...data/research to expound on his greater persuasive purpose. Two of Gawande’s works that present a good example of his skillful use of the narrative and informative modes are “Letting Go” and “Hellhole”. Both “Letting Go” and “Hellhole”, by Atul Gawande, are complete works of literature that consist of minor topics that build up to a major hidden meaning. By using the minor topics of discussion, Gawande seems to relate and point to the more major meaning of the essay which is not as tangible as the minor topics. In “Letting Go”, Atul Gawande brings discussion to the end of life and the difficulties doctors, families, friends, and sick individuals have understanding and grasping certain death. Gawande starts of the essay...
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...Mary Barnes English 101 9 December 2014 Exploring Life in Death The meaning of facing death is explored in The Fault in Our Stars in the lives of Hazel and Augustus throughout the book; in a way to push them forward to live, and make a meaning out of it. In the book both Hazel and Augusts were trying to find a reason to live. For Hazel, she could have easily just given up and waited to die; instead she let herself live and fall in love with Augusts which was really hard for her. In the book Augustus told Hazel “I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and I am in love with you.” (Green 153) at that very moment Hazel found a reason to live and a reason to explore life in way that she did not before. Green’s intention was to show the readers that even if you are faced with death you should not just roll over and give up, but instead live to the fullest, and not let something hold you back. In the book Augustus says “If you don’t live a life in service of a greater good, you’ve gotta at least die a death in service of a greater good, you know? And I fear that I won’t get either a life or a death that means anything.” (Green 168). This quote...
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...a philosophical approach in which the aspect of one’s existence and meaning in life is brought into light by way of embracing experiences in the universe. In view of the fact that affirmation is not the same in all cases, this essay will discuss how atheist Nietzsche and Christian Paul Tillich take upon their unique existentialist perspectives to understand human existence with respect to the condition of existential crisis as respectively discussed in The Gay Science and The Courage to Be. Often on the edge of despairing disbelief, existential crisis may be deemed as the cultural condition in which one finds his or her self when questioned with the meaning of life. With a personal stance and mostly in reference to the texts, it is believed that individuals ought to strive for Tillich’s courage rather than seek to become Nietzsche’s...
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...There are six key concepts related to existential therapy, the first of which is that we have the capacity for self-awareness. This concept tells us that we can either limit or expand our conscious depending on our awareness. Expanding our self-awareness allows us to grow in our life and in the things we do in life. The greater our awareness, the greater our responsibilities for freedom, which is the second key concept. This means that we are responsible for our actions and everything else we choose to do with our life. It is very important to consider culture backgrounds when counseling someone and assisting them with their choices. Creating individual identity and establishing meaningful relationships with others is the third concept. This concept deals with people being concerned about themselves and how this relates to other. The fourth concept is our search for meaning which is the constant effort to find a purpose in life. In existential therapy the goal is to find meaning and challenge the meaning of their life. The questions often ask when trying to find the meaning of life are why am I here, what do I want from life, what gives my life purpose, and where is the source of meaning in my life. Existential theory also says that anxiety, the...
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...creates such a profound, subconscious anxiety that affects humans’ behaviours and decisions throughout our lives. In order to manage this terror of death people turn to things which they feel will provide their life with meaning and...
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...I believe the meaning of life is to give life a meaning. Throughout my entire life, I have wondered what the purpose is. Why am I and every other human being even on this planet in the first place? That brings me to my next question. Is there a God? If there is, why did he put us here? Any Christian asked will say our sole purpose is to serve God. First of all, what does that even mean? And second, I must ask why? Why would a supernatural being place us strategically on this planet strictly to serve him? That sounds pretty selfish to me. There has to be something more. Something concrete. Something greater. How could there not be? All my life I have worked hard to succeed. I have challenged myself and fought to do better than my best. Why? I asked myself. Why stress so much when I’m only going to die in the end? Pessimistic, I know. Finally, I thought, maybe the meaning of life doesn’t have to be so complex. Maybe the meaning of life is whatever we want it to be. Maybe the meaning of life is to give life a meaning. I do what I do because I want to do it. It’s that simple. I do it because it means something to me. Everyone adds their own meaning to life. The meaning of life is never universal. The meaning of life is never complex. The meaning of life is actually quite simple to think about. Many people help the needy. Others play sports. Both activities add meaning to those lives involved. Purposes change, but the overall meaning of life will always stay the same...
