that a harmonic environment resounds throughout moving everything in motion. Because even the vibrating String had to have a Creator and had to be put into motion by something bigger than a random explosion.

g. Matter is what our physical is made of but we are much more than that. The fact that we feel emotions and have desires encourages the notion that there is more to us than a physical form. I agree that the trouble isn't with matter, but the reduction others want to impose to that matter. When that matter can do such extraordinary things, we can do extraordinary things. We are not just made of little things that giggle, but much more, because the little things that giggle will soon be transformed into something different but our spiritual sense will continue.

h. The Chandian Effect is the imagery that one's subconscious presents when in meditation. We can be searching for an answer and our subconscious can develop an image or thought with a bases on what we have taught it to believe or imagine. Faqir Chand realized the secret behind religious visions when returning from the battle field and his comrades began to worship him instead of their guru. Claiming that Faqir had come to them in the war field giving them guidance and hope. When in reality Faqir in his own trouble did not even give them any thought. So he accounts their visions to their imaginations.

6. Gumby Land

In an Age of Faith

7. Littlewood’s Law of miracles is that as we live we have many experiences throughout our day, with so many experiences we would tend to have a miracle occur out of one of those experiences. Littlewood’s Law states that the higher the number of occurrences the greater the possibility of something miraculous would happen, out of those occurrences. Also stated was that one has to be willing to accept and be vigilant of such rare occasion. Some people take everyday lived as a miracle in its self, being able to function the way our body does and produce amazing things and thoughts moment by moment, but Littlewood did not think that was miraculous enough. Others like Littlewood believe there are exceptional miracles that happen to a person about once a month, calculating the possibility of experiencing one miracle out of the million of experiences. But who is to determine what those experiences are? Each one of us has our own definition of extraordinary. It could be the ability to conceive a child to giving birth to one. By each individual placing a distinctly different understanding on miracles what one sees as a miracle would not necessarily be considered the same to the other. Now, Littlewood statement of the possibility of miracles occurring to an individual approximately once a month could very well be more than once a month by a vigilant believer in miracles. About a little more than a year ago I was studying and filling out applications, for the second time around, for several nursing schools. Estimating on how long it had taken other nursing students and current nursing graduates to pass the entrance exams and get accepted into the nursing program I thought it would take at least two years to get in, that would be about four seasons of applications. After my second season of submissions, I got a letter with an alternate number. The number was so far off, again the possibilities of being admitted was too far off, but with an alternate number I was eligible to take the entrance exam, now I had to pass that. So the next month after receiving the alternate number I passed the entrance exam, now what was left was a possibility of at least 10 people not passing the entrance exam. Well, a month after the exam I got a call that I was accepted into the program. This story does fall into Littlewood’s law of miracles, with the exception to the miracles that also happened during this time in my family life. Another obstacle that had to be overcome for me to go into nursing school was our childcare. I have a special needs son and finding someone who would be able to care for him and our daughter would be a challenge to find, since our families help is not an option. A young lady volunteered to help us out at that time and she had an amazing knowledge of my son’s special needs and bonded with the children immediately. That again was a miracle to have found her and for her to have had all the qualities we needed and her willingness to help us out. Before this experience and ever since I have had more than once a month, run into the miracles that have impacted my life and those around me. I believe Littlewood’s Law of miracles, it makes sense but for those of us who are vigilant to see miracles, it can happen far more than once a month, according to our definition of what a miracle could be.

8. Mummy vs. the Wolfman

Our primary nature of humans is the repression of death brought by the fear of death because we do not understand what happens after death. So as time has passed we have put much effort in and thought into how not to die! We have for years and continue to attempt to develop ways to keep from dying, mostly from illnesses. That is why we are living longer than our ancestors did and why the average 60 year old takes at least three prescription medications a day to continue functioning and prolong the idea of death for that much longer. This way of aging is mostly concentrated in our Western civilization. Some tend to think that from the moment we are born we being to die. Scientifically our amount of carbon begins to diminish the moment we die and so the body can give count of how long we had been dead to the corner examiner, as well as the calcification of our bones could tell that same corner how old we were at the point of death. The reason we cannot experience absolute death is because humans cannot experience consciously the absoluteness of death. There is death of the body which the priest tried to preserve back in ancient Egyptian times and we in the western civilization try to prolong. What about the death of the soul or consciousness? Does that exist? So if absolute death is not obtainable where then do we continue this realization? Some say heaven or the underworld, or like others we are our souls continue in a different form. As a young adult I can tell you that death is a kind of fear of mine, not so much because of the unknown after death but mostly for the future of my children, who would take care of them especially my special needs son and how that will impact them. On the other hand worked many years in a convalescent home, long term care facility, and there I would speak with people that were ready to go. They would tell me that they were done with the pains of this world. They would express that they had either a good life, hard life or bad rough life and at the end it would be the same, now I’m just tired. They had their memories and were ready to rest. The manifestation of transformation from life to death experience could be taken differently depending on the age or physical state that individual has. If we do not appreciate time as we have it now and look at death as the end of our lives then we life as those who have no hope in what is to come after, even though no one has come back from the dead to tell us what that hope could be, or has there?

