Supplier Relationships and Negotiations Essay Example

Supplier Relationships and Negotiations Paper Good relationships with suppliers are essential for running successful businesses. Managing supplier relationships can be a challenging and resource intensive operation. It would also require time and energy to be invested. Hence, it is important that the management identifies priorities in this area and focus their attention there. Segmenting the vendor base is one practical way of accomplishing this task. That is, instead of treating all vendors in equal footing, giving preferential treatment to key vendors is the right way to go. This is especially valid when the business enterprise is fairly large. The management needs to assess supplier relationships in terms of their complexity and criticality and then prioritize. In order to ascertain how complex the relationship with a particular supplier is, the following factors should be considered: â€Å"1.Number of individual relationships (contracts) your organization has with the vendor. 2. Variety of information products licensed from the vendor. 3. Degree of fragmentation of the vendor group, i.e., to what extent does the group act as autonomous units?† (Brevig, 2008, p.28) Criticality, on the other hand, is the negative consequences that the company would suffer if a particular vendor was not available. Hence, it is fairly obvious that depending on complexity and criticality of any supplier relationship management efforts toward maintain a healthy relationship should be decided. For example, We will write a custom essay sample on Supplier Relationships and Negotiations specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Supplier Relationships and Negotiations specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Supplier Relationships and Negotiations specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer â€Å"If the vendor relationship is uncomplicated and noncritical, you should probably use an opportunistic approach focusing on managing costs. Dealing with such vendors at arm’s length is adequate and the least resource-intensive. For vendor relationships of medium complexity and criticality, a collaborative approach is more appropriate.† (Brevig, 2008, p.28) Strategic relationships are another option that can be pursued for those suppliers who are deemed extremely important for the short-term and long-term operations of the company. It takes a lot of time, effort and energy to build strategic relationships. It also requires the involvement of top management from both parties to ensure its success. One of the key objectives of strategic management is to leverage the total potential with one solid relationship instead of many. Another aim would be to fully avail of the expertise offered by the supplier. (Bendixen, et.al, 2007, p.3) Skilful negotiation is another feature of supplier relationships. Negotiation is usually considered an art then a systematic method. Negotiation is defined as the amicable reaching of agreement among all involved parties. Successful negotiation depends on three important factors. The first is the compelling drive to succeed. Second is the strong comprehension of fundamental concepts; and third is good fortune. In essence, success or failure in negotiation is more dependent on â€Å"actions, inaction, habits, idiosyncrasies, blinders, insights and clever strategic movements of the individual involved, more than the terms of the agreement or other formal elements of the proposed transaction.† (Hanselmann, 2001, p.60) There are three different types of negotiation. These are: â€Å"The first is internal, which primarily involves managers and employees focusing on work and employee issues, such as job roles, pay, goals, priorities, tasks, productivity and deadlines. The second type of negotiation is external. This type of negotiation occurs between an organization and an external party, such as a customer, a suppler or your insurance carrier. All of us in the credit profession are involved in external negotiation on a daily basis. Some examples of external negotiation are bid proposals, delivery schedules, quality, deadlines, financing and the approval to supply our customers on a credit basis. The third type of negotiation is legal, which involves an organization abiding by the legal requirements of the various governing agencies.† (Hanselmann, 2001, p.60) Works Cited Bendixen, Mike, Russell Abratt, and Preston Jones. â€Å"Ethics and Social Responsibility in Supplier-customer Relationships.† Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship 12.1 (2007): 3+. Brevig, Armand. â€Å"Getting Value from Vendor Relationships.† Searcher Oct. 2008: 28+. Hanselmann, Jacob J. â€Å"Success in Negotiation.† Business Credit Sept. 2001: 60+. Good relationships with suppliers are essential for running successful businesses. Managing supplier relationships can be a challenging and resource intensive operation. It would also require time and energy to be invested. Hence, it is important that the management identifies priorities in this area and focus their attention there. Segmenting the vendor base is one practical way of accomplishing this task. That is, instead of treating all vendors in equal footing, giving preferential treatment to key vendors is the right way to go. This is especially valid when the business enterprise is fairly large. The management needs to assess supplier relationships in terms of their complexity and criticality and then prioritize. In order to ascertain how complex the relationship with a particular supplier is, the following factors should be considered: â€Å"1.Number of individual relationships (contracts) your organization has with the vendor. 2. Variety of information .

