“Every journey into the past is complicated by dillusions, false memories, false namings of real events”- Adrienne Rich

To me, this quote means that dwelling in the past creates complications, false memories and predispositions of future events and reality. I believe in not dwelling on the past and moving on because it is better to focus on what you can change rather than what you could have changed or what you couldn’t have changed. In relation to schema, journeying into the past can bring negative effects and cause you to make the same mistake twice or even develop hatred. However, journeying into the past is sometimes useful or pleasant as you can relive good memories for a short period of time. It is not entirely disillusion as your past may not always be an illusion or deceiving. In my experience, journeying back into previous events has lead me to create unrealistic expectations, as well as underestimate myself. I think as humans we improve constantly so journeying into the past and focusing on previous events can inhibit this growth and improvement. Innovation is important so we should not hold onto what was there before, grudges should be let go, fears should be overcome and anything else that could potentially become a liability should be removed from our lives to the best of our abilities. Reflection on the past is important, which is why evaluating previous efforts is done in school. The emphasis is put on the improving part, by reflecting we learn from mistakes and subsequently improve ourselves. By the same token, it is harmful to completely ignore the past, it is good to know where your origins and humble roots are.

Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers – Voltaire

At first glance, I think back to this picture.

By judging someone, we are making assumptions and jumping to conclusions before discovering more about them. A question tells us what a person wants to know, but we will never know his/her motives for wanting to know or understand something. By judging answers, we are only taking in superficial information and knowledge as a lot could be hidden; it is only the tip of the iceberg being displayed. By judging a man by his answers we are only left to consider how he or she thinks, perceives things or how much that person knows, these are all fairly superficial. In contrast, if we judge a person by their questions, we find out their personality, traits. Questions could also be spontaneous, but there are different types of questions – questions aimed to provoke thought, and questions aimed to extract knowledge. By judging one of these questions we can see a man’s motives, we can see what kind of person he is and we can extrapolate or attribute his behaviour. Although judging is wrong, it is arguable that it is more worthwhile and reliable to judge a person’s questions. I personally think both questions and answers are equally as important as both represent inquisitiveness and both can reflect a person.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com! This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it, or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you started this blog and what you plan to do with it.

Happy blogging!