Shannon Augustine Blogs

So I wrote all of my blogs in a word document because I didn't want to deal with this blog site, something about blogging on a site like this is uncomfortable for me. I have all the blogs in order right here so I hope that this will suffice. Thanks

Shannon

2/1 Decalogue
The films we watched tonight were . . . interesting. Although I may not have appreciated them for their content as much as I should have, I did see how they were filmed so expressively. I liked the way they used the same guy over and over again as a representation of God. It helped to express how God is everywhere and could be anyone or anything. The God character in these movies never really had that big of a role, and was by no means a huge character that changed the plot, but he was there and involved with just about everything. OK I understand that it sounds a little contradictory. What I mean was that he was more of the constant observer rather than a plot changer. We were instructed to see this film as an example of midrash. I can make connections as to how it relates by looking at some of the religious implications. For example, the movie with the boy and the ice and the computer showed the little boy and his father trusting the computer calculations more than any other type of warning. In this way they were holding the measurement higher than God. Midrash is the ultimate meaning. It is the connection between what is written and what is actually exemplified. The father and the boy failed to truly exemplify what it meant to be faithful and trusting and have no other gods before God. All in all though, I have a difficult time finding midrash exemplified here over any other movie we’ve watched so far.

2/1
God bless you! It’s actually a common phrase that most people say without even thinking. Generally if someone sneezes you quickly reply with “God bless you”. Originally this term derived from a time when people believed that when you sneezed, you were dispelling demons from your body. Picture it, every time you sneeze, a thousand teeny tiny little demons come flying out of your mouth along with all the spit and snot. . . . Yuck! Now, it was believed that if you immediately blessed the person who sneezed, then the demons would die and not be able to re-enter that person or any other person ever again. Over the years people have begun to realize that sneezing is not really the expellation of demons, but it is still a common custom to bless a person after they sneeze. I find it so interesting when you consider all the religious aspects in today’s society that no one thinks about. Saying “bless you” to a person is almost second hand to people and yet no one really takes into consideration just why it is said.

2/10 Psychology Book
OK, so you know that feeling you get sometimes right before you wake up. It’s that feeling where it seems like you’re paralyzed. You can’t move any part of your body, and it’s hard to even focus you attention on anything. It’s called either a hypnopompic or hypnogogic hallucination (one refers to right after you fall asleep, and the other is right before you wake up). This feeling scares me more than anything else. I find it absolutely terrifying to not be in control of myself and not being able to understand everything that is going on around me. However, it occurred to me that this is the feeling of having God in control of your life. It’s terrifying. It’s hard not to always know what’s going to happen to you or what kind of things God is going to put in your life or have you do. But that’s just it, that is faith. It’s the ability to trust that God will take care of you and God will provide for you and that you can have faith in Him that everything will be ok. Unlike having a hypnopompic or hypnogogic hallucination however, we can always deny God’s presence in our life, and choose paths that go against Him. It’s scary to not be in control, but I think that it would be scarier to not follow God’s path.

2/27 Nudge
This book talked a lot about how everyday things and how the placement of everyday things can affect the choices or decisions we make. I read this book because it was mainly referring to architectural design, and how the physical world can effect and manipulate the psychological world. However, I feel as though this goes perfectly with our movie class. So many times we have looked at the placement of things in the film and discussed why the director might have wanted to put them there; why he might have wanted them to be a focal point. Things like mountains, and power lines and different lighting and camera angles all are strategically done to help us focus on what the director thinks is important. Similarly, lighting and placement and framing are all key ways in which architects place focus on what they think is important.

3/8 Northfork
This movie was about a dying little orphan boy who no one could take care of. Father Harlem loved him and knew how wonderful he was, but couldn’t find anyone who would take him home and look after him. The town was being evacuated because they were going to flood it and make it into a giant lake. Through the course of the movie we see the boy’s interaction with “angels”. He has to convince the other angels that he is also an angel, but that he had been shot and his wings had been removed. During the movie, you’re not sure if the angels are real, or if they are simply hallucinations that the boy is having as a result of his sickness. My favorite quote was “we are all angels; it is what we do with our wings that separates us.” The whole movie seemed to focus on wings, from the guys’ hats, to the wings they gave away, to the airplane in the final scene. I feel as though the quote is applicable because out of all the guys with wings on their hats, not all of them were good people. Some just wanted to get their boon and so they did whatever they had to do without caring for the other people. However, so of them did what they did because they wanted everyone to be safe and ok, they did it more for others than for themselves.