What do I mean when I say, I know, and why should anyone believe me Essay Example

What do I mean when I say, I know, and why should anyone believe me Essay Example What do I mean when I say, I know, and why should anyone believe me Essay What do I mean when I say, I know, and why should anyone believe me Essay If I said I know something, it means I have knowledge of something or someone. But why should anyone believe me? Ultimately, there are only two ways in which my knowledge can be trustworthy: from personal experience that the person has also personally experienced or from proven facts. I could say I know something because I have personally experienced it. But how would anyone know that I am not lying? They havent experienced my personal experience. They could have a different interpretation, but as long as their experience is similar they will consider what I know as right, because they can relate to it, and therefore they can believe me. This applies when sharing personal knowledge.When I say I know, I am saying I am a knower. I am a knower because I have my own experiences. Everyone who has experiences is a knower. Rights and wrongs are only because of our interpretation from personal experience through our reason because of morals and ethics. It is impossible to prove what is right and wrong with reason, unless we can relate to it through personal experience. So morals and ethics are experiences in themselves. We all know for example that it is wrong to hurt someone, but a young child might think it is funny to hurt someone and not think that inflicting pain is right or wrong. The childs parents will make sure that the child understands that it is wrong to hurt, by punishing him/her, so that the child connects hurting someone with being punished. Therefore morals and ethics are human, therefore experiences.Morals and ethics help us see our experiences, but just like the child learning that it is wrong to hurt, morals and ethics are experiences in themselves. So experiences influence every other experience we have. We can assume therefore, that a baby isnt born with any reason and that reason, (because it only exists because of morals and ethics.) is in itself something learned, something experienced. The baby is born with human conscience, which is the base f or experiences and how they are inter-connected and affect each other, which is the base for all knowledge.There is a main type of knowledge which is reliable to a person when you tell them you know something or someone. That is directly experienced knowledge. By this I mean direct knowledge, or a direct experience, not something someone has told you or that you have read in a book, (because that is also a form of experience.) but something that has happened in front of, or to you. The person you are telling you know something needs to be able to directly relate to their own experience of something. For example if I was dissecting a heart, it would be directly experienced knowledge. But if my biology textbook tells me a heart looks like that, it is indirect experience, and therefore not as reliable as my direct personal experience. You might be thinking: why would the textbook be wrong if we are supposed to learn what a heart is like, surely the school wants us to learn what things really look like? but there is still -however slim- chance that the school is trying to teach you lies.There is also proven knowledge. Proven knowledge can be both direct and indirect experiences if you tell someone I know water boils at one hundred degrees Celsius, anyone who thinks science has some truth to it will agree with you because science has a believable proof. Why would the Celsius temperature scale be so popular if it wasnt for being based on the different temperatures water changes state? Logically it must be true if I say I know water boils at 100à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C. More reliable would be the direct experience of seeing water boil with a thermometer stuck in it showing 100à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C on its scale, than having someone telling you they know that water boils at 100à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C.Theoretical knowledge is tricky to categorize. If we take the atom theory, no one can prove that it is real, but it seems to be the most reliable and therefore the most accepted idea. Theoretical know ledge is never directly experienced knowledge. Even if you come up with the theory, a theory stays an idea created by the mind due to our reason, which is a result of many experiences. Theoretical knowledge is more or less reliable depending on how many things obey the theory, or that have been proven to be reliable due to the theory.We need to decide for ourselves whether we trust someone saying that they know something or if we dont. We have to keep in mind that direct experiences are more reliable than indirect experiences. We do also need to remember that the direct experiences we have can be fooled with illusions to our senses. No experience is 100% reliable, but ideas and morals which make sense to us or which work for us are usually the ones we accept.

