Creative Spirituality Reflection

1. How do you define 「spirituality」?

In my viewpoint, SPIRITUALITY is an awareness of your own soul, and an awareness of the nature of the world around you. In addition, since I am somewhat antitheist, I do not believe in any God although I respect God. Thus, spirituality would have nothing to do with God, but the entirely belief in my soul and my heart.

2. Does spirituality differ from religion?

In my opinion, I believe that spirituality gives a person the freedom to add or take away anything from his/her belief. On the other hand, religion does not change and clinging to makes a person a religious person. Some people who have spirituality can agree with dissimilar views of many religions, and moreover integrate and merge these aspects into their own belief system.

3. How do you define 「creativity」?

Creativity is defined as the inclination to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be valuable and useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others (Human Motivation). However, I define creativity is the idea that motivate people to innovate something.

4. What is the source of creativity?

As far as I am concerned, I believe that there are many things could be the sources of creativity, such as fear, happiness, and peaceful. I also think fear is the most important aspect because I believe that Margaret J. Wheatley says "the things we fear most in organizations - fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances—are the primary sources of creativity."

Horror Analysis Post 2

Source: Halloween Horror Movies May Cause Emotional Problems In Young Children

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061031113446.htm

Background:

"Watching 'Friday the 13th' with your child is probably not a good idea. Children under the age of 5 may be too young to actually watch and understand violent movies; however, they are psychologically affected by the scenes they are exposed to," says Dr. Daniel S. Schechter, the study's principal investigator and director of the Infant-Family Service at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital and assistant professor of clinical psychiatry (in pediatrics) at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

Summary:

Basically, this article points out that although some parents think watching television is the better way to keep their children out of violent while forgetting that kids would also be affected by watching violent programs on the television. In addition, the study shows that mothers who have a history of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) actually watched more violent movies than their healthy counterparts did. Moreover, of course they watched more television overall. Since the habits of parents always influence their children so much, kids would end up watching too mush television the same as their parents.

Reflections:

Actually, the title, “Halloween Horror Movies May Cause Emotional Problems In Young Children,” has totally catcher my attention. Most of parents haven’t really serious concern about this issue – while they are watching scary and horror movies, their children are also watching it, especially Halloween Horror Movies. The issue is too obvious, young kids might be affected and influenced a lot by watching the fearful movies because they cannot distinguish the reality and fantasy. Although the rating system for movies and television is already existed, it is not useful for most of time. For instance, many children are able to get into cinema to watch restricted movies by using fake IDs, or even no needed for IDs. At home, parents are watching these restricted television programs with their children because these parents just carelessness or neglect about the program rating system.

Hence, although it is exciting to watch the horror and scary movies, we should definitely concern about the outcomes of watching it at the too young age. People should be aware of this issue by helping out both their children and other youngers.

Bibliography:

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (2006, October 31). Halloween Horror Movies May Cause Emotional Problems In Young Children. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 17, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2006/10/061031113446.htm

Horror Analysis Post 1

Source: Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They Enjoy Being Scaredhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070725152040.htm


Normally, researchers use one of the following two theories to make clear why people like horror movies. First, the person is not actually afraid, but excited by the movie. Secondly, people are willing to bear the horror in order to enjoy an excited sense of relief at the end. However, Eduardo Andrade (University of California, Berkeley) and Joel B. Cohen (University of Florida) have done a study by arguing that neither of these theories is correct.

These two researchers believe that "the assumption of people's inability to experience positive and negative affect at the same time is incorrect" because people could experience both positive and negative emotions concurrently. That is, in fact, people may enjoy being scared, but not just relief when the risk is removed. In summary, the authors believe that most of people can experience positive feelings while still experiencing fearfulness.

As far as I am concerned, I certainly believe it is definitely accurate because I usually feel both excited and fearful while I am watching horror movies. Sometimes, even though the movie has finished already, I still feel both kinds of experiences – I become afraid of darkness, feared of spacious area without accompany, and dreaded of alone at any place. Nevertheless, I think the two original theories of the reason that people like horror movies are still valuable and appropriate, but just not prefect. In my point of view, some people would actually be the first type horror-movie followers, and they do not really feel fear at all while watching movies. Moreover, some people are definitely the second type of scary movie lovers, and in fact they fear would be relieved after the movie.

