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The Journey Home is an autobiography book of an American Swami, who takes the readers on a profound journey to self – realization. The story follows nineteen years old Richard Slavin who lives with his parents in Chicago, Illinois and tries to figure out the purpose of life. In 1960’s, when Richie turns nineteen years old, he begins to crave a purpose in life beyond wealth, prestige, and the fads of society. He could not live in peace with himself knowing that African Americans are imprisoned like slaves in the ghettos just miles away. He starts participating in the civil rights movement along with his best friend Gary. While trying to understand the problems of this world, he decides to go to college in Florida and picks philosophy as his major. After attending one year at Miami Dade College, Gary offers Richard a free trip to Europe for the whole summer. He immediately accepts the offer without even first asking his parent’s permission, because he feels as if it is his destiny calling for him. That’s when the self – realization journey starts, which transforms a young naive boy into one of the most famous spiritual teachers’ in India. The first country they go to in Europe is Luxembourg. Richie and Gary, both in search of themselves, start visiting cathedrals, hippie hotspots as well as holy places. The hunt for purpose does not end in Luxembourg, with the hunger for meaning in life and a blues harmonica, they backpack through the Middle East and beyond, where they are forced to encounter life threatening situations. Since both, Richie and Gary, do not have a sufficient amount of money, they decide to spend the rest of the days in the island called Crete taking a shelter in a cave. They agree to stay apart for a few days dedicat... ... middle of paper ... ...vertheless, “The Journey Home” book has removed my confusion as well and now I see God everywhere in everyone. It has really helped me to open my eyes and see the world with more compassion, love and forgiveness. It has taught me the essence of spirituality as well as the importance of helping other people and seeing every living being with an equal vision. This book also showed me what is possible when you really want to know God and how God will take you towards Him. It is indeed very surprising how a young boy from Chicago, Illinois, after going on a spiritual journey, in less than two years became one of the most famous Hindu monk in the world. “The Journey Home” book is not only easy to read and hard to put down, but the wisdom and insights shared along the way are sublime. I felt myself growing every time I read the book as I experienced his journey with him.
The first distinguishing factor of a pilgrimage lies in how a pilgrimage searches for truth. While spiritual tourism may involve an individual merely quickly glancing at the surface of spirituality, a spiritual pilgrimage seeks to fully understand the character of God. Chase Falson proves this to be true in the way that his old convictions begin to fall apart. His Laodicean
Only a few books dare to discuss the confusion surrounded by a religious awakening. In Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya, challenges standard religion and brings in differnet ideas through the perspective of a young and confused boy. At the end of his struggle to understand, the boy reaches the peace of mind he was seeking.
The three short essays were subjectively confusing, dry, and simple to read. I was not impressed by the subject matter in Yiyun Li’s “Orange Crush.” Nor was I enthralled by the way “The Sanctuary of School” and Kingsolver’s “In Case You Ever Want to Go Home Again” were written. On the other hand, Lynda Barry had a pleasant ending to her lackluster essay in “The Sanctuary School.” Overall I was let down by the three treatise.
Each of us has innate desire to understand the purpose of our existence. As Hermann Hesse illustrates in his novel Siddhartha, the journey to wisdom may be difficult. Organized religion helps many to find meaning in life but it does not substitute careful introspection. An important message of Siddhartha is that to achieve enlightenment one must unite the experiences of mind, body, and spirit.
Throughout all texts discussed, there is a pervasive and unmistakable sense of journey in its unmeasurable and intangible form. The journeys undertaken, are not physically transformative ones but are journeys which usher in an emotional and spiritual alteration. They are all life changing anomaly’s that alter the course and outlook each individual has on their life. Indeed, through the exploitation of knowledge in both a positive and negative context, the canvassed texts accommodate the notion that journeys bear the greatest magnitude when they change your life in some fashion.
the start of the film. Their quest takes them to the wreck of the ship Titanic which sank
A meeting is called and the boys come up with some new ideas and talk about problems. Meanwhile jack wanders off and enjoys the peace and quiet. Soon the boys get into a rhythm of everyday life.