A Look at the Drive and Will Power of Frederick Douglass and Chris McCandless

A Look at the Drive and Will Power of Frederick Douglass and Chris McCandless It is sometimes said that nothing in life that is worth having comes easily. I have noticed that what often separates those who attain their hopes and dreams from those who do not is that they possess a certain drive and determination to stop at nothing to achieve those dreams. Although the two individuals Chris McCandless and Frederick Douglass lived in different time periods, and grew up in totally different environments, they possessed the will to overcome whatever obstacles life presented them and achieved the goals that they set for themselves. Chris McCandless was determined to live an unconventional, nomadic lifestyle like those of his idols Henry David Thoreau, Boris Pasternak, and the Jules Verne character Captain Nemo. Growing up, he waited until the time was right to begin his journey across the country and into the wilderness. John Krakauer wrote: Five weeks earlier hed loaded his belongings into his car and headed west without an itinerary. The trip was to be an odyssey in the fullest sense of the word, an epic journey that would change everything. He had spent the previous four years, as he saw it, preparing to fulfill an absurd and onerous duty: to graduate from college. At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence. (22) Later in the book we were again given a glimpse of Chriss gritty determination to achieve a goal that he had set for himself. During his travels Chris stopped in the small dusty town of Tapock, Arizona. It was there that he noticed an old secondhand canoe which he purchased in an attempt to float from Lake Havasu to the Gulf of California. During this adventure down the Colorado River Chris traveled through the Colorado River Indian Reservation, the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, and the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge, and across the border into Mexico. He was unaware of the fact that once in Mexico the Colorado River turns into a maze of irrigation canals, marshland, and dead end channels. At one point he follows a map drawn by a group of Mexican canal officials he had met to no avail. He found himself at a dead end in the middle of the desert. He did not give up though. Instead he carried his canoe and gear for three days to a new canal to continue his quest for the sea. After traveling for several more days Chris once again found himself lost and stuck in swampy marshland. By chance he met a group of duckhunters who after hearing his tale of wrong turns and dead ends agreed to take him to the small fishing village of El Golfo de Santa Clara, located on the Gulf of California (34-35). At several points along the way Chris could have easily given up his quest and turned back, but he would not allow himself to fail. This is the same type of determination that can be seen in Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass was born a slave in Tuckahoe, Maryland during the early 1800s. He was eventually sent to Baltimore to live with his new master and mistress. It was there that Douglass found the key by which he could unlock the bonds of slavery and revel in the freedom that few of his peers would ever come to know. Douglass wrote, Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell (31). He remained true to his words over the next couple of years and used an ingenious plan to take every opportunity possible to learn to read and write. Douglass was often called upon by his mistress to run various errands throughout the day. He found that if he hurried up and got his errands done quickly he had a few minutes that he could use to get a lesson. He carried with him bread and a book. He would make friends with the white kids in the streets by bribing them with the food and in return in they would teach him what they could. Douglass described the scenario, This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge (32). What a great plan to use the most basic of human needs, hunger, and the kids naivety to gain the most valuable of assets that a slave could hope for, but he wasnt done. Frederick not only wanted to read, but he was also driven to learn how to write. Once again he used a cunning plan to reach this goal. Douglass described the how he learned to write as follows: The idea as to how I might learn to write was suggested to me by being in Durgin and Baileys ship-yard, and frequently seeing the ship carpenters, after hewing, and getting a piece of timber ready for use, write on the timber the name of that part of the ship for which it was intended. When a piece of timber was intended for the larboard side, it would be marked thus-L. When a piece was for the starboard side, it would be marked thus-S. A piece for the larboard side forward, would be marked thus-L.F. When a piece was for starboard side forward, it would be marked thus-S.F. For larboard aft, it would be marked thus-L.A. For starboard aft it would be marked thus-S.A. I soon learned the names of these letters, and for what they were intended when placed upon a piece of timber in the ship-yard. I immediately commenced copying them, and in a short time was able to make the four letters named. After that, when I met with any boy who I knew could write, I would tell him I could write as well as he. The next word would be, I dont believe you. Let me see you try it. I would then make the letters which I had been so fortunate as to learn, and ask him to beat that. In this way I got a good many lessons in writing, which it is quite possible I should never have gotten in any other way Thus after a long, tedious effort for years, I finally succeeded in learning to write. (34-35) I think what amazes me the most about both of these individuals was the time period over which they continued to st rive for their goals. They both forged ahead over the course of months and years gaining whatever advantages and overcoming any obstacles they were presented with, staying focused on the final outcome. This type of determination and will power is inspiring to me, as in this day and age more people seem to have trouble setting goals, or staying focused on achieving them for any extended time period.

