Literature
Firstly,
Welcome to the unofficial Behes Guide. Now moving onto the first topic, on the
resources’ Literature List the first Topic is the Poems by Bertolt Bretch. He was a German Dramatist who spent most of his
Life running from one country to Another, From Baravia, to the Weimar Republic
through Nazi Germany and Cold War in East Germany. His Works are basically
regarding Marxist politics (which were brought by Karl Marx and introduced the
idea of rise of the Proletariat or the Working Class.)
In
the First poem, The Burning of the books Bertolt
is talking about the 1933 Nazi book Burnings which were conducted by the German
Student union. He is saying that if the regime (Govt/Student Union) commands
that books with harmful knowledge should be burn then they should burn him
along with the Books because the so-called harmful Knowledge is something he
spread and supported.
In
the Second Poem, Bad time for Poetry
(which is described by some scholars to be Bertolt’s Entire Biopic.) he says that only the happy man with a voice
which is nice to hear and a handsome face is Liked after that he takes an
example. The poor crippled trees that grew on poor soil in the yard are abused-by
though they should get support.In the last stanza Berolt says:
Inside me contend
Delight at the apple tree in blossom
And horror at the house-painter’s speeches.
But only the second
Drives me to my desk.
In
the Third and Last poem (As per the page linked), Reading the Paper While
brewing the Tea, Here he first starts by Describing the paper (apparently,
Newspaper) which he was/is reading and then says that he watched on the tea
which was being brewed as well. He describes the daily morning lifes of
Americans and thus the Book in which he first published the poem was named
American Poems.
Langston Hughes’ ‘As I grow older’
In
this poem, The speaker (apparently, Langston Hughes) starts by describing a
dream he used to have a “long time ago” that he has since nearly forgotten.
Back then, however, it was right in front of him, bright like a “sun-dream.” A
wall rose up slowly between the speaker and his dream - it rose and rose until
it touched the sky. The wall is a shadow.
The
speaker proclaims, “I am black.” He lies down in the shadows, which prevent the
light of the dream from shining on him. All he can see is the “thick” wall and
the shadow.He cries, “My hands! / My dark hands!” He wants to break through the
wall and find his dream; he wants to break apart the darkness and “smash” the
night. He wants that shadow to break apart into a “thousand lights of sun” and
“a thousand whirling dreams / of sun!”
“As I
Grew Older” contains a narrative about struggle and empowerment that shares
thematic similarities with “Dreams” and “Harlem (which have been part of the
Behes Curriculum before.)
In
the beginning of the poem, the speaker recalls a dream he had long ago and had
nearly forgotten, but now he can see it ahead of him once more. This is fairly
straightforward symbolism - the speaker represents all African Americans who
had to relinquish their dreams due to the pervasive discrimination and
persecution in early 20th century American society. African American children
may have experienced a few brief years of blissful ignorance (like the
speaker), but they all eventually became aware of their status as second-class
citizens - a wall of injustice that rises up to gradually block the sunlight.
Just because the wall has risen up, though, it does not mean that the dream
ceases to exist - the speaker simply cannot not see it anymore.
Hughes
deliberately uses the symbol of a shadow as a way to actualize his character's
blackness, because the speaker's race is the barrier that is keeping him from
achieving his dream. When the narrator describes lying hidden in the shadows,
Hughes invokes Ralph Ellison's depiction of his African American narrator
in Invisible Man (1952): “I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook
like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie
ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids --
and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply
because people refuse to see me.”
As
the poem progresses, though, the speaker's listlessness and apathy turns into
determination and vigor, creating a shift of energy. The speaker forcefully
commands his “dark hands” to break through the wall so he can access his dream.
He is no longer willing to let it languish beyond his grasp. He wants to
“shatter this darkness" and “smash this night.” Hughes uses this violent
language to show that the speaker is suddenly empowered and feels no
equivocation or anxiety about what he must do.
