The Meaning Of My Life

I think the meaning of life is dreaming. To find your dream,the biggest wish and the deepest desire that you crave to fulfill and improve, and do your best to accomplish it, and don't let your family, your friends, your own worry and fear, your surroundings or anything else stop you! Just try! Besides, we have to find the strong and stable belief, faith and conscience of ourself and never disobey them. The last thing I think the meaning of life is happiness. We need to be contented of what we have and treasure them, or we can't be happy at all. Sometimes, if we look to far away, we forget the things I possess. We must hold right now first, and then we can plan our future. To enjoy every moment we live and chase our dreams. During the life, there are still many important things we need to learn: to love people and everything around you, to take on duties, to get rid of vexation, to face and conquer any kinds of predicaments, to challenge ourselves, etc... There still many things and meanings of life I have to learn. We should find, or create the meaning of our own lives by ourself. No one can help you about it but yourself.

Here is a website I found about how to accomplish your dream:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2256791_accomplish-dreams-simple-strategies.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art

It tells the necessary steps to fulfill a dream, and it also says that the only way to really accomplish your dream is to do it RIGHT NOW.

Now, I must do something for my dream. I need to learn more knowledge which helps me make my dream come true. Therefore, I have to study hard right now. I will be able to fulfill my dream someday.

Farming Myths

Here's a website I found about a goddess of farming, Demeter:
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/religion/demeter.htm

Demeter is the earth goddess for greeks. Her name means the mother of the Earth. She controls every growing things and gives it birth such as grains. Persephone is her daughter, and Demeter is the daughter of Gaia, or the Earth. Demeter is also the sister of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades and Hera.

Here's another myth about Demeter's daughter, Persephone:
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/religion/persephone.htm

Persephone's mother is Demeter, the goddess of harvests. One day, Persephone was abducted by her uncle, Hades. He took her to the Underworld and forced her to marry him and be the Queen of there. Demeter was really sad and looked for her daughter everywhere and finally appealed to Zeus. He told Hades to give Persephone back. However, Hades said if Persephone really eat nothing in th Underworld, he would give her back. Finally, she just ate six seeds of pomegrante. Therefore, Persephone was accepted to go back to the Earth for six months. In the other half year, she has to stay in the Underworld. That's how the seasons come.

Persephone is just like the grains. She grows up in the first six months. Then, she dies and was harvested. The grains go back to the ground, and the farmers put the seeds into the ground. Demeter is very sad and cries, the tears are the rainfalls.

Egyptian myths

Here is a website of Egytian myths:http://www.nekhebet.com/m_myths.html

The Story of Ra : The Creation
There was nothing but chaos of water in the begining of the world. Then, Ra, the god of sun, created the ground, the air, and the sand by naming them. He could create things with merely a call of names. Ra named Shu, his son, the god of the wind, and Tefnet, his daughter, the god of the rain. He also created plants and the animals., and his tears became the first humans. Then Shu and Tefnet made their own children, Geb, the goddess of the earth, and Nut, the goddess of the sky. After the creation, he came down and became the first pharaoh of Egypt. He ruled Egypt for centuries, but His secret name was revealed by Osiris, the son of Nut. Ra was forced to leave. Then Osiris became the next Pharaoh.

I think Ra was kind of strange because his done of the births of his great grandson, Osiris, is contradictory to himself. He was afraid that he would take his place of the Pharoah and forbad his grandson, Nut, to have any children because of a prophecy. However, he had to go back to the sky finally.

