Healthy Living Free Essays

Ms. Dark Anat-6 21 March 15, 2013 Healthy Living Many variables influence your wellbeing. Some you can't control, for example, your hereditary cosmetics or your age, yet you can make changes to your way of life. We will compose a custom article test on Sound Living or on the other hand any comparative subject just for you Request Now This book incorporates a populace wellbeing approach and spotlights on the different conditions and settings which impact solid living, for example, nourishment, individual consideration and cleanliness, physical wellness home situations. Both physical movement and smart dieting are fundamental to acceptable wellbeing all through life, to expand versatility and to ensure against illness and handicap. They are expected to bring down the danger of constant illnesses and advance ideal wellbeing. In youngsters, adequate degrees of physical movement and good dieting are fundamental for sound development and advancement. Right off the bat, by picking good dieting propensity, individuals will increase numerous prizes. To have great nourishment, individuals ought to decrease the measure of fat and specifically, the measure of immersed fat. Individuals should build the admission of fiber-rich, boring nourishments, for example, bread, potatoes, pasta and rice considerably twice over, decrease the normal salt admission by around 33%, and increment the measure of fish eaten to in any event two bits every week, one of which ought to be a slick fish. Other than that, rehearsing great individual cleanliness is savvy for two reasons. To begin with, it assists with keeping individuals from getting and spreading sickness and infection. Second, it assists individuals with liking themselves and their body. At that point, being genuinely wellness not just assists individuals with living solid in lives, it additionally assists individuals with living longer. The most ideal approach to keep physical movement and exercise a perpetual piece of one’s life is to make it fun and pleasant. At long last, the entirety of the issues that develop out of the connection among individuals and the earth fall under the umbrella of condition wellbeing. This book examines the a wide range of dangers that compromise nature just as approaches to secure the earth and the individuals who live in it. The most effective method to refer to Healthy Living, Essay models

John Keat`s La Belle Dame Essays - Gothic Fiction,

John Keat's La Belle Dame In La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad, John Keats, the creator, relates sentiments of grief to the peruser by utilizing allegories of seriousness and distress. The sonnet is set around a knight's account of how his heart had been broken when he was left by a lady whom he had as of late experienced passionate feelings for. The lady, an clear succubus, goes to the knight in what is by all accounts some variety of a dream, and has intercourse to him. A succubus is known as a devil female underhandedness soul that comes to Earth and has sex with men while they rest. The knight recounts how they met, their short romance and mediating period, and eventually the finish of their sensual scene. Keats utilizes allegories to escape to demonstrations of sexuality all through the whole ditty. Toward the starting Keats composes of how a bystander stops to ask a knight for what good reason he is strolling around so tragic and bleak. He tells the knight that he looks pale and flushed as though he had been perspiring. The passing more odd needs to recognize what could be upsetting the knight, and what could make them meander around the edge of the lake in the dead of winter looking so pale and troubled. The knight starts his story by portraying to his audience that he once met an excellent woman in the glade. He discusses how she had long streaming hair, a tall, flimsy body, and abnormal eyes, which appeared to have a wild, wild look about them. He shouts that she more likely than not been the offspring of a pixie. At the point when they met he made presents for her, which he created from vines and blossoms. They incorporated a laurel for her head, arm bands for her wrists, and a belt for her to wear around her midriff, close to her fragrant zone. Keats employments the expression fragrant zone to represent this current lady's exotic nature. He alludes to this region similar to a district which gives forward an apparently sweet smell. After the gathering of these blessings, the knight and the abhorrent seductress started to kiss also, to touch one another. At that point the hot soul enthusiastically groaned as the he set her on of his pacing horse, and they started having intercourse. Their sexual scene extended over the length of the whole day. They would much of the time change positions as she rehashed her pixie's melody of orgasmic joy. At the point when the sexual meeting reached a conclusion, the succubus gave her misdirection as she renewed the knight with wild foods grown from the ground underlying foundations of relish, as though she too were encountering the unstoppable sentiments of warmth. She took him to her elfin grot, and deceitfully sobbed to him of her distresses. He gave his best undertaking to comfort her. As they lied upon the slope, the knight fell off into an apparently odious stupor as the woman sang to him a lovely tune which put his brain in a relaxed state so he would float off to rest. The knight recounts the musings he had while he lie dreaming on that chilly slope. He said he saw lords, rulers, and warriors the same. All were meandering randomly, looking distressed and pale. They would shout out, La bele woman sans merci hath thee in bondage! Which in interpretation implies, the beautiful woman without feel sorry for has subjugated thee. What they implied by that was that they also had once been lead off track by the female evil presence soul, known as the succubus. At the point when the knight arose he wound up lying on the cool slope alone. His woman of the glade was presently gone, and with her she took the poor knight's spirit. She left him with nothing other than a sentiment of complete vacancy that has frequented him to this day. That could be the reason the poor knight strolls alone, palely lingering, however the sedge is wither'd from the lake, and no feathered creatures sing. Suc-cu-transport ..thing 1. A female evil spirit that was said to plunge upon and have sex with a man while he is dozing.

A Reputation Contradicted Essays - Odyssey, Ancient Greek Religion

A Reputation Contradicted A Reputation Contradicted To many, a ?legend? is somebody who spares some other person or thing. In spite of the fact that Odysseus is by all accounts the legend in Homer's The Odyssey, his name problematizes the idea of his gallantry, and eventually, of his personality. In Greek, the formal person, place or thing ?Odysseus? additionally works as an action word importance ?to be against or to restrict.? Incomprehensibly, at that point, the hero of The Odyssey is additionally a foe; the legend is likewise the character answerable for causing the best mischief. At the point when Odysseus leaves Ithaka to take on in the Conflict of Troy, he accomplishes more close harm than he will ever acknowledge until he comes back to locate his home in a condition of turmoil and resulting pulverization. At the point when Odysseus leaves, he deserts a child that will never have a safe comprehension of who he truly is until he himself takes an excursion to locate his actual character. For the twenty years that Odysseus is away, Telemekhos has no affirmation of who his dad genuinely is or in the event that he truly is Odysseus' child. All that Telemekhos needs is a dad that will develop old in his home, will go about as a dad demonstrations, and be there as a dad seems to be: ?Companion, let me put it in the plainest way. My mom says I am his child; I know not without a doubt. I wish at any rate I had some upbeat man as father, developing old in his own home - in any case, obscure demise and quietness are the destiny of him that, since you ask, they call my dad.? (Book I, 258 - 264). Odysseus has made passionate harm Telemekhos by not being there like a dad ought to be. Odysseus additionally left his significant other Penelope with Telemekhos as a child when he went to battle. He left Penelope with the expectation of returning yet there was no assurance. After such a large number of years a spouse can just envision the ghastly destinies her better half may have experienced. Penelope's enthusiastic status is in a condition of affliction and despondency because of the way that her sweetheart has left and doesn't appear to be returning. Penelope, remains in her room and weaves and unweaves a cover with the expectation that he may return before she needs to pick another spouse. She sits in her room the entire day and she sobs and sobs for Odysseus' arrival: ?Sill with her youngster in reality she is, poor heart,/still in your castle corridor. Melancholy her evenings/and days pass by, her life spent in sobbing.? (Book XI, 204-206). In spite of the fact that Odysseus i s out playing legend for some, inside his inner condition, he is causing cut off harm. The agony and harm that he has caused notwithstanding, isn't constrained to simply his better half and his kid. Odysseus additionally has hurt his mom and his dad. The passionate harm that Odysseus has never really mother, is broad to such an extent that she kicks the bucket not of a sickness however of depression: ?...not that ailment surpassed me - no evident disease squandering the body to fix the soul; just my depression for you, Odysseus, for your benevolent heart and direction, delicate Odysseus, removed my own life.? (Book XI, 123 - 127). Odysseus likewise harmed his dad inwardly. After Odysseus left, he not, at this point held his demeanor of a lord and started to fall into a condition of sorrow. At the point when Odysseus goes to the black market, his mom let him know: ?However, your dad is nation bound and comes to town no more. He possesses no bedding, floor coverings, or woolen mantles, however, rests, winter evenings, among the slaves, abounded in old shrouds for spread, close to the ashes. Or on the other hand when the warmth comes toward the finish of summer, the fallen leaves, all around his vineyard plot, stacked into windrows, make his modest bed. He lies currently all things considered, with throbbing heart, what's more, yearns for your arrival, while age goes ahead him.? (Book XI, 210-219). The cozy harm that Odysseus has done is broad to the point that he has caused despondency, and even passing. At the point when Odysseus arrives at Troy, he becomes saint to one portion of the populace, yet will consistently stay a destroyer to another fragment of the populace. To his kindred warriors, he is a legend for his procedure in overcoming the trojans: ?And as to tricks, no man would guarantee/Odysseus' present for those. He had no opponents,/your dad, at the stunts of war.?

