Self Reflection: The Exploration Of The Human Self

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Through the exploration of the human self through this course, I have learned a lot about both myself and my beliefs, as well as about more about human nature in general. The self is a combination of many ideas and influences. Two very human characteristics is to create stories from our experiences and to consider the future, both topics I looked at for my self portrait. Everything in my self portrait was selected to represent different aspects of who I am and my passions. Although I have in the past had a hard time applying concepts like the ones we covered in this class to myself, through the self portrait project I have gotten the chance to take time and consider its impact on me personally. Understanding yourself and humanity is something …show more content…

I represent the idea of Nature versus Nurture by the physical being of myself being surrounded by my outside influences of nurture. The idea of what makes a person who they are seems like a simple task, for you know yourself better than anyone else. However, who we are is tied into so many exterior influences it soon becomes convoluted and difficult to comprehend, it is important to remember that its okay to not have all the answers but to just be content with …show more content…

Although it was only a short discussion in class, Aristotle’s ideas of the actual and potential is something that stood out to me. Actuality is anything that is currently happening, while potentiality is not actually occurring but could happen, or could not happen (XX). I applied this in my self portrait by showing myself looking forward away from my past, which is represented by icons of the Pacific Northwest and a jumble of quotes from stories and writings of my own that I used as a form of escapism when I was younger. My future is unknown to me, and is something I like to think of having infinite possibilities which I showed by the span of space and stars in front of the face. Freeland described this key part of the human condition as, “our human lives are forward-looking and depend upon ourselves as persons being temporally extended and looking in our aims toward the future” (p165 Freeland). We often get caught up in the desire to know what will happen to us in the future, something that is not inherently bad, but when this happens we forget to enjoy what is happening in the present, which is the reason I used the quote from Lord of the Rings, “Not all those who wander are lost” (XXX). This idea is something I try to keep in my mind in the fast paced world today. It is not bad to take your time and explore, there is no need to rush to the future. Understanding that focusing on the future is

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