Religions of the World Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Religions of the World - Research Paper Example Just as each person is unique, so are the religions that they rely on to define who and what they are. As Stephen Prothero says about religions, â€Å"the worlds religious rivals are clearly related, but they are more like second cousins than identical twins. They do not teach the same doctrines. They do not perform the same rituals and they do not share the same goals.† Three of the world’s major religions, Mormonism, Christianity, and Buddhism, reveal the truth of this statement, and how even though religions may differ greatly from one another, they exist to provide insight into the world and the human condition. By investigating the unique goals of each religion, as well as their gods, doctrines and beliefs, and their perceptions of afterlife, the notion that religions are related while still standing out on their own can be brought to light. The Goals of Religion Differences abound in all of the religions of the world, setting them greatly apart from one another. T he first and most notable difference that can be picked from each religion is its goal, or the primary purpose that the religion prevails. The goal of Mormonism, for example, is for its followers to enter a state of holiness, which is also known as exaltation. Mormons strive to conduct their lives in ways that reflect the characteristics of God. When they succeed, upon their death they will enter heaven, gaining eternal life and an eternal family. The members of Mormonism who achieve eternal life are likened to lesser gods, a belief formed by the concept that God himself was once a flesh-and-bone human and became holy upon death (Smith, 2009). However, His followers that reach this state of holiness are placed beneath God the Father who presides over Mormonism. The goal of Christianity shares part of Mormonism’s goal, which is for its followers to become more like God by taking on His attributes. The difference between the goals of these two religions, though, is that followe rs of the Christian faith strive to become Godlike so that they can bridge the wide chasm that separates them from God as a result of the sinful nature of humankind (â€Å"The basics of Christian beliefs†). Humans are born naturally apart from God due to their inherent sin. The God of Christianity wants nothing more than to have a relationship with His people, but this relationship cannot be attained as long as humans continue to live in sin. As such, the major goal of Christianity is to have the sins of its followers forgiven so that they may become more Christlike, and thus establish a relationship with their creator. The primary goal of the spiritual path of Buddhism is for its practitioners to reach enlightenment, which is more commonly referred to as nirvana by those who actively practice Buddhism. This is the Buddhist concept of total freedom, to be liberated from the cycle of life and death and to attain an eternal body. To achieve enlightenment, members of the Buddhis t faith accept the Four Noble Truths, which outline that suffering is caused by desire, and follow the Noble Eightfold Path, which direct them in how to live a life that can bring an end to suffering. Suffering is brought to a complete end when enlightenment is achieved, and the person can experience the pure freedom, happiness, and clarity of nirvana (Hanh, 1999). Each religion strives to not so much make life easier for its practitioners, but to give their followers what they need to survive the hardships of life while maintaing a peace of mind and giving them something to strive for. In the process, the goals of these religions help their followers become better people. When these individuals are successful in reaching the goal of their respective

Music alone by Peter Kivy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Music alone by Peter Kivy - Essay Example Taking the example of sad music, it can be said that music is sad in its quality of having sadness as a solid property just like an egg has an oval shape and white color as apparent properties. This approach gives emotions a defined function. Hence, this essay tends to highlight how Kivy shows that music doesn’t arouse emotions rather it defines them i.e. what type of emotions does music make us experience. On pg 40-41, the stimulation model is not embraced by Kivy as it doesn’t account for the mental aspect of listening to music or relating to it. It can be understood from how Kivy illustrates though Tibby’s addiction and arousal. It is limited to arousal and feelings where as Kivy rightly believes that the mind is equally active while music listening. Arousal occurs like a sort of pleasure that is experienced with sugar or favorite foods or as Kivy says on p.40 â€Å"as drugs stimulate euphoria†. This does not answer the artistic or moral sense of suitab ility which makes it seem morally fitting that we hear serious music when serious while lighthearted music when lighthearted. If we look it through the perspective of Kivy, it is explained that the listeners and individuals say emotional utterances, such as "How amazing" or show movements like Mrs Munt taps her feet, but it is undoubtedly not these responses to music that the listeners are observing and analyzing in their minds. This does not occur â€Å"mindlessly†. These descriptions of music are cognitive but not emotive. For instance, a popular quote from Kivy is, "Sadness is a quality of the music, not a power of the music to do things to the listener" Kivy rejects stimulation model because it largely ignores the conscious and unconscious features of music listening that Kivy elaborates on pg.43. In the unconscious process, ‘expectations are aroused, fulfilled and frustrated’. The weaknesses of the stimulation model are the strengths on the representation model. The representational model of music paints a picture, imitates non musical sounds or tells a story in a song. All these aspects must be included to deduce pleasure from the integrated cognitive experience of music which is not limited to a stimulus for the nervous system. Simply put, the music becomes a cognitive experience because the listener like Tibby perceives the representation in music. The stimulation is on the right only if it has no content; this way it will have no meaning and the listener will have nothing to register or retrieve in his mind. In this light, the stimulation model is right in saying music arouses emotion but music without content. Kiv y verifies his stance yet again by extracting the intellectual aspect of ‘counting’ from Leibniz’s account p.38, (Kivy 1990). Kivy’s representational model is quite convincing especially when the reader reads the entire account in detail; if one applies the theory to different passages of music, one can clearly navigate the cognitive elements. The effect of music, as the stimulation suggests cannot be determined by the impact on the listeners’ sense organs. Emotions have their own physiological component and it cannot be confused as a result of music (Kivy 1990). Otherwise, the stimulation model just attempts to be reductionist in a sense, because it does not focus on the intellectual functioning that occurs during the listening of music especially repetitive listening or in the case of the infant as Kivy highlights