Fighting Music Piracy essays

Battling Music Piracy expositions Ok Internet, what a sensational innovation! Nowadays totally the sky is the limit to do and to get past the Internet. For example, the absolute most famous positive exercises incorporate the accessibility to right away access the historical centers and libraries all over the world, just as having the option to find out about the most recent news and occasions surprisingly fast. Without question, Internet serves the significant advantage by giving the prompt access to companions, family, and business relates through email, texting, video conferencing, and other Internet mediums. Clearly, the entire idea of having the option to shop from home without making a stage out of the entryway, or far superior, without getting up from the seat is consistently an incredible assistance. Additionally, Internet can give an inconsequential information, alongside diversion, for example, music, films, books, radio and others. At the end of the day, Internet nowadays basically turned into a rapid optio n in contrast to the U.S. Postal Service, a device for improving the psyches of numerous and an overall shopping center simultaneously. Shockingly, other than the huge measure of advantages that Internet brings to individuals, it likewise has gotten a home to the quantity of questionable, unlawful and even crimes that were acquainted with the general public in the recent years. It is anything but difficult to see the importance of those troublesome exercises by just examining the way that Internet gives a simple access to sex entertainment, which for reasons unknown kids, some of the time, appear to have the option to discover considerably simpler than the grown-ups. Viru and noxious programming that influences our home and business PCs are incredibly famous nowadays too. Obviously, only one major word SPAM, alongside the beguiling advertising and tricks, carries a ton of cerebral pain to individuals. This could appear to resemble a full rundown of detriments, yet lamentably it isn' t full right now. Take a second and check whether you can think about some other sort of a huge... <!

Technical writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Specialized composition - Essay Example In this way, the motivation behind this update is to give data about the impact of the Japan’s business culture and arrangement styles on business. In spite of the ongoing changes in the Japanese business culture, the Japanese arrangement style remains the most particular on the planet. It is far not quite the same as arrangement styles in Japan’s nearest neighbors, for example, Taiwan and Korea. Japanese officials embrace an unpretentious, relaxed bartering, in spite of the common forceful wheeling and dealing of Chinese and Korean business administrators (Hodgson, Sano and Graham 39). This postures difficulties in working together in light of the fact that, Japanese will in general be increasingly slow intentional in making concessions (Nishiyama 102). This takes quite a while in settling on business choices for the gatherings in question. Different difficulties emerge due to the Japanese’s retreat into ambiguous articulations or quietness when there are entang lements, creation of incessant referrals to the administrative center or bosses, and their nonverbal practices that are mind boggling and confounding (Nishiyama 102). The reminder has been written in this picked course of action method on account of its motivation. Being a useful reminder, arrangement of data and insights regarding Japan’s corporate culture and exchange styles and how they present difficulties to working together in Japan is the center capacity of this notice. ... Part B: A Report on the Challenges Associated with working together in Japan The significant difficulties that are related with working together in Japan are implanted in the country’s corporate culture and language. In the first place, when one goes to work together in Japan, the individual in question faces difficulties of acknowledgment. The Japanese doesn't acknowledge outsiders promptly and accept them as their own similar to the case in different nations. This makes a test in creating, and keeping up powerful business relations inside the Japanese framework. Another test comes from how male Japanese relates with females. For example, male Japanese administrators have no involvement with managing female supervisors, and have practically no convention of doing as such (Mente 79). Along these lines, females working together in Japan faces challenges since some Japanese will in general accept that ladies are not intended to be business directors in any case. The Japanese mar ket is a troublesome market. There are critical difficulties related with passage to the Japanese market, which is very costly and tedious. At times, it might be completely difficult to break into the dissemination channels for specific items. This is on the grounds that these channels are closely knit that no outsider can enter them (Mente 42). Failure to break into these channels has nothing to do with costs or item attractiveness, however it is connected to the solid connections between Japanese producers, retailers and makers. Interesting society and trouble Japanese language makes critical difficulties in working together. Language obstruction and misconception of culture lead to miscommunication and misconception (Haghirian 55). The

INFJ Personality Characteristics, Myths & Cognitive Functions

INFJ Personality Characteristics, Myths & Cognitive Functions Theories Personality Psychology Print INFJ: The Advocate (Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging) An Overview of the INFJ Personality Type By Kendra Cherry facebook twitter Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author, educational consultant, and speaker focused on helping students learn about psychology. Learn about our editorial policy Kendra Cherry Reviewed by Reviewed by Amy Morin, LCSW on January 28, 2020 facebook twitter instagram Amy Morin, LCSW, is a psychotherapist, author of the bestselling book 13 Things Mentally Strong People Dont Do, and a highly sought-after speaker. Learn about our Wellness Board Amy Morin, LCSW on January 28, 2020 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Overview Intuitive-Thinking INTJ INTP ENTJ ENTP Intuitive-Feeling INFJ INFP ENFJ ENFP Sensing-Judging ISTJ ISFJ ESTJ ESFJ Sensing-Perceiving ISTP ISFP ESTP ESFP In This Article Table of Contents Expand Key INFJ Characteristics Cognitive Functions Personal Relationships Career Paths Tips for Interacting With INFJs View All INFJ (introverted, intuitive, feeling, and judging) is one of the 16 personality types identified by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Sometimes referred to as the Advocate or the Idealist, people with INFJ personalities are creative, gentle, and caring. INFJs are usually reserved but highly sensitive to how others feel. They are typically idealistic, with high moral standards and a strong focus on the future. INFJs enjoy thinking about deep topics and contemplating the meaning of life. The INFJ type is said to be one of the rarest with just one to three percent of the population exhibiting this personality type. Illustration by JR Bee, Verywell What sets the INFJ apart is their ability to take their idealism and translate it into action. They are not daydreamers or philosophers who just think about changing the world â€" they are capable of taking their values and using them to bring about positive and lasting change. While the MBTI is extremely popular, it has also been the source of considerable criticism due in part to its poor validity and reliability. If you do take the MBTI, use caution when considering the meaning of your results.?? You can learn more about the INFJ personality in this overview, but this should not be construed as health, psychological, or professional career advice. INFJ is also the opposite of the ESTP personality. Key INFJ Characteristics With their strong sense of intuition and emotional understanding, INFJs can be soft-spoken and empathetic. This does not mean that they are push-overs, however. They have deeply held beliefs and an ability to act decisively in order to get what they want.While they are introverted by nature, people with this personality type are able to form strong, meaningful connections with other people. They enjoy helping others, but they also need time and space to recharge.While this personality type may be characterized by idealism, this does not mean that INFJs see the world through rose-colored glasses. They understand the world, both the good and the bad, and hope to be able to make it better.When it comes to making decisions, they place a greater emphasis on personal concerns than objective facts when making decisions. They also like to exert control by planning, organizing and making decisions as early as possible. Strengths Sensitive to the needs of others Reserved Highly creative and artistic Focused on the future Values close, deep relationships Enjoys thinking about the meaning of life Idealistic Weaknesses Can be overly sensitive Sometimes difficult to get to know Can have overly high expectations Stubborn Dislikes confrontation Cognitive Functions The MBTI was originally created by Isabel Myers and her mother Katherine Briggs in the 1940s based on the theories of Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Jung believed that a number of mental processes made up each individuals psychological type. He identified four key psychological functions: thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition. Each of these functions then tends to be either outwardly focused (extraverted) or inwardly focused (introverted). MBTI advocates often utilize what they refer to as a functional stack when analyzing results. You can think of the different cognitive functions as the ingredients that go into making up a personality type. The specific recipe for each type is controlled by how these different ingredients combine and interact. The MBTI itself relies on two key factors that combine in different ways to give us the 16 different types. First is the functions themselves, and second is the hierarchical order of those functions. Each type possesses a dominant function that is the core characteristic of each type. This is then supported by an auxiliary function which is another well-developed aspect of personality. The tertiary and inferior functions are less conscious and not as well formed. INFJs tend to rely more on four primary cognitive functions: Dominant: Introverted Intuition This means that they tend to be highly focused on their internal insights.Once they have formed an intuition about something, they tend to stick to it very tightly, often to the point of being single-minded in their focus.Because of this, they are sometimes viewed as being stubborn and unyielding. Auxiliary: Extraverted Feeling This characteristic of this type makes INFJs highly aware of what other people are feeling, but it means they are sometimes less aware of their own emotions.INFJs sometimes struggle to say no to other peoples requests for this reason. They are so attuned to what other people are feeling that they fear causing disappointment or hurt feelings. Tertiary: Introverted Thinking INFJs make decisions based on ideas and theories that they form based on their own insights.INFJs rely primarily on their introverted intuition and extroverted feeling when making decisions, particularly when they are around other people. When they are alone, however, people with this personality type may rely more on their introverted thinking.In stressful situations, an INFJ might try to rely on emotions when making decisions, especially if it means pleasing other people. Under less stressful conditions, however, an INFJ is more likely to rely more on their intuition. Inferior: Extraverted Sensing While this is a less developed and largely unconscious aspect of the INFJ, it does have an impact on personality.This aspect of personality helps the INFJ pay attention to the world around them and stay aware of their surroundings.Extroverted sensing also helps INFJs better live in the present moment, rather than simply worrying about the future.This aspect of personality also helps INFJs appreciate physical activities such as hiking and dancing. INFJs You Might Know Oprah Winfey, television personalityMartin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leaderAtticus Finch, To Kill a MockingbirdCarl Jung, psychoanalystTaylor Swift, musician Personal Relationships INFJs also have a  talent for language  and are usually quite good at expressing themselves. They have a vivid inner life, but they are often hesitant to share this with others except for perhaps those closest to them. While they are quiet and sensitive, they can also be  good leaders. Even when they dont take on overt leadership roles, they often act as quiet influencers behind the scenes. INFJs are  driven by their strong values  and seek out meaning in all areas of their lives including relationships and work. People with this type of personality are often described as deep and complex. They may not have a huge circle of acquaintances, but their close friendships tend to be very close and long-lasting. INFJs are interested in helping others and making the world a better place. They tend to be  excellent listeners  and are good at interacting with people which whom they are emotionally close and connected. While they care deeply about others, INFJs tend to be very introverted and are only willing to share their true selves with a select few. After being in social situations, INFJs need time to themselves to recharge. Career Paths INFJs do well in careers where they can express their creativity. Because people with INFJ personality have such deeply held convictions and values, they do particularly well in jobs that support these principles. INFJs often do best in careers that mix their need for creativity with their desire to make meaningful changes in the world. INFJs are usually  high achievers  and excel in academics and the workplace. They can be perfectionists at times and tend to put a great deal of effort into their work. Co-workers tend to feel that INFJs are hardworking, positive, and easy to get along with. Because they are introverted, however, they may find that they need to retreat at times to recharge. In managerial roles, INFJs can sometimes struggle to exert authority. They tend to lead with sensitivity and are good at helping subordinates feel appreciated in the workplace. Jobs that require a great deal of routine or adherence to strict rules can be difficult or INFJs. Popular INFJ Careers ArtistActorEntrepreneurReligious workerMusicianLibrarianCounselorPsychologistWriterTeacherPhotographer Tips for Interacting With INFJs Friendships Because they are  reserved and private, INFJs can be difficult to get to know. They place a high value on close, deep relationships and can be hurt easily, although they often hide these feelings from others. Interacting with an INFJ involves understanding and supporting their need to retreat and recharge. People with this personality type sometimes feel misunderstood. You can be a good friend by taking the time to understand their perspective and appreciating their strengths. Parenting Because INFJs are so skilled at understanding feelings, they tend to be very close and connected to their children. They have high standards, and can have very high behavioral expectations. They are concerned with raising children that are kind, caring, and compassionate. INFJs encourage their children to pursue their interests and talents in order to fully realize their individual potential. Relationships INFJs have an innate ability to understand other peoples feelings and enjoy being in close, intimate relationships. They tend to flourish best in romantic relationships with people who they share their core values. As a partner, it is important to provide the support and emotional intimacy that an INFJ craves. Sincerity, honesty, and authenticity are all traits that the INFJ appreciates in their partner.

