Happiness, Meaning and Personal Ethics
My project took the form of a strong focus on what made my life so good. I first thought that the actions and choices I made were in direct correlation between my long term and short term happiness, which of course they are, but I thought about what made me choose the direction I went with my life. I came to the realization that the main reason I know how to make the right and wrong choices that will inevitably interact with my emotions (everything is connected) was because of my parents and my sisters. I found that I had not given them enough credit to my personality traits. In my paper I explain how my sisters and my mom bring out the feminine sections of my personality which could include empathy, creativity, and sharing (not just traits of females of course). I talk about my dad and how he teaches me how to be a gentleman and a kind person with strong morals (not just male traits of course). I then went into my own interpretation of myself and how I am now well prepared to intertwine with a woman and society as a whole in a new genre of ways.
My new philosophy is significantly altered because I am aware of the traits that allow my short term happiness to turn to long term happiness because of the memory and lesson from that short term memory. My thoughts around my place in the world have been altered because now I understand that my impact isn't so small. The way my family and my teachers and friends and strangers have influenced me has been so significant to my view on the world and myself that I think that there is a very slim chance that my opinions and views and actions are not helping or hurting everyone I am around to ultimately form them for better or worse. I feel more aware of my actions and my behavior that can be interpreted as teaching with everyday things. Like hiking, I think about the trails and how people will see my foot prints running through a garden and be influenced to do the same, killing that garden. Kurt Vonnegut said " I really wonder what gives us the right to wreck this poor planet of ours." I feel that through this project I gained awareness.
My only quandary is, does everything connect? My strong belief in the string theory (even smaller than atoms are small things of energy that connect to everything and when something happens, positive or negative, it effects the energy of something else accordingly) is the inspiration for my question. This ties into my project and my happiness. Are my actions connecting to things outside of my conscious control? I'll have to keep searching and experimenting with these questions.
My new philosophy is significantly altered because I am aware of the traits that allow my short term happiness to turn to long term happiness because of the memory and lesson from that short term memory. My thoughts around my place in the world have been altered because now I understand that my impact isn't so small. The way my family and my teachers and friends and strangers have influenced me has been so significant to my view on the world and myself that I think that there is a very slim chance that my opinions and views and actions are not helping or hurting everyone I am around to ultimately form them for better or worse. I feel more aware of my actions and my behavior that can be interpreted as teaching with everyday things. Like hiking, I think about the trails and how people will see my foot prints running through a garden and be influenced to do the same, killing that garden. Kurt Vonnegut said " I really wonder what gives us the right to wreck this poor planet of ours." I feel that through this project I gained awareness.
My only quandary is, does everything connect? My strong belief in the string theory (even smaller than atoms are small things of energy that connect to everything and when something happens, positive or negative, it effects the energy of something else accordingly) is the inspiration for my question. This ties into my project and my happiness. Are my actions connecting to things outside of my conscious control? I'll have to keep searching and experimenting with these questions.
Philosophy writing piece
Happiness Project
Gabe Garcia
Project Proposal:
I have been raised by strong women and strong men all my life. These strong men and women are the reason for my way of thinking and my demeanor. Many of the lessons I practice in my life are because of my family.
I am going to use a painting, poem, and artist statement to express my philosophy.
The medium I am using is displaying my love for painting and the painting itself is describing the self that I keep private and how it is most of my personality.
I want my audience to retain that being double sided in having both strong female characteristics and strong male characteristics is good rather than a burden as our society portrays it as.
My idea is a woman who shows strong female energy and mountains that describe male energy along with Colorado as it is my home. The apple blossom tree coming off of the woman's hair is to show love in one's heart and a willingness for change. The universe behind the woman is our cosmic make up and personality chart. Her body is also a description of the strong female energy in my family and the person I hope to meet and spend the rest of my life with.
I don't think I will encounter a struggle because everything in my project is coming from my heart and I am willing to lay all my time into making it beautiful.
For my project I need paint, paper, and private thought provoking time with myself.
Roughly 2 weeks is how long it will take me to create this project.
I need nothing from anyone but support and time to work.
Poem: Intertwined Energy.
She raised me, showed me how to act,
he raised me, showed me how to be strong,
they raised me, showed me how to love,
the cosmic make up, shake up of my being,
influenced by positive feeling,
she's out there waiting but i'm not ready to hold steady,
shedding my outer shell to let my inner shine,
cut away my rine and fine the divine,
her roots strong and hard unbreakable by the wrong one,
shun away her fake and embrace her real,
his palms calloused, hard like steel,
emotions hidden shrunk and killed,
distilled to look pure but they lack mineral,
she can see that good meat surrounded by useless fat,
she cuts it away to get to the emotion, her energy pierces him,
his walls are down and out flows his dread,
She was a puzzle piece meant to fit his,
jagged and bent,
went in with a spark
Meant to be,
prepared by others,
they are comfortable in the dark
sharing their lives,
in love with one another.
Artist Statement:
This art piece is called “Both Sides”.
I was raised by my mother, my three sisters and my father. My life has been composed of make up and making your mark as a woman because its a mans world. My mother and sisters have been the influence in my life showing me the importance of kindness and sharing with others. They show me how to treat woman and what happens if you don't treat them right.
The feminine part of my family is shown in my painting as the naked woman. The naked woman is all the lessons and the ability to render myself to a woman. She is also a representation of the woman I hope to find in the future. She is the soul mate I yearn for.