Lord of the Ring 3 and IR Theory Realism Research Paper

Lord of the Ring 3 and IR Theory Realism - Research Paper Example In addition, that development as wells as evolution can also seen in one of the important people involved activities of the ‘sphere’, which is the activity of politics. With the advancement in civilizations, people spread out and settled in new territories. In course of the history, those territories evolved into cities, states, and eventually countries. Along with this evolution and development of people and territories, the political setup, which ruled those civilizations, also evolved and new political setups entered the picture ruling cities, provinces or states and crucially countries. This evolution and establishment of different countries and their government setups have lead to the formulation of various theories and ideas including Realism by renowned thinkers and researchers, constituting under the International Relations domain. International Relations or IR for short, focuses on the relations between the countries of the world and how those relationship is ha ndled from the diplomatic and military perspective. The IR theory of Realism focuses on how a nation or territory will focus mainly on its interest and not from other perspective, and carry out actions accordingly. Although, IR theories including this Realism were formed mainly in the 20th century, and have applications in the current world, it can also be applied to fictional world as well, including historic fictional world. So, when this theory is applied to the historic fictional world featured in the movie The Lord of the Rings 3, it gives interesting perspectives. This paper focusing on the IR theory of Realism, will discuss how it has similarities as well as differences with the plot, events and characters specifically Sauron of Lord of the Rings 3. IR theory of Realism As pointed out above, Realism or political Realism is a key theory in the study of international relations which clearly prioritizes national interest as well as territorial security, over other forms of natio nal functioning including ideology, moral considerations, international peace, etc. As they give importance to these two aspects, they could indulge in offensive and aggressive actions against other territories or nations to uphold these aspects. â€Å"Realists consider the principal actors in the international arena to be states, which are concerned with their own security, act in pursuit of their own national interests, and struggle for power.†( Korab-Karpowicz). Thucydides, Machiavelli and Hobbes are regarded as the founding fathers of this Realism theory, however, the Twentieth-century classical Realism has been largely replaced in the current times by Neorealism.( Korab-Karpowicz). The difference between Realism and Neorealism is that, Neorealism incorporates a more scientific approach, when studies are conducted regarding the various aspects of international relations. However, Realism as a theory came into prominence mainly in the Cold War years, as both United States and Soviet Union carried out activities in various fields including Military, space, foreign relations, etc, etc, mainly to protect their self-interests. Thus, Realism during the Cold Wars â€Å"provided simple but powerful explanations for war, alliances, imperialism, obstacles to cooperation, and other international phenomena, and is consistent with the central features of the American-Soviet rivalry† (Little and Smith 387). The other key tenets of this Realism theory are, realists always view that the countries in the international system will always be in a constant state of antagonism, with a general distrust prevailing among the countries, and even among the countries, who are part of the alliance. The other key perspective is, â€Å"states must arrive at relations with other states on their own, rather than it

Acdamic skill Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Acdamic skill - Essay Example Sources, such as Google sources, are not that reliable, because anybody can publicly do things on the internet. However, books are generally considered more trustworthy because the author and publisher are clearly stated and they are held responsibility for its truthfulness. One reliable resource, found by Erik, A.(2010), had introduced product strategies for the iPhone, including four successful ways which are markets, product cycles, pricing and software. However, the iPhone was not the first smartphone to have mobile Web, email, and touch-screen user interface capabilities, but it was designed to offer an improved experience compared to other smartphones. Firstly, this resource is reliable; because of its demand media. Secondly, it is useful for this research proposal. The significant aim of this article is exploring the iPhone product strategy, it was designed to offer an improved experience compared to other smartphones. Following the four product strategies for the iPhone which are markets, product cycles, pricing and software, we can clearly see the iPhone why can be successful. These four aspects are indispensable to the business strategies. According to Dorrell, E. (2007), more than half of the consumers in the UK stipulate that Apple iPhones are too expensive. Two weeks after the launch in the UK, the vote at the market research company GFK NOP showed that more than 70% of the consumers feel that the proposed retail price of  £269 was on the high side while only 2% of the respondents considered buying an iPhone. This resource, found by a newspaper, makes it reliable. And using customer interviews further increases its reliability. The main purpose of this paper is for customer surveys to getting the price of the iPhone to a more detailed study of the iPhone business strategy. Furthermore, collecting data is the important way to get a reliable source. Due to this fact received from this