Portable Insulin Pump Essay - 825 Words

Portable Insulin Pump (Essay Sample) Content: Portable Insulin PumpName:Institution:The human body requires insulin to metabolise blood sugar and maintain the levels within a safe range. Very high blood sugar levels result in body poisoning and may cause damage to organs like the eyes and kidneys. Normally, diabetics are treated with daily insulin injections. The number of injections is usually between two and three. However, this mode of treatment is not effective because the blood insulin levels peak sharply immediately after an injection and keep dropping until the next injection is administered (Pierson). It would be desirable to maintain the blood insulin levels constantly closer to those of non-diabetic people.A portable insulin pump is a machine that is used to deliver insulin to the body only when the body needs it. In doing so, it helps maintain constant insulin levels in the blood. The insulin pump has a blood sugar sensor. Blood sample from the patient is fed into the blood sugar sensor. The sensor the n passes the blood sugar parameters to the blood sugar analyser for analysis (Diabetes UK). These parameters help determines the level of sugar in the blood. The blood sugar level is then used for insulin requirement computation. Insulin requirement computation is the process of determining if the blood sugar level is too high and an insulin injection is required to lower it or not. The results of insulin requirement computation are then passed on to the insulin delivery controller. This controller is the one that manages insulin delivery by the insulin pump. If the results of insulin requirement computation necessitate an insulin injection, then the insulin delivery controller commands the insulin pump to inject the patient with the correct amount of insulin (Blake). If the insulin requirement computation results do not necessitate an insulin injection, then the insulin delivery controller instructs the insulin pump to skip insulin injection. The insulin pump also displays informat ion on the blood sugar levels on a screen.The portable insulin pump function...

Community Gardening One Solution for Curing Diabetes

To talk about the diabetic epidemic African Americans, Native Americans and Latinos and not include its companion obesity only paints half of the full picture (Lombard, Forster-Cox and Smeal) (Oregon Department of Human Services). The diabetes targeted in this discussion is type 2. Type 1 diabetes is genetically derived; it is the body’s inability to produce insulin (American Diabetes Association). This type usually affects children and young adults. Type 2 is caused by unhealthy eating and lifestyle choices over a period of time. This type usually is characteristic of older adults, but lately has been seen in older children (Oregon Department of Human Services). This problem is personal for me, as I have recently been diagnosed with†¦show more content†¦Too much of the general population does not recognize the correlation between food and health. In addition, when looking at diabetes, not everyone affected is at the poverty level. Statistics support that more people with diabetes are poor, but the middle working class are also at risk. One of the reasons is that they have brought into the propaganda that they should be able to eat what they can afford. Just recently I watched an episode of a reality television show called â€Å"Restaurant Impossible.† On the show an expert visits restaurants that are failing and going broke and provide the owners with new menu items, clean up when necessary, and provide an investment of ten-thousand dollars in a redesign of the restaurant. One of the new and improved menu items was smoked chicken; after smoking the chicken the chef then slathered butter on it, grilled it and covered it with barbeque sauce and served it with potatoes, and I don’t remember seeing a vegetable. Nevertheless, this is a prescription for disaster. Also consider the restaurant Applebee’s; I was shocked to find out that most of their entrà ©es are over a thousand calories and also slathered with butter and salt. I am afraid to eat there now. Middle-class Americans are frequenting these restaurants. Therefore making the change to healthier eating is a huge and difficult endeavor. Excess consumption of

Measuring World Development Essay - 825 Words

Measuring World Development Development is a complex economic, social and political phenomenon. There are a range of simple and composite indicators used to measure development. There are many definitions of development, perhaps the most used is; â€Å"Development refers to a number of characteristics such as demographic change, economic growth, an increase in the case of resources, modernisation, higher levels of technology and political freedom.† Indicators of development are put into four sectors: Economic, Social, Political and environmental. These factors can be broken down into two groups, simple and composite. Such simple indictors would be birth rate, death rate and GNP.†¦show more content†¦These types of countries are not necessarily ‘not developed’, they just have different customs, cultural differences or they could be nomadic (farming based) or an indigenous population, as described above. Maps of the globe are produced to show levels of world development based on three key features; wealth, social advantage and deprivation. An imaginary line can be seen around the world which separates the ‘developed’ countries and the ‘non developed’ countries. This line is called the Brandt line. It is a modern day method of measuring development. It basically separates countries based on how economically stable a country is, how technologically advanced it is, how democratic and how modern a country is. The line shows ‘most developed’ countries to the north and west, whereas the ‘least developed’ countries to the south and east. As with every theory, there are exceptions. These being Australia and New Zealand, which are classed as ‘developed’ countries. Other indicators of development that are being used today are the PQLI, which is the physical quality of life index. Also the IHSI, which is the International Human Suffering Index. The PQLI is a quantitative measure of development and can be calculated by taking the average of three variables. These are life expectancy, literacy rates,Show MoreRelatedTourism Industry a Major Source of Income Essay670 Words   |  3 PagesTourism is recognized as a big industry worldwide which is a key sector of development in several countries and a major source of income, jobs and wealth creation and also influencing complementary investment and domestic policies. This range of influence and importance creates challenges to measurement in tourism. The most industry activities can be measured by clear statistics such as agricultural industry and automobile or electronics manufacturing. While, Tourism is a large and complex industryRead MoreDevelopment Indicators928 Words   |  4 PagesTITTL E: An essay on development indicators describing the following indicators that may be used to explain levels of development within countries: (a). (b). (c). 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In understanding the emotional and cognitive development in children, many theorists including Bowlby and his attachment theory, Baumrind theory towards parenting styles and also Vygotsky and his theory on social development, have all worked hard over many years of research into producing theories on understanding how the development of children is important. It has been found that emotional and cognitive development are becoming

