HOL

Welcome to the Module 03 and Module 07 "Media & Monologues" thread!

("Scroll-and-a-Half" / 150 words)

Module 03: (Monologues - MS:HP I)
Consider what you've written down from your brainstorm in the Meditation portion of our exercises. What jumps out at you that's wanting to be explored a little more deeply? Come up with a topic based around these meditations and write an essay about your personal perspective on the matter. This could be a single aspect or multiple elements from your list. In addition to sending in via e-mail, if you feel like sharing with your peers go ahead and post here with or without including your "Meditation" and/or "Mindfulness" responses added in together. This is voluntary and will not effect your points one way or another, however it will add to our community vibe and could stir up conversation for any "Mingling" points you may wish to accrue as Extra Credit.

Module 07: (Media - MS:HP II)
Based on your reflections from this month’s lesson and/or the Mantra you’ve chosen to explore, choose one full piece of media you find in any way to relate to these concepts floating around. This could be a book, television show, movie, musical album, etc., and doesn’t have to be something completely new to yourself, so long as it speaks to you as connecting to the vibe you’re associating with this energy. Perhaps you’ll go into detail about why you chose this in particular, along with what aspects correspond most appropriately with your sense of this month’s power. What’s your general opinion of your selection’s strengths or weaknesses? Anything unexpected or enlightening come up along the way? Include anything you feel compelled to share! In addition to sending in via e-mail, if you feel like sharing with your peers go ahead and post this to the corresponding “Media & Monologues“ thread at the Class Forum with or without including your “Mantra” and/or “Memento” responses added in together. This is voluntary and will not effect your points one way or another, however it will add to our community vibe and could stir up conversation for any “Mixing” points you may wish to accrue as Extra Credit.

Mantra

Thinking about words to say that matched the power of understanding was a bit tricky because by the time we become aware of the presence of this power, it has already been invoked. You can tell yourself that you want to understand something as much as you want, but nothing might happen until the intuition comes. So the mantra I came up with was one that matched the moment of understanding: "Now I get it" - which essentially means "I didn't understand before, but now I do." Using this mantra for the first few days of the month, I found myself more aware of the actual moments of understanding that happened, even if I only had the chance to use the words themselves once or twice!

Media
I spent the first few days of the month vacillating between various choices for this: there was a song or two I was considering (like 'What A Wonderful World' - which begins 'Don't know much about history...'), as well as a few books (such as 'The Way Things Work'), but nothing felt quite right. But while going to get coffee early this evening, I found a collection of cans with a blurb on the side which, in my opinion, perfectly reflects the Power of Understanding! The blurb (with one word changed) is below:

Ahhh'; 'Soooo!' 'I See'
An Ah-So is a funny-looking bottle opener with two prongs. At first glance most wouldn't think it could pull a cork from a bottle. After being shown how to use the quirky opener, people would proclaim "Ach-So", which is German saying for 'Ah, now I see'.

"Ahhh'; 'Soooo!' is such a great demonstration of Understanding in my opinion because it conveys the end of a journey from "not getting how this funny looking tool works" to "finally seeing how it works and truly understanding the process". Also, the story of the Ah-So demonstrates that understanding is not a solitary journey: people didn't know how the funny-looking tool worked until someone actually let them in on the secret and showed them. It's also worth noting that "Ahh'; Soooo!" is a near-perfect translation of the mantra I chose above: it shows that the path I have chosen towards Understanding has a long tradition and history - which I feel proud to be part of, even if I haven't yet had a chance to see an Ah-So in person yet (though I did learn how it worked, and why it would be used, by watching a Muggle video while completing this reflection)!

Memento
The most important takeaway I got from my explorations this month were how closely the Media I found matched the Mantra I chose: in particular, the way that my own reflections on the Power of Understanding matched reflections others had made centuries ago. I had already considered the Power of Understanding pretty well balanced in my own life; my study of the Ah-So confirmed my confidence that I do have a healthy relationship with that power!

The media I chose for this module was the musical film, The Christmas Carol- staring Albert Finney, and The Muppets Christmas Carol- staring Michael Caine. ( I just had to watch them both because It is hard to decide which is the best version).

It felt appropriate to the power energy of understanding because Ebeneezer Scrooge is presented with three opportunities to review his past, present and future. With each review of his life contributes towards helping him reach the ah- ah moment as to why he should not be such a miser and why he should celebrate Christmas.

The positive side to watching the films was that I identified with Scrooge in the sense that sometimes it is worth looking back at events or situations and link/ connect them to the present.

The downside is that unlike Scrooge, I can't view the steps ahead of me on my life's journey in advance nor can I predict what the future holds. All can do is to try and guesstimate the possible results or consequences that may arise but even then eventualities occur that I hadn't thought of.

The scene when Scrooge views the futures of people he is connected to as well as his own future made me think of how handy it would be to be able to see how our own future and the future of those we know is shaped by our past and present actions. If only we had those glimpses, for if we did then life wouldn't be such a conundrum or so confusing.

This is similar to what I have written in my previous works. The fear of trying something new because it might make us embarrassed so some people often avoid trying something new. But, what if this new thing is something we must do, as in our job at work, etc. We can't just ignore it or tell our boss that we can't do it, I think we will get fired if we do it. So, whether we want it or not, we have to do it. Even though in the end we would get yelled at because we did something wrong with our work, this courage is the start to improve ourselves to be someone better than before. From this, we can know what we can do or can't do and take it as an experience.