Internet and Books Essay Example for Free

Internet and Books Essay In today’s modern world, technology has a great influence on our life and time. Back in the early 19th century, when electronic devices had not been invented, the population could only use printed word such as books, posters, newspapers or magazines, to gather information. Later, in the mid 20th century, the use of computers, televisions and radios helped people to know about the incidents happening all around the world, more easily. Now, in the 21st century, the creation of internet and other devices to access it has helped us to attain gigabytes of information, just with the click of our mouse. The internet has made it possible for us to acquire answers for almost all of the questions that we ask, and has alleviated the access to information to almost every topic imaginable. Firstly, internet helps to save time and effort. All you need to do is type in your question and click SEARCH. It can give an answer to almost every question type in, and it is usually very quick, speedy and fast. On the other hand, using books or other printed texts can waste time, as you need to find the appropriate book and then search for the information you need from it. For example, while searching for a book in the library, you waste time trying to reach there, and even more time trying to find the book you need. Despite this, time is also lost when you try to find the information that is useful to you from the book. Whereas the internet acts as a filter that sieves out all the data you need, in a span of seconds. However it can be argued that using electronic devices can cause distractions and disturbances. Using the internet can divert your attention to some other unrelated site and will cause you to waste time. For instance, you may login to facebook or twitter, or check your mail instead of researching and using the time well. On the contrary, you cannot be easily distracted in a library where silence is preferred, and is filled with people who want to work. But if the internet is used properly, and if the person has a self control over himself the internet has more advantages comparing to printed texts. So in short internet can be a time-saver only if used wisely. Alternatively, the internet can sometimes provide us with unreliable information. It is like a blank page in which people are allowed to post whatever they want, and sometimes even the wrong information. As exemplified by blogs, in which anyone can post their opinions and views on a topic, the internet can be a source of unreliable and inaccurate information as it contains the judgement of different individuals and not the actual facts. On the contrary, printed texts can be a great source of reliable information. Books are written by experienced authors who have researched well about the topic themselves before publishing it. A library can assure you that the book in your hand is dependable and trustworthy. In spite of being unreliable, internet can provide us with up-to-date data. It offers information on the most recent discoveries and inventions, the latest cars or other products and about the contemporary incidents and happenings all around the world. However once a book is published, any recent findings cannot be added to it. There are always new developments in the field of health, science, technology and politics that the library simply cannot keep up with. Therefore, the internet can provide us with the latest news about our modern day developments and can be dependable only if used properly by checking the sources of a particular website. Thirdly, glaring at a screen for a long period of time can cause various eye and back problems. Computer vision syndromes like eye strain and cataracts are caused by glaring at the computer screen for prolonged periods. Millions develop a condition called ‘dry eye’, resulting in gritty, itchy, inflamed eyes, due to staring at the screen for hours. The light from computer screens can cause drastic problems to your eyes, and sometimes even partial blindness. Unlike computer screens, books can be very easy to read as they are just words printed on paper. However there are many solutions to prevent the damage caused to eyes by computer screens. Screen filters can be bought to reduce the amount of light radiation hitting our eyes. There are also many softwares that can transfer the information audibly or with the help of videos, and do not require data to be read. Regular breaks, and turning away from the screen constantly can also help in avoiding eye and back problems. Usually, there is an option to zoom in, which enables people to read easily. Unlike computers, books cannot be zoomed in, when the letters are too small to be visible, causing eye problems as well. So the problems caused by glaring at computer screens or reading the small printed texts in books, can be reduced by taking regular breaks and exercises, as anything in excess is not good for our health. Moreover, a lot of paper is wasted in the creation of books and magazines. Deforestation, being one of the greatest threats that humans are facing today, is increased by the production of paper in books. A few sheets of paper could be worth one tree. Hence the number of trees is reducing day by day. Obviously, trees are vital for our living as they are the natural producers of food. Deforestation not only causes scarcity of food and other resources, but also results in the rise of the earth’s temperature, causing global warming. In contrast to books, modern technology like mobile phones, computers or tablets does not harm the environment to a very great extent. In the case of computers the energy used is electricity, which is renewable and can be created again and again. The internet is a huge database, and more information can be adjoined into it, very easily. However books are created from sheets of paper, and if the number of books increase, then the level of deforestation can increase correspondingly. To reduce the destruction of the earth’s forests by deforestation, paper should be recycled and not wasted. Instead it is much easier to use the help of modern technology that functions with the help of renewable energy, which does not have a great impact on nature. Therefore modern electronics has made it possible to overcome a huge problem to the environment. In conclusion, modern technology has many positive uses; it has made the world a smaller place by allowing us to contact individuals all around the world, many electronic devices are very cheap making it affordable to all and has also allowed people to find out about the news and incidents happening all around the world. But every good has some bad, and the extensive use of technology can be harmful to our health. I strongly believe that modern technology has been very helpful and useful to the human population. It has eased our access to information in very sustainable manner, and has connected the world together.

