Panel Blog

           On April 15th I was part of a conference panel as part of an assignment. My colleagues and me were supposed to present a project we had previously done called  "Caged Paradise: A Web-Based Research". It describes an studies the perception of others about Puerto Rico, according to our findings on the Web. There were also 3 three more groups presenting on the same subject. Our research indicated that the perception of  Puerto Rico in the web is very positive regarding its beauty, landscapes and commodities, but it is negative regarding the people and the safety in the island.

 

            The positive feedback on Puerto Rico was mostly referring to the exotic paradise island it can surely be. There were great comments on the beaches, the food, the sights and party. People were attracted to Puerto Rico by the idea of escaping their life. Anyhow People are apparently also repelled by Puerto Rico's  "sketchy-nes" , criminality and service.

            I believe there is some truth to these comments but many of the information was exaggerated, generalized and/or was not supported by any facts.  There is definitively a lack of real knowledge about Puerto Rico and that is why many just take shortcuts and                                                                                                   generalize.

 

            My experience giving speaking in the panel was great, i really missed exposure to these type of assignments. I felt confident with the presentation and the material  which made it much easier. I think most of the presentations showed very similar results but it was really interesting having so many vantage points discussed in the panel.

                        

Time to Say Goodbye

                        Finally after a long semester of working with my blog it has finally come to an end. This blog was created as part of the Journey in Literature class. The class revolved around the concepts of internal and external journey and the blog played a important role on channeling our external journey. Since it is finally over as used to, I will reflect upon the experience and offer closure to my blog A Road Worth Travelling.

                        After adding this final blog i will have completed my 14th blog. The blogs were mostly about class readings, movies, conferences, and assignment reflections. They all have some relation to the "journey" theme, also  "identity" and "perspective" themes were present in most blogs.

                        Looking back on my older blogs I notice that there has been a lot of change between the way i started writing and now. First of all the style has gradually changed from an essay-like blog, to more of an actual blog. I allowed myself to express my ideas in my writing rather than completing a mere task. I also learned how to better implement visual aids, and use external sources for reference. I also noticed i have improved my methods for presenting an idea and getting my message through. It has become much more simpler and straight forward which I believe is a more effective method.

                        Commenting is another skill that I have gained while making this blog. Aside from making our blog we were also instructed to comment on our partner's blogs. At first most of us didn't really commented that much and when we did comments weren't all that good. We after learned from an article on the art of commenting called Sharing and Responding by Peter Elbow. He offers a few techniques on how to make useful and correct commentaries. My favorite technique was "I believe...", it consisted on picking a premise and explaining why do you support and believe it ( it can also be used negatively as "i don't believe...").  Once the comments started improving they were a really useful tool to improve or edit previous or future blogs.

                        

My favorite post was "Tourist For a Day", which consisted on me visiting a touristic area and describe my experience. I was supposed to make myself as much of a tourist as possible to really appreciate how others were around tourists. It was a great tool for understanding the concept of perspective and was a really fun assignment to do.

                        Overall the blog was a useful experience that helped me develop myself as a writer and critical thinker. It combine many abilities such as creativity, redaction, and originality. I can't say I enjoyed the project as a whole because most of the time it was frustrating but it is one of those things you come to appreciate when you see the final product. I hope you all enjoyed my blog and "in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night." (The Truman Show)

Tourist for a day

            I decided to do my "Tourist for a day" assignment at a very local place which like China Town and other commercial entities tourist tend to visit: The Arecibo Flea Market. My choice may seem strange, but it  is the largest one in the Caribbean and it gets its share of tourism. The flea market is home to a variety of interesting food, products, services and activities you can find there.

            When I paid the parking entrance I identified myself as a tourist  to the security guard and I asked for recommendations for kiosks to visit. Immediately he mentioned a list of places I should not to miss. It was interesting that on the way out when returning the ticket he asked me "how was it?", I of coursed answered him "It was great , thank you" and moved on.

            Once inside I headed to the kiosk that sold native fried food and asked her what she had, she answered but I hesitated, so she went on to explain to me each plate. I finally grabbed an "alcapurria" and kept moving. 

Next stop was "la pica", a typical gambling game that simulates horse races. Again I asked the vendor about the game and he explained the rules and how prices worked. This is almost miraculous because if you have played "pica" at a full table you should know that the "collector" never go out of their way for a client or talk too much since he is focused on the bills that are                                                                                           moving around the table.

