Solutions To My Frustrations

September 11, 2013

Our day started out with Isa’s morning meeting. She showed us a video in which life is described by jellybeans; it showed how much time we take in life to do certain things, for example how many days of our life we take in driving to places. The video ended by showing how many days we have of leisure. The point of Isa’s morning meeting was to make a plan to actually carry out our dreams or goals in that leisure time that we have left in our lives. We each wrote down what we wanted to do in that time. Personally, I want to do so many things that I didn’t even know were to start, so I wrote down one of the goals that I want to carry out soon. I want to learn how to cook; its not that I don’t know how to cook, its just that I don’t do it well and I’m always craving food that I cant get here, so I have decided to do it myself. After this activity, I now know that I cant use “I don’t have enough time” as an excuse because we do have time, not a lot but there is still some for us to do all of those things that we want to do.

We later had our first Socrates Café together. The questions that we had were al good, but there was one that specially stuck me. The question was this: “If we have a lot of cool dreams, why don’t we always make them true?” Well, we decided that it is because we have fear and a lot of mental barriers. This got me thinking of something that I do often, usually when I have to do something important or talk to someone important, I delay the task and try to leave it for the last minute. Well, this usually results in me not doing the task at the end, and I end up without the opportunity of something. Now that I think of it, I think I do this because I am afraid that things wont turn out, or that I wont get the opportunity. But then this is ridiculous, because by not doing it, I lose the opportunity anyways. Well, the first step to change is to realize that there is something to change. Now I know what I do wrong, so my next step is to change it.

My favorite, and probably most frustrating, part of the day was Mechanics. At first I was frustrated because we were asking many questions, and I knew the answers, but didn’t say anything and at the end, when someone else said them, they were correct. I think most of the times this happened because I think I was afraid of being wrong (which is dumb, because at the end I was right). Well, this happened more than one, so I was frustrated. On the bright side, the dialogue was great, and I think we made a lot of process in understanding the text.  After lunch, we also got together to discuss mechanics and then try to solve something in smaller groups. Now let me tell you, I felt like a genius. I don’t know if anybody else got it, but I am sure that I understood it. After careful reasoning, I finally got an idea of how to solve it, I tried it a couple of times more, and I didn’t see any fault in it. I explained it to Chacho and Carmen and they both seemed to understand it. Also in this dialogue, I found the cure to my frustrations when I talk (when I don’t make my point clear). All I have to do is take a deep breath before I talk. I noticed that I get very agitated and excited once I get an idea, and that makes me mix up all of my words. Well, all I’ve got to say is that I love today’s class.

We later had another great dialogue about Human Action. This was our introduction to it, and I think we all have high expectations for that book.  Our introduction started out by a “family tree” of Austrian Economics, we read the table of contents and then we proceeded to read some of the book. I cant wait to start reading the book. 

From People to Ethics and Science.

September 10, 2013

We started out the day by a great activity in our morning meeting lead by Majo. We had two minutes with everyone in the group and in those two minutes we had to try to come up all of the things that we had in common. I really enjoyed this activity, because the first day of MPC I noticed that even though I have shared with my classmates for over a year, there still are some things that I don't know about them. So I enjoyed searching for things in common, and was really surprised by the results: I think I don't have a lot in common with anyone, and the people who I least expected were the ones who share the most with me. The reason why I think that I don't have a lot of things in common with anyone is because my lists of common things didn't pass 13 things. At the beginning I thought maybe I was the weird one, liking very different things; then I realized that this is not so. All of us are so different from one another, and I think that this is why we are such a great group. We all like very different things, have different personalities, and this is what makes the dialogues so much more interesting; we bring different ideas to the table. Well, anyways, I hope I will get the change to know all of my classmates better. Although I do believe that it is impossible to get to know someone 100%.

Today was full of great dialogues. The first dialogue we had was Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. I liked the way we handled the whole dialogue; we started our by reading it alone for 20 minutes and then we started discussing it. I found the text to be fascinating and very interesting, and also our dialogue was great, I think we really tried to get to the bottom of things, and even ended up with our own questions. I had a great time, but I do think I should speak more in dialogues. When I started in the MPC, I used to be one of those who talked a bunch, but know barely even talk at all. I don't know why that is. I mean, I have the ideas in my head and I understand things pretty well, but I just don't express myself. I’m going to try to speak more next time.

