Imagination vs. Knowledge

Many question the importance of imagination and knowledge and which is more important. I believe that both supplement each other. Imagination is the idea of extrapolating known knowledge in order to create new knowledge. On the other hand, knowledge supplements imagination because it is the basis of it. Without knowledge, imagination would not be able to progress and flourish. This may make it seem like knowledge is superior to imagination but just as knowledge is important for imagination, imagination is important to knowledge because imagination advances it into previously undiscovered grounds of knowing.

There are however, some aspects of imagination and knowledge that allow one field to surpass the other. Knowledge, as previously mentioned, is the foundation of imagination. Additionally, knowledge is more practical and applicable to reality. For example, knowledge enables individuals to implement what they know into real life situations (i.e. building a house, playing a sport) Many may argue that any such activities or tasks could be done without knowledge of how to, but with knowledge, the task or activity would be much more easily accomplished.
Conclusively, I strongly believe that Imagination and Knowledge are both crucial for the development of each other. 

Sufi Philosophy

      Sufi Philosophy includes the schools of thought that are particular to Sufism, which is a mystical branch within Islam. Sufi philosophy has several sub-branches, metaphysics and cosmology being the most well known ones amongst them. Many people associate Sufi philosophy with the teachings of Sunni and Shia Islam. As for its origin, it is said to have emerged from the Middle East in the eighth century; however, today there are many advocates and teachers of this philosophy found all around the world. Sufi philosophy really gained its momentum and credibility at around 1000CE, when Sufi literature, which came in forms of manuals, treatises, discourses, and poetry, was used for philosophical thinking and meditations.
      The umbrella of knowledge under which Sufi philosophy is a part of is Rationalism. Rationalists believe that reason is a chief source of knowing; however, they also argue that there are certain instances in which the individual's concepts or knowledge surpasses the sense experience. Moreover, rationalists assert that certain rational principles exist in logic, mathematics, ethics, and metaphysics.
      As mentioned before, Sufi Philosophy is mostly known for its schools of metaphysics and cosmology. Major ideas in Sufi metaphysics incorporate the idea of unity with God and that the cardinal way of knowing is through God and Him only. In Sufi Philosophy, there are also many spiritual states and concepts, some of which are similar to the path of Buddhism. For example, Fanaa is the Sufi term for extinction or annihilating oneself while remaining physically alive. In other words, it is the cathartic stage at which the individual is free of sin and is in unity with Allah, a state similar to nirvana in Buddhism.
      Sufi philosophy is largely religion based and involves multiple spiritual concepts and stages. Like buddhism, Sufism has many states or stages that a Sufi follower strives to meet. These steps ultimately shape the way the individual reasons, changing his or her reasoning into one that is fully dependent on God and full of moral or devoid of sin. Another important concept of reasoning that falls under Sufi philosophy is Marifa, which literally translates to knowledge. This is used to describe the mystical way by which Sufi followers obtain knowledge, which is through a means of ecstatic experience (bliss or inner peace) rather than sense or empirical experience.
      Upon first studying this philosophy, I viewed it more as a religion than a way of reasoning because of the many spiritual concepts it is related with. Thus, as a way of thinking, this philosophy can be viewed as demanding due to the certain stages an individual is required to meet. Apart from that, a way of thinking that involves ultimate truth through God is at once questionable and relatable.

Citations
Markie, Peter, "Rationalism vs. Empiricism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2013 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2013/entries/rationalism-empiricism/>.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufi_philosophy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalism

Pass or Fail?

Last class, we discussed about the line between passing and failing. To me, passing is to try my best and put my full effort in anything and everything I do. However, many believe that receiving a score under 100% is a fail. This is ludicrous. The sole purpose of going to school and taking classes is to learn and utilize that knowledge in the future. But, I believe that if an individual intakes the knowledge properly and learns to his or her fullest, the grades will automatically and naturally come to become good ones. Thus, the line between fail and pass is simply a matter of whether you actually are able to learn or try your best. As for failing, it is when an individual simply does not care or fails to learn. Many may argue that the subject is hard and that the learning process is difficult. In this case, it is a matter of personal integrity and whether the individual knows that he or she tried hard. The line between pass and fail is an extremely controversial one but I believe that it is a matter of effort.