Cessation of Multi-Fibre Agreement Impact on Free Trade Essay

Cessation of Multi-Fibre Agreement Impact on Free Trade - Essay Example There was an agreement among the EU states in the year 1995 to phase out the MFA over a period of ten years. Accordingly the MFA was abolished at the end of the year 2004. The removal of the protectionist measure in the form of MFA has resulted in economic advantages to certain Western European Countries. However certain other European countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece have raised serious complaints against the removal of the quantitative restrictions on the plea that such action had largely affected their domestic textile and clothing industry and the workers in the industry. With this background this paper presents a critical assessment of the potential benefits and problems to which European Union is subjected to due to the abolition of MFA. Before the impact of the abolition of the MFA on the European Union can be discussed it is important a background of the causes and circumstances under which MFA was entered and the immediate effect of the abolition thereof. (Jean-Pierre Lehmann) The emergence of China as an economic power had influenced all the other countries of the world to make economic adjustments to grow at the same pace as Chinese economy developed. In the light of these changes in the world economy, the Western European countries had embarked upon an association for peace and prosperity in the form of European Union. The economic and political success of the European Union had made the Eastern European countries to request for accession to the EU. All the European countries and even China opted for accession to World Trade Organization in the wake of economic globalization. (Jean-Pierre Lehmann) The formation of the EU and accession to the WTO had resulted in some over-regulation and un-dynamic inbuilt rigid aspects in some of the European economies especially for the protection of uncompetitive sectors. This had also restricted the provision of the conducive conditions for any creative destruction or innovation. Under these circumstances countries like the Netherlands, Britain, Ireland, Latvia and the Scandinavian countries have reformed their economic structures and adjusted themselves to the changing circumstances. However there are other larger economies like Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Poland had become less successful due to their industrial sluggishness. One of the anomalies of the international trading system resulted out of such un-dynamic environment basically to protect the domestic industry was to place the textiles and garment out of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) rules in the Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) The agreement was entered into with the intense pressure from the governments of the developed countries since there was a fear in the import-competing firms in such nations that the rise in imports from the cost-competitive developing countries would eventually destroy the viability of their domestic textile and clothing industry.( (Grimwade, 1996) "This was a defence measure initially taken in response

American Railroad or Baseball Americas sport Essay

American Railroad or Baseball Americas sport - Essay Example Goods could be shipped across long distances at a fraction of the cost and messages could be sent across country in a fraction of the time. The purpose of the present research is to discover how the advent of the railroad affected the daily lives of Americans, particularly in the American west. While the general impression has always been that the railroads did little more than destroy those who came to work on them, this investigation attempts to prove that for all the harm it caused, the railroad also created many new opportunities for minority groups seeking new beginnings in the modern world. By examining the words these individuals left behind and the effects that the railroad was having in a more general sense upon the landscape, economy and way of life of the average person, particularly within the less settled and less civilized lifestyles of the west, a better understanding can be obtained regarding the positive and negative aspects of the advent of the modern world upon the se open and wild places, uniting a country and expanding Americans’ worldview while changing the nature of possibilities once available in this rugged land. The railroad introduced significant changes to the previously wild and unknown western portions of the country. While there were already many individuals living out in the empty prairies, it remained a difficult and precarious lifestyle, frequently isolating individuals from families back east thanks to a slow and costly communications system and the difficulties and distances to be traveled. For this reason, change occurred relatively slowly within the western half of the nation except in those areas more easily accessible by boat. As the railroads were built, however, change was forced upon the land. Industries changed as the landscape was divided up into manageable parcels, economies shifted as efficiency replaced older traditional methods of business and

How alcoholic and drug-attic parents effects a students learner, and Research Paper