The
concluding image is fantastic, as the speaker imagines the shadow breaking
apart into thousands of fragments of sunlight and liberating the “whirling
dreams / Of sun!” By confronting the obstacle, the speaker has found his voice
and his purpose. This is a potential allusion to the Greek myth of Icarus. Icarus
was tantalized by the brilliance and glory of the sun and built himself wax
wings to fly there. However, his excitement caused him to fly much too close,
his wings melted, and he plummeted into the sea. Although there is a risk
inherent in the speaker's decision to shatter the “thick wall," the
largely affirmative tone of the second half of the poem seems to suggest that
even if he fails, there is spiritual value in possessing the self-realization
to grasp for a dream that might be out of reach.
Jalladin Rumi’s ‘When water turns to
wine’
When
grapes turn
to wine, they long for our ability to change.
When stars wheel
around the North Pole,
they are longing for our growing consciousness.
Wine got drunk with us,
not the other way.
The body developed out of us, not we from it.
We are bees,
and our body is a honeycomb.
We made
the body, cell by cell we made it.
to wine, they long for our ability to change.
When stars wheel
around the North Pole,
they are longing for our growing consciousness.
Wine got drunk with us,
not the other way.
The body developed out of us, not we from it.
We are bees,
and our body is a honeycomb.
We made
the body, cell by cell we made it.
This
above is the poem, Its simple one. The author, Jalladin Rumi or Jalaludin Rumi
was a 13th Century Islamic/Persian poet, jurist and many other
things. His Poems were translates into many languages and he was described as
“the most popular” and the best-selling poet in the US.
Philosophy
When
you think of diving into the Philosophy part and Open the first link you get an
essay which you don’t want to read, So Given that you don’t want to read the
entire text as on
(http://michaelkravchuk.com/pluralism-in-the-21st-century-essay/), It basically
talks about Pluralism.Pluralism (for those who don’t know) is the recognition
and affirmation of diversity within a political body, which permits the
peaceful coexistence of different interests, convictions and lifestyles.
Political pluralists are not inherently socialists (who put equality
as their guiding principle), liberals (who place liberty as their
guiding principle) or conservatives (who place tradition as their
guiding principle) but advocate a form of political moderation. Nor are
political pluralists necessarily advocates of a democratic plurality,
but generally agree that this form of government is often best at moderating
discrete values. The Conclusion of the essay as given on the page is as
follows:
“However,
Pluralism is not a necessity for survival of an ethnic group. If survival is
the only thing a certain ethnic or racial groups is concerned about, then
pluralism is not essential; mere tolerance will suffice in those cases.
However, the reason why pluralism is accepted and developed is for the
advancement of an ethnic group. In a systematic way of thinking about their
lives, interests, and goals, ethnic groups tend to favor the benefits that
pluralism offers them. In a world where everyday communication happens between
people of difference, any group that lives in ignorance and isolation of one
another will have boundaries and walls that will prevent them from succeeding
in social, political, and economic levels. Politicians, for example, cannot
hope to be elected if they do not understand the multitudes of diverse people
who may or may not vote for them. Business entrepreneurs cannot hope to be
successful if they cannot target a market that goes beyond their own ethnic or
religious group. Similarly an ethnic group cannot hope to be successful in
their very own neighbourhood if they do not understand the neighbours that live
around them.
In
the coming future, ethnic pluralism is inevitable for the growth of any ethnic
group. Any ethnic group who is not willing to cooperate and learn about other
ethnic groups will not be be able to grow. As society continues to change and
the economic market evolves further, ethnic groups will tend not only tolerate
one another, but to actually work with each other. As the livelihood of a
ethnic group becomes more and more dependent on the livelihood of another,
radically different, ethnic group, it is inevitable for both side to form a
reasonable relationship and engage in some form of pluralism.”
