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Heraclitus of Ephesus
I see the quote as through disagreement and chaos, you can find harmony and peace through it all. Everything will work itself out on its own. In life we need both light and dark to balance out the world. Heraclitus lived in Ephesus, near modern day Turkey and born on 500B.C.E. Persia was starting to expand on their territories they were under the control of Alexander I. During his life, his town was under control of the Persians. He wrote only one book named On Nature but, it had many volumes to it. To many people he was known as the “Dark Philosopher.” Heraclitus also came up with Logos, it was the importance of philosophy and culture; it needed to stay alive and many people would rely on it.
“Opposition brings concord, out of discord comes the fairest harmony,” is a quote from Heraclitus. He was talking about how through life we have a yin and yang like with the Chinese culture. Where we find light there will always be dark somewhere. I believe we cannot live without one or the other; we need both in our life some moments might be ugly but, we need it with life.
My last year in high school was supposed to be the greatest time of the year. For the sports, other players would celebrate the seniors and I was to graduate and move on with my education to build a career for myself. This was also supposed to be the easiest year sadly, it seemed to be the opposite everything I loved was taken. The year prior I tore my ACL playing soccer during the spring season. I only had my surgery three weeks before school started. I walked with a huge, black brace that reached from my hip to my ankle. To help my recovery along I had to wear it the first four months of school; what a great way to start my senior year. My studies weren’t the hard part but building my muscle back up in my leg, i suffered from a lot of atrophy. My mobility in my leg minimized dramatically; my knee still doesn’t have the ability to fully extend like my right knee does. I had to start from scratch and learn how to walk correctly and re-educate my muscles on how to use it again.
Works Cited
Graham, Daniel. "Heraclitus." Stanford University. Stanford University, 8 Feb. 2007. Web.
13 Oct. 2015. <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heraclitus/>.
"Heraclitus - Biography." Heraclitus of Ephesus. European Graduate School EGS, 14 Oct. 2015.
Web. 14 Oct. 2015. < http://www.egs.edu/library/heraclitus-of-ephesus/biography />.
Mark, Joshua. "Heraclitus of Ephesos." Ancient History Encyclopedia. 14 July 2010. Web. 13
Oct. 2015. < http://www.ancient.eu/Heraclitus_of_Ephesos/ >.
"Timeline of the History of Macedonia." Timeline of the History of Macedonia.
Historyofmacedonia.org. (n.d). Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
< http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/ConciseMacedonia/timeline.html >.
Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro on August 24, 1947. He was raised by devoted Catholic parents. At a young age Paulo decided he wanted to be a writer, his parents disagreed. Due to the disagreement his lashed out and his parents ended up committing him into a mental asylum three times from the age of 17. And he escaped, finally when he turned twenty-one he was released. He was put in jail three times for political activism.
“The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.” This quote is very commonly used just a little different. I have heard this phrase for years, it means you cannot make a difference in the world by just talking about an issue or saying this issue is not good. But helping out and contributing to change for bettering the world or your community. Or you cannot to anything by being a couch potato watching all the action. I feel some of his story is put into this quote, he did not just become an author by just sitting in an asylum he knew what he needed to do to get where he was and knew what was right for him. The spiritual health was fulfilled when he became a writer, that was his purpose in life. He didn’t let anyone tell him what he should or could do with his life.
My experiences started all in my last year in high school. At lunch I was waiting for my friends to get back from the line and on the far end of the table are a group of guys hanging out eating lunch. A little later a guy walks by with his lunch and is hit with carrots, one of the guys in the group throws it and laughs. I asked “why would you throw that? If I throw my food at you is it okay ?” The only words that came from his mouth were “because he is gay and I wanted to.” I tried to get him to apologize to the dude for his actions but, he had no remorse for what he has done. After the event my friends start walking up to the table and all they see is me arguing with a guy. I explained to them the situation that had happened and they also tried to do the same and get him to apologize, that was no good.
After that day I went to a dean and explained to him the situation and the Dean agreed that it was morally wrong and was a form of bullying. He ended up getting suspended for his actions.