The next great dialogue we had was on The Way of discovery. Well, this really wasn't a dialogue, it was more like a brainstorm, but I liked it anyways. I liked it because I thought that what we had read was great. I liked how the book presented all of the problems with the world, and even though I didn't understand all of it, I think I got the main part. I had always been curious about Michael Polanyi; our college is named after him and I don't even know who he is or what he did. So I find it great that we are getting to read about him, and so far, I think that it is right for the college to be named after him.

Our First Long Day

September 9, 2013

Today we saw a video about what is going on with the United States and Syria. At the beginning I was excited for the video, I didn't really know what was going on or what problems these countries were having. Well, the point is that I really didn't like the video. I believe that it was a hater video, in which whoever did the video attacked the US. It seemed to me that the video was one of those conspiracy videos in which many of the things are assumed. I mean, I don't know if the US really did or plan all of the things that the video was talking about, but if I have learned something it is that when there is a conflict, both of the parties have a little blame. So yeah, maybe the US did bad things, but probably Syria did too. Who knows, I just now that I shouldn't really believe all of the things these kind of videos talk about.

The thing that left me somewhat concerned today was our mechanics dialogue. When we started commenting on our understanding of the book I believe we weren’t really understanding it correctly. The worst part of it all, is that I had most of the things clear, but it seemed like my classmates didn't. Maybe part of the slowness of the dialogue was because I had some understanding of the concepts and I barely spoke; I probably could’ve helped my friends but didn't. Another part could be because (I am assuming here) that my classmates didn't read through the whole part that we had to read. I assume this because many of the things that we were discussing were, I believe, clear in the book and even clearer in the propositions that were in the book. This got me thinking that maybe my classmates read, but didn't do the propositions. If this is so, I’m kind of disappointed. I guess what I really worry about is having another experience like the first and second semester, where I read many of the books and came prepared and everyone else didn't.

Later in the day we presented our ideas for documenting. I was amazed, again, at all of our ideas. There are so many great projects that we can do, and that we will actually learn by doing them. I just hope that we actually pursue these projects and make them come true, because many times I have heard us say that we will do certain things and at the end we never end up doing them.  Well, I guess I cant blame everyone for this, I haven’t exactly been pursuing them either.  But as a goal, I want to create at least three things from those lists, even if it is personal and not with the group. I just have to organize myself and start doing them.

De Anima

This is my understanding of some of the pages of Aristotle's De Anima.

Aristotle makes a distinction between three different things: something that is potentially existent, its actuality and its full actuality. In the text we can see three examples of this: the axe, the eye and the soul. In the example of the axe, the thing that is potentially existent is the axe its actuality is the capacity of the axe and its full actuality is an axe cutting. In the example of the eye we have as potentially existent the pupil, the actuality is the eyesight and its full actuality is the seeing of the eye. In the case of the soul, we have as potentially existent the body, as its actuality the soul and as its full actuality the waking state.

When we talk about the soul and the body, we must always keep in mind that the soul and body together is an animal. But if we apply the phrase “By that which has in it the capacity of life is meant not to the body which has lost its soul, but that which possesses it”, meaning that only a body with a soul can have the capacity of life, then if an animal is constituted by body and soul together, an animal is meant to have the capacity of life. Another thing to keep in mind while talking about the soul is that the soul cannot be separated from the body. Meaning that the soul cannot exist without a body.

“Life is that which distinguishes the animate from the inanimate.” From here we can assume that the animal with the capacity of life is animate. Aristotle also says that “If life is present but in a single one of these senses, we speak of a thing as living”. Then if an animal that has a capacity of life, has life it will either have it as intellect, sensation, motion from place to place and rest, the motion concerned with nutrition or decay and growth.