My Pursuit For A Career - 872 Words

From an early age, I was exposed to medicine through my father, a radiologist, and as I grew, the influence of his career naturally and inevitably tailored my interest. It has been my own desire, however, that has compelled me to pursue a career in medicine. The summer after my sophomore year in high school, my family took a trip to our native town in India. For two months, I volunteered at the Charity Foundation in India, and the experiences I had there resonated deeply in me, changing my perspectives forever. More than my duties, the simple daily exposure transformed me permanently. These experiences with the Charity Organization and Mother Teresa herself showed me medicine in a light I might not have seen back home in Texas or elsewhere, gave me a new understanding to a physicianï ¿ ½s role in society, and set forth my pursuit for a career in medicine. After my sophomore year in college, I decided to study abroad in Europe for a year. My ongoing interest in medicine, coupled with a strong desire for a new environment and new challenges, led me to discover a 6-year M.D. program at the University in Hungary. Although I had the option of returning home after the 1st year, my first year in Debrecen had transformed me tremendously. My strong academic performance, vast exposure to different cultures, viewpoints, and ways of life convinced me to make one of the most crucial decisions of my life. I decided to continue my studies in Hungary. The extensive basic science curriculumShow MoreRelatedArt And The Pursuit Of Art1329 Words   |  6 Pagesthroughout my life. As a child, art was my retreat from the mundane of the world. I found a way of communicating the things I was feeling with others around me! It gave me different perspectives and ways of looking at events, emotions, and people. All of these perspectives helped shape me, made me contemplate the individual I wanted to be and how the world behaves. 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Racism, Racism And The Central Frame From Bonilla Silva Of...

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The Secret Circle The Initiation Chapter One Free Essays

It wasn’t supposed to be this hot and humid on Cape Cod. Cassie had seen it in the guidebook; everything was supposed to be perfect here, like Camelot. Except, the guidebook added absently, for the poison ivy, and ticks, and green flies, and toxic shellfish, and undercurrents in seemingly peaceful water. We will write a custom essay sample on The Secret Circle: The Initiation Chapter One or any similar topic only for you Order Now The book had also warned against hiking out on narrow peninsulas because high tide could come along and strand you. But just at this moment Cassie would have given anything to be stranded on some peninsula jutting far out into the Atlantic Ocean – as long as Portia Bain-bridge was on the other side. Cassie had never been so miserable in her life. â€Å"†¦ and my other brother, the one on the MIT debate team, the one who went to the World Debate Tournament in Scotland two years ago†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Portia was saying. Cassie felt her eyes glaze over again and slipped back into her wretched trance. Both of Portia’s brothers went to MIT and were frighteningly accomplished, not only at intellectual pursuits but also at athletics. Portia was frighteningly accomplished herself, even though she was only going to be a junior in high school this year, like Cassie. And since Portia’s favorite subject was Portia, she’d spent most of the last month telling Cassie all about it. â€Å"†¦ and then after I placed fifth in extemporaneous speaking at the National Forensic League Championship last year, my boyfriend said, ‘Well, of course you’ll go All-American†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Just one more week, Cassie told herself. Just one more week and I can go home. The very thought filled her with a longing so sharp that tears came to her eyes. Home, where her friends were. Where she didn’t feel like a stranger, and unaccomplished, and boring, and stupid just because she didn’t know what a quahog was. Where she could laugh about all this: her wonderful vacation on the eastern seaboard. â€Å"†¦ so my father said, ‘Why don’t I just buy it for you?’ But I said, ‘No – well, maybe†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ â€Å" Cassie stared out at the sea. It wasn’t that the Cape wasn’t beautiful. The little cedar-shingled cottages, with white picket fences covered with roses and wicker rocking chairs on the porch and geraniums hanging from the rafters, were pretty as picture postcards. And the village greens and tall-steepled churches and old-fashioned schoolhouses made Cassie feel as if she’d stepped into a different time. But every day there was Portia to deal with. And even though every night Cassie thought of some devastatingly witty remark to make to Portia, somehow she never got around to actually making any of them. And far worse than anything Portia could do was the plain raw feeling of not belonging. Of being a stranger here, stranded on the wrong coast, completely out of her own element. The tiny duplex back in California had started to seem like heaven to Cassie. One more week, she thought. You’ve just got to stand it for one more week. And then there was Mom, so pale lately and so quiet†¦ A worried twinge went through Cassie, and she quickly pushed it away. Mom is fine, she told herself fiercely. She’s probably just miserable here, the same way you are, even though this is her native state. She’s probably counting the days until we can go home, just like you are. Of course that was it, and that was why her mother looked so unhappy when Cassie talked about being homesick. Her mother felt guilty for bringing Cassie here, for making this place sound like a vacation paradise. Everything would be all right when they got back home, for both of them. â€Å"Cassie! Are you listening to me? Or are you daydreaming again?† â€Å"Oh, listening,† Cassie said quickly. â€Å"What did I just say?† Cassie floundered. Boyfriends, she thought desperately, the debate team, college, the National Forensic League†¦ People had sometimes called her a dreamer, but never as much as around here. â€Å"I was saying they shouldn’t let people like that on the beach,† Portia said. â€Å"Especially not with dogs. I mean, I know this isn’t Oyster Harbors, but at least it’s clean. And now look.† Cassie looked, following the direction of Portia’s gaze. All she could see was some guy walking down the beach. She looked back at Portia uncertainly. â€Å"He works on a fishing boat,† Portia said, her nostrils flared as if she smelled something bad. â€Å"I saw him this morning on the fish pier, unload-ing. I don’t think he’s even changed his clothes. How unutterably scuzzy and vomitous.† He didn’t look all that scuzzy to Cassie. He had dark red hair, and he was tall, and even at this distance she could see that he was smiling. There was a dog at his heels. â€Å"We never talk to guys from the fishing boats. We don’t even look at them,† Portia said. And Cassie could see it was true. There were maybe a dozen other girls on the beach, in groups of two or three, a few with guys, most not. As the tall boy passed, the girls would look away, turning their heads to stare in the opposite direction. It wasn’t a flirtatious sort of looking-away-and-then-back-and-giggling. It was disdainful rejection. As the guy got closer to her, Cassie could see that his smile was turning grim. The two girls closest to Cassie and Portia were looking away now, almost sniffing. Cassie saw the boy shrug slightly, as if it were no more than he expected. She still didn’t see anything so disgusting about him. He was wearing ragged cutoff shorts and a T-shirt that had seen better days, but lots of guys looked like that. And his dog trotted right behind him, tail waving, friendly and alert. It wasn’t bothering anybody. Cassie glanced up at the boy’s face, curious to see his eyes. â€Å"Look down,† Portia whispered. The guy was passing right in front of them. Cassie hastily looked down, obeying automatically, although she felt a surge of rebellion in her heart. It seemed cheap and nasty and unnecessary and cruel. She was ashamed to be a part of it, but she couldn’t help doing what Portia said. She stared at her fingers trailing into the sand. She could see every granule in the bright sunlight. From far away the sand looked white, but up close it was shimmering with colors: specks of black-and-green mica, pastel shell fragments, chips of red quartz like tiny garnets. Unfair, she thought to the boy, who of course couldn’t hear her. I’m sorry; this just isn’t fair. I wish I could do something, but I can’t. A wet nose thrust under her hand. The suddenness of it made her gasp, and a giggle caught in her throat. The dog pushed at her hand again, not asking; demanding. Cassie petted it, scratching at the short, silky-bristly hairs on its nose. It was a German shepherd, or mostly, a big, handsome dog with liquid, intelligent brown eyes and a laughing mouth. Cassie felt the stiff, embarrassed mask she’d been wearing break, and she laughed back at it. Then she glanced up at the dog’s owner, quickly, unable to help herself. She met his eyes directly. Later, Cassie would think of that moment, the moment when she looked up at him and he looked down at her. His eyes were blue-gray, like the sea at its most mysterious. His face was odd; not conventionally handsome, but arresting and intriguing, with high cheekbones and a determined mouth. Proud and independent and humorous and sensitive all at once. As he looked down at her his grim smile lightened and something sparkled in those blue-gray eyes, like sun glinting off the waves. Normally Cassie was shy around guys, especially guys she didn’t know, but this was only some poor worker from the fishing boats, and she felt sorry for him, and she wanted to be nice, and besides she couldn’t help it. And so when she felt herself start to sparkle back at him, her laughter bubbling up in response to his smile, she let it happen. In that instant it was as if they were sharing a secret, something nobody else on the beach could understand. The dog wiggled ecstatically, as if he were in on it too. â€Å"Cassie,† came Portia’s fuming hiss. Cassie felt herself turn red, and she tore her eyes away from the guy’s face. Portia was looking apoplectic. â€Å"Raj!† the boy said, not laughing anymore. â€Å"Heel!† With apparent reluctance, the dog backed away from Cassie, tail still wagging. Then, in a spray of sand, he bounded toward his master. It isn’t fair, Cassie thought again. The boy’s voice startled her. â€Å"Life isn’t fair,† he said. Shocked, her eyes flew up to his face. His own eyes were as dark as the sea in a storm. She saw that clearly, and for a moment she was almost frightened, as if she had glimpsed something forbidden, something beyond her comprehension. But powerful. Something powerful and strange. And then he was walking away, the dog frisking behind him. He didn’t look back. Cassie stared after him, astounded. She hadn’t spoken aloud; she was sure she hadn’t spoken aloud. But then how could he have heard her? Her thoughts were shattered by a hiss at her side. Cassie cringed, knowing exactly what Portia was going to say. That dog probably had mange and fleas and worms and scrofula. Cassie’s towel was probably crawling with parasites right this minute. But Portia didn’t say it. She too was staring after the retreating figures of the boy and dog. as they went up a dune, then turned along a little path in the beach grass. And although she was clearly disgusted, there was something in her face – a sort of dark speculation and suspicion that Cassie had never seen before. â€Å"What’s the matter, Portia?† Portia’s eyes had narrowed. â€Å"I think,† she said slowly, through tight lips, â€Å"that I’ve seen him before.† â€Å"You already said so. You saw him on the fish pier.† Portia shook her head impatiently. â€Å"Not that. Shut up and let me think.† Stunned, Cassie shut up. Portia continued to stare, and after a few moments she began nodding, little nods to confirm something to herself. Her face was flushed blotchily, and not with sunburn. Abruptly, still nodding, she muttered something and stood up. She was breathing quickly now. â€Å"Portia?† â€Å"I’ve got to do something,† Portia said, waving a hand at Cassie without looking at her. â€Å"You stay here.† â€Å"What’s going on?† â€Å"Nothing!† Portia glanced at her sharply. â€Å"Nothing’s going on. Just forget all about it. I’ll see you later.† She walked off, moving quickly, heading up the dunes toward the cottage her family owned. Ten minutes ago, Cassie would have said she’d be deliriously happy just to have Portia leave her alone, for any reason. But now she found she couldn’t enjoy it. Her mind was all churned up, like the choppy blue-gray water before a gale. She felt agitated and distressed and almost frightened. The strangest thing was what Portia had muttered before getting up. It had been under her breath, and Cassie didn’t think she could have heard it right. It must have been something else, like â€Å"snitch,† or â€Å"bitch,† or â€Å"rich.† She must have heard it wrong. You couldn’t call a guy a witch, for God’s sake. Calm down, she told herself. Don’t worry, be happy. You’re alone at last. But for some reason she couldn’t relax. She stood and picked up her towel. Then, wrapping it around her, she started down the beach the way the guy had gone. How to cite The Secret Circle: The Initiation Chapter One, Essay examples