                        

Then I strolled down the aisle with kiosks selling DVD's and "fakes". I felt some looks on me, more than usual while going through kiosks which had products that "illegal", more than usual. Anyhow they were not really alarmed or worried about my presence. One of the main reasons I picked the flea market, was because I was genuinely curious on this specific reaction. I wouldn't expect any different, since they are used to selling to tourists, still the illegal distribution and piracy is  a taboo that lies in the gray zone of legality. I would have liked to bargain also as a tourist but didn't plan on spending more money. This would have been interesting because i have  bargained as a tourist any times and enjoyed it and find it interesting.

Reflection on A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid

            This is a reflection about a fraction of  the book A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid . She is originally from Antigua, but now live in the United States. She shares with us about her experience in her early days in Antigua, and how it defined her. The book also presents the authors perspective on her island and the tourist who visit it and her feeling towards her land before and after it was occupied by England. Even though the text is not physically divided, the themes are presented in the order i mentioned them previously.

            Initially Kincaid starts by giving us a descriptive tour of Antigua as she thinks it looks through the eyes of a tourist. She then starts pointing out the things that as a tourist you would notice and those that stand ignored, all this in a deeply judgmental tone. She does not sympathize a lot with tourist and makes it clear by calling them "ugly human beings". She uses this term throughout her book  to refer to the egocentrically, selfish, ignorant, and all around negative perspective of tourists. The reason why they are ugly according to the author is because when visiting a place they are there with pleasure as first priority, hence ignoring all the problems worth noticing around them. She criticizes how tourists would walk by destroyed buildings that have been destroyed by a earthquake years ago and get to the hotel and just be enjoying themselves after witnessing so much need and suffering. 

                         

      She also explains that when a tourist travels he is searching to escape the banality of his everyday life, so he travels to a poorer place with poor conditions, away from the people they love and the ones that love them, all to be frowned upon by locals. The feeling of wanting to escape from your life exists in everyone, but not everyone can satisfy it. This is why natives look at tourists with dislike and envy, because they are enjoying themselves carelessly for once like the natives wished they could.

"'Oh, what a marvelous change these bad roads are from the splendid highways I am used to in North America.'” _{(referring sarcastically to tourists)}

            In the second part of the book the author shares with us about how England colonizing the island changed Antigua and her feelings towards it. She says that after the colonization Antigua was stripped of their culture and heritage and was given a new one. England did so well on spreading and imposing their culture that the Antigua that once existed was no more. Also the English people living in the island where arrogant and racist, but the natives didn't seem to notice much. The doctors also had a similar attitude, the treatment their patients received was very impersonal, and where treated with disgust as if their presence was unhealthy.

            Because of this she feels as if she has no real identity because the one her country have does not really belong to them. She wanders if she is more related to either country but seems confused and uncertain, as she said "... no motherland, no fatherland, no gods.".

            I found very interesting the psychoanalysis she makes about the motives of tourist for traveling and find that it happens to be very true in most cases. I am not convinced that her perception on tourists is fair to the tourists, even though this may be the case of some, many tourists will take into perspective everything around them without ignoring the unattractive things happening but will still hold distance and respect when it comes to laying their hands on others business.  I believe that her perspective is so negative because she has been through a tough times as an Antiguan and she resents what the English, whom are outsiders like tourists, robbing her of her culture.

Reflection on "Helping" by Jim Cooper

           Earlier in my blog I wrote about Jim Cooper's book Down on the Island and I will be discussing it again. The selection I wish to discuss this time comes from chapter 8 of his book which is  named "Helping". In this chapter, like in the previous one, the author narrates his experience as a teacher at the University of Puerto Rico, at Mayaguez campus. It takes place during the 1950's, when Puerto Rico was still building and developing their program of education. He points out and discusses the problems he has been having with students, specifically those related to cheating.

            When Cooper was a professor at UPRM, he had problems with his students copying of one another. Even though cheating is common practice he felt that the problem was specifically greater among Puerto Rican students.

"Cheating goes on in all schools ... but I hadn't

seen it done as openly and outrageously as

 it was in Puerto Rico." – Jim Cooper

            When he questioned his students  about copying he would usually think it was no big deal and proceed to explain that their intention was just helping his fellow student. This lead him to think that the root of the problem " was about what was considered cheating and what was just "helping"." It seemed as if students lacked the competitive factor which characterized American students. The lack of competitiveness between the student can be translated into abundance of cooperativeness. 