From this Aristotle gives an example of how plants can only life with growth, decay and the motion concerned with nutrition; and then compares these senses in plants to those in mortal creatures, saying that in a mortal creature, all of the rest of the senses cannot be separated from these three forms of life. So assuming that the animal, which is meant to have the capacity of life, is a mortal creature, then animals need to have growth, decay and the motion concerned with nutrition.

But the sense that really differentiates the animal from any other living thing is that the animals are primarily constituted by sensation. So, as long as a living thing has sensation, growth, decay and nutrition, it is said to be an animal. And by primary sense, we mean touch. And “Animals are found universally to have the sense of touch”, so all animals have touch.

A very emotional day

September 6, 2013

Today almost everything revolved around group work and getting to know other people. We started out the day by participating in a waffle competition. Since the day before, I knew that we were going to make waffles with the first-years, but I didn't know it was going to be a competition for the best waffle. I got to be one of the group leaders, and had to create a team of five to six people, mixing second years with first years. So I recruited people and formed my team, which consisted of Javier T, Anja, Andrés, Mafer, and Mar. So we looked for a recipe, and started grabbing our utensils and ingredients. Well, we started out pretty well, although none of us had a lot of experience doing waffles, but about half way through we noticed that there were barely any toppings or extras for our waffles (no strawberries nor nuts left).  For this setback, we decided to mix some Nutella sauce into the waffle mix, I think this gave it a great flavor. Well, at the end, we didn't win, but we had some great tasting waffles and we learned a lot from each other. I think I bonded more with these newcomers and realized that they are actually really cool, and hopefully this was the start of a friendship.

After all of the chaos and fun of waffle making, it was time to work on my speech. I usually don't like asking for help, but I decided that I wanted my speech perfect so I went to Andrew for help. He recorded me while I told him my speech and I have to say that going for help was a great decision. I’m usually not that bad when I talk in public, but I realized that I do have a lot to work on; I needed to give my speech a little more emotion and work on my body language. I learned that in certain words, which are supposed to convey some sort of emotion, I have to actually sound like if I’m feeling it. Well, I think I improved some.

So the time to present our speeches came. The newcomers started with theirs, and I have to say that they were great. It seems like if they really worked hard and honestly on them. I even dare say that they were probably better than our dream speeches, and more moving, but this is probably because I missed the opening ceremony, so I didn't get to see my classmates give their speeches. The point is, that I really enjoyed their speeches. Now, when it came to our speeches, I almost cried in all of them. They brought back so many memories and really made me realize how everyone has improved personally. All of our speeches were great, and I also thought that everyone of us belonged in that stage, I mean wow; we can really handle that stage well. When it came to my speech, I think I handled it well, but I didn't know it was that emotional; apparently I made Bert, Javier and a couple others cry. I still don't know what caused them to react that way, but I guess I was able to convey those emotions, which I wasn't able to convey when I practiced.

Another thing that really moved me was that I realized that the newcomers really look up to us. I mean I think we really inspire them. I have heard comments here and there about how they think we are great, and how they want to be like us, the kind of students that we are and the relationship that we have as a group, that of a family. It actually feels really good for them to think that about us, but I know that they are going to be just like us, or even better. They still have a long way, but I am sure that they are going to achieve great things. 

The Enjoyment of a Day

September 5, 2013

I really enjoyed our De Anima dialogue today, all thought at the end of it I was feeling very frustrated. During the dialogue I think we did a great job as a group in trying to understand the text. I really do think that we are expressing ourselves so much better than we used to, and we are also asking more questions. This is one of the only dialogues were instead of having totally understood the text and trying to answer all of our questions we actually ended up with more questions, which we left unanswered. I kind of liked this too, because I think it got us very curious about the text. Now, the reason why I ended up frustrated is because I was trying to understand part of the text, but there were a couple of sentences that just didn’t really make sense to me. When I told my classmates about my doubt and trouble I don’t think they understood me completely, and I think the reason for this is that I didn’t express myself correctly. I don’t know why it is, but every time I try to explain something that I don’t have clear or complicated I don’t finish my sentences as they should be, and I can’t get my point across. Well, it’s good that I realized this, because I know that I have to work harder on trying to clarify my ideas and express them correctly. I was also a bit frustrated because this was our last dialogue for De Anima, so my doubt never got solved. 