Mysticism Essay Example For Students

Mysticism Essay In this article I would like to bring the findings of my somewhat unusual butincreasingly accepted field ? mysticism? to the discussion, for I think theymay offer some helpful insights about consciousness. Why? When a biologist seeksto understand a complex phenomenon, one key strategy is to look to at it in itssimplest form. Probably the most famous is the humble bacterium E. coli. Itssimple gene structure has allowed us to understand much of the gene functioningof complex species. Similarly many biologists have turned to the ?memory ofthe simple sea slug to understand our own more kaleidoscopic memory. Freud andDurkheim both used totemism, which they construed as thesimplest form ofreligion, to understand the complexities of religious life.1 The methodologicalprinciple is: to understand something complex turn to its simple forms. Mysticalexperiences may represent just such a simple form of human consciousness. Usually our minds are an enormously complex stew of thoughts, feelings,sensations, wants, snatches of song, pains, drives, daydreams and, of course,consciousness itself more or less aware of it all. To understand consciousnessin itself, the obvious thing would be to clear away as much of this internaldetritus and noise as possible. It turns out that mystics seem to be doingprecisely that. The technique that most mystics use is some form of meditationor contemplation. These are procedures that, often by recycling a mentalsubroutine,2 systematically reduce mental activity. During meditation, onebegins to slow down the thinking process, and have fewer or less intensethoughts. Ones thoughts become as if more distant, vague, or lesspreoccupying; one stops paying as much attention to bodily sensations; one hasfewer or less intense fantasies and daydreams. Thus by reducing the intensity orcompelling quality of outward perception and inward thoughts, one may come to atime of greater stillnes s. Ultimately one may become utterly silent inside, asthough in a gap between thoughts, where one becomes completely perception- andthought-free. One neither thinks nor perceives any mental or sensory content. Yet, despite this suspension of content, one emerges from such events confidentthat one had remained awake inside, fully conscious. This experience, which hasbeen called the pure consciousness event, or PCE, has been identified invirtually every tradition. Though PCEs typically happen to any single individualonly occasionally, they are quite regular for some practitioners.3 The pureconsciousness event may be defined as a wakeful but contentless(non-intentional) consciousness. These PCEs, encounters with consciousnessdevoid of intentional content, may be just the least complex encounter withawareness per se that we students of consciousness seek. The PCE may serve, inshort, as the E coli of consciousness studies.4 But the story does not stophere. Regular and long-term meditation, according to many traditions, leads toadvanced experiences, known in general as ?enlightenment. Theirdiscriminating feature is a deep shift in epistemological structure: theexperienced relationship between th e self and ones perceptual objects changesprofoundly. In many people this new structure becomes permanent.5 Theselong-term shifts in epistemological structure often take the form of two quantumleaps in experience; typically they develop sequentially.6 The first is anexperience of a permanent interior stillness, even while engaged in thought andactivity ? one remains aware of ones own awareness while simultaneouslyremaining conscious of thoughts, sensations and actions. Because of itsphenomenological dualism ? a heightened cognizance of awareness itself plus aconsciousness of thoughts and objects ? I call it the dualistic mystical state(DMS). The second shift is described as a perceived unity of ones ownawareness per se with the objects around one, an immediate sense of aquasi-physical unity between self, objects and other people. States akin to thishave been called ?extrovertive- or sometimes ?nature- mysticism; but Iprefer to call it the unitive mystical state, UMS.7 Like the PCE, these lattertwo may serve as fertile fields for students of consciousness to plough. Tounderstand them, I want to introduce the idea of the relative intensity of athought or desire. Some desires have a high relative intensity. Lets say I amwalking across the street when I see a huge truck hurtling at me. Virtually 100%of my attention is taken up with the truck, the fear, and getting out of theway. It is virtually impossible for me to think about anything else at thattime. I dont even consider keeping my suit clean, how my hair might look, thediscomfort in my tummy, or the classes I will teach tomorrow. The fear andrunning are utterly intense, we might say, consuming nearly 100% of myattention. That evening, I come home starved, and rush to the fridge. I may becivil to my kids and wife, but I have very little patience. My desire for foodis very intense, for it preoccupies most of my consciousness, but it consumesless of my attention than did jumping away from the truck. Some thoughts consumevery little of my attention. Driving to work the next day, for example, I mightruminate about my classes, remember the near miss with the truck, half hear thenews on the radio, and think about getting that noise in the car fixed ?nearly all at once. None of these thoughts or desires is very intense, for nonehas a strong emotional cathexis that draws me fully into it. My attention canflow in and out of any of them, or the traffic ahead, effortlessly. In short theintensity of a thought or desire tends to increase the amount of myconsciousness that is taken up with that thought or feeling. Conversely, thethoughts intensity tends to lessen when I am able to retain more attentionfor other issues, and for my wider perspective. Now, as I understand them,advanced mystical experiences result from the combination of regular PCEs plus aminimization of the relative intensity of emotions and thoughts. That is, overtime one decreases the compulsive or intense cathexis of all of ones desir es. The de-intensifying of emotional attachments means that, over the years, onesattention is progressively available to sense its own quiet interior charactermore and more fully, until eventually one is able to effortlessly maintain asubtle cognizance of ones own awareness simultaneously with thinking aboutand responding to the world: a reduction in the relative intensity of all ofones thoughts and desires. This state of being cognizant of ones own innerawareness while simultaneously maintaining the ability to think and talk aboutthat consciousness offers students of consciousness a unique situation. Forthese subjects may be both unusually cognizant of features or patterns of theirown awareness and also able to describe them to us: a kind of ongoing microscopeon human consciousness. In short, while not as phenomenologically simple as PCEs,these experiences may provide us with highly useful reports about the characterof human awareness. Several additional preliminary matters: First, perf orce wewill be drawing conclusions based on the experiences of a very few people. Mostof us havent had any experiences like the ones I will describe, and some maysound pretty strange. Yet we often do generalize from the unusual to thegeneral. Just think how much we have concluded about consciousness from a veryfew: epileptics, people with unusual skull accidents or brain injuries, the manwho mistook his wife for a hat, etc. From the pathology of a very few we havelearned a great deal about the relationship of one side of the brain to theother, of two kinds of knowing, of information storage and retrieval, of impulsecontrol, etc. Indeed it is common practice to take data about a few unusualindividuals and generalize it to the many. Here again we are studying the dataof a few. But rather than the pathological, we will be studying people ?Sakyamuni Buddha, Teresa of Avila, Ramana Maharshi, etc. ? who are not?pathological but unusually self-actualized. Should we not be as willing tolear n from the experiences of the unusually healthy as we are to learn from theunusually diseased? The second matter is definitional: What do we mean bymysticism? What is generally known as mysticism is often said to have twostrands, which are traditionally distinguished as apophatic and kataphaticmysticism, oriented respectively towards emptying or the imagistically filling. These two are generally described in terms that are without or with sensorylanguage. The psychologist Roland Fischer has distinguished a similar pairing astrophotropic and ergotropic, experiences that phenomenologically involveinactivity or activity. Kataphatic or imagistic mysticism involveshallucinations, visions, auditions or even a sensory-like smell or taste; itthus involves activity and is ergotropic. Apophatic mystical experiences aredevoid of such sensory-like content, and are thus trophotropic. When they usenon-sensory, non imagistic language,8 authors like Eckhart, Dogen, al-Hallaj,Bernadette Roberts and Shankara are all thus apophatic mystics. Because visionsand other ergotropic experiences are not the simple experiences of consciousnessthat we require, I will focus my attentions exclusively on the quieter apophaticforms. Finally, I want to emphasize that phenomenology is not science. When wedescribe these experiences, we do not gain hard scientific proof thereby. Therecan be many ways to explain an unusual experience: one might say it was theresult of what one ate for dinner, a faulty memory, psycho-somatic processes, aquantum microtubule collapse, or an encounter with Ultimate Truth.