FIN

Well, it is that time. As the semester winds down, so does my Art of Living blog. It has been a unique journey to say the least, filled with reflections that have helped me think, grow, and change. I am grateful this assignment was given because it allowed me to not only keep my own thoughts straight, it allowed other people to glimpse my life which reciprocated back to me in many different ways. It's as if for the past four months my very existence was served up several times a week for anyone and everyone to scrutinize and comment on, if they chose. The comments I did receive were comforting in the sense that I realized at least my thoughts were coherent. Existentialists have often struggled with the fundamental question of whether or not "the other" (i.e. other people) sees the world in the same way as the "I" (i.e. myself). I'm confident we all see the same world, only with a multitude of interpretations. It is this notion that makes life interesting and worth living to the fullest.

I remember the first PAR 400 meeting when we were asked to create and maintain an online journal. The goal was to reflect on class assignments and readings and to define our own Art of Living. In respect to the former, I found blog assignments effortless because so much of what we read and discussed had a profound effect on the way I think about and view the world. From Aurilius to Thoreau, anyone who chose to espouse their Art of Living did so in such an elegant and beautiful way that they are now permanently engrained in my existence.

So, as to avoid any awkward cliches, I will leave this journal the same person but with a new view of the world. In conjunction with my other philosophy course, I now fully realize that too much of our collective existence is centered around the individual...the "I." In a burst of bright light I came to the realization that my own existence does not begin and end with me. Unfortunately, I must live in a world where this concept goes unrealized. I do not loose all hope, however, as I refer back to my previous statement that such diversity is the only basis on which my life can have meaning and be worth living.