Temperamental Contributions to the Development of Social Behavior :: Jerome Kagan

The comprehensive research conducted by Jerome Kagan was very interesting but extremely complex regarding the temperamental concepts that contributed to the development of social behavior. I was surprised to learn that based on Freud’s psychoanalysis minds were turned â€Å"away from a temperamental category of person who was especially vulnerable to acquiring a symptom to a category of environment that produced systems. The adjective fearful became a continuous dimension on which any person could be placed† (p.377). Moreover, I strongly disagreed with the Thomas-Chess temperamental dimensions that were obtained from questionnaires by parents or other adults, as it related to their child. The information obtained could bias the study or research. However, I strongly agree with the descriptive perspective of observation to define temperament. In addition, I strongly agreed with how Kagan viewed the two profiles of inhibited and uninhibited temperaments: â€Å"Qualitative, defined by behavioral observations, influenced by genetic Factors and leading to distinctly different psychological outcomes with growth† (p.379). On the other hand, infant reactivity was complex and unclear relative to inhibited and uninhibited temperaments of infants. Are high reactive infants inhibited? Are low reactive infants uninhibited? What about the remaining infants in the research who had high motor arousal with low irritability or low motor arousal with high irritability? In addition, I strongly agreed with Kagan’s concept that inhibited and uninhibited behaviors are heritable. The study by Matheny regarding identical and fraternal twins as it related to inhibited and uninhibited behavior was very informative and clear.

