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About Me

More than anything, I thirst for knowledge. Learning is my greatest passion, and not only that which is school-taught but that which is learned through personal experience in a variety of situations. I think a lot, about everything, and very deeply. I think of myself as an intelligent, developing, learning, feeling human being. The way I think is much different from many others my age.

I love to travel, and I feel that I learn a lot when I do so - not only about the place I am visiting and its culture and history, but about life as well. The country that I want to travel to the most is India. I love the culture, the people, the religion. There is also something about India that I can't quite place my finger on - it has to do with the ancientness of the place, I think. I can't quite describe it in words though. It comes to me in a place in my heart, or soul. I'd also love to visit Italy, Africa, and any other places that I ever get the chance to visit. My family is from Germany, and I love it there more than any other place on earth. I want to study foreign languages - I have a passion and aptitude for them. I also want to study international relations. I want to be able to travel the world in whichever profession I choose to pursue in life.

My main goal in life is to help people - I want to either start or become a part of a global outreach program in which I can help people all over the world who are suffering. I believe that the greatest joy in life comes from helping others. All I really want to do is help end some of it; I think it's terrible and unfair that so many can live in peace and happiness while others suffer and despair for their lives. I can in no way be happy with my life if I am not helping others. I'm not self-righteous, it's the honest truth. All that I want to do is whatever I can to help, and not because I want to feel proud of or happy with myself, but because, as a human being, it's my duty and the least I can do to serve my own race. I know I can't help everyone but I can at least help someone, and that can make all the difference in the world.

I consider myself a humanitarian and I also care greatly for animals and animal rights. I'm a vegetarian and I love nature and the earth and do everything I can to reduce my negative impact on the planet and to help heal it.

I am agnostic with a slight tendency toward atheism and pantheism, and I also practice Buddhism. My passion for the spirituality of Buddhism was greatly strengthened by a ten day visit to Japan that I was able to make in the summer of 2010. The experience was indescribably amazing and eye-opening, and I learned a lot more about Buddhism than I knew before. If you want to talk about Buddhism, I'd love to - I love talking to people about it and also learning from them about it. Eastern religions, especially Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism, fascinate me.

I love to meditate, do yoga, exercise, read, write, and listen to/create music (I play the viola and want to learn how to play the piano, the guitar, the sitar, the banjo, and pretty much every other instrument that I can). My favorite band is and always will be the Beatles. Film and photography are two other passions of mine.

Location:
United States, Denton, TX
Current role:
Student
Gender:
Female
Areas of expertise:
foreign languages
Languages:
English, German, Latin
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More About Me

I'm passionate about

Learning, traveling, foreign languages

An idea worth spreading

Everything, absolutely everything, is impermanent. Also, the true meaning of life, at least to me, is to enjoy, and to help others to do the same. My purpose in life is to help people. "What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?" ~George Eliot

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him." ~Buddha

Talk to me about

Life, philosophy, anything. I am interested in whatever you want to talk about.

Comments

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  • A reply on Conversation: Should Cannabis be legalized as a medicine?

    May 24 2012: Hmm, didn't know that. Well at least that doesn't apply for the United States. That's as much as I know.

  • A reply on Conversation: Should Cannabis be legalized as a medicine?

    May 23 2012: It's certainly not illegal to be high. You can't be arrested anywhere for it. How can they prove you are high? And even if they somehow could, you can't be arrested for that. Only for possession of marijuana.

  • A reply on Conversation: What are 10 things YOU know to be true?

    Apr 1 2011: Why, might I ask, would you want to live forever? To become some sort of robotic superhuman that would have to live through our progressively darker times? To live forever would be so unnatural and frightening.

  • A reply on Conversation: What are 10 things YOU know to be true?

    Mar 29 2011: I don't think she means that. But there are certain things that we consider truths now that may not always be truths. The time's are always changing, and everything has the capacity to change. Even if you took your example of stealing - in the future, for all we know, stealing could be seen as acceptable. It's not likely, but we don't know that it won't ever happen. I think more of what she means is that we may believe we have a certain knowledge about something, but that may one day change. For instance, centuries ago people believed that the earth was flat and that the sun revolved around the earth. These theories have since been disproved, so what people used to believe was the truth is no longer the truth. What we call truth can often be just an opinion or belief that isn't necessarily even provable, but that people feel so strongly about and trust in so faithfully, that we don't even realize that it may not be true.

  • A reply on Conversation: What are 10 things YOU know to be true?

    Mar 29 2011: What do you mean by number one? Before we were born, we were in our mother's wombs...

  • A reply on Conversation: What are 10 things YOU know to be true?

    Mar 29 2011: I guess I mean the body will die. I don't know if we have souls or not; I guess I sort of believe in the idea of reincarnation but what I am saying is that I know that I, as I know myself to be, will die. My body will one day cease to be alive; whether or not my soul moves on to some other place or into another body as a reincarnation of myself, I do not know. What are your ideas and thoughts on this? It's interesting to hear other people's opinions.

  • A reply on Conversation: What are 10 things YOU know to be true?

    Mar 29 2011: Also, could a machine ever truly love? One of the things that makes us most human is our ability to love. I don't think that a machine could ever feel love.

  • A reply on Conversation: What are 10 things YOU know to be true?

    Mar 29 2011: Thank you, Debra, for that kind comment. :)

  • A reply on Conversation: What are 10 things YOU know to be true?

    Mar 29 2011: I agree with Anna on the artificial intelligence subject. AI may be able to surpass human intelligence in terms of computation - numbers - because that is something that is concrete and absolute, and the machines can be programmed to figure those things out themselves. But there are aspects of humanity, of human intelligence, that I don't think a machine could ever truly possess. Sure, a machine can make art, but, like Anna said, can it really feel it? As humans, when we create or look at a piece of art we can truly feel something, and I don't think a machine could ever do that. We can look at nature, at natural wonders, at other people, and see the beauty in the world around us and feel it. We can create music that can invoke and purge the soul. A machine could play music, but it could never truly understand it without a human brain. The one thing I never understood is why scientists try so hard to recreate the human brain in non-human entities. Why do we need robots that can perform every action for us? We already have amazing robots, why do we need to create something that will one day possibly be able to pass us in computational and mathematical intelligence? We will not be able to distinguish between man and machine, and all of this is just a disaster waiting to happen. The human brain is something that can never be truly recreated - it is too complex and even we will never be able to fully understand our own intelligence. We can feel, emote, build relationships with those around us. Only natural, living life can do this. Robots may be able to to an extent, but never in the same way. There is no such thing as a robot genius or a robot prodigy. But there are human versions of these. Anyway tell me what you think.

  • A reply on Conversation: What are 10 things YOU know to be true?

    Mar 29 2011: This is so inspiring, Christine. Each and every one of these is so very true. Thank you for your words of wisdom.
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