The Two Kingdom Doctrine
iT is
a Protestant Christian doctrine that teaches that God is
the ruler of the whole world, and that he rules in two ways. The doctrine is
held by Lutherans(or Followers,
Scholars,Supporters etc. of Martin Luther, not From the Civil Rights Movement
but from the Protestant Reformation) and
has historically been the view of Calvinists(those
who suggest to reform Tradition and Christianity), though neo-Calvinists have a different view called transformationalism(on How humans were
transformed by god.).
According to the doctrine, God rules
the worldly or left-hand kingdom through secular (and, though this point is
often misunderstood, also churchly)government, by means of law (i.e., the sword
or compulsion) and in the heavenly or righthand kingdom (his spiritual
kingdom, that is, Christians insofar as they are a new creation who
spontaneously and voluntarily obey) through the gospel or grace.
The two kingdoms doctrine is simply
another form of the distinctive Lutheran teaching of Law and Gospel. The official book that
defines Lutheranism, the Book
of Concord compiled in 1580,
references a sermon by Martin Luther on this from 1528 preached on the 19th
Sunday after Trinity in Marburg, about the Two Kingdoms or Two Kinds of Righteousness.
In that sermon he states that the
worldly (left hand) Kingdom includes everything we can see and do in our
bodies. This fully and especially includes whatever is done in the church. This
is taught so that it is clear that in the Heavenly (right hand) Kingdom, the
only thing that is included there is alone faith in Christ. "Christ alone" and "faith
alone" are Lutheran slogans
that are reflected in this way.
The biblical basis for this doctrine,
as with all Law and Gospel modalities is the distinction St Paul makes in Romans 8 between "flesh/body"
versus "spirit/Spirit". Martin Luther's breakthrough moment was his
break with the traditional scholastic understanding of this passage. The
Scholastics understood flesh vs
spirit to be the movement from vice to virtue, from the profane/secular/civil
to the sacred/churchly.
Luther saw this contrast instead to be
a movement from true virtue,
which especially included the sacred and churchly and any righteousness we can
do or that is visible, to alone the invisible righteousness of faith in Christ,
which in the sermon referenced here he says is "meaningless on earth
except to God and a troubled conscience."
Friedrich
Nietzsche’s ‘On war and Warriors’
It’s a nice and strong essay which is
said to be (by Nietzsche)to be spoken by Zarathustra. Since it is short and
stout its suggested to read it whole:
“By
our best enemies we do not want to be spared, nor by those either whom we love
from the very heart. So let me tell you the truth!
My
brethren in war! I love you from the very heart. I am, and was ever, your
counterpart. And I am also your best enemy. So let me tell you the truth!
I
know the hatred and envy of your hearts. Ye are not great enough not to know of
hatred and envy. Then be great enough not to be ashamed of them!
And
if ye cannot be saints of knowledge, then, I pray you, be at least its
warriors. They are the companions and forerunners of such saintship.
I
see many soldiers; could I but see many warriors! “Uniform” one calleth what
they wear; may it not be uniform what they therewith hide!
Ye
shall be those whose eyes ever seek for an enemy—for your enemy. And with some
of you there is hatred at first sight.
Your
enemy shall ye seek; your war shall ye wage, and for the sake of your thoughts!
And if your thoughts succumb, your uprightness shall still shout triumph
thereby!
Ye
shall love peace as a means to new wars—and the short peace more than the long.
You
I advise not to work, but to fight. You I advise not to peace, but to victory.
Let your work be a fight, let your peace be a victory!
One
can only be silent and sit peacefully when one hath arrow and bow; otherwise
one prateth and quarrelleth. Let your peace be a victory!
Ye
say it is the good cause which halloweth even war? I say unto you: it is the
good war which halloweth every cause.
War
and courage have done more great things than charity. Not your sympathy, but
your bravery hath hitherto saved the victims.
“What
is good?” ye ask. To be brave is good. Let the little girls say: “To be good is
what is pretty, and at the same time touching.”
