1. Queen: We Are the Champions, oldies, 1981
2. Nelly: Heart of a Champion, rap, 2004
3. (R rated) Roy Jones Jr.: Can't be Touched, rap, 2004
4. (R rated) Eminem: Not Afraid, rap, 2009
5. Justin Bieber ft. Jaden Smith: Never Say Never, pop?, 2010
1. Common: A Dream, R&B?, 2007
2. Green Day: The Time of Your Life, Rock, 1997
3. Casting Crowns: Set me Free, Christian, 2005
4. Akon: Freedom, R&B, 2008
5. Mercy Me: God With Us, Christian, 2007
I found that success is more prevalent than liberation. The success aim is more prevalent today because so many Americans focus on succeeding in life. We all set goals and strive to reach those goals. I think that we look at success completely differently than the Hindus. They were concentrated on wealth, fame and power, however they were limited on these things. They were also competitive and therefore everything is uncertain and not secure. Hindus eventually will grow out of this stage in life and move on to community service, but most Americans stay in this success stage of life. We try to be the best we can at everything. Today the world is all about being competitive, and winning something. When you have a job you are always competing with your co-workers to impress your boss, but this is for your own pleasure. I think that we can relate success back to pleasure because we try to reach goals to please ourselves and others. My interpretation of Liberation is being freed from the cycles of life, so therefore I used freedom themed songs for this category. I found it a little more difficult to find songs related to Liberation. I can relate this to the Christian understanding of salvation, which is going to be with God after death, which to me means that you are being freed from this material world into the eternal world with God. I had to use this understanding in order to find songs to relate to the aim. The Hindu understanding of Liberation is that you are released from the cycles of life, the Karmic bonds. This means that you become enlightened and can be released from the cycles. In order to be Liberated you must follow one of the four paths of liberation. It surprised me that I had such a difficult time finding songs that talked about being free from this world. American Pop music can relate to these themes of Hindu understanding, but once again we live in a different society where we focus on ourselves. This is why success and even freedom are more focused on the self.
Kelsie,
ReplyDeleteThe point you mentioned explaining why pleasure and worldly success songs are more prevalent and easier to find is very intriguing. They certainly do relate to the American Dream, and everything that the American Dream strives to embody. I never thought about it in that way. Your comments definitely include that idea, and I thought it was pretty cool that you were able to see the same thing that many of us see but come to conclusions in a uniquely different way.
My idea of liberation also parallels yours, that of transcending the cycle of rebirth and Karmic relationships. I had a difficult time finding songs that dealt exactly with it though. I would be interested to find some though. Perhaps Hindi music will probably embody this theme more than American music does. I'll try to hopefully find some of those Hindi songs and maybe show them to you in the coming weeks.
Cheers,
Kunal
It is interesting that we all seem to have the same idea of how Americans see success. It is kind of sad that we ting that money and fame are going to solve all of our problems and will make us happy. I think you did a good job of bring light to this point in your blog post. I also agree with your explanation of what the aims mean in Hinduism. It is shocking how Americans have twisted it!
ReplyDeleteI think you hit the nail on the head of how Americans view worldly pleasure as compared to Hindus. From the "American Dream" concept, we all want money and power and to be better than everyone else because we are all competing with each other and using people as stepping stones to better our own lives when we should just be happy with what we have now.
ReplyDeleteYou made a good point here. Each individual sets certain goals from themselves and strives to reach them. I believe that you are correct by saying that we have this misunderstanding of worldly success. Hindu's realize that worldly success is just a temporary high. Our society fails to recognize that wealth, fame, and power cannot completely fulfill us. We consider being wealthy as "making it" in life and therefore do anything, whether it be negative or harmful to another, so that we get to the top. We have become careless of others and simply focus on the individual. The sense of community is lost.
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