The Rise of Horus
Osiris became the new pharoah of Egypt. He had a son named Horus with Isis. Osiris taught people how to grow grain, make bread with it and brew it for beer. People were happy under Osiris' rule. Nonetheless, Osiris' brother, set, was envious of him. He trapped Osiris in a chest to suffocate him and dropped it into the Nile River. Isis fled into wilderness with Horus. She started looking for the chest because Osiris needed a funeral to go on the afterlife. However, Set found the chest and cut Osiris' body to pieces and spread them to many countrysides. Isis found each of them and performed the funeral ceremonies. Horus grew up gradually. He and his armies fought with Set, which transformed into a giant hippo. Horus killed him and became the next pharoah of Egypt. After Horus died, he had a battle with Set in the underworld. They're still fighting right now. If Horus wins, he can go back and regain the place of pharoah.

Isis tried really hard to find Osiris' dead body for that he could pass into the underworld. She didn't fear hardship and finally accomplish that. Horus was really brave to fight with the murderer of his father, and he triumphed at the end.

Myths of Heroes

Here are the myths of the heroes that I found on the Internet:

King Arthur http://www.pbs.org/mythsandheroes/myths.html


King Arthur is born of adultery of Uther Pendragon and Igraine, a duke's wife. Merlin raises Arthur away from his parents and teaches him. Merlin is also the designer of the Round Table of 150 knights. After Uther dies, Merlin tells that the person who can draw a magical sword out from a stone can be the next king. Arthur becomes the new king resorting to drawing it out. He routs the Saxons and becomes a kind and just king.


King Arthur also searches for the Holy Grail with his knights. Sir Galahad, one of his king finds it, but not Arthur.

King Arthur marries Guinevere, which falls in love into another man. She and her new lover run away. During the chasing, Arthur's nephew seizes the power and fights with Arthur. Arthur is heavily wounded, and he goes to Isle of Avalon and rests there.


Even though Arthur was born of a really lowly background, he still became the king of Britain. Futhermore, he was a good and well-loving king. Nevertheless, he was betrayed by his wife and nephew. His nephew fought with Arthur for the power. The power is always making people decayed. People are arguing for stronger power all the time.


Hercules http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/religion/myths/herakles.htm


Hercules is born of Zeus and Alcmene, so Hera, Zeus' wife, tries to kill him. Hercules becomes the strongest man in the world when he grows up. However, Hera uses her godly power to drive him crazy. He kills his wife and children. In order to astone for his sin, he has to accomplish twelve labors for Eurystheus. After he has done all them, his crime is expiated. Furthermore, he can become a god after he dies for doing all the labors. Nonetheless, he falls into a trap of a centaur, and his whole body is burning by the centaur's blood. Finally, he kills himself to end the pain. In the end, he becomes a God in Mount. Olympos.


Fire proves gold, and adversity proves men. After the twelve labors, Hercules became a real Hero. People are like this. If there are no straits and predicaments, people can't become strong and brave.

Mythology

Here is a website I found about hunting myth, "The Man Who Helped the Eagles":
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-mytheagles.html

Pueblo Indians lower an Apache with a rope to a nest of eagles on a cliff, and they pull up the rope of the Apache and leave. He stays with the little eagles and feels thirsty. Then a person a person appears and gives him a small piece of ice and satisfies his thirst. The father eagle comes back home and thanks the Apache,DagônadeL, for taking care of the little birds. And then the eagle calls another group of eagles. They carry the man up to the sky hole? and find their enemies-hornets. DagônadeL puts on the buckskin made by Panther, one of the eagle, to protect himself from fatal stings and uses a quirt to kill the hornets. Then DagônadeL, Panther's grandson?, and other eagles come back their home.

I think this story is about the braveness of the Apache. He stays with the little eagles fearlessly. And then a person laughs below him, and that person jumps up to him and gives him a piece of ice which can satisfy him. The story becomes really strange right here. Anyway, the Apache goes up with the eagles and fights with the enemies bravely. Finally, I have many other questions: What's a "sky hole"? And what is the relationship of the Apache, DagônadeL, Panther, other eagles, and the secret person who gives the ice to the Apache?