They
call you heartless: but your heart is true, and I love the bashfulness of your
goodwill. Ye are ashamed of your flow, and others are ashamed of their ebb.
Ye
are ugly? Well then, my brethren, take the sublime about you, the mantle of the
ugly!
And
when your soul becometh great, then doth it become haughty, and in your
sublimity there is wickedness. I know you.
In
wickedness the haughty man and the weakling meet. But they misunderstand one
another. I know you.
Ye
shall only have enemies to be hated, but not enemies to be despised. Ye must be
proud of your enemies; then, the successes of your enemies are also your
successes.
Resistance—that
is the distinction of the slave. Let your distinction be obedience. Let your
commanding itself be obeying!
To
the good warrior soundeth “thou shalt” pleasanter than “I will.” And all that
is dear unto you, ye shall first have it commanded unto you.
Let
your love to life be love to your highest hope; and let your highest hope be
the highest thought of life!
Your
highest thought, however, ye shall have it commanded unto you by me—and it is
this: man is something that is to be surpassed.
So
live your life of obedience and of war! What matter about long life! What
warrior wisheth to be spared!
I
spare you not, I love you from my very heart, my brethren in war! —
Thus
spoke Zarathustra.”
Jean-Jacques
Rousseau’s ‘Social Contract (Selected Chapters)’
Liberty
is not suited to every climate, and thus is not universally attainable.
Rousseau's analysis of freedom and climate focuses on how the people provide
for government spending. In all states, the government consumes a great deal,
but produces nothing. It receives what it consumes from the surplus that its
citizens create. Thus, the state can only survive as long as the people produce
more than they need. Some governments are more voracious than others, and thus
place greater burdens on their people.
Rousseau
argues that the economic burden has less to do with the size of the government
and more to do with the circulation of goods. In a democracy, the executive and
legislative branches are the same, and taxes are returned to the people in the
form of government spending. In a monarchy, taxes support the private interests
of the king, and circulation is slow or nonexistent. In other words, the people
are least burdened under a democracy and most burdened under a monarchy. It
follows that monarchies are suited to wealthy nations, which produce large
surpluses, and that democracies are suited to poor nations.
Climate
determines what form of government the state will employ by influencing the
amount of surplus. Because hot countries usually have the most fertile soil and
produce the most surplus, they should have a monarchy whose luxury will consume
the excess goods. In contrast, cold countries produce a moderate surplus and
should have a democratic form of government.
It is
impossible to determine which form of government is ideal without knowing the
particular conditions of each nation. However, Rousseau does provide one
measure of governmental efficacy. An increasing population demonstrates that the
government is promoting the prosperity of its members. Rousseau asserts that
the government under which "the citizens become populous and multiply the
most, is infallibly the best government."
Music
Nina simone
mourns Martin King’s Death
*Just something to be noted, The Link provided on the resources list
redirects to something else*4
The song is a 12-minute long song which mourns for Martin Luther King
Jr.’s Death. Nina Simone took the stage on April 7, 1968. King had been buried
earlier that day, and President Johnson had declared it a national day of
mourning. "We're glad to see you, and happily surprised with so many of
you," she greeted her seated audience. "We didn't really expect
anybody tonight, and you know why... but we're glad that you've come to see us
and hope that we can provide... some kind of something for you, this evening,
this particular evening, this Sunday, at this particular time in 1968. We hope
that we can give you some—some of whatever it is that you need tonight."
Clearly devastated, Simone's stage presence that night was agonized even by her
standards. She played "Mississippi Goddam" and another equally
forthright protest song, "Backlash Blues," her simmering backup trio
leaning heavy behind the beat throughout. But the highlight was a debut,
"Why? (The King of Love is Dead)," written by bass player Gene Taylor
and first rehearsed only that day. Just as Brown met the King tragedy with a
characteristic call for ecstatic distraction, Simone faced it head-on, in a
long, sad plea that lasted nearly 15 minutes and included a list of other black
luminaries—including Coltrane and Lorraine Hansberry—who had died in the last
two years. "They're shooting us down, one by one," she spoke through
tears. The audience was caught between occasional applause and stark silence,
though all were rapt. "I think my performance that night was one of my
very best," Simone later wrote in her memoir, "focused by the love
and quiet despair we all felt at our loss."
