Meditation Analysis

Christie Fitzgerald

Event Analysis

September 19, 2012

Meditation Analysis

Different cultural experiences have always been interesting to me. I haven’t had the opportunity to travel yet, but I cannot wait for the time in my life when I get to study or travel abroad. When the chance arose to go to a meditation class, I jumped at it. I thought it would be extremely interesting to begin to understand this different type of culture. Immediately after entering the chapel in Hammerman, the instructor explained that this would be a different experience for everyone, and also that there was a lot of bowing involved-something that I was not used to. Before entering the chapel, the person meditating must bow; it is a way of showing respect. Not only must you bow, but you must step into the chapel with your left foot first, while holding your hands one on top of the other right above your stomach. Immediately after entering the chapel, I noticed how peaceful it was. There was absolutely no noise. There was a slight aroma of a type of flower, coming from the burning candles.  The fifteen minutes spent completely meditating and reflecting were used to reflect on life and connect spiritually. All three of these poems connect with the medication class I took in that they are all about finding yourself and developing as a human being.

In “The Birthmark”, by Nathanial Hawthorne, Aylmer, the talented and bright scientist, is married to Georgiana, a beautiful woman with a blunt birthmark on her cheek. Georgiana loves her birthmark and believes it is a part of her. When Aylmer starts to doubt it that is when she starts to doubt herself. At the end of the short story, Aylmer makes a medicine for Georgiana to take that will rid her of her birthmark. Georgiana trusts him, but instead of accepting her beauty and birthmark, she takes the potion and ends up dying. This short story has to do with the meditation class I took because the theme of the story is finding yourself and accepting yourself and your beauty. Meditating also does that in that people meditate in order to find themselves.

In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, tells the story of a clinically depressed woman, who has been taken on a summer trip by her husband. However, she believes that her depression is because of her husband. Since her “cure” is to not write or do anything active, she has a secret journal that she finds releases all her thoughts and helps her find herself. She also begins to see a woman on the wall. Instead of being completely scared by it, she accepts it and it lets her imagination flow. The wallpaper eventually possess the woman and takes over her imagination; making her fixated on it. By the end of the story, the woman is absolutely insane. However, the wallpaper gave her the ability to find herself, even if that means she is insane.

In “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth, the speaker greatly connects to nature, as it is a special memory for him. Although he is lonely, he finds comfort in nature and his surroundings. He even compares himself to a cloud, all alone in the empty sky. Like the other two poems, this poem relates to the meditation class because one of the themes is finding yourself, and finding something that you relate to.