SO MANY BOOKS!

So me and Ben went to the library today, and each got somewhere around 10 books. Books on religion and philosophy, so prepare for a spicy new blog haha. I've been very busy with school and other things, so I haven't been able to start a topic, but I will have a new post soon! In the meantime, it would be great if you read my other posts if you haven't, and comment them! Contribute! I'd love to hear your thoughts.

My Diminished Perspective: A View On Polytheism

So right now, I'm in the process of reading four books. "Hinduism" by I.G Edmonds, "Einstein and Buddha" by Thomas J. McFarlane, "Jesus, Interrupted" by Bart D. Ehrmand and "Islamic Fundamentalism" by David M. Haugen. I'm trying to get a basic understanding of the main religions in the world and those are what I'm starting with. Here's a list of religions I like, 1 being the most interesting to me and 4 being the least interesting to me.

1. Hinduism
2. Buddhism
3. Islam
4. Christianity

No offense to the religions lower on the list, but I've been around Christianity my whole life, and I still find it very interesting, but when I explored Hinduism, a door was opened to me.

What I've Learned:
When I started reading the book on Hinduism, I was very interested in the deluge myth (great flood), that is common across many religions.

• Bible (Christianity) - The Flood (Noah's Ark); Genesis:6-9
• Qur'an (Islam) - The Flood (Nuh's Ark; Local, as opposed to global, flood); Sura 71
• Shatapatha Brahmana (Hinduism) - Manu & Vishnu (Matsya Avatara, means Vishnu in fish form); Manu is warned of a great flood that will cleanse the earth.
• Epic Of Gilgamesh - Tablet 11 (Still looking into further)

When reading into Hinduism, I noticed many myths that seemed to be very imaginative and mystical. Compared to Christianity, it felt very lighthearted and highly symbolic. It got me to thinking about it like this; Split the Earth into 2 hemispheres, Eastern and Western Hemisphere. Split your brain into left and right hemispheres as well. Left brain corresponds to the more concrete thoughts and analytical side. This represents the monotheistic religions, as the right brain represents the abstract, creative thoughts, that point towards the polytheistic religions. The myths about different gods being reincarnated as animals or "Avatars", is a very abstract concept, but it really gets the point across and sticks with you! I'm really enjoying the stories about how the Hindu sects choose which god they think is best, and the deluge myth as well. I am still learning more about Hinduism and its many epic myths, and I am keeping an open mind. I don't have much else to say about the subject, but I would like to leave you with one of the Puranas (proving Vishnu's superiority). Note: Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver) and Siva (the destroyer) are the 3 main gods in Hinduism.

(Taken directly from "Hindusism" by I.G Edmonds)

Some wise men in ancient times argued over which god was the greater. They took the question to Bhrigu, one of the ten sages. Bhrigu did not know the answer, but agreed to test the gods to find out.
He went first to Brahma. Bhrigu purposely did not pay respect to the god. Brahma's wrath was terrible to behold.
Next, Bhrigu went to Siva. again he failed to give the god his rightful respect. Siva was so angry that he would have killed the sage if Siva's wife had not begged for Bhrigu's life.
Finally Bhrigu went to Vishnu. He found the god asleep with his head in the lap of Lakshimi, his wife. Bhrigu kicked Vishnu to awaken the god. Instead of being angry, Vishnu begged the sage's pardon for putting him into the trouble of having to kick his god awake. Then he gentley massages Bhrigu's foot, which was bruised from kicking Vishnu.
The sage then reported back to the wise men that Vishnu was the greatest of the gods. "He overpowers by the greatest of all weapons," he said. "This is gentleness and generosity."

With that I conclude this post. Tell me what you think in the comments!

Note: I know someone is going to bring this up, so here it is. Hinduism can be considered monotheistic or polytheistic, depending on a individuals personal beliefs.

Death Of Language?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8311000/8311069.stm

"An estimated 7,000 languages are being spoken around the world. But that number is expected to shrink rapidly in the coming decades. What is lost when a language dies?"

I stumbled across this article and the first thing that went through my head was, "You know... I never though of that!" Haha. Naturally, that got me to thinking... "What if?" So I'm just gonna throw a few random thoughts out there for you guys, and you can comment with your thoughts.

I took this in two directions, and here they are.