            Upon further inspection it was evident that the cooperativeness exhibited by Puerto Rican students was the result of cultural factors. Cooper clearly states that "Puerto Ricans are de most hospitable people in the world." Hospitability is the primary suspect according to the author, because we are hospitable we treat others as friends, helping another student succeed  is looked upon as a friendly gesture since the opposite will result in letting him fail. Puerto Ricans frown upon looking at fellow students as rivals since it is perceived as selfish if one wishes another student to score lower than you, students are instead thought to be cooperative and not competitive by family and even teachers sometime. In comparison American culture promotes being competitive and students will usually cover their papers from others.

            I agree completely whit Mr. Cooper's opinion, since I am a clear example of this type of student. When faced with this situation it just seem natural tome to help a partner out, even though it is obviously not right. If you are Puerto Rican you have probably heard more than once about how we are supposed to treat others as if they where family. At an unconscious level this attitude becomes part of our normative in social relations. Like Cooper said, "Everything is on a first person basis in Puerto Rico", this makes it hard for us to alternate from being intentionally competitive  and just hospitable.

Reflection on "Teaching English" by Jim Coope

            I recently read a piece from Jim Cooper's book Down on the Island. The selection I wish to discuss comes from chapter 7 of his book which is appropriately named "Teaching English". In this chapter  the author narrates his experience as a teacher at the University of Puerto Rico, at Mayaguez campus, which was and is still one or the largest in Puerto Rico. It takes place during the 1950's, when Puerto Rico was still building and developing their program of education. He takes the time to point out and discuss the problems that both professors and students faced.

University of Puerto Rico , Mayaguez campus (Logo)

            The 1950's where a time of political change for Puerto Rico since there were many movements going, for example, in 1950 it Puerto Rico receive authorization under legislation to have their own constitutional convention and in 1952 the island became United States' Commonwealth territory ( Associated Free State of Puerto Rico).All this political activity lead to the rapid growth in the local economy and structure in general.

            Upon arrival one of Cooper first experiences was teaching English at the "Colegio", name given to the University of Puerto Rico (Mayaguez). As a first time teacher he was concerned with simply giving the class but he then notices there was much more he had not taken into consideration. Most of his students knew little to no English at all. The ones who actually knew English  where the students who came from private schools and hence where thought regularly and strictly in English. This made his task much more complicated.  When he tried to discuss these problems with superiors, he was told "the only way to learn a language is to love its literature", but how can one love literature without understanding it?

"This was common believe held by people who assumed a student

on the university level had been taught at least Latin and probably one

or two modern languages in high school..." -Jim Cooper

            Cooper went on teaching and doing everything possible to help the system. When picked to serve as "chairman of Syllabus discussion Committee" he, along with the support of some other professors was able to change the books, and the approach in order to make it easier for students. Still, professors were struggling with the approach and techniques and students where dragging lack education and structure which was supposed to be given to them in school.  Even after all the effort there was still much to overcome.

“It was clear that no matter what we tried to do,

 it was not going to help much in solving the

 overall problem of English learning in Puerto Rico.” – Jim Cooper

            I do not believe that all that effort did nothing to help in solving the problems Puerto Rico's education was facing, but I do understand the frustration he must have felt. Like all issues regarding a territory there is never much a single man can do, this is why it requires dedication from the general community. Jim Cooper may have not changed "The System" himself,  but he was one of the many people that helped by being concerned citizens and professionals with a real interest in educating.  This journey to get Puerto Rico's  education system to where it stands today was a long one, but it is responsible for making bilingualism part of our national identity.

My Journal Experience

                          

             Throughout the semester I have been writing a journal as an assignment. The assignment consisted in making an entry 4 to 5 time a week, only one entry per day. We were told to write freely and pick our own subjects to write about. During a 10 minute period we were to write what first came to our minds and just keep writing continuously. Even random thoughts that would seem to make no sense to others are encouraged. Stopping to think about what to write next or correct grammar should be avoided as much as possible in order to truly write freely.