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...Flannery O'Connor has a unique perspective on life that flows into the writings she produces. One of her key values is writing through the lens of being Catholic. She once stated, "The problem of the novelist who wishes to write about a man's encounter with this God is how he shall make the experience - which is both natural and supernatural - understandable, and credible, to his reader" (O'Connor 565). In the story "Parkers Back," Flannery O'Conner communicates a message of searching for purpose and finding redemption and grace. All throughout the story, readers follow O.E. Parker's journey towards finding meaning for his life. O'Connor uses symbolism, biblical allusion, and the theme of redemption to communicate how one can find a deeper meaning for their life. O’Connor’s life experiences truly shape how she writes....
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...At first glance, the reader is led to believe the poem “Fishing on the Susquehanna in July” to be a poem full of actual fishing experiences on the Susquehanna. Instead, it is evident in Collins’s writing of the irony, tone, descriptive imagery, and the stressing of certain words, that the poem is about not about fishing on the Susquehanna, nor the speaker’s negative view of fishing on the Susquehanna. Comparatively Collins concealed his poem to really be about a person’s search for experiences in their life. Along with the idea that, poetry is an art and the poet is an artist, equal to that of great painters, and can maybe be on the same ground as the men of nature, fisherman. The poem is told through first-person narrative by a persona. The...
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...INTRODUCTION Socrates believed that the purpose of human life was personal and spiritual growth. We are unable to grow towards greater understanding of our true nature unless we take the time to examine and reflect upon our life. Examining our life reviles pattern of our behavior. Deeper contemplation yields understanding of the subconscious programming, the powerful mental software that runs our life. Unless we become aware of those patterns, much of our life is unconscious pattern. We all have blind spots sometimes when I examine a chronic problem in my life, I have unsetting feeling that I must be missing something, but I can’t quite see what it is. We try to examine ourselves but none of us can use our backside (our shadow) That’s why Socrates’ method of self examination includes an essential element that becomes Socratic dialogue. Dialoguing with a close friend, a spouse a skilled psychotherapist or spiritual advisers help reveal those blind spot we cannot see by our selves. This quote is from Socrates believed that the purpose of human life was personal and spiritual growth. We are unable to grow towards greater understanding of our true nature unless we take time to examine and reflect upon our life. Examining our life reveals pattern of behavior unless we become aware of these pattern, much of our life is unconscious repetition however many times we are too busy with our life and work to contemplate fully our life’s pattern. According to Socrates we need to stop and...
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...Evaluation The criterion-based critique model (C-BaC) was designed to assist in the identification of connections between nursing practice and various theories. The design of C-BaC is to utilize eight standards (or criteria) to help you make judgements about the value and use of a theory (Johnson & Webber, 2010). This paper will view the theory of self-transcendence using the C-BaC model. Pamela Reed’s Theory of Self-Transcendence focuses on enhancing well-being of the whole person in the context of health experiences by means of self transcendence(Parker & Smith, 2010). Phase One The Meaning is Clear and Understandable: The theory of self-transcendence was originally aimed at addressing phenomena related to the aging process of the older adult and was later expanded to address well-being across the entire lifespan. Reed’s theory proposes that when people face life-threatening illness or undergo health related disruptions that illuminates one’s limitations the potential to expand (or transcend) self-boundaries becomes evident enhance well-being (Parker & Smith, 2010). The theory of self-transcendence aligns with contemporaries such as Martha Rogers because of the concept of human-beings being an open system requiring interaction with its environment. Reed’s theory is more difficult to understand due to the fact that it was originally proposed to address concerns of the aging and rests its foundation on the ambiguous achievement of passing one’s own self-boundary...
