1984

1984 is a book written by George Owel describing the life of citizens in a country full of dictatorship, and also describing a world where everything is completed differently. It is a pretty depressing book in which we see a state controlling the language, controlling the thoughts, and even controlling the reality that we live in. The system of the country described is like a pyramid; at the top of the pyramid, there is BIG BROTHER the dictator, and after there is the inner party that represent 2% of the society, then we have the outer party where we find the ministry and where is Winston, the main character of the 6^th chapter of the book. In the bottom of the pyramid, we find the paroles and they are the poorest of the society. The most dangerous is the middle part.

Winston, the main character, is violating multiple rules like keeping a diary is considered as a thought crime, or when he fell in love and started an affair with a women named Julia, this was also a crime, because, in this system, all you love should go to BIG BROTHER, the dictator.

Now in this text, we could really notice how hard it is to live in a country ruled by a dictator. As Tunisian and Libyans students, we can really relate to this story given the fact that we lived in countries ruled by dictators controlling our thoughts, our expressions, our freedom, controlling what to say and what not to say. Before the revolution, we really felt controlled, not directly, but it was impossible to be against the system and have enough courage to speak about it loud and clear, because everyone that did got himself into trouble and was promoting himself to torture or even death.

With BIG BROTHER, it was different because they controlled your thoughts and your beliefs, and if they tell you that 2+2=5, you have to believe that even if it is not true. If you don’t believe that, you’ll be tortured until you do believe what they are telling you, and they push to the limit where you’ll betray the ones you love and the ones you cherish the most by knowing all your weaknesses and the things that will hurt you the most, making you feel like a robot and not having any reason to live for other than BIG BROTHER. Winston was a victim of that kind of torture and he betrayed Julia, his love, for this dictator.

We could never know what a person under torture would react or what he would do to protect himself, because we did not get ourselves in a situation where we had to be tortured. It is hard to feel what others felt in some situations because they are so intense. Some people would say that it was not good reason for Winston to betray his lover, because he loved her and when we love someone and when we believe in something, we should stick to it no matter what. But we could never know or feel what they felt in that situation.

Torture is not the solution, and dictatorship is done by people that are not confident about themselves, that are scared of being alone and judged that they will make you love them, respect them and change yourself for them so they can feel a little bit secure about themselves. It is not and it will never be a solution for a country, it is mostly thought of as the worst solution, because people eventually will turn on you, will realize that it was never what they wanted, and that is not best for them nor for the other generations coming.

Reality's Dimensions

     Alice is based on a real young girl who was a friend of Lewis Carroll. The chapter started with the caterpillar looks at Alice and poses, "Who are you?" to which Alice answers she no longer truly knows anymore, after all the new changes. She tells him how puzzling it can be to change size several occasions in one day, but the caterpillar basically disagrees, and argues that even transforming into a butterfly would feel in the least strange for him. Their discussion continues with complexity, since the Caterpillar speaks only in brief, rational sentences and is rather unkind. Alice argues that she is changing, and doesn't memorize things as she used to. To prove this, she tries reciting a poem, however, it comes out just as incorrectly as the verses in wonderland do, and is filled of mean and nasty comedy.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a simple story of little girl that has a little problem with her identity when read. However, after thinking about it deeply, and trying to imagine the form of these kinds of problems in the real world and among the societies in nowadays, too many critical issues that comes in mind.
For instance, the girl in the story, that called Alice, got confused each time because she is not sure who is her, what makes her confused about her identity. As well as in many societies, in the real world, too many people are confused about their identity because they are not sure about their origins and their ancestors’ identity, nationality, language, traditions, etc.
The big question on those peoples’ mind is “do I go with the flow, follow and change as the people around or I try to stuck with the things that are supposed to be a part of my origins?”

Now, for example, if those people keep thinking and worrying about what are their real language or their real traditions what could be the result?
The first possible scenario is that those people will waste a huge energy on finding out something that is never sure. The second one is that those people will just adapt to the environment that are born in, and try to improve it.
In this situation, which is very general and common, as well, the second scenario would be the best. First, because the amount of energy that those people would allocate to find out about their origin, traditions, and who are their ancestors and what were they doing could be allocated to other studies or researches that could help the world get better. Second, suppose if everyone find out about his origins, language and traditions. The result would be a greater discrimination among people, more difficulties to communicate and to understand each other, and it would be strongly probable that the rate of development and improvement of the societies would be smaller, since there would be fewer corporations because everyone would try to deal with his life with his own traditions.
Therefore, based on these logical examples that shows a tradeoff between some curiosity and a better, homogenous world, there is no real need to worry that much about how ones’ origins were. Even though people change, the world change and everything change. Everyone could identify him self by how well he adapted to his world and then how well he participated in making out of it a better place for the next generations to be adapted with. With this manner, people won’t need to know themselves and identify them by what or who were their ancestors. People will recognize each other and identify each other by the behavior, the achievements, and the added value that each one is giving to his society.