3/12
What constitutes as a religious experience? Is it a different frame of mind? Is it a particular emotion, or feeling? What makes something a religious experience while others are not? I feel as though this is a bogus phrase. In my opinion, if you claim to be religious or spiritual, then it’s not a onetime thing. It isn’t every other Tuesday from 10am to 4pm I have a religious experience. That’s crap! Being religious and being spiritual is a way of living. It’s your life. Everything and every moment is you experiencing spirituality and religion. When you take on the commitment to live life in that way, then you know religion. So I’d rather not hear that it’s a wham bam thank you mam thing. It’s all or nothing, go big or go home deal.

3/15 Compilation of films
The first film with the Bunny and the fly was obnoxious to watch. However, I think that this was the point that the film maker was trying to convey. The fly seemed to represent death in this film. It loomed over the bunny and annoyed the bunny. The bunny fought the fly/death throughout the whole movie by attempting to make it go away outside, and then by trying to destroy it in her cake batter. In the end it was the fly that leads her into her happy and peaceful place inside the oven (heaven) and along with hundreds of other flies, flew with her toward the light. The overall reaching theme I got was that you can’t fight death, eventually what will happen will happen and it doesn’t matter what you do to try to stop it.
We returned to some pictures of Northforks. The first was of the boy running with his stuff to happy music. The second was of the car crossing at a crossroads, and then again with it facing the mountains in the background with the coffin on top. There was an obvious contradiction between the boy and the car, in that the boy was carrying hope (he wanted to go with the angels) and the car was carrying a burden (the mother). Both were shown in contrast to the mountains as if to represent the mountains within their own lives that they are forced to take on and overcome.
Paris Texas focused on the idea of miss-communication. The whole time that the guy is walking alone, he is following the communication pathways (telephone wires, railroad lines, and the roads). Every scene we watched had an example of mass communication within the background. It was ironic because that was why his marriage was failing. They didn’t have the proper communication with each other and as a result they were growing farther and farther apart.

3/22 Alice in Wonderland
This movie was a sequel to the original movie, and featured Alice’s return to Wonderland. She soon discovers that she is prophesized to return to Wonderland and save it from the red Queen and her pet dragon. During the entirety of the movie Alice keeps telling everyone that she won’t do it, that she can’t be their savior and kill the evil dragon. She is afraid to face those fears and be the strong and fearless women that they claim she is. It parallels her real life in which she is being forced to do things that she doesn’t want to do and is too afraid to face her fears and be a strong independent woman. The monster represents her own demons in her life. By overcoming the monster she suddenly realizes that she is capable of overcoming her demons in her real life.

3/22
Spring is coming around, slowly but surely. It’s my favorite season. Partly because everything is green and that’s my favorite color, but also because everything is blooming and coming to life. The entire world seems to be illuminating with color and sounds and smells that just seem to make me smile. Cheesy I know. But like or not it’s true. I really love the feeling of the weather right as it’s warming up. Being able to roll my windows down while I drive is the best feeling ever. The wind just rushes on my face (probably because I’m speeding) and it’s just cool and refreshing. Why do birds never sing during the winter? Ok I know that most of them migrate, but there are still some birds left around. They never sing! It’s so sad. I suppose if I really thought about it I would come up with the thought that they don’t sing because they aren’t looking for mates or whatever. Anyhow, the point is, they are finally singing again. Why is it so darn peaceful to hear birds sing, and feel the sun and breeze on your face, and see colorful flowers come to life? Whatever the reason I love it! Happy Springtime.

4/1Witch of Portobello
This book is about a woman who was highly spiritual and was known for her meditation practices through dancing. She started her own school and mass meditation sessions with a large community in London. Eventually, the fear of what she was teaching and doing (though really just a huge dance party) turned some of the people in the community against her and began to threaten her. Eventually she faked her own death to get away from the threats. The whole story seemed to follow Jesus’ story. Jesus was known for his prophet work and his spreading of God’s word. Many people followed his teachings and soon his following was quite large. Eventually people became scared of what he was doing and sentenced him to death. Classic stories of people being afraid of what they don’t know.