9. Stephen Wolfram representation of a “new kind of science,”….. Cellular Automata…define… Complicated math was used to define nature in the past, but when the behavior is being observed we found out more complex then math and could not be done. Until, Stephen developed mathematical. Mathematica, this program allowed Stephen to continuously run simple mathematical equations, repetitiously which in turn would form complex structures. What was an amazing discovery that it does not take complex mathematics to form complex forms but simple organized mathematical patterns to form nature’s similar complex shapes and arrangements. Yet again these are just similar models that end up having a definite shape and arrangement in its totality. Nature on the other hand has infinite shapes and arrangements within the same time continuum. Stephen talked about how, how is something changed and what gets changed or transformed first when the development of the snow flake, is it the extension of the arm or the release of energy that impedes the formation of crystal at that point of construction. Those where some interesting points, I can almost say just like the age old question of what came first the chicken or the egg? In observation of the phenomenon of these formations, who is to say that the mere fact that during that observation, the forms the observer is not in some way altering the formation it’s self. The heat that the object forms, to the coolness that is controlled, and many other different factors, like the electron when viewed, can alter the pattern, time of formation and its structure. This also brings to question the observers opinion on the actual occurrence and time line. In any case the development of Mathematica and the discovery and revelation of how a simple our completed natural environment and beyond are, is amazing.

10. Alan Turning

Amazing! Wow, ‘Mother necessity where would we be?’ The necessity here was to break Hitler’s submarine encryption and in turn it also continued to bring birth to an encrypted form of communication that the allies could use to communicate without the enemy knowing our intentions and locations. I’m sure these encryptions are still being used today with much more combinational layers applied to it. These encryptions can also be the ones we use not just in the military but also in our new age of common technology. Just how we have come a long way with electricity discovered by Benjamin Franklin which runs most of our world today and who made possible the discovery and use of technology that empowered the development of what Turning brought to light and is still being used today.

This is a link to a document explaining the history of encryption and how it is, “one of the oldest forms of science.” It talks about encryption, its purpose, the different forms, how far back it has been traced to where and how we use it today. It also mentions the different people that have had their hand in developing and enhancing its complexity. http://www.giac.org/paper/gsec/1555/history-encryption/102877

11.Patricia Churchland champion neurophilosophy because it is her firm understanding on how the brain works and because we are able to understand the functionality of the matter, according to her there is no other reason to think of another possibility of enlightment than through the mere functions of that mass. Patricia Churchland’s explanation of our senses is pretty elementary when explaining that one neuron is not solely responsible for our sense of falling in love, but a plethora of neurons that develop that sensation of falling in love. Minimizing that we as humans are just the brain, just the functioning of molecular movement, that our brain is what controls everything and gives us the perspectives that we see. In a way it makes sense, each head, brain, is its own world. But then when she talks about morality, who knows what, is moral? Morality again falls within the realm of what that individual head has been exposed to and believes. Just like the Dali Lama asking top intellectuals to explain the brain in order for him to think about things more wisely. His religion of Buddhism, which explains how to live a life with compassion and honesty but did not touch on the fact of the creation of the world or is the mind is separate of the body. Even the best explanation of the brains function does not help with discovering what moral system is the most appropriate or make us any wiser in making decisions in life. Patricia Churchland’s explanation of how God is debunked from existence and the originator of function by pointing to the discovery of DNA and how very complex molecules work together is not a very good one. How did these very complex and fragile structure of DNA and how do the complex molecules know how to interact with one another come in to existence and function in such an orderly manner?

12. Is our consciousness physical? I believe our consciousness to be physical. Just like explained in the Zahir correspondence. Borgas physically observed a Zahir given to him and took in the environment that surrounded that experience. Then subconsciously or consciously he would return to that experience causing him to become disturbed by the meaning he had placed on that particular coin at that moment. This in turn altered his life style, by becoming a burden to his mind, making it a physical experience. Now others, like Nitche, express that the feeling of guilt is pointless and if that is so our consciousness it’s ridiculous and in no way could affect us physically. But yet there are several people that suffer physically from a guilty conscious, with depression and addictions to suppress the physical awareness of their consciousness and attempt to physically repress that awareness with physical actions that in turn physically harm them. So there is a direct correlation to consciousness being a physical state of being.