Samurai

I searched around on the Internet and found this web page:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2127.html

Samurai were the Japanese military warriors. They used many kinds of weapons like spears, guns, bows and arrows, but the most famous one that they used before and some Japanese still use right now is the sword. We can even say that the sword is the symbol of Japan. The Japanese sword has been famous for its sharpness and beauty since feudal times. Today, a Japanese needs to possess a permit if he wants to keep a sword.

Samurai also had to follow a way of warrior called bushido. It was strongly Confucian. They focused on being loyal to their master and being disciplined to themself and respectful to others. Furthermore, they cared about showing ethical behaviors, too. Some samurai would prefer to kill themselves resorting to stabbing the swords penetrated through their bellies than die in a disgraceful way when they were lost in a battle.

This is a whole-bodied samurai armor. It can protect almost everywhere of one's body, but of course it's very heavy because of that. Even though the armor is really old, it still looks cool.

TED talks

I watched Philip Zimbardo about How ordinary people become monsters ... or heroes:http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil.html
He tells about how people becomes bad, not they're evil originally. The private reason that he said which can change people wicked is power. Then, he asks about what's the line of good and evil? Then he shows some pictures about Abu Ghraib Iraq Prison. The police officers were very brutal, they abused their authorities to torture their prisoners. They humiliated them resorting to taking off their clothes and hurting them. Philip asks who is responsible or what is responsible? He says a person's concept, cognition and behaviors are influenced by people and the circumstances around him/her. And then he tells that a person isn't absolutely good or evil, he/she possess both features of them.

I think that people are all influenced by the circumstances around us. If a person becomes bad because his/her family doesn't teach him/her well, are the parents wrong? However, they also influenced by the circumstances around them, or even the person's grandparents didn't teach the person's parents well. I still can't understand.

I also watched Caleb Chung's talk, and the web page is http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/caleb_chung_plays_with_pleo.html
He is a toy designer, and he shows the world of toy designs by a film, such as some toys to make snacks, fighting robots(the coolest), robot animals and even a moving chair which can make fire(he says that is the most dangerous toy he's ever met). Then he tells about a project of making toys that he's tried to make: a picture like the diagram of Tai Ji. One of its side is Art, and the other side is Science. Furthermore, there is a circle of Business surrounds it. That's the symbol of his project.

He planed to create a toy called Furby, it's special because it has complex structures inside, just like a robotic life-form. Then, he shows his designs and ideas on some pieces of paper. Furby is even has to be fed, and its body, eyes, ears and some other parts are movable. He also created another dinosaur toy. He analyzed the bone fossiles of real brontosaur, and the muscles that it might has. The shape of the dinosaur and the exercising joints were done. After revising and revising, the toy dinosaur is complete. He brings two real one on the locale. They're so exquisite, and their actions are very lifelike. In the end of his speech, he tells about his thoughts. Caleb Chung thinks that the toy dinosaurs are made for humans loving them as real babies, but they are a lot easier to take care of. On the other words, they can help people practice how to love someone. Moreover, he says that people should dreams. Parents ought not to limit their children dreaming.

I learn some things about making toys of course, the processes of making toys are very, very complicated. However, there's something a lot more important that he discusses in the last minute. People's dreams are very important because they are the motivations of everthing. If there are no dreams, people wouldn't have any progress. This is according to a book that I'm reading right now, its title is "The Last Lecture" . The author, a professor, has suffered from a cancer, and he has no much time to live. Therefore, he wanted to tell about his own life experiences in his speech in his college. He could also teach his three young children (all under six) after he died. The major thing he said in his lecture is accomplishing dreams in the childhoods. He mentioned Armstrong landing on the Moon. NASA spent millions of US dollars for it, what a great number of money! If it was spent on helping poor people on the Earth, how a worthful thing would it be! Nevertheless, he said that it was rather to fly to other heavenly body than help the limited poor people on the Earth. Maybe dreaming is a lot more important than I used to think, because it can motivate other people pursue their dreams. Then they can help even more people (but I still think helping poor people is better).