Week 13 Reflection

After reading the works of McKeon, Fogg, and Nelson, I found they all provided a perspective on how to view the reality we live in. Specifically, they demonstrated how to analyze that reality and make changes to it based on what we perceive. For Fogg, it was the motivation curve, how to break down habits into pieces in order to encourage their completion. For McKeon, it was viewing education in different lights in order to gain the most change and benefit from people’s character. Lastly, for Nelson, it was looking at reality through the ideal, the real, and the true.

For me, this involved looking at my reality especially through these lenses. I was struggling on the final project, in finding what mattered to me and what I would want to change out of my life. Through looking and analyzing my character and what made me the way that I am, I saw aspects of their philosophies in my life.

For Fogg, it was working out. After every season, the last thing I want to do is go running to improve fitness. I also find that my fitness drops at the end of a season and it is much harder to do these activities. Therefore, I start with small runs at a slower pace. Steadily, I build up the pace and the duration and go for longer each time. This eases the process and allows me to gradually gain the habit.

For Nelson, I have been trying to get myself to see reality, rather than the ideal, but try to change reality in the direction of the truth. For me, the ideal is quite high, as I set lofty goals. this makes the real fall in the shadow of the ideal. I have tried to begin how to see my life actually how it is in the real. the truth shows me who I am and determines my reality. The truth governs my actions and helps me achieve that ideal.

Lastly, for McKeon, I used his ideas in the presentation, by looking at how my activities serve as my education and build my character. By analyzing what values are correlated with my actions, I can see the morals that I am practicing every day. Each activity promotes his arts of recovery, discovery, systematization, and presentation to build character in a certain way and create the personality that I have today.