13. Why does your professor argue in the Codex funeral that books are dead? Do you agree or disagree with his argument as presented in the pdf file? My professor argues that books are dead, because we as a digital age have turned to pdf file versions of books. Instead of buying a hard cover book that takes up space both on our shelves and in our possession anywhere we go. We prefer to have everything we want at our disposal, which includes books. We are also a generation of excess to the point that even though our family size has gotten smaller, our homes have gotten bigger to the point that we are now also a generation of storage renting for all our stuff. Now, with the portable electronic devices we can purchase and carry all our virtual books, documents and notes with us everywhere we go, without having the extra bulk to carry. One commercial puts it better, where the guy is reading from his tablet a newly released book and a lady is carrying a heavy bag that held all the books she was reading, and it made it logical at the end of the 30 second commercial that even though you couldn’t physically fold the page of a book you are reading it was a lot more convenient to carry and read of the tablet with less hassle.

14. What is apophenia? Give an illustration of it. Apophenia is the experience of seeing meaningful patter or connections in random or meaningless data. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia. Apophenia could be considered the lining up of the stars and the moon. Some people find that the stars alignment with the moon has an effect on something as simple as a haircut. I have heard old superstitious ladies tell young girls that if they want their hair to grow thick and fast to get their haircut when the stars and moon aligned in a particular arraignment. Giving meaning to that particular pattern, something that in reality has no meaning at all. Another sever case example that I had known of, was when a patient in a facility I had clinical at stated that his chin was attracted to stairs. That whenever he would walk by stairs his chin had a magnetic force that was pulling him to the stairs and he had to climb up those stairs. It wouldn’t happen when he would drive past stairs because he would be going too fast, but when he walked it gave the magnetism in his chin time to become attracted to the stairs. I was weird, he looked and sounded perfectly fine until he made that statement. In his mind he gave his chin and stairs a meaning and forces that were not there in reality. Just like the older ladies telling the younger ones sky readings to look out for, for a better head of hair.

15. How does the Himalayan connection explain UFO’s? As Fasqir had explained, people manifestations could be by their own search for answers. Their answers answered brought by their own engraved images, principles, thoughts and way of processing everything that we have seen, heard or felt up until that point in our life. This takes me back to what my mom would tell me growing up, ‘’every mind is a world of it’s own.” We can have as a group the same experience and yet everyone have a different meaning perception of the exact same event or situation. The experience that Lane and had on the roof top was the same experience but with two different interpretations. Now, how can all the people that claim to have had encounters with UFO’s have a lot of similarities and can be experienced by many around the world. This reminds me about the chupa cabra incident and how everyone had seen the creature and how many were terrified of a mystical creature that has never been found or verified. It is all like the experience and the mind set the particular individual has while experiencing it. Growing up I was also told of a saint mary that was from a particular little town. Now the story went that the town was in an uncontrollable fire one night and the townsmen main concern was to keep the church from burning down. Even with all their effort the church caught fire and burned down, but not before the statue of saint mary that was in that church walked down from her pedestal to the front of the church kneeled down in prayer and became solid again in that position. The townsmen have this story depicted in beautiful murals on the walls of the new rebuilt church. Many people in the town and in the smaller surrounding towns believe this story, I never did, even though my mom would have us visit this little church on every trip to her hometown. There’s another more closely related story about another statue of a saint that lays in the middle of the Sonoran desert, the story behind him was that if you were pure of heart you could lift his head off his pillow, that even children could life his head, and there have been grown men that could not lift the statue an inch. Again, I do not believe any of these stories, even when I was younger this stories were not impressionable to me. On the other hand they were very impressionable to my siblings and they are still lost in stories of this kind.

16. What is Sam Harris’ dilemma? Do you think he is right or wrong in his appraisement? Sam Harris’ dilemma is that how can we convey to others states of consciousness that one individual has experienced. One can attempt to explain and demonstrate an otherwise conscious experience but without that person actually experiencing that same situation the explanation will always fall short of the experience and interpretation can always change the understanding as well. For example, when a young girl first learns about how children come into the world and are taught that they can possibly bring children into the world later on in their life time, their first question is, “What does it feel like?” This situation I’m sure has been explained so many different ways and some young girls have even seen a birth take place, but even with the outer person observation of the occurrence the experience is very hard to convey to them. This will have to be experienced to understand what others go through, unless you have experienced what the other person has experienced you do not know or fully understand what took place. You can convey sympathy, love, and attempt to help the other person, but understanding of the situation could not be obtained. Psychologists who attempt to fix marriages, but yet have never been married cannot fully convey the mechanics that have brought a marriage to the point of seeking help. Just how I can be explained time and time again from one of my nephews what it feels to smoke weed, until I try it, which I don’t, I will not understand what he perceives. I really don’t care to either. I think Harris’ dilemma was to present that perception is individualized and cannot be demonstrated or explained no matter how hard we tried or how eloquent out vocabulary could be and I believe that is correct.