* Withoutfurther argumentation, phenomenology cannot serve as the sole basis for anytheory of reality. It may be taken only as a finger, pointing in some direction,rather than conclusive evidence for or against a particular thesis. This is howI see my role in this paper. I will simply describe mystical experiences asaccurately as I can, and say where I see their fingers pointing. That is, I willattempt to coax metaphysical hypotheses out of these phenomenologicaldescriptions. First-person reports, especially those that are about unusualexperiences are, of course, notoriously unreliable. When an epileptic says that?the table seemed wavy, or when a man asserts that his wife is a ?hat,these reports are not taken as data about the world, but about their condition.9One may w ant to assert that a mystics report should be regarded similarly. But we must be careful here, for first-person reports can also be veridical oreven sources of wisdom. For example, in the kingdom of the blind, the?first-person report of a sighted fellow that ?the mountain peak near thevillage is in the shape of five fingers may be regarded as the rantings of alunatic or as information about the mountains. Similarly, when Woodward andBernstein spoke with the Watergate informant ?Deep Throat, they could havetaken his utterances as paranoid ramblings, data about his developing psychosis,or as information about the Nixon administration. How can we determine which wayto regard the unusual first-person reports of the mystics? If we were Woodwardand Bernstein, how would we decide? Common sense seems a good place to begin. Wemight ask, does Deep Throat, or the mystics in our case, seem unconnected ordelusional? I believe most of us would say no. In fact many regard MeisterEckhart, Teresa of Avila, the authors of the Upanishads, and others who tell usof suc h experiences as unusually wise. Certainly they do not seem utterlyunhinged, physically ill, etc. Secondly, we might ask, do others in a situationsimilar to Deep Throats describe things similarly? In our case, assumingreasonable cultural differences in language and detail, do mystics from aroundthe world describe things largely similarly? Here again the answer is yes. Weshall find a reasonable amount of similarity among their descriptions, a familyresemblance, They tend to confirm each others reports. Finally, is there otherconfirming evidence for our Deep Throats claims? Here the information is notin: just how consciousness works, relates to the world or the brain, is anythingbut established. In sum, it makes sense to regard the mystics unusual reportsabout the world as more like those of a Deep Throat than those of an epileptic. But also, again as with Deep Throat, the information we can glean from them isnot, by itself, reliable enough to base a theory of consciousness solely on it. It will take the hard-working Woodwards and Bernsteins in the scientific andphilosophical trenches to verify or deny the suggestions of our Deep Throats. Three Mystical Phenomena and their Implications Pure consciousness events Let mebegin by offering several reports of the first of the mystical phenomena Imentioned above, the pure consciousness event (PCE). First, from Christianmystical literature,10 St. Teresa of Avila writes of what she calls the?orison of union: During the short time the union lasts, she is deprived ofevery feeling, and even if she would, she could not think of any single thing.. . She is utterly dead to the things of the world . . . I do not even knowwhether in this state she has enough life left to breathe. It seems to me shehas not; or at least that if she does breathe, she is unaware of it. . . Thenatural action of all her faculties . She neither sees, hears,nor understands (James, 1902/1983, p. 409).11 Several key features of thisexperience jump out. First, Teresa tells us that one reaches this ?orison ofunity by gradually reducing thought and understanding, eventually becoming?utterly dead to things, encountering neither sensation, thought norperceptions. One becomes as simple as possible. Eventually one stops thinkingaltogether, not able to ?think of any single thing . . . arresting the use ofher understanding . . . utterly dead to the things of the world. And yet, sheclearly implies, one remains awake.12 Meister Eckhart describes somethingsimilar as the gezucken, rapture, of St. Paul, his archetype of a transientmystical experience: . . . the more com pletely you are able to draw in yourpowers to a unity and forget all those things and their images which you haveabsorbed, and the further you can get from creatures and their images, thenearer you are to this and the readier to receive it. If only you could suddenlybe unaware of all things, then you could pass into an oblivion of your own bodyas St Paul did, . . . In this case . . . memory no longer functioned, norunderstanding, nor the senses, nor the powers that should function so as togovern and grace the body . . . In this way a man should flee his senses, turnhis powers inward and sink into an oblivion of all things and himself (Walshe,1982, p. 7). Like St. Teresa, Eckhart specifically asserts the absence ofsensory content (?nor the senses), as well as mental objects (?devoidof memory, understanding, senses, etc.). One becomes oblivious of ones?own body and ?all things. In short one becomes ?unaware of allthings, i.e. devoid of all mental and sensory content. The absence of th oughtand sensation is repeated in the following passage from the Upanishads whendescribing the state these early Hindu texts call turiya, the ?fourth. Verily when a knower has restrained his mind from the external, and thebreathing spirit (prana) has put to rest objects of sense, thereupon let himcontinue void of conceptions. Since the living individual (jiva) who is named?breathing spirit has arisen here from what is not breathing spirit,therefore, verily, let the breathing spirit restrain his breathing spirit inwhat is called the fourth condition (turiya) ? Maitri Upanishad 6:19 (Hume,1931, p. 436). Here again one has ?put to rest objects of sense, i.e. gradually laid aside all sensations, and continued ?void of conceptions,i.e. not thinking. And yet the Upanishads are insistent that one remainsconscious, indeed becomes nothing but consciousness itself. The consciousnessthat one reaches in turiya comes to be known in Samkhya philosophy as ?purusha?,often translated as awareness or consciousness itself, that which?illuminates or ?witnesses thoughts, feelings, and actions.13 Thepurusha or awareness that one reaches during this experience is described as?sheer contentless presence (sasksitva) . . . that is nonintentional(Larson, 1979, p. 77). Here is a report from the present authors owntwenty-eight year practice of neo-Advaitan (Hindu-derived) TranscendentalMeditation, which suggests the persistence of consciousness throughout suchevents. Sometimes during meditation my thoughts drift away entirely, and I gaina state I would describe as simply being awake. Im not thinking aboutanything. Im not particularly aware of any sensations, Im n ot aware ofbeing absorbed in anything in particular, and yet I am quite certain (after thefact) that I havent been asleep. During it I am simply awake or simplypresent. It is odd to describe such an event as being awake or being present,for those terms generally connote an awareness of something or other. But inthis experience there is no particular or identifiable object of which I amaware. Yet I am driven to say I am awake for two reasons. First, I emerge with aquiet, intuited certainty that I was continually present, that there was anunbroken continuity of experience or of consciousness throughout the meditationperiod, even if there seemed to have been periods from which I had no particularmemories. I just know that there was some sort of continuity of myself (howeverwe can define that) throughout.14 In Buddhism such Pure Consciousness Events arecalled by several names: nirodhasamapatti, or cessation meditation;samjnavedayitanirodha, the cessation of sensation and conceptualizati on; sunyata,emptiness; or most famously, samadhi, meditation without content (cf. Griffiths,1990). What is most fascinating about traditional Buddhist explorations of thisstate is that despite the fact that one is said to be utterly devoid of content,according to Yogacara Buddhist theorists ones consciousness is said topersist as ?some form of contentless and attributeless consciousness (Griffiths,1990, p. 83). That is, despite the fact that one is not aware of any specificcontent or thought, ?something persists in this contentlessness, and thatis consciousness itself: ?I, though abiding in emptiness, am now abiding inthe fullness thereof? (Nagao, 1978, p. 67). When discussing this possibilitythat one may abide in the ?fulness of ?emptiness, Vasubandu states: Itis perceived as it really is that, when anything does not exist in something,the latter is empty with regard to the former; and further it is understood asit really is that, when, in this place something remains, it exists he re as areal existent.15 In sum, the PCE may be defined as a wakeful but contentless(non-intentional) experience. Though one remains awake and alert, emerging withthe clear sense of having had ?an unbroken continuity of experience, oneneither thinks, nor perceives nor acts. W.T. Stace (1960): Suppose then that weobliterate from consciousness all objects physical or mental. When the self isnot engaged in apprehending objects it becomes aware of itself. The self itselfemerges. The self, however, when stripped of all psychological contents orobjects, is not another thing, or substance, distinct from its contents. It isthe bare unity of the manifold of consciousness from which the manifold itselfhas been obliterated (p. 86). Now what implications can we draw from the pureconsciousness event about the nature of human consciousness? 