The soul Remedy

The Dewa Ruci, the excerpt studied this week is a book about mystical teaching. This text explains what and how to learn. in fact the student must be willing to learn before starting the process. being aware that we lack knowledge is essential. Trying to obtain it by force is a trap in fact : “ They are empty, making a sound like the wind. Only their will is strong. They do not receive teaching of the true law.They are full of pride, and fruitless.” On the other hand , a teacher should not be arrogant even though his statues allows him to be so.
The Dewa Ruci is more than a revelation. It is as a small magic box, once opened it offers spiritual gifts. As a guidance, it reflects both the importance of knowledge and the willingness to learn. Both must be present to fruitily: "Austere practices without knowledge come to nothing while knowledge without austere practices". This is maybe the most important lesson someone would learn. This is why the non ending journey of acquiring knowledge must be fueled with a strong desire to learn that should always be protected from all vices.
Another thing noticed is that the powers within us are not equally distributed. in a sense that it is easier to deviate from the right path than to stay straight. Human beings are described as vassals between the seen and unseen. " the red, yellow, and black [of the] destroyers of good actions, in waiting, [with] only the white as a barrier against the uprising of arrogance. The five symbolized that he had now conquered them in one moment, lest he forget that he [now] had the nature of a true vassal "
 When one is aware of the existence of this unseen power, and welcome it humbly then and only then may he embrace his true nature. "If once you achieve your goal, don’t be a chatterbox. Use common sense when speaking, for this is knowledge that must be protected.” The most interesting point, is that it is a secret knowledge that needs to be kept and protected. Though, everyone on earth may have heard about this knowledge at least once in their life regardless of their culture. It is here but not everyone can learn it, only the pure-hearted. The ones free from vices, from desires and arrogance. At that moment they can see what is unseen, hear what is unheard as if they traveled to another dimension, where language is different. If they use their tongue childishly they will be wrongly understood causing more harm than good.
The Dewa Ruci describes the human being as a puppet who would move and perform perfectly if he allows the Devine power to make one with his soul.At that moment, our inner self would reach its enlightenment. The perfect aim in life is described here as becoming "aware of the one high power penetrating the whole universe of creation”. It is a journey of seeking the truth behind existence . Through which one would be aware of the unseen. There would be codes behind real and fake, new senses would be awakened as if one changed dimensions without changing his place. A delightful freedom yet a different perspective; and being different is never easy.

Cesar

William Shakespear witnessed a chaotic situation in the England history where powerful people fought for the kingdom, and he was inspired by this situation. The same thing happened in Rome, after the death of Julius Ceasar. William Shakespear, in the 3^rd Act of Julius Ceasar, wanted to explain more what happened after the death of a powerful leader. In this act, we discover 2 speeches of Brutus and Mark Anthony, both of them trying to convince and persuade the citizens, after the killing of the leader who was also their friend.

The first speech we read is Brutus Speech. Brutus was a wise and honorable man and concerned by the common good. He was one of Ceasar’s friends. He was the one who killed his friend because he thought that Ceasar was about to become a tyrant, as he was a very ambitious leader. Being an ambitious leader is forbidden in this society. It was accepted to be in high esteem but never the greatest. A general, but never a king. As a good leader, Ceaser seemed ambitious more than he should have. It costed him his life. The assumption that he might be more powerful created enough fear in the senate pushing them to kill him. After explaining to the people the true reason why Brutus and the senate killed the leader of Rome, they convinced them that it was the best thing to do and that it was for the good of Rome and how Brutus “ Not that he loved Ceasar less, but that he loved Rome more.”

The 2^nd Speech was Mark Anthony’s. Now this speech is a lot different, and for me a lot more powerful. Mark Anthony persuaded the citizens by making them think, and playing more on the emotions. He skillfully calls attention to the paradoxes in Brutus' speech without specifically expressing them himself. He utilizes repetition and facetious inquiries to bring about his crowd to see the circumstance for what it is. At that point the speech closes with him turning out to be so sincerely mixed he can't proceed. Antony's speech contains the components of feeling and keenness making it a general all the more intense discourse. Antony as a real friend who loved the person of ceaser proves that the defunct was innocent of ambition so we can understand that what Brutus said confirming that they had to kill him in order to kill his ambition was wrong. So the cause of his death was only an assumption based on fear with no physical proof. For sure, Marc Antony's speech characterizes a defining moment in the play as he rouses the group to such a high emotional point.