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When starting Humanities, the first question we were faced with was: “What made humans human?” One theory was communication. It could have started with language, oral then written. Communication between humans is due to the human brain. Shlain examined the two hemispheres of the brain. The right brain is instinctual, which is the more like an animal. While in the left hemisphere seems more developed by helping us speak and think linearly. The progression of human brain development allowed storytelling and creative thought to become expressed. Storytelling has been the oldest past times of humans.

The nature and sacred space unit examined the human relationship nature. In the film Grizzly Man, the main character, Timothy Treadwell, found peace in Alaska among the grizzly bears. He had a deep connection to the land and animals. The documentary Australia’s Aborigines, the oldest native tribe of Australia was dying out. They worshiped the land and animals. The last play of Shakespeare The Tempest, took place on a dessert island. Prospero, a former king and his daughter lived there.

Love and Beauty is essential to the human experience. Beauty gives humans both subjective and objective opinions on what to call beautiful. In the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian is obsessed with his beauty and the desire to keep it forever. Dorian was influenced to have a disregard of morals by Lord Henry. Dorian became morally corrupt and succumbed to it. Similar to the possession and beauty aspect to the Picture Dorian Gray, The film The Shape of Things takes place in college. The main character Adam was fat and unattractive until a young woman came along and persuaded him to change ever aspect of his life. While those two references concern on physical beauty, the film All the Mornings of the World shows a father and his two daughters entranced by the beauty of music.

Law and Ethics involve what you should do and what you have to follow. Genesis is the first story of the Bible, it tells how the earth was made and the first humans to exist, how Christians believe it. Adam and Eve were the first male and female. They became aware of what was right and wrong when they took a bite of the forbidden fruit of knowledge. God gave humans the knowledge of write and wrong. Further in the Bible comes The Sermon on the Mount. This story tells of Moses receiving the 10 Commandments from God. God gave the knowledge to Adam and Eve, but he gave the formal written commandments to Moses and the world. Ethics are to be followed honorably and the Law is follows and is punishable by disobeying. The Stranger, a novel, had a main character who lacked empathy for life’s tragedies. Meursault felt no remorse for his actions, which lead to him murdering and end up at the gallows.

An inner journey is experienced through the individual. Joseph Campbell, a modern day philosopher was interviewed on his belief of the “Hero’s Journey” He relayed the steps of the Hero’s Journey. Hamlet, an angsty thirty year old, goes slightly made when he discovers his father was poisoned by his uncle who marries his mother. Hamlet eventually avenges his father’s death. Hamlet’s inner journey allowed him to be titled heroic. In the 1990’s pop culture a movies main character Ace Ventura faces many obstacles, which result in hero status. He saves animals all over the world and takes down those who are cruel to animals.