Final essay

Adeeb

Michelangelo, considered as one of the greatest living artist in his lifetime created many sculptures through which he was able to express themes relating to different topics. The talent Michelangelo had allowed him to be able to created sculptures that not only could hold multiple but such profound themes is what made him one of the men of genius. This sense of trying to escape from the things of life is what the sculptures are representing, desires and personal conflicts could make this life that we are free in feel that in reality we are actually trapped . His statues of the captives that he constructed may seem to be unfinished but are still able to relate to the era he lived in, his personal self and certain philosophical ideas.

The sculptures of the captives all seem to be leaning on one foot, twisting their torso while writhing and trying to escape, but when someone normally wants to escape they want to leave with their bodies still with them. In this case the statues are trying desperately to escape their bodies as they are prisoners to it. Descartes talks about how we are made up of two parts, our body and mind and that essentially our mind is who we are and our body is just a vessel to keep our mind in. Our mind is immortal and will outlast our body, so this material trapping of it inside the body restrains it and succumbs it to the physical desires that we all long for. Freud talks about the Id and superego, the superego is the social standards we learn as a kid, this sense of rules or guidelines creates restrictions not letting us express fully who we are. The Id is the instinctual drives that needs immediate satisfaction, these needs we need to appease can end up in hurting us or the people around us, be it by unintentional acts or by doing whatever we need to do, bad or good to fill these urges. The act of trying to escape our bodies would be us trying to be free from these self restraints.

Michelangelo’s prisoners all seem to have their heads tilted away so you can not see them or have a hand that is covering it, it would suggest that they are in shame or humiliation. Is this a feeling Michelangelo was feeling and that was conveyed into his sculptures? He was commissioned to paint a decoration in the hall of the great council of the new democratic council and chose to do a group of Florentine soldiers taken by surprise simply because he could draw them nude. This type of evidence would come to believe that Michelangelo was homosexual. But him, such a religious man whose religion condemned people with these kinds of desires must have felt very confused and conflicted as to whether theses thoughts in his head were right or not. The Dying Slave is seen as more sexual and him lifting and taking off his shirt as if to expose himself to everyone can be seen as Michelangelo wanting to unmask himself and let this secret burning inside of him out. Not being able to tell anyone afraid it would go to the wrong person would have made him feel trapped inside his own body not being able to do anything about it.

 Before the 14^th century there was a period of stagnant cultural growth, horrible plagues and other poor conditions. This time of deterioration was called the dark ages, the renaissance which means “rebirth” came after this age and was he result of the people in that time of decline climbing out of it and escaping into a prosperous culture. Much like with the captives we see that they are struggling to free themselves from whatever is binding them, which Michelangelo could have used to portray the transition of the dark ages into the renaissance.

The renaissance was a time where discernable growth and change was made, and Michelangelo was able to capture all of this not with words but with solid stone objects that he was able to carve stories into. This great and complex mind of his, was it trapped? These captives represent something more than just statues for the tomb of Pope Julius II , they are filled to the brim with ideas and thoughts. Michelangelo put all his knowledge of himself and the world around him into these few sculptures.

Ethical issue

 Adeeb

Jim has the responsibility of filling a position in his firm. His friend Paul has applied and is qualified, but someone else seems even more qualified. Jim wants to give the job to Paul, but he feels guilty, believing that he ought to be impartial. This belief is, however, rejected, as Jim resolves that friendship has a moral importance that permits, and perhaps even requires, partiality in some circumstances. So he gives the job to Paul.

What Jim did is the exact opposite of what Kant believes in “doing ones duty”. He believes that being moral is not obeying the rules of god, but our rational conscience. By making decisions only relying on our rational side is the way we will end up making the correct moral choices, and in doing so having to stop letting emotions or religious beliefs get in our way will be necessary. Jim let the emotional connection he had with is friend Paul cloud his judgment on who he would pick to hire. He did not live up to what he was supposed to do as a rational being. By having his personal interests take priority he failed in doing his duty and did not use his knowledge to realize the man who was even more qualified would have benefited the firm more.

