Buddhist Meditation

When trying the different eightfold meditation in class, I found that one of my favorites was the third step of right speech where we had to list eight positive things that we were thankful for and the repeat a short positive phrase eight times.  So when we were assigned to meditate for 20 minutes out of class, I decided to use this one.  My meditative place was on my floor in my bedroom where I sat cross-legged.  At first I just tried to sit quietly and settle my thoughts but I was having trouble concentrating because of my thoughts wandering to other things and to the noise outside my room. To solve this, I found some quiet meditative music and played that in the background to limit the distracting sounds.  I then listed things I was thankful for and all of the positive aspects in my life.  After that, I just sat there trying to focus my mind and not have my thoughts wander.  Once I was finished I felt peaceful and felt a lot happier.  By thinking of all the good things in my life, my thinking became more positive.  I thought of people who were less fortunate than me and I felt blessed to have all that I have.  On top of that, just sitting still in silence was relaxing and peaceful.  I had trouble focusing my mind though even with the music.  I felt like I never really connected with anything and my mind would always wander onto the next thing.  Overall I felt like I was able to connect with the right speech by being more positive and I was inspired by realizing how blessed I am however I need to work on controlling my mind so I can concentrate better which will come with regular practicing of meditating.  

Gandhi Movie Reflection

           Gandhi is a movie about the true story of Mohandas Gandhi who was an influential Indian man who practiced nonviolence civil disobedience to gain rights and independence for India and its people.  Throughout the movie, Gandhi’s ideas of Hinduism of the acceptance of religions was shown and affected many of his actions.  Hinduism believes that there is a supreme being which they call Brahman.  Hindus, especially Gandhi, were able to accept other religions because of this belief because they believe the supreme being is present in other religion but t is just called other names and worshiped differently.  In the movie Gandhi tells one of the protestors of the Hindu-Muslim conflict that “I am a Muslim and a Hindu and a Christian and a Jew and so are all of you” which shows how he has accepted the other religions as his own because of his belief that they are able to be apart of his faith because of this Hinduism idea.  Another way Gandhi was able to show this idea was through his extreme opposition to the dividing of India by fasting until the fighting stopped between the Muslim and Hindus.  He believed that Muslim and Hinduism should be able to accept each other and be able to practice their religions at peace because Gandhi was able to accept them both into his faith. 

                Not only have many of Gandhi’s quotes have given new perspectives and insight into many people on ways they should live their lives, but they also shows ways in which Gandhi lived out his life and his faith.  One of these quotes are “an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind”.   This quote shows Gandi’s idea for nonviolence which is a reflection of Gandhi’s faith.  Gandhi was able to lead a whole revolution against the British rule and win without using an act of violence towards them.  He believed that by fighting would only lead the British to get mad and fight back which would eventually lead to a war which is the equivalence of making the world blind because it does no good when people are dying.  Instead of fighting Gandhi used methods of fasting to oppose violence that was occurring.  This shows the selflessness views of Hinduism that Gandhi chose to carry out as a result of his faith.  

Totem Pole Poem

As I gaze upon the totem pole standing grand and tall,

Crests representing the history and beliefs of all. 

Different animals look down and over me,

All of them made and carved into a tall mighty tree. 

Each animal is important and has a story to share.

The guardian of the world is the big, brown bear,

The bringer of light is the raven soaring high,

And the red fox is very sneaky and sly. 

The owl represents wisdom and the dove is love,

While the eagle always watches from above. 

The totem pole is more that a Cedar tree,

They are symbols of our tribe and always will be.  

MRE: Reflection Question #1

How has religion contributed to your own personal history?

Religion has not only changed the history of the world and has affected the world we live in now, but religion has also contributed to my own history and made me the person I am today. I have been a Christian my entire life and have been raised in a strong Lutheran family. Lutheranism has been in my family as long as I can trace back and many people in my family tree are Lutheran pastors. Their strong faith has then helped me to accept and grow in my faith. It has also helped me to live by the morals and mores of the Christian religion such as prayer, reading scripture, attending worship, and living out the life Jesus attended us to live. The constant influence and history of Christianity in my life has also made me the person I am today beyond someone that simply practices Christianity. I feel that because of having this religion in my life I am more positive, a better decision maker, and more trusting. I can be positive because of knowing that there is a life after death in Heaven and that I have a God that looks out to me and who I can go to. I am able to make better decisions because of wanting to live a life that reflects my faith and I can be trusting that there is a God because of having faith that God is real and present in my life. I know that my faith is a reflection of the history of the Christian religion that has been constantly present in my life and it has and will continue to shape my personal history.