Mindset QCC

1. "Bruce Jenner, 1976 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon says, 'If I wasn't dyslexic, I probably wouldn't have won the Games. If I had been a better reader, then that would have come easily, sports would have come easily... and I never would have realized that the way you get ahead in life is hard work.'

The naturals, carried away by their superiority, don't learn how to work hard or how to cope with setbacks."

2. This quote carries with it a deep understanding of work ethic, determination, and the origins of motivation. It shows that people who face adversity in their lives are more likely to overcome obstacles than those unhindered by personal weaknesses or setbacks, the "naturals". In many ways, a person's handicap can inspire them work harder in pursuit of a goal, and enables them to process failure with the mindset to get up and try again, rather than falling apart from being built up for so long as a naturally capable winner. It keeps them humble and shields them from the corrosive nature of their own ego, forces them to constantly better themselves and work to be the best, rather than simply accepting that they were born the best and waiting for the success to come.

3. I've faced my own setbacks in life that prevent me from being classified as a "natural". I have dyscalculia, which has hindered me in math my entire life. I was ridiculed and humiliated in school, sometimes by my own teachers, for being unable to comprehend basic mathematical reasoning beyond multiplication. I didn't realize it until I neared maturity, but that weakness in math had made me a better writer, and (on some level) a better person. Writing came naturally to me. That was my innate skill. But if math had come as easily to me as other students, I never would have been forced to focus more on the subjects that I could do, and even more so on the ones I was passionate about. I would've grown up to be a passable writer, enough to get good grades across the board, but I never would have gained the passion to develop my craft outside of school, to dedicate my life to the pursuit of becoming better and better at it. I simply would have been... good enough, just as I would be good enough at math. In fact, if I hadn't been brought down to earth by the shame of my severe academic shortcomings, I very likely would have ended up mocking those who struggled in English and creative writing. Knowing all this, I can honestly say that if I given a chance to go back and live my life over, with the ability to understand and retain math concepts at the same level as my classmates, to avoid humiliating displays of my ignorance at the front of the class, to never be mocked by students who considered themselves geniuses when compared to me, to never be shamed with trips to summer school where they taught me every subject on phonetic notecards like a brain damaged toddler, I would refuse.

Leibniz QCC

1. "As Spinoza said in another context, "What St. Paul tells us about God tells us more about St. Paul than it does about God." The growth of empiricism and the rise of science over the past three centuries have made it almost impossible to take seriously the extravagant pretension of the priori philosopher, who sits in his study and spins a web of words, fanciful imaginings, and empty speculations out of the material of his own consciousness. Faith in reason alone is alien to us, and we believe that only careful observation and experiment can reveal anything of substance about the actual universe. We no longer study philosophy for the old reason, for the fascination of learning the truth about the nature of things, but rather, for the fascination of learning what people have thought, and if possible why they have thought."

2. I found this quote to be an interesting look at the nature of philosophy and its changing role in society. It's something that I've never spent too much time pondering, but it makes me realize that philosophy, while once used to enlighten people and introduce them  to the truth of the world around them, is now used to introduce people to different perspectives and understanding of the world around them in the hope of adapting that perspective into their own.

3. Whether or not we buy from the philosophy shelf at Barnes & Noble (or we don't buy from Barnes & Noble at all), we are taking in philosophy. When we read a work of fiction, it is introducing to us bits and pieces of the author's own philosophy. Meaningful proverbs such as, "the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword," can be extracted from A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. A person's memoirs give us their philosophy through the sharing of experiences. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are sharing their philosophies twenty-two minutes a day, five days a week, albeit laden with sarcasm and satire. It's all around us, and it isn't made to show us something new about the world. It's made to maybe help us see what we have all our lives in a different way.