Consciousness...

After reading The Great Unknown, I am defining consciousness as our human ability to be aware and interact with our world, and then remember those interactions and emotions that are tied together in memories.

I agree with researchers Terry Winograd and Richard Feynman who stated that consciousness “lies outside the domain of science.” (Hazen 94) Science has rules to follow. In order for a theory or concept to be scientific, it must follow the rules of research. You must be able to observe consciousness and be able to test it. Then you must be able to repeat it. So the “hard questions” are asked and left unanswered in regards to emotion, perception and reasoning. “How can music evoke a sense of longing, or a poem deep sadness?” is one of many of these questions. (Hazen 95)

I hold out hope that scientific discoveries of the brain and how it works may lead to undiscovered ways of studying consciousness. Since consciousness is on the outskirts of science, maybe another type of research method has yet to be discovered.

I believe our consciousness is a part of what makes each of us unique. My memories are not yours and vice versa. Myself, as a person, and my experiences can not be replicated as you can not be replicated. So for the time being I remain a skeptic, and consciousness remains on the borders of science as “The Great Unknown."

Week 2 Blog Reviews

To my fellow peer group members: please take my opinions as a peer. I tried to find something in each of your posts to help us be better writers and I hope you will do the same for me. happy writing. amity

Sandra Barocio, I appreciate your posting structure and flow. I like that you stepped away from the religious aspect at the beginning of your post and explained your ideas on how we are good and bad. I also think there is a biological component to being “good” or “bad”. Since God or religion is in question, Ellis’s theories were a strong supportive reference. You may have been able to incorporate more of the religious aspect of Ellis researches to fully support your posting.

Amara Villa-Rodriguez, I like the way you stated your point in the beginning paragraph and then proceeded to support it-“a person with no faith in God can just as easily make a good or bad decision.” It seems there is a theme that our peer group shares, there are other factors that contribute to being good or bad, and God CAN be one of them, but is not a requirement. Writing about the different levels of being good or bad; an individual level and a societal level was in a logical order. In  your posting Online Self the Goffman quote was placed well and flowed in your paragraph writing.

Richard Kriebel, In your post Do We Need God to Keep Us in Line? You included many supporting ideas. Specifically the “guilt” idea in your first paragraph. Myself being Catholic, I can identify with the guilt when making choices in life. For me it goes hand in hand with God and empathy. Your use of factual evidence for support from the readings was well used in the second paragraph. I really enjoy your thoughts in your postings. Keep in mind to check over grammar and spelling because it can take away the attention to the content and meaning of your post.

Can we be good without God? Can we be bad with God?

I would be biased in thinking that all human beings that walk this earth have God in their lives. I would also be remiss in thinking that because God is not part of their belief system, that these human beings are unable to be good. Authors, Conyers and Harvey stated the following statistic from Where We Stand regarding the United States : 91% of the population believes in God. But does a belief in God equate to a good or a bad person?

Religions can be organized groups with a structured belief system and practices to follow, which usually include worshipping a God or idol. Religion can give a person a moral compass to help determine good from bad. There are many religions that exist in the United States. I myself have been raised Catholic. Catholicism is the religion I am most familiar with and I have been raised with a belief in God. I have also been educated to follow the Ten Commandments. These commandments can be surmised in 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:36-40). My faith also includes retribution if you break one of the rules or commit a sin. The structure for American society is similar. We are citizens who have state and federal laws to follow and if we do not follow the rules, we are punished.

So does a belief in God equate to a good or bad person? Lee Ellis’ research found the Catholics to be the most criminal group among denominational religion and the Jews and the no religion affiliated group, the least criminal. (Conyers and Harvey 1996) A god does not seem to be a common thread when it comes to being good or bad. More research should be done on personal belief systems or what I like to call a persons moral compass. Ultimately, the personal choices remain within the individual and will point them into the right or wrong direction. God does not make a person good. A person can do good, or a person can do bad, with God in their lives or without.

Conyer, Lisa and Harvey, Phillip D. (Summer 1996). “Religion and Crime: Do they go together?” Free Inquiry Magazine, 16 (3).

My 'Self'

     My ‘self’ is constantly changing and reacting to the primary groups that I associate with in my everyday life. My fellow online students in English 215 are currently a primary group that I interact with and will be interacting with for a whole semester. Cooley describes primary groups as ‘those characterized by intimate face-to-face association and cooperation.’ The technology available today changes our definition of face-to-face. Is my ‘self’ any different from the in-person or face-to-face version to the online version? I would like to say no.

I enter a classroom. What do you see? The first impression. You see the way I look. Will you interact with me?

I post my page and my first blog. What do you see? The first impression. You see the way I look in a photo. Will you interact with me?

     I was able to edit and pick and choose what I said on my blog site so that my first impression was controlled. Whereas, my first impression in-person could have been dictated by the weather or my mood. But I do not think I am a stranger in either situation.  My ‘self’ is made of layers and in-person you get to see different layers of me than when I get to control the layers you see and read on my blog. We all have roles that we slip into that are dependent on the situation we are in at the time. The layer of ‘self’ that is out with friends, the layer of ‘self’ that is a mom, the layer of ‘self’ that is alone, the layer of ‘self’ that walks into a classroom of 25 students and the layer of ‘self’ that introduces herself digitally on an English 215 blog.

Cooley, Charles Horton. Social Organization : Primary Groups. Scribner, A Division of Simon &        Schuster. 1909.

Welcome to my new world of blogging...

Hello all! My given name is Amity, which means friendship in the French language. What my mother found most appealing about my name is that she could not conceive a nickname from it. High School took care of the start of my nicknames. I was known by some as “Hoodak”, which is my maiden name. My best friends call me Am. My nieces and nephew call me “T”. My favorite nickname is mama. I have two daughters, Grace is 8 years old and in the third grade and Rose is 6 years old and in the first grade. We live in Chandler, AZ with our two pugs Max (short for Maxwell) and Lou Lou (short for Louis).

I am a Senior in the Speech & Hearing Science Bachelors program in the process of completing my last semester. I am looking forward to graduation on December 16th! Since I am a single mom, I am planning to work in the school system and apply for the Professional Enhancement Program (PEP) Speech Language Pathology Masters in the near future. I consider myself a “Wildcat” since my first Bachelors is from the University of Arizona, but I have grown fond of Sparky too!

Currently, my life revolves around school and my girls, and orchestrating this thing we call life. I enjoy taking pictures, throwing BBQ’s at my house, and getting to the beach as often as is possible. The fourth of July weekend was a record beach trip for me: the shortest yet at 39 hours spent in Malibu, Santa Monica and Venice. I am a new blogger and hope to enhance my page as I learn more.