Works Cited
"Paulo Coelho Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
William Penn
William Penn lived in Pennsylvania, he was born on October 14, 1644. William attended the school of Chigwell and this is where he had his first religious encounters. While he lived in England he was put in jail and was persecuted for his religious beliefs. For years he was put in prison for what he believed in and he didn’t have a voice in his home country. Justice was not given to him; Penn was brought up with the religion of the Quakers, they believed their colony was decedents from God. For many years he traveled with the founder of the Quakers, George Fox, all through Europe. Considering that his community was still under control of the King of England, Penn tried to form a democratic form of government. After His father’s death the King gave him a huge land grant that was located in the southwest of New Jersey; the King did this to get rid of him and others like him so, he wouldn’t have to worry anymore about the radicals.
"Justice is the insurance which we have on our lives and property. Obedience is the premium which we pay for it.” The first sentence of the quote seems to me like when you make an honest living and try your hardest then your material things and the people in your life is worth what you have. No one can take that away from you because it is what you earned. Learning to listen to people and follow directions will help ensure you to the top and make it to the place you want to be in life. He is portraying his personal experiences in this quote, talking about Justice for his religious persecution as a Quaker. And the King wanted to get rid of any radicals that didn’t follow the ways of the church at that time so he gives this grant to William.
During some of high school I would have people lie to people I knew at school. I became distant from my peers and my some of my closest friends because they decided to trust others excluding my trust. Most of my time in high school I had to defend myself rather than enjoy the certain milestones of my life.
Works Cited
"Brief History of William Penn." <i>Ushistory.org</i>. Independence Hall Association, n.d.
Web. 12 Oct. 2015. <http://www.ushistory.org/penn/bio.htm>.
Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor lived from 1919-2003 so, he died at the age of 84. Throughout his life he was a philosopher, international beekeeper, and a writer. He received his education at Brown University and later he taught there along with several Universities. Around 1970 he owned three hundred beehives, and he mainly produced honey comb. Fatalism is all the events in the world are predetermined and nothing is on accident; it’s just we do not understand as only an individual. The bad and good things that happen cannot be changed.
“All men are fatalists as they look back on things,” sampled from Richard Taylor is can be expressed like every man no matter where in life they messed up the play out of events led them to where they are now and nothing can change. Everything in a way is predetermined for destiny. Where we think we have free will but it is all a set up. The order of everything is bigger than just us and won’t ever fully understand it.
I do not have a particular experience I can think of to connect his quote with my life, but I believe that all the events in my life led me to this point in my life. And I wouldn’t change a thing in my past. Everything had an importance and got me here. No matter what paths I would have chosen I would be here. It would be inevitable.
Works Cited
"Arthur Schopenhauer's Philosophy." Of Will. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
Mifflin, Houghton. Dictionary of English Language. 5th ed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Print.
"Richard Taylor (Philosopher)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863 in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford’s father was a farmer but, he didn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps. Instead he goes to Detroit to be an apprentice for a company that builds the carts for the railroads in 1879. When he came back home, he didn’t want farm like his father but, he brought back some ideas from his apprenticeship and made a service from it. He used what he learned and soon became the chief engineer at the company. He wanted to make his opportunity. In 1896 he invented a four-wheeled cycle that had two different speeds going forward without any reverse. His invention had the steering like a boat. He had great leadership skills and knew how to gather people into doing what needed to be done.
“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right,” said by Henry Ford means it has all to do with your mindset and how it is geared toward. If you believe you could not climb a tree, then in my mind I would not even try to attempt it. Although if a baby wanted to get to the other side of the room she would find a way, and in that way would normally be to crawl. Ford didn’t want to walk in his father’s footsteps; he didn’t want that life for himself. He took everything learned on the job and took every aspect into consideration to his benefit. He knew his way around talking with people and communicating then it helped get his ideas out there for the public. Which helped better his family for the long run.
Instead of complaining that I do not have any money I decided it was time to get a job this was about three years ago when I turned 16. I wanted the satisfaction of having my own money and not depending on my family for money and having my own restrictions on what to spend. I was my own motivation and I used that to help get further in my career. But if I didn’t decide to start working nothing would have changed and my mindset wouldn’t have changed at all.
Works Cited
"The Engineer." The Engineer. 2013. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.