Humanities 1100 Reflection

On the first day of class I showed up lugging my textbook that seemed not only heavy in physical weight, but contents. Glancing through the index there were a wide variety of topics including religion, spirituality war, and race. What were all of these topics doing in a single book in a general study course? I hoped for some clarity when I was posed this question from my professor, Why do you think the way that you do? I did not have a clear understanding of what the study of humanities was, let alone the incredible significance that this question would come to have over the course of the semester. While we did cover all of the topics above, the most invaluable tool that I gained was the ability to have an open mind and question my most basic beliefs about the human experience. There was not a single thought process that remained unquestioned: -Why is human suffering sometimes justified? -Why do I have instantaneous reactions upon meeting people? -Why do I have assumptions about other religions? While not all of my beliefs changed throughout this class, I did examine why I held these, and often I realized that I had beliefs founded on assumptions and tradition that did not fit in with the way that I see the world today, or the kind of person that I would like to be. Through several critical thinking exercises I learned how to objectively break down art forms to find my own interpretation and meaning for them. This included visiting The Leonardo museums Dead Sea Scroll exhibit, analyzing art pieces, and attending a dance performance. Through this process, I discovered that these basic questions of analysis could be taken and applied to a much broader field than just art:

-Who is the audience? - Why were the elements of the piece portrayed this way? -How does the historical background play a role? -How did the artist want the audience to react? When you thoughtfully consider these questions when looking at anything from a news report to a college lecture, a clearer picture of the agenda behind the piece is revealed. While not perfect, this type of reasoning allows a person to make more informed decisions in many aspects of their life. This course also entailed intensive reading assignments that opened my eyes to ways of thinking and living that I had not previously encountered. What I found most interesting was instead of having second or even third hand knowledge of a subject as before, I was able to read first-hand accounts and separate peoples about something from what the original intention probably was. For example, I have had varied points of view on the Muslim religion presented to me over my life, especially coming from a generation that experienced 9/11 as a child. Reading the Quran gave me the insight to separate religious fanaticism from a beautiful and complex culture. All of these experiences have encouraged me to stop throughout my life to look inwardly and ask, Why do you think that way, giving me the ability to form rational thoughts that are much more independent of others biases.