Which Way Home is a documentary about the struggle of a group of young kids from Mexico and Central America to make it to the United States on a train called “The Beast.” This documentary, directed by Rebecca Cammisa, brings to attention a human face on the immigration issue. It shows life-threatening risks that are taken by child migrants so they could bring an end to their problems such as fear of life on the streets, lack of jobs and having a better education.
A physical journey occurs as a direct result of travelling from one place to another over land, sea or even space. The physical journey can occur individually or collectively, but always involves more than mere movement. Instead physical journeys are accompanied by inner growth and development, catalysed by the experiences and the decisions that impact the outcome of the journey. These journey concepts and the interrelationship between physical and emotional journeys is exemplified in the text; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, the children’s book Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers and the film Stand By Me directed by Rob Reiner.
Miguel and Tulio are best friends. They are excellent con-artists and have been living on the streets of Spain and cheating their way through every gamble they take. Near the end of a game, their opponents bet a map in an attempt to win back their money. Miguel and Tulio win the game and discover that the map depicts the way to El Dorado. They are caught cheating and are almost arrested. As they run to escape the soldiers, they find themselves stuck on a ship going out to sea. Much to their poor luck, the ship is owned by Hernando Cortes, who is sailing out to sea to search for El Dorado himself. Miguel and Tulio narrowly escape death and end up in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean. They wash up on an abandoned shore and realize that this is the first location on the map to El Dorado. They follow the map and end up discovering the city of gold deep in the forest. When they reach the center of the city, the high priest, Tzekel-Kan, and the chief, Chief Tannabok, mistake the two strangers as their long awaited gods. Miguel and Tulio are baffled and at first do not know what to do. Then they begin to see this as an opportunity to gather as much gold as possible, and they quickly take up the act as gods. As they stay in the city, they gain more and more gold and are worshipped by the locals. Many unexpected events occur, leading the two friends to different paths.
They start off on the railroad tracks and begin their journey towards finding the lifeless body of a boy their age who met his fate from a moving train. A little ways into the trip they find they have forgotten to assign the task of bringing the food. They put together the money they have and plan to have one person go and buy the stuff.
In the Third and Final Continent, Jhumpa Lahiri uses her own experiences of being from an immigrant family to illustrate to her readers how heritage, cultural influences and adaptation play a major role in finding your true identity. The Third and Final Continent is the ninth narration in a collection of stories called the Interpreter of Maladies. In this story, it discusses themes such as marriage, family, society, language and identity. In this story, we focus on an East Asian man of Bengali descent who wants to have a better future for himself so he leaves India and travels to London, England to pursue a higher education. His pursuit for higher education takes place on three different continents. In India, he feels safe in his home country and welcomed, but when he travels abroad he starts to have fear and anxiety. Through his narrations, we learn how he adapts to the European and American and through these experiences he learns to assimilate and to adapt to the new culture he travels to.
Fort, Andrew O, and Patricia Y Mumme. Living Liberation in Hindu Thought. Albany, NY: State Univerasity of New York Press, 1996.
The future holds a different meaning for everyone, for some it holds hope while for others it holds despair. This constant wondering about the future has influenced many works to be written about the future. Some of these works propose a blissful future, but the majority paint the picture of an unfortunate dystopian world. Recently I read Daughters of the North, a novel in which the dystopian future of England is shown. Shortly after reading Daughters of the North, I watched The Road. This film showed a similar view of the future, yet more grim and unappealing that Daughters of the North. In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting these two works to show two different points of view of what a dystopian world is. After watching The Road I realised there was a large amount of books and movies that believe the future will be grim. I believe this is because as humans we fear what may be in our future due to the conflicts that we face today and wish to warm the world.
The Guide, a novel by R.K. Narayan is rooted in everyday, down-to-earth characters in which he believes depicts the Indian way of life. This Bildungsroman novel is told in chronological manner with two stories in one plot. It reflects upon Raju’s life since he was a little boy to the present day. Set in Narayan’s fictional town, Malgudi, Raju tells the story of his past in the first person narration while his experience as a swami is told in the third person narration.