First, the "WOO ENGLISH IS BEST AND IMMIGRANTS SUCK THEY SHOULD ONLY SPEAK ENGLISH, THEIR LANGUAGE IS STUPID LOL LETS GO SIT ON THE COUCH IN OUR FRONT YARD!" approach:

"Most people are not at all interested in the death of languages," he says. "If we are not cautious about the way English is progressing it may eventually kill most other languages."

English. The language of business. Wouldn't it be cool to be able to travel anywhere in the world eventually, and share a common tongue? By golly, it sure would Travis! Yeah, It would be a lot easier to communicate with others universally. We would have no problem talking to each other, and accents wouldn't be a problem (or entertaining) to deal with. The world economy would be at peak efficiency, as well as global relations. Third world countries would be able to develop much faster with no language barrier in trade and commerce. There may be a decline in hate crimes, due to the shared language. (Hey, it could happen.)

Then there is the..."Logical." approach:

Language is an integral part of culture. If language is lost, then will our diversity die? Yes, in a way I think it will. The biggest barrier to overcome is language. I think language is the main factor that separated us, and molded our cultures. To further elaborate on culture, I think that without it everyone would be similar and a general globalization would occur without it! Imagine all the influences in art, architecture, design, style, etc.. If there was a global culture of trendy conformists (like myself), THEN WHAT? Where we are from, makes us who we are. Is that a bad thing? Naw. Haha. Also, scientific discoveries? What if we find an important ancient document and the language is so far extinct that its impossible to decipher? F. That's all I can say.

Well I hope you enjoyed reading and I would love to hear your opinion on the matter!

Religion ≠ Ignorance

For the longest time, I really wasn't into religion. I felt it had a lot of things wrong with it. I was under the impression that it bred ignorance, hindered education and much more. My feelings were also well reinforced, through the general public. But, young and ignorant... what does my opinion mean? Nothing.

This plunged me into an ebullient study of religions, and their effect on people.


Disclaimer:
I'm not putting down religions with my statements; I’m just pointing out the ignorant, intolerant people that hide behind their religion to justify their actions. I am also not speaking for everyone, nor do I intend to offend anyone.


Thoughts:
In my studies I have come to my own conclusions regarding people and the misunderstanding/misuse of their religion. For example, the inflated egos' of the fundamentalists really paint a bad picture for those undecided on religion. Me and a friend were discussing how a serial killer in prison can "find god" and be "born again", and all is forgiven. Yet some "Christians" look down upon atheists, agnostics, or people of another faith, who are potentially incredibly good-hearted people. The same applies to other religions looking down on Christianity as well. Even some atheists look down on people of faith.


My Personal Opinion:
I think that learning the bible from a devotional standpoint in church, is just as important as learning it from a historical standpoint in a classroom. If you blindly follow the bible, you will naturally feel the urge to defend it, close your mind, and take any information that you don't agree with, as a threat to the bible and your beliefs. But, if you take the information and analyze it, logically dissect it, and derive its meaning after referencing it with other materials, then you will see it from a different point of view. As Bart D. Ehrman says in his book "Jesus, Interrupted", the bible is a very human book. "In thinking about which parts of the bible have something to say in modern context, it is important to recall the historical view that the biblical authors were all living in a different world from ours and reflected the assumptions and beliefs of people in their world." ("Jesus, Interrupted", 280). This is extremely relevant, because I believe the bible is to be taken with a grain of salt. From what you have read so far, it may seem like I’m really laying into the bible, and dismissing it as an inaccurate account of events, but there are many things that I do like about the bible. For one, the Ten Commandments are an excellent account of the basic morals to follow in life. Also, many of the stories of the Old Testament are an excellent resource to teach children basic morals that will greatly help them to develop into a well rounded, respectable adult. The problem lies with the people that will not open their mind, and come to new conclusions once they are old enough to start formulating their own ideas and have the capacity to intelligently contribute to pressing matters.


Islam:
I can’t say I am heavily educated on the subject of Islam, but there is something I have learned in my studies that I believe a lot of people should know. Since the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers by the Islamist group Al-Qaeda, there has been a massive uprising of intolerance and acts of hate towards American Muslims. All the hate is misguided to the general Muslim population, but in truth, what people should be oppressing is “Islamism”. Islamism is the political system based on the Quran. This system is frequently taken to the extreme and turns hostile, causing (in Al-Qaeda’s case) a global Jihad (holy war) in an attempt to restore the “Caliphate” (the first form of Islamic Government). Personally, I think that the average Muslim is against an Islamic government, considering the seemingly inevitable militarization of the nation, which seems to go hand in hand with the political system (or the direction is has leaned towards in the past).