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...utilitarianism of the act of doing euthanasia, it is first necessary to define what euthanasia and utilitarianism are with the different types of euthanasia. The term euthanasia originated from the Greek term “eu” meaning happy as “thanatos” means death, so in literal word the term euthanasia mean happy death “easy death.” The term utilitarianism meaning in benefit for the greater good “majority.” The different types of euthanasia are passive or active and voluntary or involuntary. The term passive euthanasia usually means the taking of persons life from removing from a life sustaining machine such as a, repertory machine. This method of euthanasia is accepted by the American medical association and is less controversial then active euthanasia. While the term active euthanasia refers to the incompetent act of a doctor administrating such lethal injection such as a muscle relaxant or pain killer thus ending the patient’s life. The terms voluntarily or involuntarily refers to whether or not he patient refers for euthanasia or is unable to request such euthanasia and such act is still...
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...What is our purpose of life? Where did we come from? What makes us who we are? These are just some questions that are frequently asked in our society. Is there a right or wrong answer? I don’t think we will ever know. There are many different beliefs, such as existentialist philosophies, scientific, and religious. Each one has a different answer to those questions. Some of the first true existentialist thinkers were a man named Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche. They both challenged he foundations of Christianity and traditional morality. “Nietzsche was interested in the enhancement of individual and cultural health, and believed in life, creativity, power, and the realities of the world we live in, rather than those situated in a world beyond” (Nietzsche 1). I feel that he was right, many people get caught up in what is going to happen in the future that they miss out on present. Why live a life if all a person is going to worry about is the unknown? “Kierkegaard said that is it especially important for people to have a meaningful existence. And meaning, he said, comes from whether or not people sense that their lives have a permanent significance. The problem is, though, that most people believe that their lives have importance only temporarily” (Kierkegaard 1). I agree with this completely, I feel without having meaning in life we would have nothing to live for. Many people believe that our purpose of life is already chosen for us. I on the other hand don’t agree...
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...their own names, so it does not make sense that it affects who they are. Even so, In The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisnero, of the character’s names have greater meanings than just a name. Several of them have more than one name, like Meme Ortiz, çwhose Spanish name is Juan. This shows where he is from, and many people that live in Esperanza's neighborhood have an American name and a name from their heritage. In The House on Mango Street, the names people have have larger meanings to Esperanza and the reader because names define who a person is and sometimes where they come from. Esperanza thinks that her name plays a big role in who she is and that’s why it’s symbol...
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...approach rejects the deterministic view of human nature espoused by orthodox psychoanalysis and radical behaviourism. Psychoanalysis sees freedom as restricted by unconscious forces, irrational drives and past events. Existential therapists acknowledge some of these facts about the human situation but emphasize our freedom to choose what to make of our circumstances. A major aim of therapy is to encourage clients to reflect on life, to recognize their range of alternatives, and to decide among them. Once clients begin the process of recognizing the ways in which they have passively accepted circumstances and surrendered control, they can start on a path of consciously shaping their own lives. One of the aims of existential therapy is to challenge people to stop deceiving themselves regarding their lack of responsibility for what is happening to them and their excessive demands on life. In existential therapy, attention is given to the clients’ immediate, ongoing experience with the aim of helping develop a greater presence in their quest for meaning and purpose. The therapists’ basic task is to encourage clients to explore their options for creating a meaningful existence. Historical Background The existential therapy movement was not founded by any particular person or group. Many streams of thought contributed to it. Drawing from a major orientation...
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...our mental health. Approximately 30% of people in the USA suffer from some sort of mental disorder (Seligman, Parks, and Steen 418). After we figured out how to treat these 30% of people, psychologists then turned to the remaining 70% of the population with the thinking that “although these people may not be experiencing severe pathology, there is good evidence to indicate the absence of maladies does not constitute happiness” (Seligman, Parks, and Steen 418). The conclusion these psychologists came to was that “…we believe “happiness” is a condition over and above the absence of unhappiness… A review [of the literature] led us to identify three constituents of happiness: (i) pleasure (or positive emotion); (ii) engagement; and (iii) meaning” (Seligman, Parks, and Steen 418). These studies identifying the three major factors that constitute happiness gave birth to “positive psychology” and helped give a blueprint for what we as humans could do to improve our happiness levels. Happiness researchers frequently use the equation H=S+C+V, or happiness equals our genetic set point plus our circumstances plus what we voluntarily...
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