Author Archives: s.schwartz1

Perfection? Nahhh. Simplicity? Awesome!

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In a school like Baruch College, where we all thrive to the best we can be, we are oftentimes led to focus our attention on the future. Students are constantly thriving to do as much as humanly possible (and oftentimes spread themselves very thin) so as to become well-rounded individuals. We are all trying to get the best job that we can, and as a result find the need to make ourselves seem rather complex, and well informed. We want to be thought of as perfect, despite knowing that doing so is impossible.

 

My head in a book

everyone writing a lot

we want perfection!

 

Sadly however, in the process of being good students, we lose satisfaction with simplicity, and not only fail to appreciate, but also learn to despise the imperfect.

I am convinced, however, that I can do better. I strive to be able to appreciate my capabilities, all while acknowledging my inadequacies. I want to be able to appreciate the beauty of imperfections, and understand that they simply serve to highlight that even though man is not perfect, achieving greatness is possible. If we are to only focus on doing everything perfectly, I am convinced that we will not be able to get anything done at all. We must focus on the small, simple aspects of life, and as the Zen principles of unity and balance teach us, find satisfaction with the simple. In essence, one of the great perks of living in New York City is having access to the subway. People are able to get from place in an efficient manner, all while avoiding traffic. Like most things, the subway comes with many of its own downfalls. The system is often delayed, and is oftentimes bound to be affected by petty issues.

 

Dirty gum coated floors

loud horns and squeaking doors

my big journey home

Using the subway as an example, I hope to be able to appreciate the small nuances in my daily life and use them to find more appreciation when things do indeed work smoothly. I want to be able to think not only of the inconvenience the metro system at times inflicts on me, but to also realize and appreciate the system for its imperfections.

While the idea of really enjoying my imperfect mass transit commute may sound farfetched (and borderline crazy), I hope to be able to incorporate the principle of Wabi, which teaches us to find satisfaction with simplicity and austerity into my life. We must not always focus our attention to the complicated small details, and work to steer our attention towards the simple greatness that comes with many of our everyday tasks. We will all be much better off if we focus on our remarkable ability to travel in relative comfort and safety while using the metro system, and not spend too much time focused on the complex delays and inaccuracies that the system possess.

A greater focus on the simple, mixed with an appreciation for our inevitable imperfections will leave us all much better off.

 

The sun shines bright light

walking with purpose, delight

I love this city

 

 

 

 

 

Post 1- Introduction & Enlightenment

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Hello everyone! By way of introduction, I’m a sophomore currently studying economics. I spend a lot of time learning as much as I can about the interesting mix of politics and business, and always enjoy hearing people’s perspectives on world issues. I enjoy traveling and have a huge interest in aviation.

Immanuel Kant suggests that enlightenment is achieved when members of society are able to think for themselves and make their own choices. In his ideal world of enlightenment, people are not subject to the thoughts of a certain few, and can enjoy the freedom that comes with living in a way that seems to be most meaningful to them.  In explaining the methods behind his ideas, Kant breaks the idea of enlightenment into two separate worlds- enlightenment on the personal level, and enlightenment on the public level. As the name suggests, for Kant, public enlightenment involves all of the citizens as a group adapting to new, better ways of completing tasks. Unlike in his personal perspective, with regards to public enlightenment, people rely on their human nature when discovering new methods. They don’t explicitly realize that they are advancing, and tend to not be able to avoid the inevitable continuation of human progression. Personal enlightenment on the other hand, is a bit more problematic and is explained to be more difficult to achieve mainly because individuals must make decisions based off of their own thoughts. Doing so can be difficult as they part ways with the comforts associated with following the decisions made by a select few, and must now face the negative consequences of being accountable for their own actions.

Based off of the ideas brought by Kant, I do not feel as if the world we live in is at a point of enlightenment. On the personal level, enlightenment requires people to be comfortable with their own thoughts, and as Kant says: “have courage to use your own understanding!” In today’s world, people are often most concerned with fitting in and being accepted by society and as a result, tend to put their own ideas aside. In doing so, they are not able to live a life of ‘freedom’ and must always subject themselves to the constantly evolving new norms.  When thinking about society at large, while we may be at a closer point to enlightenment when compared to on the personal level, much of our current innovation is often subjected to the approval of some form of a regulator. We are able to extend our knowledge, however we are always forced to do our best to fit our ideas and findings into what will satisfy the requirements of certain institutions. However, the fact that we are indeed allowed to think for ourselves, and come up with updated methods proves that we are at a point of ’emerging’ enlightenment. While we are currently not in an enlightened era, we are most certainly moving in the direction to coming to as close to such a time as ever before.