The Peach Orchard

Right off the bat, the first thing I oddly started paying attention to is the film and cinema aspect of everything. The director, Akira Kurosawa, used a lot of extended, one take clips which really helped take off a lot of stress on the eyes and stress in the mind of the viewer. It really seemed to almost connect the audience with the scene rather than keeping us on our toes at the modern seemingly frantic pace of movies today. It was rather refreshing to be honest.
In class we learned that not all of nature is "kami" or a spirit, however the powerful aspects of nature have spirits. In the case of The Peach Orchard, the peach trees all had their own spirit. Thus signifying to me, oddly enough, that peach trees are of great influence or power in Japanese society. In addition to that, we also learned about the idea that when a human dishonors or does something that offends a spirit then that spirit will leave them, or no longer bless them. In The Peach Orchard the family where the boy lived had cut down the entire peach orchard, and therefore the spirits told the boy that they would leave. The boy then cried because he had tried to stop them, he loved the peach orchard. The spirits then argued among themselves and realized they should'nt have blamed the boy. It was not his fault, and allowed him to see the peach orchard as it was one last time.
To analyze the video further I decided to skim the YouTube comments, which provided a little more insight into things I wouldn't have thought about. It was a rather interesting argument between a few commentators where every time I read one I almost agreed completely until I read the next! One commentator stated that he felt "the boy was caught between his respect for the trees (nature) and the desire to be with the girl who attracts him. But as soon as he saw the girl, his respect for the trees falls to the wayside. His appreciation for beauty can't stop at just the visual sense. His desire is driven by what the illusion of the girl represents. And so the beauty that is there (was there) disappears and is lost." however, another commentator argued "I don't think it's relating to his respect or not at all. They promised him just one more time would they blossom, and only for a moment." Reading further I noticed a comment that explained the girls existence in the video that I hadn't picked up on, which was that she was the personified spirit of the last peach tree that hadn't been cut down. The size of the tree also mattered because the tree was small, therefore the girl was young!
Anyways, a lot of random information that was actually slightly unrelated to the main topic we were required to touch upon. But this is a blog, and I felt like sharing! Happy Easter folks!

Don't Think Too Much...

So, after having read this book, I must say... I'm quite astounded. It is very well written, and has brilliantly expressed ideas. Having been a fan of Winnie the Pooh as a child (prior to reading the book) I had an idea as to where Taoist views could work there way into the character's attitudes, lo and behold, my ideas were fairly accurate after reading the book (however I slightly differed in opinion about Owl). Not only was I able to connect with the ideas being expressed in the book, it also helped me understand a few of the slightly confusing concepts in Taoism that would more than likely just fly over my head in a class lecture.
The book goes into a critique on America as a culture or society of "Busy Backsons." To understand what that means, I had to first figure out what a Busy Backson was, which is, in fact, a misspelling of a sign saying "Busy - back soon", that is "I am busy, will be back soon." Hoff explained that America is full of people that are focused on working... all the time. Although I feel compelled to agree with him in the most general of cases, I have to disagree with it being exclusively America. Not only do I disagree with it being exclusively America, I almost disagree with it being the stereotype that it seems to be, his point is very general and there are always plenty of exceptions.
With that said, Hoff explains in a wonderful quote regarding societies which I think is a more accurate statement, even when he still regards society as a whole, saying "The main problem with this great obsession for saving time is very simple: you can't save time. You can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly." I feel like this quote should be read aloud to anyone and everyone. All it takes is a little change of perspective to get people to make better decisions and that's what this book does. Hoff takes characters which most people know and love, then changes our perspectives by introducing another, then diving in deep with details and ideologies from a Taoist regarding our society. It's times like these I really appreciate being as open minded towards other religions ideologies as I am, even while being a Christian. It really helps one grasp life better if you're able to open your mind to new concepts and ideas, even when the idea didn't necessarily spawn from your deity. In conclusion I'd have to say that I would recommend the Tao of Poo to any person interested in anything concerning a way of living life. I'll be sure to chill out some from now on.