To brighten up my day, I had another great dialogue afterwards. Last time we had Ingrid’s art class I wrote that I was very frustrated with the class and especially with the text. Well, the first couple of paragraphs that we read still didn’t make a lot of sense to me and then my classmates started discussing about something that really didn’t have any relevance to the text (not that I think so anyways, who knows I didn’t understand it completely). But what was great about this dialogue is that afterwards, when we concentrated in only a few of the sentences and once my classmates started discussing I really got the point that the author is trying to make in his book; and let me tell you, what he says is so interesting. As I wrote before, I have always been interested in art and especially in art history, so once I got the main idea of the author and I started looking for examples of what he was trying to say I really understood it. The author says that painting shouldn’t be classified by labels or different schools; he says that painting should be classified depending on the common feelings, values, philosophies and thoughts that the artists had. I mean this really makes sense, for example, if you take the impressionist group (although they all painted with more or less the same techniques) they all shared common values outside of art, and were always together. I mean, who says that things should be classified as we have usually learned? The author believes in changing the way you classify art. Another thing that I really enjoyed talking about in this dialogue was the part about organisms. When the author talks about organisms, he talks about how they are made up of two phenomena: one that is inspired by nature and another that is inspired in all of that which we can’t see and is in our subconscious or our dreams.  Now I got really excited with this, because I thought of so many examples for this, from architecture to art. In architecture I thought about Gaudi, and how everything he did was made by thorough observation of nature, you can see this clearly in the archways inside of the houses he made; he made them to resemble the skeleton of a serpent, or the stairway in the Batllo House, made to resemble a spine. In art, I thought about El Bosco, and his famous triptych. Well, all I can say is that now this class got me excited.  

Pioneers

September 4, 2013

Today was our one year anniversary, and it was a day filled with emotions. We had a visitor come talk to us, he was one of the first students which started the university. He told us about how he came to join Marroquín, how their classes used to be, how they confronted a lot of doubt and how people didn’t really believe in their project at the beginning. I couldn’t help noticing that the starting of Marroquín was kind of like the starting of the MPC. They were both projects which started out with only a few people joining, and a lot of hard work. Most of the people were going against the current of education, they were supporting the study of liberalism while society studied something else, and we are trying to change the education system. Those students who started Marroquín were viewed as a little crazy, just as sometimes we are. But it is nice to realize that the whole university started in a similar way as we did.

Later in the day we did a rally for the new comers, instead of giving them a regular tour of the campus, we made them compete and run around looking for clues. We had put a great deal of effort into trying to make the rally perfect, and I think we managed to pull it off quite nicely. I think that the new students learned about the university and the campus, and I think they had fun while doing it. Well, actually I think we learned and had a lot of fun too. One of the best parts of the rally was dressing up as different important characters for the university, and while doing this I think we learned more about these characters and how they contributed to the university. I also enjoyed the planning of the rally, because it is another proof of how we have improved. We didn’t have a lot of setbacks planning it compared to other times we have planned things. One of my classmates said that the reason for this was that we were actually focusing on specific people and on making their experience great. So yeah, maybe this helped by giving us something to focus on, but I still believe that we did it all nicely because we have improved as a group and understand each other better.

I have been amazed lately at the energy that the new students have brought to the MPC. They have come eager to learn and to try new things.  I know that we are going to learn so much from them. I wonder what it would have been like if there would’ve been a class above us, maybe we would’ve tried new things. But thinking about it, I don’t think I would change my experience; I like being a pioneer. I was thinking about this when after the rally, we passed one of the videos shot at the beginning of the year about the MPC. We have come such a long way since the video. I really am grateful that I joined the program and that I am getting to pioneer something extraordinary. I believe that we are going to open so many new doors for the future of the university and the future of education. We are going to revolutionize the way people the university and the system. It’s like if we are the Lewis and Clark of education; exploring different grounds, with the help of a few who do know them.