John Ruskin. According to him, there are three fundamental questions concerning man that philosophers have been trying to answer. First, who am I? This is the question for man’s origin. And the third one is, where will I go after my living in this world, what is my destiny? It deals with the purpose and destiny man’s existence. Knowing our past, our origin, identity will given us a clearer picture of who we are and with the adequate knowledge of our past and present, of who are now, provides us a clear direction of life, of our destiny. The knowledge of origin, identity will give us a sense of purpose and meaning in life. One should describe the subject of the study which has been observed, independent of one’s belief, values and personal loyalties.
My reaction to the idea of John Ruskin is I think, He agree on the Judeo – Christian approach because in this approach, man is to be seen and understood from the point of view of His divine origin. The approach gives us clear answer to the questions of our origin, present and destiny of our existence. This clear answer can be found in the Bible such as the question of our origin found in the Genesis Chapter 1 and 2. Where does man come from? Man came from God as told in the creation story. What is the purpose of man’s existence in this world? The purpose of man in this world is to serve God, man can find perfect happiness and lastly, what is man’s destiny? Man’s destiny to be in union with God. And there are two destinies; heaven for those who fail to obey God, therefore, John Ruskin is focusing on man’s origin, identity and its destiny. Origin is thus, necessary for human existence. It sets preconditioning factors for the material with which he or she develops habits, skills, attitude and capabilities. Thus, one is able to adjust to his or her environment. Origin controls and regulates the collective existence of society and guides the individual in deciding the definition and order of responses to future experiences. Thus, origin is the basis for human social life and is essential for existence; and it becomes the basis for interpreting reality. And next is the identity, for example our name, it is one example of identity. And lastly, our destiny, we all know that destiny is the outcome of our future and we all know that life has full of uncertainties, we’ll never know when our time on earth is up until its over. So, take every little steps, grab every opportunity, get whatever you want, do what you wanted to do but always be with God.
I agree to the idea of John Ruskin because his three fundamental questions are concerning and related to us human being, the first question is Who am I? This is the question of identity. Second is, where do I came from? It is the question of man’s origin and lastly, where will go after my living in this world, what is my destiny? It deals with the purpose and destiny of man’s existence.
In our life we have our own identity and origin. We have to know what is our identity and origin as an individual. We should be aware of our past experiences and the origin or background of our family.
And in life beginnings are scary, endings are sad, and in the middle? We’ll, it’s what counts the most. So do not dwell on a dismal beginning or devote yourself on aiming for a happy ending. Because you might miss the best part of the whole story. Enjoy while you’re in the middle, because we can’t change how it begun. Moreover, we can’t predict what our destiny is and we do not know how it will end. So we should be brave enough to face each and every consequences that comes into to succeed and strengthens us to become a better person.
Just like me, I don’t know what my destiny is in the future so, I am confident and strong to face all the hindrances and consequences coming into my life and one thing more, no man is an island, so we need a companion to help our goals in life, that’s why we have friends. But take note, depending always on other person is not good so, we should also do our part in achieving our goals so that our destiny will be a great and happy experience. And in this time I will do my duty and I will be good and better person for the sake of my future and my own destiny in life.