4/1
Everyone seems to be looking for a sign. For one thing or another, people always need signs to point them in the right direction. And it’s never little signs or general hints. Nope! They need big signs; they need a giant flood, a boat load of fish, a miraculous healing. If it’s not huge a big and in your face, then it’s not good enough. These demands for signs are ridiculous to me. I mean, I really don’t need or want to receive a boat load of fish, I actually hate fish, and I’m not really dying or suffering from anything so what miraculous healing could occur? As for the flood? Thanks but no thanks! That would suck! I don’t want to have to worry about drowning or building a giant boat to hold all those animals and my family and everything else. Why would someone look for a giant sign like that? God gives what you need. Sometimes all you need is a little grace period. Like if you’re running late to meet someone, and they’re running late too. Or if you forgot to do your homework and you teacher ends up pushing it back. Those are the things that I would appreciate and want to receive, not some huge bucket of fish.

4/4
How do you love those who hurt you? Forgiveness is something that is difficult to give and easier said than done. When someone does something that hurts you and tears you down as a person it’s hard to find the strength to let it go and forgive what was done. Imagine if someone you loved, someone you truly cared about and cherished, suddenly told you that they don’t love you anymore, and that they reject everything that is important to you. They don’t want anything to do with who you are or what you hold dear. On top of that they start doing terrible things to others and even to themselves. How do you ever accept that and forgive that? This is what God does for us all the time. So often we turn our backs on Him and what he has to say. We don’t listen and we don’t even try to listen. We do things that are wrong and hurtful, and then ask him to take us back. And He does. He loves us so much that he does take us back and holds us and continues to love and trust us because that’s how much he cares.

4/10
Why does God let bad things happen to good people? Today was Relay for life and they mentioned this question. I always think that this question is one that is always asked but the answer is never really found out. I have to admit that I don’t want to know the answer. I feel as though sometimes there are things we just aren’t meant to know or understand and that is just something that we have to accept. God has infinite knowledge, but we most certainly do not. Even if we were told “oh he died because of this . . .” we still wouldn’t be able to fully understand everything in that situation. I feel as though this is one of those times that it’s most important to simply have faith and know that even though we don’t know what’s going on all the time or happening all the time, we have to trust that God does know and that God will take care of us and keep us in his arms.

4/12
Today, one of the kids in the youth group that I help out with decided to question everything we said. First of all let me say that I have no idea why he comes to Sunday school in the first place. He claims to be atheist and he hates church, and I’m pretty sure he hates us too. But, for whatever reason, almost every Sunday there he is sitting on the couch pretending not to listen. Don’t get me wrong, we love to have him there, because we like to believe there is hope for him, but he doesn’t make it easy on us. Today was the worst. He asked questions such as “How can you believe a book that was written so long after the fact? How can you believe a book that wasn’t even written by Jesus? He didn’t really do those miracles, it’s just not possible. You can’t possibly believe that.” It was stuff that we’ve heard before and had to deal with before, but it was a tricky situation. He was our kid so we couldn’t attack him with our answers, and they are difficult questions to answer with someone who doesn’t know faith. When it comes down to it, I felt as though it came down to faith, and that is the basis of believing in God, and Christianity.


4/19 The Thin Red Line
This movie paralleled the story of the baghavagita (ok I know that’s not how you spell it). In this book, Arjuna is a warrior who is about to go into battle. He has to face a huge army, and one that contains friends and family. He is scared and asks for help. Vishnu comes and is able to give him courage and help him figure out what he must do. One can see the connection between this book and the movie. Whitt is like Arjuna because in the beginning he is afraid of death. He is so frightened that he runs frantically like everyone else. Soon he faces it and realizes the he is no longer afraid, and that he can use his fearlessness to help out his fellow soldiers. He is able to keep a clearer head than some of his other soldiers and in the end he makes the ultimate sacrifice, himself. One of the things that I found most interesting about this movie was the one soldier that was sitting in a lotus pose praying or meditating in the middle of the battle. He wasn’t moving or running, he just sat there as the commotion whirled around him, he was just calm. I found it funny that even though everyone was running around shooting people and harassing people, no one bothered the meditation guy. He was this huge contrast to the world around him.