Metacognition: Aristotle and Organization

I ventured into the jungle today. The nature of my inhabitance, forever cleaned yet left ever dirty. It is the obstacle of every child and the burden of moms across the globe. This my friends, is the action of cleaning one's room. 

Before I took up this "project" I retained a feeling of dread whenever I thought about "cleaning up my room". I think of this chore as a hassle, an unnecessary component to my daily life. In other words, I didn't give a hoot about the state of my room. As long as I can sleep in it, we're all good. This mindset changed, as I realized that my uncleanliness and unorganized room was bothering me and was a nagging at the back of my mind. I couldn't work in peace or sleep well without an annoyance. I also realized that the state of my room was a "reflector" and spilled over into other parts of my life. School, work, other chores, you name it. I was truly being unorganized in the way I approached these things. This was really hurting me, as I left homework at home, forgot to do things, and was simply being messy. I knew I had to do something, and found it in this homework prompt assigned over this break. Actually cleaning my room, was a step toward relief. Working toward making the change feels good, even though I wasn't finished, I felt as if I was making a difference. Finally, after working on this dreaded chore, I felt as if a weight had been lifted from my chest. 

My room really is a representation of my state of mind, now that I've cleaned it, I feel as if I can do this "cleaning" and "organization" of school, work, and everything else I do. I've become more aware of what's going on and how messiness and an unorganized lifestyle can cloud that lucidness and readiness. I feel great in the way I can approach my work and life.

Coming into this chore, I regarded all organization as menial. As long as I have everything, why do I need order? Or at least complete organization? My mindset has vastly changed as I realize the benefits of a clean and organized lifestyle. This brings me to wonder if any of my previous ideas are misconceptions as well. And it teaches me to continue to keep my mind open, as I explore other areas and styles of my life.

iMedia: Snow- Vitamin String Quartet

This piece "Snow covered by the Vitamin String Quartet" is an incredible reflection of our culture. It's the synthesis of time that our society has fallen in love with, and has carried over into our media and the sounds of our lives.

The synthesis of this piece comes from it's return to a more orchestral and natural sound- a sound that reached it's height from the late 18th century to the 19th century. A style that has diminished in modern mainstream music and composition- being overtaken by the tides of electronic music (instruments) and autotune. This song brings us back to this style of music that is now made known to us best under the likes of Bach and Beethoven with it's orchestral sound- although recognizes a more modern tune within the song- Snow by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

We recognize this everywhere in our culture. People love antiques, museums, time weathered tourist sites, and places filled with history. We adore a historic field, that brings us back to the past. All of these are really a synthesis of past and present represented in our daily lives, just like this piece of music. This is extremely important for us to recognize this in our media, because it's a reminder that we must remember. Remember what happened in our past. And build upon our history to make improvements in other things and within ourselves. Without a previous building block, we're lost, and our significant accomplishments are lost.

We see this in so many things:

• Technology- improvements are constantly being made to a previous "generation"
• Music- synthesis of an old and new
• Science- using previous discoveries to expound upon new ones
• Academics- we use the establishments of great thinkers and philosophers to learn about what we study today
• Sports- techniques discovered in the past are honed and safety gear is always improved upon a previous "building block" in order to make sports less dangerous and more enjoyable
• Everything in life is seen in this lens, constantly improving through other's discoveries, accomplishments and mistakes.

We must recognize this ambivelant theme in our lives- that life is a synthesis of history and now. It's so prevalent in our media, and can be seen in this song. We must use history in our lives in improving ourselves and society as a whole.

Connection: King Lear and IR (International Relations)

Our missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Korean Peninsula, Japan, etc. are all examples of the United State's position in International Relations, or IR. We deploy a troop presence in order to maintain our interests in these nations, a few being, democracy, oil, retaining a global economy, and shutting down insurgents in the name of a "global war on terror". 

What we're essentially doing as we deploy a troop presence is make a "logical" calculation or prediction and deploy troops in order to protect our interest, and to maintain our security. This is also known as "securitization". Now many would argue that, the act of "securitization" actually instigates the very problem being "securitized" against. Let me cite some empirical examples: 

1. Iraq- we maintained a troop presence and the insurgency mission fell: terrorism initially reached unprecedented levels (not including 9/11- was a single act of terrorism in the U.S not a global ravaging of the Middle East) and we were forced to withdraw leaving our economic interests more damaged than when we arrived.

2. Korea- the conflict escalated upon U.S and Chinese intervention on the peninsula, before it remained rather isolated and because interests were put at risk, the superpower's securitizing intervention led to the war that it was (1950)

You see, securitization isn't limited to IR, it's a commonly taught lesson, that when you often try to fix things you make it worse or instigate the problem through intervention- Shakespeare recognized this and epitomized this lesson in this play.

The tragedy of King Lear stems from Lear's honest act of attempting to passing down his kingdom through heir-ship. And passing down the "inheritance" of the kingdom to Regen and Goneril was supposed to solve for a peaceful shift in power. What was the result? Absolute destruction. King Lear assumes a role in which to devolve his power and intervention to solve for a peaceful kingdom, but by his very intervention, collapses it and allows for the likes of Edmund, Regen and Goneril to be involved in this revolution. 

So as you can see, there is an incredible similarity to be made between the U.S's view on international relations and King Lear's action upon a successful division of his kingdom. They both securitize through their action and allow for their fears upon which they securitize, occur.