Left Brain vs Right Brain: How Does It Impact Learning

| | | | | | |The left and right hemispheres of our brain process information in different ways. We tend to process information using our dominant side. However, the learning and thinking process is | |enhanced when both side of the brain participate in a balanced manner. This means strengthening our less dominate hemisphere of the brain. In trying to differentiate between the left and | |right brain, My paper will show information processing styles that are characteristically used by our right or left-brain hemisphere. | |According to Coballis M. C (2007) The left side of the brain processes information in a linear manner. It processes from part to whole. It takes pieces, lines them up, and arranges them in a| |logical order; then it draws conclusions. The right brain however, processes from whole to parts, holistically. It starts with the answer. It sees the big picture first, not the details. If| |one is right-brained, he or she may have difficulty following a lecture unless he or she given the big picture first. That is why it is absolutely necessary for a right-brained person to | |read assigned chapter or background information before a lecture or to survey a chapter before reading. Predominantly Right-brained people have trouble outlining. They rather wrote the | |paper first and outlined later | | | |In addition to thinking in a linear manner, the left-brain processes in sequence. They love to make a list of things they need to accomplish during the day. Left brained enjoy making | |master schedules and daily planning. They complete tasks in order and take pleasure in checking them off when they are accomplished. Learning things in sequence is relatively easy for them. | | | |By, contrast, the approach of the right-brained student is random. If you are right-brained, you may flit from one tack to another. You will get just as much done, but perhaps without | |having addressed priorities. An assignment may be late or incomplete, not because you weren't working but because you were working on something else. You were ready to rebel when asked to | |make study schedules for the week. Because of the random nature of your dominant side, you must make lists, and you must make schedules. This may be your only hope for survival in college. | |You should also make a special effort to read directions. Oh yes, the mention of spelling makes you cringe. Use the dictionary, carry a Franklin speller, use the spell checker on your | |computer. Never turn in an assignment without proofing for spelling. Because the right side of the brain is color sensitive, you might try using colors to learn sequence, making the first | |step green, the second blue, the last red. Or you may want to â€Å"walk† a sequence, either by physically going from place to place or by imagining it. For the first step of the sequence, you | |might walk to the frond door; for the second, to the kitchen; for the third, to the den, etc. Or make Step One a certain place or thing in you dorm room or study place, and Step Two | |another. If you consistently use the same sequence, you will find that this strategy is transferable to many tasks involving sequence. | |Symbolic Vs. Concrete Processing | |The left brain has no trouble processing symbols. Many academic pursuits deal with symbols-such as letters, words, and mathematical notations. The left brained person tends to be | |comfortable with linguistic and mathematical endeavors. Left-brained students will probably just memorize vocabulary words or math formulas. The right brain, on the other hand, wants things| |to be concrete. The right brain person wants to see, feel, or touch the real object. Right brain students may have had trouble learning to read using phonics. They prefer to see words in | |context, to see how the formula works. To use your right brain, create opportunities for hands-on activities, use something real whenever possible. You may also want to draw out a math | |problem or illustrate your notes. | |Logical Vs. Intuitive Processing | |The left brain processes in a linear, sequential, logical manner. When you process on the left side, you use information piece by piece to solve a math problem or work out a science | |experiment. When you read and listen, you look for the pieces so that you can draw logical conclusions. If you process primarily on the right side of the brain, you use intuition. You may | |know the right answer to a math problem but not be sure how you got it. You may have to start with the answer and work backwards. On a quiz, you have a gut feeling as to which answers are | |correct, and you are usually right. In writing, it is the left brain that pays attention to mechanics such as spelling, agreement, and punctuation. But the right side pays attention to | |coherence and meaning; that is, your right brain tells you it â€Å"feels† right. | |Verbal Vs. Nonverbal Processing | |Left brain students have little trouble expressing themselves in words. Right brain students may know what they mean, but often have trouble finding the right words. The best illustration | |of this is to listen to people give directions. The left brain person will say something like â€Å"From here, go west three blocks and turn north on Vine Street. Go three or four miles and then| |turn east onto Broad Street. † The right brain person will sound something like this: â€Å"Turn right (pointing right), by the church over there (pointing again). Then you will pass a McDonalds | |and a Walmart. At the next light, turn right toward the BP station. † So how is this relevant to planning study strategies? Right brain students need to back up everything visually. If it's | |not written down, they probably won't remember it. And it would be even better for right brain students to illustrate it. They need to get into the habit of making a mental video of things | |as they hear or read them. Right brain students need to know that it may take them longer to write a paper and the paper may need more revision before it says what they want it to say. This| |means allowing extra time when a writing assignment is due. | |Reality-Based Vs. Fantasy-Oriented Processing | |The left side of the brain deals with things the way they are-with reality. When left brain students are affected by the environment, they usually adjust to it. Not so with right brain | |students. They try to change the environment! Left brain people want to know the rules and follow them. In fact, if there are no rules for situations, they will probably make up rules to | |follow! Left brain students know the consequences of not turning in papers on time or of failing a test. But right brain students are sometimes not aware that there is anything wrong. So, | |if you are right brain, make sure you constantly ask for feedback and reality checks. It's too late the day before finals to ask if you can do extra credit. Keep a careful record of your | |assignments and tests. Visit with your professor routinely. While this fantasy orientation may seem a disadvantage, in some cases it is an advantage. The right brain student is creative. In| |order to learn about the digestive system, you may decide to â€Å"become a piece of food! And since emotion is processed on the right side of the brain, you will probably remember well anything| |you become emotionally involved in as you are trying to learn. |These are just some of the differences that exist between the left and right hemispheres, but you can see a pattern. Because left brain strategies are the ones used most often in the | |classroom, right brain students sometimes feel inadequate. However, you now know that you can be flexible and adapt material to the right side of your brain. Likewise, those of you who are | |predominantly left brain know that it would be wise to use bot h sides of the brain and employ some right brain strategies. |