The cosmos around her represents the different signs of personality and the cosmic make up of a person. It stands for the perfect personality and morality to fit or counter mine in a previously designed way. The blacks, purples, reds, blues, and greens represent the color of different emotions and my need for complicity in emotion in a mate. She is laying down in an almost struggling position with some amount of finesse in how she's pulling herself up. This represents her overwhelming amount of emotion from the cosmos and her ability to look beautiful while beginning to stand.
Her golden hair reaches the ground turning brown and shifting into an apple blossom tree. Apple blossoms represent the hearts pleasures and delights. The magic of this flower is the ability to transform your mood and lift your spirit, to raise your vibration. It is aligned with the heart chakra. The tree flows and connects with mountains that represent my majority of life spent in Colorado. The Rocky Mountains are capped with snow and the beautiful Colorado sun is contrasted behind it. The mountains are my manhood and represent my father.
My father has taught me how to be compassionate and understanding. To wait and let things unfold, to hold my word because my word is all I have. The mountains look jagged and rough to represent my father's manly demeanor that had inevitably rubbed off on me. His strong male presence had made living with several women a balanced energy of both female and male.
The sunset above the mountains wraps around the woman and the universe to show that my male presence, although strongly influenced by women, is the majority of my personality and the balance between both is what makes me a truly happy person.
My true happiness is both feminine and male making the rest of my external enjoyment add to either side. The happiness I feel stems from knowing I am well prepared by my mom and my dad to make my mark on the world in a new way for our new generation. Hense the name both sides.
Gabe Garcia
Project Proposal:
I have been raised by strong women and strong men all my life. These strong men and women are the reason for my way of thinking and my demeanor. Many of the lessons I practice in my life are because of my family.
I am going to use a painting, poem, and artist statement to express my philosophy.
The medium I am using is displaying my love for painting and the painting itself is describing the self that I keep private and how it is most of my personality.
I want my audience to retain that being double sided in having both strong female characteristics and strong male characteristics is good rather than a burden as our society portrays it as.
My idea is a woman who shows strong female energy and mountains that describe male energy along with Colorado as it is my home. The apple blossom tree coming off of the woman's hair is to show love in one's heart and a willingness for change. The universe behind the woman is our cosmic make up and personality chart. Her body is also a description of the strong female energy in my family and the person I hope to meet and spend the rest of my life with.
I don't think I will encounter a struggle because everything in my project is coming from my heart and I am willing to lay all my time into making it beautiful.
For my project I need paint, paper, and private thought provoking time with myself.
Roughly 2 weeks is how long it will take me to create this project.
I need nothing from anyone but support and time to work.
Poem: Intertwined Energy.
She raised me, showed me how to act,
he raised me, showed me how to be strong,
they raised me, showed me how to love,
the cosmic make up, shake up of my being,
influenced by positive feeling,
she's out there waiting but i'm not ready to hold steady,
shedding my outer shell to let my inner shine,
cut away my rine and fine the divine,
her roots strong and hard unbreakable by the wrong one,
shun away her fake and embrace her real,
his palms calloused, hard like steel,
emotions hidden shrunk and killed,
distilled to look pure but they lack mineral,
she can see that good meat surrounded by useless fat,
she cuts it away to get to the emotion, her energy pierces him,
his walls are down and out flows his dread,
She was a puzzle piece meant to fit his,
jagged and bent,
went in with a spark
Meant to be,
prepared by others,
they are comfortable in the dark
sharing their lives,
in love with one another.
Artist Statement:
This art piece is called “Both Sides”.
I was raised by my mother, my three sisters and my father. My life has been composed of make up and making your mark as a woman because its a mans world. My mother and sisters have been the influence in my life showing me the importance of kindness and sharing with others. They show me how to treat woman and what happens if you don't treat them right.
The feminine part of my family is shown in my painting as the naked woman. The naked woman is all the lessons and the ability to render myself to a woman. She is also a representation of the woman I hope to find in the future. She is the soul mate I yearn for.
The cosmos around her represents the different signs of personality and the cosmic make up of a person. It stands for the perfect personality and morality to fit or counter mine in a previously designed way. The blacks, purples, reds, blues, and greens represent the color of different emotions and my need for complicity in emotion in a mate. She is laying down in an almost struggling position with some amount of finesse in how she's pulling herself up. This represents her overwhelming amount of emotion from the cosmos and her ability to look beautiful while beginning to stand.
Her golden hair reaches the ground turning brown and shifting into an apple blossom tree. Apple blossoms represent the hearts pleasures and delights. The magic of this flower is the ability to transform your mood and lift your spirit, to raise your vibration. It is aligned with the heart chakra. The tree flows and connects with mountains that represent my majority of life spent in Colorado. The Rocky Mountains are capped with snow and the beautiful Colorado sun is contrasted behind it. The mountains are my manhood and represent my father.
My father has taught me how to be compassionate and understanding. To wait and let things unfold, to hold my word because my word is all I have. The mountains look jagged and rough to represent my father's manly demeanor that had inevitably rubbed off on me. His strong male presence had made living with several women a balanced energy of both female and male.
The sunset above the mountains wraps around the woman and the universe to show that my male presence, although strongly influenced by women, is the majority of my personality and the balance between both is what makes me a truly happy person.
My true happiness is both feminine and male making the rest of my external enjoyment add to either side. The happiness I feel stems from knowing I am well prepared by my mom and my dad to make my mark on the world in a new way for our new generation. Hense the name both sides.