Siddhartha: Renouncement

Adeeb

To be capable to renounce from the world is essentially a demonstration of ones power they have over themselves. To completely withdraw from social and material affairs is a very tough and demanding feat for someone to accomplish. In Buddhism, leading a life that is more spiritually filling is what they strive to carry out rather than spending your whole life worrying about mundane tasks, and to achieve this they let go of whatever there is in their life that is binding them to material and idle pleasures ultimately in order to reach enlightenment. The book Siddhartha written by Hermann Hesse depicts the life and travels of the main character Siddhartha and illustrates how the principal of renouncement played a role in his life span helping him to get closer and also showing him the different ways that he didn’t know existed in the first place to attain enlightenment.

In the young stages of Siddhartha’s life he is seen as “The intelligent boy, thirsty for knowledge”. This set him aside from the regular children and was seen as someone special who would grown up as a great sage or priest. When Siddhartha told his father about him wanting to joining the samanas he stood in the very same spot till the first light of the sun shined again just waiting for his fathers approval. He persevered and stayed true to his cause, not eating or drinking and standing in the same position till his limbs became numb. He withdrew himself from his physical needs because inside him he knew that this sacrifice would help him continue down the journey and would act as a stepping stone that would eventually help him to obtain more spiritual growth. Siddhartha wanted to leave and join the samanas because even though he is living a happy life, inside him he is secretly dissatisfied. He feels as if he has learned all there is to learn there, from the elders and his father, but they still have not achieved enlightenment. So he renounced everything he is accustomed too, he gave his robe to the poor and fasted for long periods of time because he was unhappy.  It was not a punishment but a positive and liberating act.

During the time Siddhartha spent with the samanas life was completely different for him, he withstood extreme temperatures that most could not cope with and he alsobegan to truly master his body. He learned to save his breath and could have control over his heartbeat, his soul could encompass other living souls and he would be able to see and feel what they do. He overcame many sufferings “of pain, of hunger, of thirst, of fatigue.”. His change of life style was because the samanas believed that in order to achieved enlightenment you must refuse and deny all worldly desires and discard the pleasures that come your way. During this period, Siddhartha renounced all material aspects of his life keeping only his spiritual qualities while at the same time mastering and learning how to coexist with all of them as one within his body. He came to the conclusion after spending much time with the samanas and learning and comprehending their ways and teachings of only focusing on the spiritual aspects, was not the way to achieve enlightenment.

His journey then took him to a large town where he met the beautiful Kamala, the renowned courtesan. All his life Siddhartha has lived a non materialistic life and he has been able to stay true to this up to this point. During his time spent in the town he changed, his hair and beard were trimmed and he began to partake in the sensual pleasures of this world including dressing up in extravagant clothing and giving into his lust that he had for Kamala. He was introduced to a wealthy business man named Kamasami who taught him all about how to conduct proper business transactions with others which pulled Siddhartha closer in to thinking about and obsessing over material things. Prior to all of this Siddhartha disciplined himself to be able to refuse these pleasures, but now he lived his life bathed in these luxuries renouncing all of his spirituality qualities that he once possessed. After years of this life and becoming a rich old man Siddhartha recognizes that indeed this life is slowly killing him and that to reach enlightenment by abandoning all of his spiritual qualities is not the correct way in which he will someday obtain it.

Throughout the book we followed the growth of Siddhartha from a young child into an old man, and the many different types of renouncements that he partook, each contributed to help him end up where he wanted  to be. He came to the realization after taking part in his fair share of both the physical and the spiritual world, that in the end true enlightenment was to be achieved not by focusing on one aspect firmly but being able to balance all of them together in a united way, when he understood Om. Each conflict he encountered should not be seen as negative, each one of them acted as a puzzle piece in result allowing him to be able to observe it as a whole leading him to enlightenment.