Conclusion:
I think we have a lot to learn from religion, and we should attack it from many different positions. If you are passionate about your belief, challenge it. Study it, attack its weaknesses, and accentuate its strengths. Get a thorough understanding of it, and understand that it’s not 100% accurate or correct. Cases in point, (Christianity) the original scriptures have been translated from Greek, to every other language over the years and there are an abundance of mistakes in translation and personal bias written into the bible. I fully and wholeheartedly recommend everyone to study their religion and open their mind to all views from people from all walks of life. Learning more about religion has really opened my mind, and it’s been an extremely enjoyable experience!

PLEASE COMMENT! TELL ME YOUR FEELINGS, AND BELIEFS!


I will continue studying, and have follow up posts to this one so keep checking back!

Epic blog coming soon!

I am working on a very in-depth blog on a very sensitive matter for some people. Religion. I am doing extensive research to get a well rounded grasp on the subject on the whole, and I look forward to reading other people's philosophies on the matter! Here is an excerpt to keep you occupied for now.

My Personal Opinion:

I think that learning the bible from a philosophical standpoint in church, is just as important as learning it from a historical standpoint in a classroom. If you blindly follow the bible, you will naturally feel the urge to defend it, close your mind, and take any information that you don't agree with, as a threat to the bible and your beliefs. But, if you take the information and analyze it, logically dissect it, and derive its meaning after referencing it with other materials, then you will see it from a different point of view. As Bart D. Ehrman says in his book "Jesus, Interrupted", the bible is a very human book. "In thinking about which parts of the bible have something to say in modern context, it is important to recall the historical view that the biblical authors were all living in a different world from ours and reflected the assumptions and beliefs of people in their world." ("Jesus, Interrupted", 280). This is extremely relevant, because I believe the bible is to be taken with a grain of salt. From what you have read so far, it may seem like I’m really laying into the bible, and dismissing it as an inaccurate account of events, but there are many things that I do like about the bible. For one, the Ten Commandments are an excellent account of the basic morals to follow in life. Also, many of the stories of the Old Testament are an excellent resource to teach children basic morals that will greatly help them to develop into a well rounded, respectable adult. The problem lies with the people that will not open their mind, and come to new conclusions once they are old enough to start formulating their own ideas and have the capacity to intelligently contribute to pressing matters.

Expect more soon!

Target: A Series Of Unfortunate Events

Target is awesome. Generally.

Unless you want a job, or something crazy like that.

So I get up and shower, shave, eat, etc. Then I get on a nice black dress shirt, and clean my black Vans, to look presentable. The car is out of gas, so I take the only 20 left to my name, and get some gas. The day before I had been at Target and an employee said that if I went to the computer, filled out and application, and picked up the mysterious "red phone", then I would get a manager. After this mystical red phone of economic relief was to connect me with a manager, I would schedule a job interview. Sounds great, right?

F.

So I get to Target. I go to the computers to fill out an application. Some people were there, so I had to wait until they were finished with their applications. Eh, waiting 10-15 minutes wouldn't have been that bad. Well, I was mistaken. The woman filling out the application must have never seen a computer in her life, or she was inebriated. Possibly a combination of both. I waited for somewhere around an hour and a half for her to get done. at this point I wasn't too upset, because my mind was full of hope and excitement. So I sat down expecting an application process of epic proportions, yet what I got was a finished application in about 15 minutes. That made me mildly distraught, and curious as to how the woman before me took over an hour. I was not discouraged though, so with a grin from ear to ear, and a sparkle in my eye, I picked up the all powerful crimson phone of hope. Ring, ring, ring.."Operator.", I heard. "Hi, I just completed my application, and I was told to pick up the red phone when I was done.", I said happily. "Okay." *click*. I sat there thinking to myself, "Do I wait?" So I waited. Once my spirit grew weary of waiting, I consulted a staff member only to be shrugged off and told that they had, "Nothing to do with it." WTF? Oh, cool.


Cool.


I bite my thumb at you, Target.

Pic related. It's my face after leaving Target.

Electronica Music

Zero Electronica Ep

This is the first album I made, which consists of me learning how to use Fl Studio, and studying electronic music. I had a lot of fun making this album, and I have to thank all my friends for being supportive and keeping me confident in my music. Give it a listen, and please leave a comment on how you felt about it! Click the link to download!

-Travis Straub