My Humanities Story

 2021 Book Review

Bresnan, Patrick S. AWAKENING : An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought. S.L., Routledge, 2021.

• This was a textbook assigned for class and was a joy to read. This textbook, written by Patrick S. Bresnan, is meant to engage students with the deeply rich history, practices, religions, and cultures of multiple countries in the East. The text mainly focuses on India, China, and Japan, while simultaneously attempting to examine the relationship between Eastern and Western traditions. Bresnan goes into great detail about the various aspects of multiple cultures and civilizations. The reading can become a bit slow at times but, for the most part, holds interest well and is engaging.

  

  Buddha
  Artist Unknown
  15th Century, Ming Dynasty
  Smithsonian Institution

  
  

Hawley, Jack. The Bhagavad Gita : A Walkthrough for Westerners. Novato, Calif., 

New World Library, 2011.

• In this rendition of the Gita, Jack Hawley attempts to bring these ancient secrets to Western seekers in a beautiful prose version that makes the story of the Gita clear and exciting, while simultaneously making its teachings understandable and easy to apply to our busy lives. I personally enjoyed both the story of the Gita and Hawley’s retelling. The story following the dialogue of Krishna and Arjuna as Krishna advises Arjuna through his moment of desperation. The story is captivating throughout and filled with lessons that can applied to anyone’s life. 

Morling, Beth. Research Methods in Psychology : Evaluating a World of Information. 

New York, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2018.

• This was a textbook assigned for a psychology class focusing on research and study design. It offers interactive learning of the world of psychology while not requiring that readers have a solid grasp of the more basic concepts. The book is highly engaging and equally informative. I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the study of psychology as I do not think they would be disappointed. 

Final Project

I personally enjoyed the final project for the class and thought it was very representative of all the main topics of what we’ve learned up until now. What I enjoyed best was the process of comparing and contrasting each of the different cultures and civilizations by viewing them all through the same lens. Applying our theme to each chapter, while not a direct contrast, allowed us to analyze the aspects of each topic covered. I put roughly 15 hours into the project and was very satisfied with the end product. 

Final Project: 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1v4S9KjN9KC2HXt6ZH9Xodxmm-6ohW1OJe6wZW7KQMyI/edit?usp=sharing 

Reflection

        Thinking back to the beginning of the semester, I had not really set out many goals to achieve. Aside from an A grade in the class, my only other goal was to enjoy the class content. I can definitely say that I achieved that and enjoyed diving into all the information. What interested me most about the course was my general lack of knowledge about the history of Asian civilization. I saw this class as an opportunity to explore the history and nuances of Asian culture, religion, history, philosophy, and more. All the content was proved very intriguing and allowed me to learn things which I had very little prior knowledge on. 

Life of Confucius
Artist Unknown
Late Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Metropolitan Museum

In this class, I learned more about the details of numerous religions/philosophies. These included Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Daoism, and Confucianism. While I have known about the existence of these belief systems, I had very little knowledge regarding the origins and specifics of each. This class allowed me to not only learn about them, but to also see how they were applied and have affected the lives of people for generations. Aside from that, I also got to learn more about the daily lives of the people in each of the civilizations covered, acquiring a better understanding of their values, skills, technological advancements, and more. For my theme, I chose the role of artist and their art in civilization. My grasp of the place of art and its influence in prolonging the influence of a civilization for the future has very much improved as a result of this class.

"Six Ideas from Eastern Philosophy"

Work Cited

The. “Six Ideas from Eastern Philosophy.” YouTube, 24 Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yZ8a_zAEl0.

Metmuseum.org, 2021, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/53201.

“Buddha.” Smithsonian Institution, www.si.edu/object/buddha:fsg_S2012.9.4474. 

Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.