1. We have apattern here that is seen across cultures and eras. This, in combination withthe reports offered in The Problem of Pure Consciousness, suggests tha t thephenomenon is not an artifact of any one culture but is something closer to anexperience that is reasonably common and available in a variety of culturalcontexts.16 2. Thomas Clark and other defenders of functionalism have suggestedthat consciousness is identical to certain of our information-bearing andbehaviour- controlling functions, even going so far as to define it thus (Clark,1995, p. 241). Others have suggested that consciousness is an artifact or anepiphenomenon of perception, action and thought, and that it arises only as aconcomitant of these phenomena. Our accounts tend to disconfirm this view, whichis generally argued on a priori grounds. Rather they suggest that consciousnessdoes persist even when one has no perception, thought or evaluation. Thissuggests that consciousness should not be defined as merely an epiphenomenon ofperception, an evaluative mechanism, or an arbiter of perceptual functions, butrather as something that exists independently of them. 3. Some h ave suggestedthat if we can understand how we can tie together perceptions and thoughts ?the so called binding problem ? we will ipso facto understand consciousness.17Now, how we bind together perceptions is a very interesting question forcognitive psychology, neurobiology and philosophy of mind. But even if weunderstand how we do tie together perceptions, we will not necessarilyunderstand the phenomenon of consciousness per se thereby, for according tothese mystical accounts, it is more fundamental than a mere binding function.18These reports suggest that binding is something done by or for consciousness,not something that creates consciousness.19 4. Our evidence suggests that weshould conceptually and linguistically differentiate merely being aware or awakefrom its functional activities. Accordingly, I propose to use the terms asfollows: (i) ?awareness and ?consciousness for that facet ofconsciousness which is aware within itself and which may persist even withoutintentional conte nt; (ii) ?awareness of and 1consciousness of to referto that feature of experience which is cognizant when we are intentionally awareof something; and (iii) ?pure awareness and ?pure consciousness torefer to awareness without intentional content.20 5. Reports of pureconsciousness suggest that, despite the absence of mental content, the subjectswere somehow aware that they remained aware throughout the period of the PCE. Sammanfattning: Essayreturn from the solitude of individuation into the consciousness of unitywith all that is, down as one that passes away, and up asone imperishable. Earth, heaven, and sea resounded as in one vast worldencircling harmony. . . . I felt myself one with them . . . (von Meysenburg,1900; emphasis mine). The keynote of Malwidas experience is that in some sortof immediate or intuitive manner she sensed that she was connected with thethings of the world, as if she was a part of them and they part of her. It is asif the membranes of her experienced self became semi-permeable, and she flowedin, with or perhaps through her environment. A similar experience is describedin Starbucks 19th century collection of experience reports. Here again we seea sense of unity with the things of the world. . . . something in myself made mefeel myself a part of something bigger than I . . . I felt myself one with thegrass, the trees, birds, insects, everything in nature. I exulted in the merefact of existence, of being apart of it all, the drizzling rain, the shadows ofthe clouds, the tree-trunks and so on. (Ref) The author goes on to say thatafter this experience he constantly sought these experiences of the unitybetween self and object again, but they only came period-ically. This impliesthat for him they were temporary phenomena, lasting only a few minutes or hours. This sense of the unity between self and object, the absence of the usual linesbetween things, is clearly reminiscent of Plotinuss First Ennead (8:1). Hewho has allowed the beauty of that world to penetrate his soul goes away nolonger a mere observer. For the object perceived and the perceiving soul are nolonger two things separated from one another, but the perceiving soul has within itself the perceived object (quoted in Otto, 1930, p. 67). Again we havea lack of boundaries between consciousness and object. It is not clear from thispassage if Plotinus is describing a transient or a permanent experience. Yetsome reporters clearly tell us that such an experience can be constant. Thoughit is often hard to distinguish biography from mythology, Buddhist descriptionsof Sakyamuni Buddhas life clearly imply that his Nirvana was a permanentchange in epistemological structure. Similarly the Hindu term for an enlightenedone, jivanmukti (enlightened in active life), clearly suggests that thise xperience can be permanent. Notice how different these reports are from our DMSdescriptions of an inner expanse. There we saw no change in the relationshipbetween the subject and the perceived world. Here ?the object perceived andthe perceiving soul are now united. ?I felt myself one with the grass, thetrees, birds, insects, everything in nature. One of the clearer descriptionsof this state comes from Krishnamurti, who wrote of his his first experience ofthis sort, in August, 1922: On the first day while I was in that state and moreconscious of the things around me, I had the first most extraordinaryexperience. There was a man mending the road; that man was myself; the pickax heheld was myself; the very stone which he was breaking up was a part of me; thetender blade of grass was my very being, and the tree beside the man was myself. I also could feel and think like the roadmender and I could feel the windpassing through the tree, and the little ant on the blade of grass I could feel. The birds, the dust and the very noise were a part of me. Just then there was acar passing by at some distance; I was the driver, the engine, and the tires; asthe car went further away from me, I was going away from myself. I was ineverything, or rather everything was in me, inanimate and animate, the mountain,the worm and all breathing things. All day long I remained in this happycondition. (Ref) Perhaps the most unmistakable assertion that these shifts canbe permanent comes from Bernadette Roberts. Sometime after her initialtransformation, she had what is clearly a development on her earlier dualisticsense of an expanded consciousness. She writes: I was standing on windyhillside looking down over the ocean when a seagull came into view, gliding,dipping, playing with the wind. I watched it as Id never watched anythingbefore in my life. I almost seemed to be mesmerized; it was as if I was watchingmyself flying, for there was not the usual division between us. Yet, somethingmore was there than just a lack of separateness, ?something truly beautifuland unknowable. Finally I turned my eyes to the pine-covered hills behind themonastery and still, there was no division, only something ?there that wasflowing with and through every vista and particular object of vision. . . . WhatI had taken as a trick of the mind was to become a permanent way ofseeing and knowing (Roberts, 1984, p. 30; italics mine). She describes this?something there that flowed with and through everything, including her ownself, as ?that into which all separateness dissolves. She concludes with anemphatic assertion: ?I was never to revert back to the usual relative way ofseeing separateness or individuality. Again we have a state, not a transientepisode. We could multiply these examples endlessly. This unitive mystical state(UMS), either temporary or permanent, is a very common mystical phenomenon. Itis clearly an evolution of the previous sense. First one continues to sense thatones awareness is expansive, field-like, and that the self is experienced aslarger, expanded beyond the usual boundaries. One feels oneself to be ?a partof something bigger, which is to say, senses a lack of borders or acommonality between oneself and this expanse. Indeed, in Bernadette Robertscase, her sense of ?something there followed and was an evolution of herinitial dualistic mystical state. But now this perceived expansion of the selfis experienced as none other than, permeating with and through, the things ofthe world. Ones boundaries become as if permeable, connected with the objectsof the world. The expanded self seems to be experienced as of the samemetaphysical level, or of the same ?stuff, as the world. Despite thegrammatical peculiarities, ?what I am is the seagull, and what the seagull is,I am. From this fascinating phenomenon we may note several implications forour understanding of consciousness. 