H geocities.com /jamntm/amanda.html geocities.com/jamntm/amanda.html elayed x |J 7 OK text/html o G 7 b.H Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:17:05 GMT X Mozilla/4.5 (compatible; HTTrack 3.0x; Windows 98) en, * {J 7
Amanda and the Human Condition
Tony Minnick
10/09/08
Theology D
Amanda and the Human Condition
Similar to all humans from all generations, Amanda experiences the human condition and it influences all of the decisions she makes each day. Amanda is dragged from false assumptions to reality like Platos Allegory in the Cave, struggles with loneliness, and allows the problems in the world around her to steer her ship and make her decisions.
In the beginning of her story, Amandas view of the world was selfish, pessimistic, and meaningless. She thought everyone around her was somehow below her and unable to feel the way she did. Her anger was expressed through the interaction with her roommate, the child on the basketball court, and her boss. Amanda naturally spoke with annoyance and anger to everyone because the all of the thoughts inside of her were negative as well. After her husband cheated on her, her boss gave her unimportant stories, and she constantly had to work harder for being deaf, Amanda did not want to view the world in any positive way. This false reality continued until she heard about Dr. Emotos water experiment after having a fit of anger for missing the metro and dropping her pills. The water experiment explains how blessings and positive thinking changed the water molecule structures into beautiful designs. A man standing next to Amanda arrived with the question of what thoughts can do to the human as well. When Amanda reaches her lowest point, she thinks of this idea and is dragged out of the previous false reality. She is completing Platos Allegory in the cave when she steps out into a new reality where truth, happiness, and possibility can be found in everything around her. Amanda walks into the street and breathes in the crisp air around her. She is filled with a newfound happiness and she treats people with respect and enthusiasm. Even though some people might not understand this new reality, Amanda finds it and it saves her self image and her relationships with others.
Erich Fromm said that the deepest need of man, then is the need to overcome his separateness, to leave the prison of his aloneness. Amanda experiences this part of the human condition because she does not trust people enough to be with them. Ever since her husband had an affair and she stopped relating to people, Amanda does not care what other people have to say and she does not trust that they are being honest. She is constantly alone other than the few interactions she has each day that end with her anger. Even though her deepest desire is to relate to someone, she makes no effort to change this state of loneliness. If Amanda thinks that her roommates company keeps her sane, why doesnt she go out of her way to be with more people? Amandas lack of trust influences all of her relationships and prevents this from happening. Until Amanda changes her outlook, or map, of the world around her, she will suffer loneliness and bring the people around her down as well.
Amanda lets the failures and problems that filled her past guide the decisions she makes in the present. Aristotle said that the two kinds of people consist of the people who let others steer their ship, and the people who steer their own ship. Amanda definitely lets the memories and actions of others steer her ship. Since her husband had an affair after their wedding, Amanda hates men and weddings. She cannot see the good in both of these because she lets the painful memories of the past guide her opinion of them in the present. Amanda cannot be happy or forget about the past because she does not find truth in anything. Once she starts to see phenomenal answers to her questions, she begins to open up. By the end of her story, she makes the basketball shot on the court because she has finally come to see the possibility and wonder in everything. She is willing to open herself up to others.
Amanda experiences the pains of the human condition when she fills her mind with a false reality. But once she starts to see the truth in the world, she learns that she can deal with the human condition by taking steps toward truth, unity, and self control.