Hence, I believe that we could not say any theory is wrong or not correct because it is the feelings of people, and no one can actually figure it out perfectly. And, the mind of human beings is the most difficult to be analyzed and explained.

Bibliography:

University of Chicago Press Journals (2007, July 31).
Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They Enjoy Being Scared. ScienceDaily.
Retrieved February 17, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2007/07/070725152040.htm

People Watching

Person #1.

For my first observer, I decided to pick the first people who came to party at my place last night.
He is about 20 years old and 6 feet high. He is wearing deep blue loose jeans as well as bulky T-Shirt, and Converse Shoes. He also has a University of Oregon hat on his head. In addition, he was talking on the cell phone while entering my apartment, and many friends are around him.

I believe that he is kind of social leader for Chinese students in the University of Oregon, and he is an easy-going person because there are tons of friends around him almost everyday. To me, it looks like he values attentions and friends. He is getting attention by getting more and more friends to know him, and he could easily be good friend to other because he always willing to help other with their difficulties.

The first assumption that I think when I see him is – He is easy-going person. Moreover, I also suppose he is about 20 year old, and he does poorly in school because he spends too much time to socialize. Doubtless, my finding shows that I think schooling is the most important task since I came to the U.S. to study. I would like to spend most of my time to learn and to gather new materials from the classes, but never spend too much time to make new friends. However, I know I have contra feeling also – I would like have as many friends as possible to be around me, but it seems that I have no chance to do it now.

People #2.

For my second observer, I picked one of my best Taiwanese friends. He is about early 20’s and about 5 feet 7 inches. He has a long hair, and maybe longer than lots of girls. He usually wears a dirty white thin jacket, dark blue jeans, as well as a pair of never changed sport shoes. By the way, he does not like to shave, and he almost always plays computer and console games at home.

To me, I believe that he does not feel lonely while he is playing games alone at home because he usually enjoys himself while playing. Moreover, he likes to have timetable for his life, and such schedule cannot be changed too much unless it is necessary, hence, I think he is very task-oriented. I also suppose he is poor because he is very frugal before I know him well, however, I finally found out that his family owns an international company in Taiwan.

The first assumption I make is – he does not feel lonely while he is playing games. This might reflect my value of friends because while I have free time, I would never play game by myself alone, and I would invite many friends to have fun. The second assumption is I believe he is task-oriented, and following the timetable. Since I also value time and self-fulfillment, I like his unchangeable schedule because I will always know what to do next to get some achievements. The last assumption I make is – he is poor. While I value neat and clean, fashion, and money, none of these values on the forefront of his mind.

People #3.

For my third observer, I examined one of my friends. He is a very fashion person because he usually wearing clothes and bringing gadgets from Gucci and Abercrombie & Fitch. He is the loyal member for these two brands. He would spend at least 20 minutes everyday to make his hairstyle. In addition, he also sprays some men’s perfume everyday while leaving his apartment.

As far as I am concerned, I believe his fashion dressing and professional looking shows his self-confidence and wealth values. I suppose that he might not be as rich as we think because he always wears bad-looking and dirty clothes while he is at home. In addition, he usually talks about how to make money, and how much he achieves already. This indicates that he values personal accomplishment and wealth although I usually doubt about it.

My first assumption is – he is not as rich as I see. Since I value both security and wealth, I believe that a rich person would understand the importance of saving money, and will not spend too much money for unnecessary things. My second assumption is – he values personal accomplishment and wealth, and such values lead him to tell people what he capable. However, I value integrity heavily, and if something is too great to be true, I usually doubt about it.

What is Art for?

Personal Adornment Reflection

Personal Adornment Reflection

When I was in the high school, I always dress black jacket and black pants in order to be mystified. In addition, since my parents usually told me that I have to be gentle, hence, I have to wear very formal, that is shirts and tie, in front of my parents. At that time, my value has two dimensions – one part is expertness and personal accomplishment, and the other part is creativity and enjoyment. In the high school, I chose to wear black jacket and pants because I valued friendship more than anything did, and since most of my friends like this kind of style, I just followed their notions.