            My finished diary held 40 entries of free writing total. Each of this entries was followed by a brief description documenting your writing experience. The toughest part of the free writing was precisely writing freely. I would have thought that not having a specific subject and being allowed to write "messy-ish" would make it easier, but I really struggled a lot with finding the necessary creativity to keep writing without stopping.   After writing these 40 entries I noticed how my writing skills had improved noticeably. I noticed my writing became faster and more fluid, I had stop less to look for the right words, and writing the entries was more pleasant after a while. My creative abilities have improved, that I know because I used to spend about a full two minutes just thinking about what to write and know the ideas come popping to my head much faster. Still I didn't notice much improvement in my grammar, which has always been dread full. I used to struggle creating good sentences. My fist entries consisted of very short sentences that didn't quite capture my exact thoughts, after some practice sentences started becoming longer and making more sense.

             There is a particular entry which I enjoyed really much. I was going through kind of rough patch and wasn't quite sure about what it was that was bugging me. On one day I sat down to write my entry as usual and the firs thought that came to my mind was about my problem which had to do with defining my identity. I was really able to just empty my mind on the journal as if I were talking to a friend. The writing on this entry was really fluid and sentences were really profound and self examinatory.  After writing the entry I found the root of what was originally bugging me. This made me feel really relieved about myself and since that day I started to enjoy and appreciate the importance of keeping a journal. This journal became a valuable tool for venting and organizing my thoughts when faced with a blurry idea.

            I learned that I am my best self at writing when I write about something that matters  and that actually means something to me. I found that I could actually be a good writer if I manage to enjoy it and practice on my diary even more.

            I was skeptical about the assignment, but that has changed completely. I exhort everyone to have their own journal to vent their ideas with. 

Review: A Room With A View

A Room With A View is a 1908 English novel by the author E.M Foster which was later on adapted into a1985 film produced by Merchant Ivory and won  various awards.

It tells the tale of a young girl, Lucy Honey crunch, which visits Florence (Italy) under vigilance from her cousin  and ends up finding love  with a young man named  George. Even though the story revolves around the main character's love story there is a lot of other things going on simultaneously. It is also about a girls journey and how the experiences she haves during the trip make her change herself. This change is driven by a constant struggle between old fashion Victorian values and the newer more liberal ones. While in Italy Lucy learns how distinction between classes is all an illusion, also her interaction with the Emersons teach her how there is still beauty inappropriateness.

As Lucy grows with this experience she is then confronted with one to reality and incapable of figuring out which one to follow. She is facing identity  doesn't know where she belongs since her heart tells her one thing  and her conscience another.

The title of the story is physically represented early in the story when they find that the room they had didn't have a view. The window is a symbolism since it is from that window where she spied on random people and identified them by stereotype.

The setting is also very important because there is a lot of political criticism behind the main tale. This story  takes place during a time where England was slowly leaving behind the old Victorian ways and passing to more liberal Edwardian ideals. This tension between these two is represented by the love tale between George and Lucy.

Identity on "Identity " by Peter Roberts

To set the grounds for the discussion of "The Roots of Caribbean Identity: Language, Race and Ecology" by Peter Robert we should first look into the term identity. Identity is by definition a compilation of  distinct characteristics of an individual  or a group of people which makes them unique from everybody else. Identity is often linked with nationality since people who share a certain region tend to share many characteristics. Still the concept of national identity will sometimes extend to the emotional or personal aspects to the point where it defines you as a person.

National or  identity defines a group of people which leave in a same region by the most predominant characteristics they share. By living in the same region these people have been exposed to the repetition of the same things in their environment, or society hence,  creating a concept of normality among them. This concept of normality will vary from one region to another varying drastically in some cases. This identity is imposed onto us by our political system in the same way w are identified by race, age and income.

To understand the concept of identity further Robert pinpoints three key elements of a national identity which are home, language and behavior and explain each one of them.

Home is a hard concept to define since it does not have a concrete meaning. Like political identity the concept of home indicates a link between an individual and a place. While political identity is given to us by the place where be are born or live in, the notion of home is far more personal and is characterized by a powerful sense of belonging. Home is often related to a place which give us the a feeling of security and confidence. Robert comments about the relativity of "home".

"home embodies a psychological factor of attachment"

Because home is about attachment if may related to the place of birth, residence, or any other place one shares an attachment with. He also mentions how "home" may appeal to an individual's compatibility to a place.

