The aesthetic beauty of the natural world is of great importance to the individuals who encompass it. To witness the rolling mountains of the San Fransisco Peaks and to smell the formidable pine wood trees is breath taking. This is the main reason I came to Northern Arizona University. It provides me with an environment for which school work is enjoyable. I love to sit out in the grass and breath in the fresh air while writing a paper. It not only offers a relaxing environment, but creates a world in itself. One can become entrapped within the bounds of this phenomenal world and not even know it. It's absolutely great. Plus, I find doing homework out in the open a applicable way of attaining superior work. In the end, the environment that surrounds us has a great impact in terms of our behavioral and social outlook. Thus, the way we view the world is in direct correlation to the way we view ourselves. In turn, the aesthetic environment can bring about a positive outlook toward oneself; not only bringing about positive self-awareness but also portraying life as great!

Fast food within the United States is an ever growing multi billion dollar industry that feeds off of the ever expanding ideal of quick and fast paced living. This industry, in my opinion, is one of corruption and deceit. Like a parasite feeding off of its victims, the fast food industry, too, feeds off its customers. I mean, can we truly classify eating at Burger King or Mac Donald's a choice. I mean, with all the subliminal messaging through advertisements and the media, our way of life sort of emulates around fast food. Its enough that we have to drive down the street and pass fifteen different fast food restaurants, but to have to witness the grotesque operation 24/7 through television, radio, bill boards, and posters is utterly despicable. The food that comes out of these various joints is anything but good for you. Plus, the various individual corporations themselves put chemicals in the food to make you more hungry. Is it just me or does that concept seem wrong! This industry is a plague to this earth and needs to be stopped. In the end, I believe the fast food industry needs to have stricter government regulations regarding what they can serve people.

Nuclear Power vs. Fossil Fuels

Is nuclear energy a cleaner and more reliable source of energy compared to fossil fuels? I would have to answer this question with an yes. Albeit the waste products of such an operation as an nuclear power plant are extremely detrimental to nature and life in general, the amount of energy produced from this type of plant is gigantic. In fact, in terms of mass proportion to energy yield, the amount of energy that nuclear power plants produce compared to fossil fuels is phenomenal. So if nuclear energy is so much more efficient than fossil fuels, why are we as a nation so bent on burning as much fossil fuels as possible. The answer, in my opinion, is the resistance to change. We, as a nation, find it incredibly difficult to change our way of life to better our own world in which we live in. We find change too tedious of a task to endure to save our planet. And I mean, nuclear energy is the most plausible source of energy we could use to sustain our way of living today. It would be spectacular if we as a country could some how find a way to use purely based natural, clean energy; for example, solar power or wind power. But in the end, we seem too occupied with our daily lives to care. In the end, this world seriously needs to consider an alternate form of energy besides fossil fuels. Our planet is on a tension line of disaster and its only time before this line breaks.

Brave New World vs. Allegory of the Cave

Brave New World- In a world where governmental control is in the form of drugs and chemicals, Aldous Huxley presents a fictional world of chaotic control. The system is no longer dependent upon the people but the people on the system. "Joy" in the form of "happiness" is no longer a personal feeling but an emotion granted by governmental distribution of drugs. Welcome to a "Brave New World".

Allegory of the Cave- A life of imprisonment and solitude, Plato presents the concept of governmental control through means of confinement. Perception is reality in this fictional depiction of grotesque human cruelty. The means of human growth is defined through the control of the information given. Humans are no longer able to think for themselves but are told what to think. It is indeed a concept of human peril.

Similarities-

Joy Synthesis

"I see joy as a pleasure beyond happiness. Most people see little difference between the two, but I see them as two different meanings. Joy is more of being content with what you have and the life you live. It has nothing to do with material possessions. Joy does not come gaining worldly possessions, happiness does. Happiness is a superficial feeling, while joy is much deeper than that. Joy is being glad for what you have." --Jeremy

"The feeling of complete happiness. The desire to do nothing else in the world except that one thing that makes all your fears, troubles, and worries disappear like the dark shadows of night when the sun comes up." --Brian

Synthesis- Joy relinquishes all fears, worries, and stress in life; it's the one feeling that surpasses happiness and delves deeper into the spiritual realm of the individual.

What is Joy?

Joy is a personal feeling of great euphoria. It is a feeling of delight and happiness.

"Allegory of the Cave"

In this short fable, Plato seems to strike the reader with the main theme of perception being reality. From the above picture depicting Plato's short story, the audience is able to draw a mental image of what the actual story is illustrating. From the story along with the picture above, it appears that the "slaves" are being taught inanimate objects from the "real" world. The world that is known to most individuals. It is from this process that the audience is able to relate to the story so well. Because we as individuals have a pre-conceived notion of the real world, we are able to commiserate with the slaves. This relevance along with the emotional aspect of the cave makes the story what it is. The reader is able to relate to the slaves on a more emotional standpoint. This gives the reader the opportunity to make the story his/her own in terms of the meaning. In the end, most readers come to the conclusion of the meaning being perception is reality. The slaves are perceiving reality through images cast about on a wall. These images are of great significance because it is the only thing that the slaves know to be true. After witnessing the "real" world, though, they begin to perceive everything through a new light. It is this notion that brought me to my conclusion of the theme being perception is reality.