After I came to the United States, I became to wear clothes what appear to be teenagers. Hence, I changed to put deep blue loose jeans as well as bulky T-Shirt, and Converse Shoes for my informal clothes, which shows my value of creativity, friendship, and young. This kind of dressing also could illustrate that I am a fashion person. However, I usually have two business suits in different style for my formal dress. Since I am a business major student, I understood that good-looking suit gives professional looking. Therefore, I also value personal accomplishment, personal development, prestige, and expertness.

In my family, my father and my mother are the owner of a consumer electronic store in Taiwan. They are similar to businesspeople, but not exactly. Therefore, they never wear any formal business suits because it is not necessary to wear formally in order to sell goods to the retailers. I believe they value family and security, especially financially. The reason is that they tend to be not care about themselves too much, but only care about my brother and me. Hence, what they gave us are the best of best.

In fact, since I am not the only person who lives on the earth, I usually care about the dressing of other people because I usually want to be part of my social group or my family. Hence, I believe that my value of family and friendship are the first and second value in my mind.

Food as Art

Source:
“Galleries put food and wine on the art menu; from paintings to pinot noir, two women are serving their clients more than just a feast for the eyes – strategy”
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HMU/is_5_30/ai_101940420

The owner of “Tasty of art”, Laurence Asseraf made her coffeehouse combined with the art galleries on the wall in order to make the coffee bar much more special, and therefore she could attract more and more customers to come in. Actually, art is the main purpose that she wants to present in her cafe. On the other hand, the other person named Molly Miller has the similar idea of Miss Laurence, and she opens a bar with galleries.

In fact, this is a fantastic idea to congregate and attract not only the artists but also people who love to enjoy good food in an artistic place. People could relax and enjoy both the food and the art works. Miss Miller believes that “with everything going on in the world, she think people have to be as creative in the marketing plans as they possibly can.” Hence, for this reason, both Miss Laurence and Miss Miller consider to gather more art buyers by uniting the food and the art together. Indeed, this creative and inventive idea has made the world different, and many of the restaurants have paintings or drawings on their wall in order to make a special image of the bistro.

I believe that they are both artist because they have the inspired idea to combine food and art together as a whole. In addition, they know that art should be the main concept of their restaurant, and they discern how to use food as intermediate to attract more and more people.

This article might not perfectly relate to the article – “food as art”, however, it presents us that people have used food as intermediate of the art by long time ago. Moreover, this article kind of shows the tightly relationship between food and art. In my opinion, I suppose art can be everything if it is something special for both makers and receivers. Hence, food must to be considered as art because dishes are created by people’s imagination and creativities.

Bibliography

Amy Leibrock “Galleries put food and wine on the art menu; from paintings to pinot noir, two women are serving their clients more than just a feast for the eyes – strategy,” Art Business News, May 2003, FindArticles.com, Feb. 1st. 2008. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HMU/is_5_30/ai_101940420

Food as Art

Source: Chinese Cooking Art
http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-food/cooking-art.htm

The article gives us an introduction of Chinese Cooking Arts, which includes several features – flavors, seasons, feelings, interests, health. All of these features collectively create the Chinese Cooking, which is unbelievable and astounding, and this cooking style could not be easily to be replaced by another kind of cooking.

There are two main points that I want to emphasize:

First, in the article, the author mentions, “Chinese cooking has not only superior techniques, but also has the tradition of placing an emphasis on the aesthetic feeling of dishes and pays attention to the harmony and agreement of food's color, fragrance, flavor, shape, and utensils.” Hence, the first priority of Chinese Food toward to people is FEELING. Form Chinese perspective, not only the food itself should be taste good, but also the color of the dishes must be attractive towards to eaters.

Secondly, in the article, the author also states, “certain requirements on the naming of dishes, the manner of tasting the flavor, the rhythm of having dinner and the insertion of entertainment, etc. The names of Chinese dishes can be called reaching the acme of perfection and suiting both refined and popular tastes.” This statement shows the importance of interest of Chinese Cooking.

From my viewpoint, I believe that the name of every dish is undeniably the art of food, especially in Chinese. For me, it is marvelous that how these chefs come up with the name that sounds both attractive and interesting.

Bibliography:
“Chinese Cooking Art”, China Highlights, 2007,
from http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-food/cooking-art.htm