1. The perceived ?spaciousness ofawareness suggests, I said above, that consciousness is like a field. Theseunitive experiences reaffirm this implication and suggest that such a field maynot only transcend our own bodily limits, but somehow may interpenetrate orconnect both self and external objects. This is of course strikingly parallel tothe physical energy fields and/or the quantum vacuum field said to reside at thebasis of matter, for these too are both immanent within and also transcendent toany particular expression, a parallel that Fritjof Capra, Lawrence Domash andothers have been quick to point out. 2. The perception of unity holds out thepossibility that the field of awareness may be common to all objects, andhowever implausibly, among all human beings as well. It indicates that my ownconsciousness may be somehow connected to a tree, the stars, a drizzle or ablade of grass and, paradoxically, to yours. Thus these unitive experiencespoint towards something like a primitive animism, Leibnitzs panspsychism andGriffins suggestion of a pan-experientialism, that ex perience or some sort ofconsciousness may be ?an ingredient throughout the universe, permeating alllevels of being. All this, however, opens up another Pandoras box ofpeculiar questions: most obviously what might the consciousness be of a dog,flower, or even a stone? Does the claim of a perceived unity merely point tosome ground of being, and not a consciousness that is in any senseself-reflective like our own consciousness? Or if you and I share consciousness,can I experience what you do? If not, why not? 3. Not everyone who meditatesencounters these sorts of unitive experiences. This suggests that some may begenetically or temperamentally predisposed to mystical ability; borrowing fromWeber, the ?mystically musical. One might suggest that the mysticsawareness is categorically different than other peoples, i.e. that it isconnected to the world in an ontologically deep way that the rest of ours isnot. I find this unconvincing, since every mystic I have read says he or shebegan as an ?ordinary, i.e. non-mystical, person and only came to realizesomething of what he or she ?had always been. Whichever explanation we optfor, however, it is clear that there is some ability the mystics have been ableto develop ? through meditation or whatever ? that most of us have not. Conclusions Our three modalities of mystical experiences point clearly towards adistinction between awareness per se and the ordinary functional processes ofsensation, perception and thought. They suggest that awareness is notconstructed out of the material processes of perception or perhaps the brain,but rather they suggest a distinction and / or interaction between consciousnessand the brain. Furthermore, they suggest that awareness may have anon-localized, quasi-spatial character, much like a field. Finally they tend tosuggest that this field may be transcendental to any one person or entity. Iwant to end by restating my earlier caveat. Phenomenology is not science. Therecan be many ways to explain any experience, mystical or otherwise, and we shouldexplore all of them. But in the absence of compelling reasons to deny thesuggestions of their reports, we would be wise to seriously examine thedirection towards which the finger of mysticism points. If the validity ofknowledge in the universities is indeed governed, as we like to claim, by thetests of evidence, openness and clarity, then we should not be too quick tothrow out the baby swimming in the bathwater of mysticism. Footnotes 1 I amindebted to the psychologist of religion William Parsons, in a privatecommunication, for this observation. 2 See here Ornstein (1976). 3 See thearticles in Forman (1990) and Section I of Forman (1998). 4 Bruce Mangan (1994)suggests this when he says that ?mystic encounters . . . would seem tomanifest an extreme state of consciousness (p. 251). 5 James famouscharacterization of mysticism in The Varieties of Religious Experience statesthat a defining feature of mysticism is ?transiency (James, 1902/1983, p. 381). My evidence says this is simply wrong. 6 I say typically because sometimesone may skip or not attain a particular stage. Ken Wilber (1980) claimssequence. William Barnard (1995), however, disputes this claim of sequence. 7One key element of the UMS is that it is a permanent shift in the structure ofawareness. ?Extrovertive mysticism, a term coined by W.P. Stace, impliesthat one has mystical experiences out in the world, while we are?extrovertively aware. Zaehner coined the term ?nature mysticism todescribe such paths as Zen or Taoism, which describe mystical experiences innature. This he distinguishes from the theistic traditions, among others. But inthe UMS, as I understand this form of life, the sense of being in contact withthe expansive emptiness that extends beyond the self, never fades away, whetherone is in nature or in the city, whether the eyes are open or closed, andwhether one is a Zen Buddhist, a Jew or a Christian. Thus each of these acceptedterms define this exper ience too narrowly, and thus I coin my own broader term. 8 Cf. Smart (1982). * These may not be mutually exclusive. See, for example,neurologist Oliver Sacks comments on migraines and mysticism in the case ofHildegard of Bingen (Sacks, 1994, pp. 238-9.) 9 I am grateful for Joseph Goguen,private communication, for articulating this question so clearly. 10 Forman(1990) offers a rich compendium of reports of the PCE. I have intentionallyoffered here several reports of this experience that are not included there. 11James is quoting from St. Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, in Oeuvres, trans. Bouix, vol. 3, pp. 421?4. 12 The mystic apparently remains consciousthroughout. Although Teresa does not explicitly say the mystic is not asleep, Icannot imagine anyone spilling so much ink on merely sleeping or blacking out,or on something like a coma. See below for more explicit statements to thiseffect. 13 These two are not quite equivalent. Atman, when seen in its fullest,according to the Upanishads and to Advaita Vedanta, merges with Brahman, andthus is experienced as including the object or content of perception. Purusha,according to Samkhya, is more an independent monad. It thus remains foreverseparate from its content. But the two both represent the human awareness,however differently understood. 14 This account is taken from Forman (1998). 15Vasubandu commentary on Vs. 1.1 of the Madhyanta Vibhaga, quoted in Nagao(1978). Vasubandu is here wrestling with just the focus that made Yogacara sodistinctive and clear. In its focus on the alayavijnana, it deals directly withthe ques tion of what remains in ?cessation meditation. Steven Collins(1982) believes this is a mistaken view of the nature of samadhi, thoughunfortunately he never directly confronts such Yogacara texts. For comparableanalyses from a Zen perspective, with explicit comparisons with Yogacara, seee.g. Chang Chen Chi (1970), pp. 167?71. 16 See especially Forman (1990), PartI. 17 This debate goes back at least to Kants criticism of Humes associationismin the eighteenth century. For a discussion of contemporary parallels, seeHardcastle (1994). 18 If we think in a socio-cultural way here, we might notethat our long western worldview, with its roots in the Judaeo-Christian past, inthe protestant capitalistic history, and in the history of science, would tendto favour a definition of consciousness in active, masculine, intentional, and?doing terminology. Thus consciousness is, in this view, always vectorial,intentionally pointing towards this or that. Such a definition fits how peopleare expected to act in such a culture. Contemplative traditions and the east, onthe other hand, tend to be more open to defining consciousness as awareness perse, or just being. In the west we may take these to be too passive, feminine,but they ?fit the more station-oriented caste and natal-status behaviouralpatterns. My thanks to Bill Parsons for this observation. 19 Logically:awareness is a necessary but not sufficient condition for binding; binding isneither a necessary nor sufficient condition for awareness. 20 This usagepreserves Deikmans (1996) separation of awareness from the other senses of?I, and Chalmers (1995) similar distinction. My thanks to Jonathan Shearfor pointing out that I have reversed Chalmers terms (he calls awareness initself ?consciousness and connects its various functional phenomena withthe term ?awareness). I believe that my usage is in better accord both withordinary speech and the traditional scholarly use of ?pure consciousnessand ?pure consciousness event. 21 See the extended discussion of thispossibility in Forman (1998). 22 Here language fails us. The awareness is not inany sense conscious of the passage of time; rather I am suggesting thatawareness ties itself together through what an external observer would note asthe passage of time. 23 William James thought that mysticism is?transient, i.e. short lived, clearly does not capture BernadetteRoberts experience, nor many of the experiences documented in this section. 24 Here I am struck by the parallel with the rapid shifting of a physical systemas it becomes coherent. Disorganized light just ?shifts or ?zips intolaser light nearly instantaneously. 25 Writing this, I think of the parallelbetween this sense and Bernadette Roberts sense of having lost the usual?unlocalized sense of herself. 26 It is my impression that the awareness ofthe specific locations within the body is not essential to this transformation. 27 Freud was employing a phrase from his correspondence with Ramakrishnasdisciple Romain Rolland. 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