How alcoholic and drug-attic parents effects a students learner, and what is there outcome in life - Research Paper Example Children are heavily dependent on their parents especially during the early stages of their life. Parents satisfy all their demands and provide love, care and attention and thus create an atmosphere conducive for the overall development of their children. But this description is not suitable for certain households in which either of the parents are drug addicts or alcoholics. The familial atmosphere is entirely different in such cases and the children who belong to such families face a number of difficulties which cause serious damages to their character formation and also to the overall development of the child. Studies have also found that the academic performance of such learners is also adversely affected. This paper is an attempt to analyze the difficulties faced by student learners with alcoholic or drug-attic parents, to identify the impact of parental alcoholism on the life of their children and also to identify appropriate strategies to deal with such children. Challenges fa ced by learners of Alcoholic Parents Many studies have shown that most of the children start identifying the parental drug use and alcoholism between 10 to 12 years of age even though it is subjected to interpersonal variations. There are also cases in which the child identifies some sort of problem in his house even at the age of five but fails to recognize what exactly the problem is because none of the family members will be ready to explain things to him. According to the results of National Household Survey on Drug Abuse in the year 1996 8.3 million children in the United States live with alcoholic or drug addict parents and the most surprising fact is that this contributes to 11 percent of the total child population in the US. Appendix 1 provides a clear idea regarding the nature of substance abuse by parents. 3.8 million children live with alcoholic parents and 2.1 million children live in households with their drug addict parents and 2.4 million children belong to parents wh o are addicted to both alcohol and drugs (see Appendix 1). It is also observed that the children living with substance abusing parents are found in all age groups. Appendix 2 gives the statistics of children who belong to different age groups and who live with drug-attic and alcoholic parents (see Appendix 2). These statistics are quite disturbing and alarming. The drug use and alcoholism of parents put their children in dilemma at early ages which affect their character formation adversely as they grow. The effect may vary from person to person but it is much heavier in the case of certain individuals. There is a global acceptance regarding the fact that parental alcoholism adversely affects the emotional, cognitive and social functions of the children as they are exposed to the parental illness for a long period of time. There is every possibility for such persons to become anti-socials and to be involved in criminal activities and eventually to end up in prison (Frank, 1983, p.22 ). It is also possible to observe a high degree of risk involved in the case of children with alcoholic and drug addict parents to develop personality disorders, behavioral problems and ultimately to become alcoholic and drug addicts. The parent-child conflicts and conflicts between their patents may lead to impaired

Describe Maslow's hierarchy of needs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Describe Maslow's hierarchy of needs - Essay Example Human tries to first achieve deficiency needs than after he tries to achieve growth needs that are continually shaping behavior [Wikipedia]. Biological and Physiological needs: Physiological needs take highest priority, because it can control thoughts and behaviors causing people to feel sick, pain and discomfort. These types of needs mainly consist of air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, homeostasis and excretion Safety needs: This need comes after the Physiological needs are met. This is a natural phenomenon that one moves next level after achieving one stage. Everyone wants to have safety and security. This may be for physical security, health security, employment security, revenues, property and resources security, moral and physiological security, family security, etc. Belongingness and Love needs: When physiological and safety needs are met than human want to have social needs that mainly involves emotionally based relationships. This type of needs is workgroup, supportive and communicative family, affection, relationships, Friendship, and sexual intimacy. A human nature needs to feel belonging and acceptances from social group or social connections and love and to be loved (sexually and non-sexually) by others. Absence of these needs can cause one to feel being alone and depressed. Sometime belonging and love need overcome the physiological and safety needs that depend on the strength of the peer pressure. Esteem Needs: According to Maslow, all humans have a need to be respected, to have self-respect, and to respect others. People need to engage themselves in order to gain recognition. People have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution, to feel accepted and self-value, be it in a profession or hobby. Imbalances at this level can result in low self-esteem, inferiority complexes, and an inflated sense of

Learning Applications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Learning Applications - Essay Example Numerous studies have shown that superior service will always beat the cost of fees or price. Human resource strategy- focuses on the training of the workers who directly interact with customers, specifically the tellers and shift supervisors. The main intent of this topic is to train an individual on personal management thereby applying the same to the employees. Effective human resources management often creates good work environment and satisfied employees thereby making them productive and enthusiastic (Evans and Lindsay, 2008). Finally, underpinning the basis of Strategic Human Resource Management (‘SHRM’ from hereon after) is a fascinating topic. The elements of this topic are vital to competitive advantage and vertical alignment trainings (Evans and Lindsay, 2008). It involves the alignment of human resource strategy with business strategy and horizontal alignment needs to be adapted. This will help in encompasses the individual HR strategies and practices being mutually supported. The courses primarily aimed at training individuals on efficient and effective management skills that are applicable to both the labour and the customers (Stewart and Brown, 2012). Unfair treatment of Employees usually leads to poor delivery thereby leading to poor service that affects customers’ relationship with business. However, industries without partnership often disregard employees especially the banking industry (Evans and Lindsay, 2008). This would allow companies to be  competitive since there would be lower input costs (labour equals input). In addition, management would be quick to adopt technology towards cost cutting thereby increasing productivity. According to the course, it is apparent that the free labour resources are significant resources in all sectors of the economy (Stewart and Brown, 2012). This always happens to some extent; however, they tend to be