Moive: Spirited Away
I
haven’t watched the movie but here’s the best summary I was able to find:
*Keep
in mind, It’s a Japanese Cartoon (probably Anime) Movie, launched in 2001*
Chihiro
and her parents are moving to a small Japanese town in the countryside, much to
Chihiro's dismay. On the way to their new home, Chihiro's father makes a wrong
turn and drives down a lonely one-lane road which dead-ends in front of a
tunnel. Her parents decide to stop the car and explore the area. They go
through the tunnel and find an abandoned amusement park on the other side, with
its own little town. When her parents see a restaurant with great-smelling food
but no staff, they decide to eat and pay later. However, Chihiro refuses to eat
and decides to explore the theme park a bit more. She meets a boy named Haku
who tells her that Chihiro and her parents are in danger, and they must leave
immediately. She runs to the restaurant and finds that her parents have turned
into pigs. In addition, the theme park turns out to be a town inhabited by
demons, spirits, and evil gods. At the center of the town is a bathhouse where
these creatures go to relax. The owner of the bathhouse is the evil witch
Yubaba, who is intent on keeping all trespassers as captive workers, including
Chihiro. Chihiro must rely on Haku to save her parents in hopes of returning to
their world.
The
major themes of Spirited Away center on the protagonist Chihiro
and her liminal journey through the realm of spirits, wherein Chihiro
becomes separated from everything she has known. Chihiro's experience in the
alternate world, which may be compared to Lewis Carroll'sAlice's
Adventures in Wonderland, represents her passage from childhood to adulthood.
The archetypal entrance
into another world demarcates Chihiro's status as one somewhere between child
and adult. Chihiro also stands outside societal boundaries in the supernatural
setting. The use of the word kamikakushi (literally "hidden by
gods") within the Japanese title, and its associated folklore, reinforces
this liminal passage: "Kamikakushi is a verdict of 'social death' in this
world, and coming back to this world from Kamikakushi meant 'social resurrection.'"
To
find the full movie synopsis, Go to:
Bonus Resource
As
for the Bonus Resource, It consists of Simple Articles on Censorship and
Psychology.
Its
suggested to read up the whole Articles but in case you are lazy:
The
most important part of the first Article(regarding Indian Govt.’s Censorship of
Negative news.) is:
“The government will keep a watch on the
narrative in all such threads. Every time a negative narrative surface, a
possible counter would be initiated — through press releases, briefings or
press conferences, depending on the intensity or standing of the post,” said
sources.
To
the Second Article(on How to be happy from Positive Psychology, Its simply an
image you’ll find on the link given):
As
for the third Article the Conclusion is:
“Of
course, this is a lot easier for many people when they aren’t sharing a bed. If
you want your relationship with yourself to truly transcend your relationship
status, Battle recommends keeping up your self-love routine even when you’re
coupled up: “I’ve talked to a lot of people who really lament the time they’ve
lost with themselves when they transition into a partnered relationship.”
She’s
talking about sex, but that statement could apply to so many things. Contrary
to much of the advice peppering the internet, it’s being in a relationship with
someone else — not being single — that poses the biggest challenge to
self-love. When you’re happily spending lots of your time with another person,
it’s easy to forget that you should also be spending time with yourself. Alone.
And not just treating yourself, but really thinking about who you are and what
you want. Each of the women who have made headlines by marrying themselves has
indicated that they're still open to meeting a partner. I hope that, if they
do, they hold fast to their original vows to themselves. They deserve it.
”
Hopw it Helps!!
Hopw it Helps!!