Language is also related most of the times to a person's national identity because languages are geographically determined. People who speak share a special connection since they ate capable of communicate between each. Language manifests as speech and speech will in times vary in accent... accents which are utilized to distinguish between ones and others.

" Language therefore establishes bonds between all communities of human beings but at the same time set up barriers between communities."

Finally as a puertorican I feel that behavior is one of the most important elements of a cultures identity as puertorican  I am related to a stereotype of loud puertoricans who love to party and are obsessed with music. I don't mind that but it pretty obvious i don't fit the criteria.

While identity is systematically efficient and practical, it often leads to the creation of stereotypes which people many times used unfairly and ignorantly on people.

Reflection on atention

Having lately read " On Looking: Eleven Walks with Experts Eyes"  I have decided to write about her insight on the concept of attention. I will start by saying that it is a wonderful reading one that I enjoyed pretty much. Alexandra Horowitz, the author of this piece, Intents to study how attention works on humans, specifically how age, profession, sex or race influences how we look at the world. After sharing a walk with her dog she realizes how little we see because of our methods for attention. After that the stories goes on to tell us about the various walks she takes with professionals in all professional branches including an expert on this very subject.

I found this approach very interesting and effective. It is pretty straight forward in an  orderly manner arranging her work as a scientific investigation rather than a recollection of her experience. I can't keep from noticing the lack of things I really do appreciate. As  a biology student I tend to pay attention to things that trigger my scientific interest, as an adventurer who loves backpacking and camping I can't help to unconsciously be in search for a nice place to camp and as a man I can't help no notice women more than men. This happens because our attention is rather selective. Actually rather is kind of and understatement it is highly selective since our interests are the criteria by which information is stored in our brains. It is also interest what sometimes even decides to remind or ignore some of the thing around you. Think of it, there are a thousand faces you probably see constantly around your university, work environment, and/or near your living area which you would never recognize if they are right in front of you.

Our attention span it monitored by something called RAS (Reticular Activating System). It is responsible to filtering, acquiring and rejecting information from external stimuli,like the way it is doing it right now by making your periferal vision blury. Our brains employ this mechanisms in order to keep the brain from "overloading" since there are infinite amounts of images, sounds, smells, people and other things out there to process. We can only accept so much information at a time, so our brain prioritizes in order to be functional. Priorities will always be different from one person to another but tend to relate to a person's background.

Going even further I believe that this leaves very much to say about the relativity of our reality and how incredibly diferent the world is for everyone of us.

If you find this subject interesting you should  probably like this video I left for you:

The beginin of my journey..

My mom and dad have allways been there for me and they are the main persons that guided me through my first stage of my journey. I was a verry happy child, was raised in a very familiar enviorment. I allways followed my brother (two years older) around and imitated him. 

I will make my best to write about my passage through life. If I am going to be talking about myself and my life you should know some things about me so it may give you some sort of perspective. I'll start by introducing myself. My name is Omar I am 20 years old, I'm the middle child in my family, I study biology, I love adventure and extremes and I am not really used to writing for an audience. 

That's a little bit about me so you can learn more about my journey.

Before writing I looked up the word journey and I found the word journey could have at least two definitions. The first one refers to "a traveling from one place to another". The other one refers to the "passage or progres from one stage to the other". After looking at theese definitions one can conclude that a journey can either refer to the change in one's physical location or to change in a more abstract way. 

Internal journey:

My internal journey begins when i was a little boy with practicaly nothing but "squishy", pinkish tissue in my brain. As a newborn one is like a blob of wet clay who will be molded by any and every stimuli that manages to make it through any of the five senses. This proces of adquiring information is what makes an infant into a person and it is ultimately led by the important people who surround  a baby. 

The second stage of my journey starts at preschool, I started since kinder garden in a Montessori school which haves a unconventional style of educating. One is taught to be very hands on and work  with one another. We were sometimes assigned as leaders and  where given special tasks, thereby empowering the importance of work. I then attended a catholic school till i was in my 10th grade and was then transferred to an evangelic school. I shared with two totally different groups over this time and I feel it was inevitable for me to grow and change as a person. 

Humans have evolved to adapt to circumstances in order to survive and because of this when in need a person may voluntarily or unconsciously alter their common ways. We can then say that people change will when presented with  a change in its environment. This is why though situations like discovering your body and world as a child, traveling and changing schools tend to define us as persons because its under these kind of situations when we change.

