Irissa Rim

Christmas Caroling!!

Daniel Kwon, I, and 2 other friends went to our church after service and decided to carol. Unfortunately this video is the best one we had captured on video, but I hope the sense of awkwardness is able to show. In this video we are singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", but we did sing other songs such as "Mistletoe" and "Last Christmas" while our caroling session was taking part. The lyrics in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer don't really have as much of a significant meaning as other Christmas Carols such as Silent Night, it does the job of just spreading Christmas cheer, and let's others know that it's a time to be happy and be full of joy. Cute little Christmas stories such as Rudolph contribute to the image of a happy, loving Christmas.









1. I believe in only 1 God
I believe my God is a savior
I believe my God loves everyone, regardless of their personal beliefs

2. I believe these characters of God because last year, I had a friend who wasn't exactly the best person. They would commit many sins, and they would continuously do it. I prayed for her a lot because I was concerned for her wellbeing, and health. I took her to church once and brought her to bible study, and she became a strong believer in God. This showed me how God loves everyone, even if they go against him, and how he saves people from their old selves.

3. To remember God, I go to church every Sunday, and I pray at least 3 times a day. It's important to stay in close contact with your God of the religion you believe in because it's very close to stray from something you can't see, but only believe in.

My Shema
To me, the Lord is my savior. The Lord saves all who want to be saved. He forgives when you repent, and cleans all sins regardless of the matter.


Final Reflection:

           Through doing these steps to Buddhist, I realized how hard it is to actually keep focus on loosing all thoughts and following all these rules. My respect towards monks really went up, to really lose all thoughts of desire and 100% devote yourself to finding enlightenment. It's really difficult to completely clear your mind, because getting distracted is much easier. Even when one is totally secluded from society or from people, distractions can be in your own mind and thoughts. I remember in the beginning, around steps 1 and 2, the only thing on my mind was school, and the amount of school work I was going to have to do the next day. Even when I tried to completely lose all of my thoughts, I couldn't help it. But i realized the deep breathing, as if you're breathing out all your problems right out of your body, really helped. Actually, I do that now when there's too many things on my mind, I just take deep breaths as if I'm breathing out everything.
            I hope I can go back to that Buddhist temple again, on my own time with a few friends. Just being in the sacred environment made me feel more at ease than I was before. I remember when I first walked in to the temple of 3000 Buddha's, I was so... amazed. Amazed, freaked out, I'm not really sure how to explain the feeling that I felt. It was just so interesting to see all these people who put their names on these Buddha's, it was so interesting to see and observe. Also, the different "houses" that we in the temple. At the very very top of a hill there was a sacred house just for death rituals. Not many went up to see it, but out of curiosity I went to go check it out and it was interesting. There were 2 woman in there praying on there knees, then getting up and saying something and raising their arms around. It was interesting to see the difference in cultures from Buddhism and Christianity. Although I am not Buddhist, I do like the idea of Buddhism, and how they are just very calm and collected, and really see the beauty in life. I hope to go visit soon one day :) Thanks for the class field-trip Ms. James!!
       

REFLECTION #2:

1. “A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.”

I believe this quotes was truly proved during the last 30 minutes of the movie. In the movie, Ghandi strictly emphasized that he wanted Hinduism and Islam to both be united in India. If he didn't strongly believe that the Hindi and the Islamic people should get along, then he wouldn't gave gotten so stressed over the riots that happened between them, the tension, all the cold actions that went on from both sides. He tried so many things to help show people his vision in what he wanted India to be. But unfortunately, a lot of these plans he tried, failed. So he tried fasting. At around the end of the movie, he fasted so hard, and stuck to it. His life was nearly about to end, because he really wanted to show the people how important it was to him, that they stop fighting, and get along with each other. Ghandi was a very wise man, because he knew if he didn't change the hearts and soul of both people, then there would never be peace. There would only be anger, and hatred, which wouldn't do anything good for the future plans that Ghandi had for Indian's developing culture.

2. "A religion that takes no account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them is no religion."

This quote, I think, is something that Ghandi was really able to stick to, and stay with throughout his entire movement that went on. He stresses that religion should be put into everyone's daily lives, or else it isn't considered a religion. At first, I didn't really agree with this because there's always exceptions, but then after I really reflected on this quote, I really agree. Instead of Ghandi just saying this, he also did it himself. Sure he said all these speeches everyday, but that's not what he meant. Through out the movie, Ghandi kept on stressing the fact of "no violence". His religion, Hindu, doesn't accept violence. He made sure that all the other Indians as well, didn't fight back with the British, because then the British wouldn't understand the point that he was trying to make. Also, he made adjustments for the Muslim too, not just his religion. He was openminded and wasn't biased to only his religion. Ghandi is an extremely respectable man, and I'm so glad that the other people were able to see his vision, and accept it as well.

Yoga:

- My experience with yoga was amazing. School life was really stressing me out, and I couldn't think of anything to help me relieve that stress. In the beginning, I honestly had doubts about the yoga session that was to come. I thought yoga was really only for older people, who have a little bit of tension in their bodies. But I was very much, proved wrong. I didn't know how hard it was to actually just focus on one thing, and keep your mind concentrated on that one thing for not even 10 seconds. Yoga really taught me how to focus. When I concentrated for like 6-7 seconds on one point in the room, all my other thoughts disappeared, just focusing on that one spot. My stress, was no where in sight, I only had that one thing in my mind. Also, the yoga really taught me how I'm really not flexible at all. Every stretch was difficult, but as we did the exercises more and more, my body started to become less tense. At the end, the last 10 minutes or so of the session, when we all lied down and rested... I was really amazing. I've never felt so at peace, and calm, I even dozed off for a bit because everything just felt so peaceful, and clear. I really needed to feel that, because things have been crazy busy. I had a great time, and I'm going to really look forward to the next time I get to do yoga. I feel like I really have had the feeling of being able to control my body, and mind as well.

Poem #1

Our Horus, oh might Falcon God
we worship You, with all our hearts
You give us our protection and sun
with your mighty falcon head, shine.

Your shrines are heavily covered with love,
we worship You oh mighty one.
You outreached your wings to protect your followers,
with all your forms, you keep our wellbeing.

You provide us with your gracious light,
you lead us through our lives everyday.
Your generosity and faithfulness is moving.
We shall worship you God of Sun, with all we have to offer.

The days you don't shine,
our world is cold and bitter.
We must have you in our lives
so please never leave.

You come to us in light,
you connect with us through human,
you soar with us through falcon,
we worship you, oh Horus.