17. What was the most interesting film you watched this term? The most interesting film I watched this term was the Zahir. I found it to be a sad story of a thought engulfing the mind of a great thinker. I also enjoyed the perfect Coke film, it reminded me of my grandmother, who I truly miss, and how we can miss that feeling of perfect enjoyment and once having it, it could be difficult to reproduce again. That was a great story.

18. What was the most interesting reading for you this term? The most interesting reading was about the mobius strip and how that came up in quite a few of the readings. I also enjoyed the Himalaya Connection and how that connected with the Zahir film. The Zahir film made quite an impression on me. I also liked reading about Apophenia, now I have am educated word to discribe that behavior, especialy since I have come across some people that display that kind of behavior in one way or another. Spooky physics was also an interesting read, and how it explained the phenominon of physics and how Einstien and Bohr relied heavily on mathematics, one wanting a solid spacific answer and the other being satisfied with the wide range of probability. That was a great discustion to have read. To think, that discussion was not to long ago either. My grandparents were alive back then.

19. What was the most unusual thing you learned this term? The most unusual thing I learned was how intelligence has nothing to do with belief. Even the most intelligent person could have no answer and be lost in acceptance. I say this because of Patricia Churchland, she is probably one of the most intelligent persons on this earth but yet unfortunately, she could not fully give the Guru what he needed to form wiser decisions in life. All she contributed was to the reality of how the world and science works, but that does not explain morality and wisdom.

Thank You!

Sam Harris

Sam Harris’ dilemma is that how can we convey to others states of consciousness that one individual has experienced. One can attempt to explain and demonstrate an otherwise conscious experience but without that person actually experiencing that same situation the explanation will always fall short of the experience and interpretation can always change the understanding as well. For example, when a young girl first learns about how children come into the world and are taught that they can possibly bring children into the world later on in their life time, their first question is, “What does it feel like?” This situation I’m sure has been explained so many different ways and some young girls have even seen a birth take place, but even with the outer person observation of the occurrence the experience is very hard to convey to them. This will have to be experienced to understand what others go through, unless you have experienced what the other person has experienced you do not know or fully understand what took place. You can convey sympathy, love, and attempt to help the other person, but understanding of the situation could not be obtained. Psychologists who attempt to fix marriages, but yet have never been married cannot fully convey the mechanics that have brought a marriage to the point of seeking help. Just how I can be explained time and time again from one of my nephews what it feels to smoke weed, until I try it, which I don’t, I will not understand what he perceives. I really don’t care to either. I think Harris’ dilemma was to present that perception is individualized and cannot be demonstrated or explained no matter how hard we tried or how eloquent out vocabulary could be and I believe that is correct.

The Himalayan Connection

As Fasqir had explained, people manifestations could be by their own search for answers. Their answers answered brought by their own engraved images, principles, thoughts and way of processing everything that we have seen, heard or felt up until that point in our life. This takes me back to what my mom would tell me growing up, ‘’every mind is a world of it’s own.” We can have as a group the same experience and yet everyone have a different meaning perception of the exact same event or situation. The experience that Lane and had on the roof top was the same experience but with two different interpretations. Now, how can all the people that claim to have had encounters with UFO’s have a lot of similarities and can be experienced by many around the world. This reminds me about the chupa cabra incident and how everyone had seen the creature and how many were terrified of a mystical creature that has never been found or verified. It is all like the experience and the mind set the particular individual has while experiencing it. Growing up I was also told of a saint mary that was from a particular little town. Now the story went that the town was in an uncontrollable fire one night and the townsmen main concern was to keep the church from burning down. Even with all their effort the church caught fire and burned down, but not before the statue of saint mary that was in that church walked down from her pedestal to the front of the church kneeled down in prayer and became solid again in that position. The townsmen have this story depicted in beautiful murals on the walls of the new rebuilt church. Many people in the town and in the smaller surrounding towns believe this story, I never did, even though my mom would have us visit this little church on every trip to her hometown. There’s another more closely related story about another statue of a saint that lays in the middle of the Sonoran desert, the story behind him was that if you were pure of heart you could lift his head off his pillow, that even children could life his head, and there have been grown men that could not lift the statue an inch. Again, I do not believe any of these stories, even when I was younger this stories were not impressionable to me. On the other hand they were very impressionable to my siblings and they are still lost in stories of this kind.

