Law in Contemporary Society

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OnThePowerOfMeditation 3 - 09 Mar 2009 - Main.JonathanFriedman
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 I fear that I might be arriving late to the party, but there is no such thing as fashionably punctual. Nevertheless, this semester has been one of transition for me. Transition away from patting myself on the back for past achievements toward looking at myself in a more critical light. What's great and challenging about being in an environment like CLS is that I become ever more impressed with my peers as I learn more about them each day. We provide extraordinarily high standards for each other through setting superior examples across a wide-range of endeavors.

So the all important question remains: how can we (each of us) get better?

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 The book suggests that once a person begins to gain control over his mind, the positive effects come in two ways. First, the static (ie. the random thoughts that pop into your head when you are finally sitting down to that crim law reading) starts to subside. This allows for a heightened concentration. In turn, this concentration allows the mind to make connections and relate to the information in ways that would be unavailable in the more distracted state. As I see it, my television fed mind expects the words from the book to jump off the page and insert themselves in my head. In gaining control over my thoughts, I will be able to engage the material more actively.
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<		I started off by saying that I might be coming late to the party. Perhaps the rest of the class thinks that (1)I am full of shit or (2) There is nothing new about this. Nevertheless, I thinks it makes a lot of sense, and it seemed worth sharing. I placed this entry under the "IsTVReallyAddictive" parent heading because I think it represents the next phase of the discussion. I hope future postings will address how we can become more aware of ourselves and our surroundings to make full use of our potential both as a collective group and individuals.
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>		I started off by saying that I might be coming late to the party. Perhaps the rest of the class thinks that (1)I am full of shit or (2) There is nothing new about this. Nevertheless, I thinks it makes a lot of sense, and it seemed worth sharing. I placed this entry under the "IsTVReallyAddictive" parent heading because I think it represents the next phase of the discussion. I hope future postings will address how we can become more aware of ourselves and our surroundings to make full use of our potential both as a collective group and individuals.
 -- JonathanFriedman - 09 Mar 2009
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 However, perhaps we can instead watch television critically by refusing to completely give in to its seductive embrace. I think this is the crucial point that Professor Moglen is emphasizing, in that we need to at all times (including during class) retain control of our most advanced cognitive capabilities. By not ceding this, we observe our circumstances in the most critical manner. I think several people in this class have made excellent points though in saying that it really is like an addictive drug, that quite frankly is needed as a respite during times of enhanced stress.

-- AaronShepard? - 09 Mar 2009

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A reason why TV has been such a successful medium is that it plays to our "mentality of the child." Think about the ratings of Book Talk on CSPAN vs. a typical MTV show. In most cases, television programming provides short scenes, simple plot-arcs, and cliff-hangers, not to mention 30 second tv ads which are filled with subliminal messaging, bright colors, flashing lights, catchy music, etc. which all combine to allow our minds to jump from thought to thought, passively simulating what we do during an unfocused reverie state of thought. Given this, I'm not sure how to avoid giving into its "seductive embrace." There are many forms of escapism that were discussed in the IsTVReallyAddictive page. I'm not saying we should cut TV out of our lives. I am not even attempting to make a normative statement about our use of it. Rather, my posting was aimed at sharing some interesting information about the interplay between television and our minds, taken with regard to our class discussion and what I read about the goals of meditation.

My point here was to relay how I came to be more aware about what my goals are and the way the push-and-pull between one environmental factor and my self-discipline in thought affects them. This self-awareness was a personal triumph for me [at least I think], and I thought it might be of use to others. I want to further explore similar break-throughs because I think the exercise makes us better people and students, and hopefully better lawyers in the future.

-- JonathanFriedman - 09 Mar 2009


Revision 3r3 - 09 Mar 2009 - 22:47:48 - JonathanFriedman
Revision 2r2 - 09 Mar 2009 - 20:56:28 - AaronShepard
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