Mind Perception

Each individual perceives something or someone through their own perspective. However, one person may view one instance differently as another. In this TedTalk by Kurt Grey, he talks about how human action can affect the way another human perceives something. For example, if someone went into an elevator and all the buttons were pressed, he or she would be confused as to why that was like that. On the other hand, if someone went to an elevator and another person pressed all the buttons, the other person would be infuriated and extremely annoyed. Therefore, perception also depends on intention and how an individual approaches it, whether it be positively or negatively. Another point that he makes in his discussion is the solipsist point of view, which is how we as individuals do not know if other individuals think. Of course most people would love to believe that they do not live in a world of machines, but some people actually view the world in a pessimistic manner and the attitude affects how they perceive the world. On the other hand, people who view the world positively are likely to have better perceived thoughts. Therefore, human intentions are more welcomed. For example, if a random cookie was chosen by a person, the cookie will most likely be not as good as a cookie made by Grandma. This is because the intention of love that is behind Grandma's cookies adds an intangible loving intention that people perceive as good.

Mind Perception

The Phenomenal Power of the Human Mind

     This exercise was done in class and the idea of individuals being able to read a group of jumbled and fully comprehend its meaning is quite intriguing to me. I believe that us being able to perceive this text fully means epitomizes the fact that memory plays an integral role in our knowledge. Because we use these words everyday, our mind and knowledge are able to use memory to recall the actual structure of each word and thus, we are able to read it properly. However, in class, Mr. Bickel apparently - although to me it did not seem so apparent - stumbled a bit while reading. This may mean that he may have associated one of the jumbled words with another word that he is familiar and this proves that memory is truly expansive and closely related to knowledge.
     This idea led me to question, if we forget so many things, how do we remember such a vast body of knowledge? I believe that the reason is repetition. Ever since we are kids, we learn words that become everyday jargon and therefore these words are etched in memory. As we mature, we learn more words, adding to our vocabulary, yet the foundational and fundamental words are still there. Therefore in the case of Mr. Bickel, he may have confused one of the words for another word that is in his erudite knowledge and thus, he stumbled. Memory is a true complication. We forget events of the past yet we remember tons of seemingly minute and trivial words and actions that we have encountered many years ago.

Image:
The Phenomenal Power of the Human Mind

Improving Your Memory

        This video by TED Talks, is a video of Joshua Foer, a spokesman and a scholar that studies memory, explaining that seemingly extraordinary and impossible things to memorize are as a matter of fact possible and not as spectacular.
         Foer has mentioned that in today's world of technology, our memory is externalized and we do not need to fully depend on our own, fundamental memory anymore because of these advancements that can substitute our memory. Thus, our memory seems to be weaker and incapable of memorizing extensive details and long strings of patterns, pictures, numbers, etc. However, Foer continues to talk and he mentions the Baker/Baker Paradox. This paradox is that if someone were told to memorize the name of man, Baker, and if someone else were told to memorize the occupation of baker, the person that was told to memorize the occupation would most likely have a stronger memory of what he/she were told to memorize. This is because the name Baker, unless we know someone with that name, is significantly inconsequential and therefore we don't memorize the name with great care. On the other hand, the vocation of baker may be something that IS memorized with great care because it is something that we are strongly associated with: sells/makes bread, wears a tall, funny white hat, and smells good when coming home from work. Therefore, Foer states that in order to improve our memory, we must trivialize such seemingly impossible feats of memory and associate them with depictions that we are familiar with in order make us WANT to memorize them.
         I found Foer's technique of improving memory extremely fascinating because it shows that memorizing this is not doing in a verbatim manner but rather doing it topic by topic. Additionally, there is a creativity or emotion factor that plays in memorizing more effectively because by creating topics or images that help us memorize something, we are being creative or bringing back something that is meaningful to us in order to do so, thus it is a creative or emotional process as well.

Link:
Joshua Foer: Feats of memory anyone can do

The Boy Who Survived From Memory

        Is memory really unreliable? This article by the NBC News Press says otherwise. It tells of a boy that began to walk home alone but gets lost and is forced to live the most demanding nights of his life.
        I remembered my English teacher from long ago tell me of this article because at the time we had been reading 'Hatchet'. According to the article, the boy, 12-year-old Michael Auberry, was on a boy scout camping trip but he got homesick and began to hitchhike back home on foot. Unfortunately for him, he ended up lost and had to spend the night in the woods. However, remembering his favorite book, 'Hatchet', which is about a boy who survives a plane crash and endures the obstacles of the forest, Michael was also able to survive. He drank water from the stream, slept in tree branches, curled underneath the rocks for shelter, and carefully used his mess kit and potato chips to help him to persevere.
        Through this event, I believe that memory is extremely strong when an individual is facing tough circumstances. Additionally, for Michael, the memory of 'Hatchet' was strong because it was his favorite book. Therefore, it is evident that in pressured or momentous consequences or events, memory seems to be at an all time high and does not fail.

Link:
12-year-old boy was lost in the rugged N.Carolina mountains for three nights