In my most current stage, now that i am on my own and in college, its mostly about shaping myself as a person, making my own decisions, chasing my own interests and goals.

The internal journey and the external journey are not separated, on the contrary, they are both pretty much intertwined. The external journey is the one that constantly chalenges our ways and forces us to learn new things see things from a new perspective. I have found that every place i travel either near or far has added something to who I am. When in europe I learned to apreciate a new culture one where they  conciously and and in comunity work to reduce expences an be concervative in order to minimize the impact we make on economy and nature. While working on medical aid missions in Peru I learned that we should focus our energy on what is really important. I saw many poor villagers that walked for miles in order to check for their health and had the chance to talk and learn about them. In their condition the are only able to worry about their crops their animals and their healt as well as their famillies while we underestimate the importance of such vital things in order to fixate our energies on things like brands, media, and showbiz not knowing that since we already have those vital things, we could be spending those energies on our happines real happines that lasts, the kind that is aquired by helping others, enjoying family and leting go of all worries that make a toll in your life.

English Around The World

We recently participated in a conference on the English language and how it is different all over the world. The conference focused on some key places two of them where vast Anglo-Saxon  territories separated by an ocean and the other two are small regions wich have English as a second language, one of them in Europe and the other in the Caribbean. The two large countries are England and the United States. England is located in Europe on an island north of Spain, United States, on the other hand, is located in North America. English is the official language of both of this countries. The two smaller territories are Puerto Rico and Malta. Malta is a small territory to the south of Italy, its native language is Maltese but there are plenty of people that speak Italian still since it used to be part of Italy. Puerto Rico is located in the Caribbean, its official language is Spanish but English is regularly taught in elementary. Puerto Rico used to be Spains property, hence its official language, but since it was colonized it has been greatly influenced by the United States  in every field from language to economics.

It is important to state the similarities and differences between each of these countries. For starters, Malta and England are near each other the same way US ad Puerto Rico are. The location of a country can greatly influence their language for they are exposed to many of the same factors. On the other hand,Malta and Puerto Rico are both small countries wich have a native Romance language. The romance language may be the reason these two countries have many similarities in their language, The same happens with England and US  since the English spoken in the United States origins from the one spoken in England. 

The fact that language is influenced by so many factors shines a light on why is language so diverse. Think of it, how is it possible that all these places and many more, speak the same language and still none of them do it in the same way? If we analyze the infinite possibilities of events and intertwining between different countries and cultures it becomes pretty clear that language is not something concrete. It is actually ever changing and evolving, it morphs through the years in  the way that better fits its user.

Map highlighting English speaking countries.

The Story of Billy Mills

The movie Running Brave tells the story of a Native American boy who loved running.This passion took him on an incredible journey, where he first got accepted with a scholarship to the University of Kansas with a track and field scholarship and continued all the way to a gold medal in the Olympic games of 1964.

William Mervin after being the first Native American to win a gold medal.
Tis picture was taken a few moments away after he won the 10,000m race at
the 18964 Olympic games.

"Billy Mills" real name is William Mervin. He was a Native American, Sioux to be specific, member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe from Pine Ridge, South Dakota. He started running while attending  at the Haskell Institute where he discovered his passion. Since then his life takes a big turn after he is offered a scholarship to run at the University of Kansas.  Being raised in a reservation his journey is about much more than his athletic potential, he is a experiencing a journey through cultures where he finds himself out of his comfort zone. He is faced with discrimination and margination because of his race, wich lead him to work double the hard as anybody else.

This new step in his life gives him a new whole spectrum of possibilities and responsibilities. Responsibilities such as running career, life outside of family, a complicated relationship and the responsibility of making an example for other Native Americans. This means a big change for a man who has spent most of his life living surrounded by his family and friends now that he has to defend himself against his coach, "white boys". He is also presented with big opportunities for reaching out of the reservation, starting a new life and having a chance at the Olympics. This kind of drastic changes in someones life are capable of launching them into an internal journey also. It is at times like this where everyone and everything are new and you are "alone" where one begins to question and examine oneself.There are many religions and cultures that practice this technique of emptying someone's mind through meditation or other ceremonial rituals that he can get in touch with himself.  By stepping away from the noise, from everything one considers obvious or given, ones perspective is forced to change, it becomes more receptive to our mere existence and to what surrounds us.


"Every passion has its destiny."
                                                           Billy Mills