Apophnia

Apophenia is the experience of seeing meaningful patter or connections in random or meaningless data. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia. Apophenia could be considered the lining up of the stars and the moon. Some people find that the stars alignment with the moon has an effect on something as simple as a haircut. I have heard old superstitious ladies tell young girls that if they want their hair to grow thick and fast to get their haircut when the stars and moon aligned in a particular arraignment. Giving meaning to that particular pattern, something that in reality has no meaning at all. Another sever case example that I had known of, was when a patient in a facility I had clinical at stated that his chin was attracted to stairs. That whenever he would walk by stairs his chin had a magnetic force that was pulling him to the stairs and he had to climb up those stairs. It wouldn’t happen when he would drive past stairs because he would be going too fast, but when he walked it gave the magnetism in his chin time to become attracted to the stairs. I was weird, he looked and sounded perfectly fine until he made that statement. In his mind he gave his chin and stairs a meaning and forces that were not there in reality. Just like the older ladies telling the younger ones sky readings to look out for, for a better head of hair.

Books are dead!

My professor argues that books are dead, because we as a digital age have turned to pdf file versions of books. Instead of buying a hard cover book that takes up space both on our shelves and in our possession anywhere we go. We prefer to have everything we want at our disposal, which includes books. We are also a generation of excess to the point that even though our family size has gotten smaller, our homes have gotten bigger to the point that we are now also a generation of storage renting for all our stuff. Now, with the portable electronic devices we can purchase and carry all our virtual books, documents and notes with us everywhere we go, without having the extra bulk to carry. One commercial puts it better, where the guy is reading from his tablet a newly released book and a lady is carrying a heavy bag that held all the books she was reading, and it made it logical at the end of the 30 second commercial that even though you couldn’t physically fold the page of a book you are reading it was a lot more convenient to carry and read of the tablet with less hassle.

Littlewood

Littlewood’s Law of miracles is that as we live we have many experiences throughout our day, with so many experiences we would tend to have a miracle occur out of one of those experiences. Littlewood’s Law states that the higher the number of occurrences the greater the possibility of something miraculous would happen, out of those occurrences. Also stated was that one has to be willing to accept and be vigilant of such rare occasion. Some people take everyday lived as a miracle in its self, being able to function the way our body does and produce amazing things and thoughts moment by moment, but Littlewood did not think that was miraculous enough. Others like Littlewood believe there are exceptional miracles that happen to a person about once a month, calculating the possibility of experiencing one miracle out of the million of experiences. But who is to determine what those experiences are? Each one of us has our own definition of extraordinary. It could be the ability to conceive a child to giving birth to one. By each individual placing a distinctly different understanding on miracles what one sees as a miracle would not necessarily be considered the same to the other. Now, Littlewood statement of the possibility of miracles occurring to an individual approximately once a month could very well be more than once a month by a vigilant believer in miracles. About a little more than a year ago I was studying and filling out applications, for the second time around, for several nursing schools. Estimating on how long it had taken other nursing students and current nursing graduates to pass the entrance exams and get accepted into the nursing program I thought it would take at least two years to get in, that would be about four seasons of applications. After my second season of submissions, I got a letter with an alternate number. The number was so far off, again the possibilities of being admitted was too far off, but with an alternate number I was eligible to take the entrance exam, now I had to pass that. So the next month after receiving the alternate number I passed the entrance exam, now what was left was a possibility of at least 10 people not passing the entrance exam. Well, a month after the exam I got a call that I was accepted into the program. This story does fall into Littlewood’s law of miracles, with the exception to the miracles that also happened during this time in my family life. Another obstacle that had to be overcome for me to go into nursing school was our childcare. I have a special needs son and finding someone who would be able to care for him and our daughter would be a challenge to find, since our families help is not an option. A young lady volunteered to help us out at that time and she had an amazing knowledge of my son’s special needs and bonded with the children immediately. That again was a miracle to have found her and for her to have had all the qualities we needed and her willingness to help us out. Before this experience and ever since I have had more than once a month, run into the miracles that have impacted my life and those around me. I believe Littlewood’s Law of miracles, it makes sense but for those of us who are vigilant to see miracles, it can happen far more than once a month, according to our definition of what a miracle could be.