Introduction to Myth

Introduction to Myth: Mythos – Greek word for story (not necessarily true or false) Mythology – the study of myths Primitive people needed to make stories/myths in an effort to understand what was going on in their world. Humans are the only beings with a need to understand things; a dog doesn’t think â€Å"why me †. Primitive people, when scared, hurt, depressed, created myths to explain their pain or discomfort. All cultures make myths in their early development. Around 1200 B. C. , ancient Greeks began to take written history and to make rational and logical stories. Myth-making came to an end once this began.Myths â€Å"illustrate† the truth, much as Jesus did in his parables. He did not give an exact point, but told a story that showed what he meant. Myths may not tell the literal truth, but they illustrate human nature and human experience. Theories: Max Muller – concluded that all ancient myths are about nature and natural phenomenon. Carl Jung – noted that same kinds of myths turn up in all different cultures, such as each culture having their own version of the Great Flood. He developed his theory of the Collective Unconscious – that all humans are born with these same ideas in their brains, lying deep and unconscious.He said that myths explore these deep ideas of the collective unconscious. Claude Levi-Strauss – research on human brain, that different sides were responsible for different functions. Noted that the body is binary (2 arms, 2 ears, 2 legs†¦) and says that we think in pairs with ideas (on & off, right & wrong, good & evil, yes & no). They are pairs of opposites in conflict with each other. Levi-Strauss says that man’s entire experience is based on conflict, and that myths present the conflicts, then resolve them within the story. The 20th century was in ways spent examining and interpreting the ideas of the 19th century.Despite technological strides, it has been sai d that no ideas came from the 20th century. For example, 20th century scholars spent their lives working on the 19th century ideas of Darwin, Marx and Freud. Sigmund Freud – all human nature is driven by sex. Freud started psychotherapy. He turned his focus to myths and concluded that all myths are about sex and are a way of revealing sexual fears and desires without having to confront them every day. Characters: Zeus, Semele, Hera Zeus – lord and king of the gods. Constantly making love to females of all kinds. In this story, Zeus is making love to Semele.But Zeus is married to his sister, Hera, who always finds out about his infidelities. Hera disguises herself as an old human woman and visits Semele, who confesses that not only is she making time with Zeus, but that he love her more than his own wife! Hera says that no, he doesn’t, because with his own wife, he appears to her as he really is – as an almighty god. Usually, Zeus appears as a human â€⠀œ tall, strong, distinguished, a little bit of gray. So the next time Zeus comes around, Semele asks him to appear as he really is. Zeus denies her, saying that she doesn’t want to see that.So she bitches and moans until he gives in, makes love to her, and appears to her as the god that he is – at which point she is immediately destroyed by a bolt of lightning. That story can be analyzed by the four theories listed above. Is any single theory correct? Are none of them correct? 1. Muller’s Nature Theory – because primitive people are in constant contact and conflict with nature. Zeus is the ultimate god, even over the god of thunder, and they find thunder frightening. Lightning is Zeus’ weapon, and experiencing a lightning bolt is the closest that they could get to Zeus. So to them, a lightning bolt IS Zeus.Getting struck by lightning is getting hit by Zeus. That’s where nature comes in. Zeus is frequently depicted with a lightning bolt. 2. Jung’s Collective Unconscious – two of his ideas – Anima and Animus. Anima is the male idea of the ideal woman, the universal woman, who makes men crazy and keeps them off balance by nagging and manipulating. Animus is the idea that all women have of men – violent, destructive, aggressive, rapists. So myths provide an expression for these ideas, which lie deep in the unconscious. Both appear in this Zeus story – she nags him like crazy and he destroys her. 3.Levi-Strauss – humans are obsessed with conflict and resolution. Each of the three characters in this story are in conflict with every other conflict. But as soon as you get rid of Semele, all conflicts are resolved. 4. Freud – it’s all about sex; Castration Anxiety – a boy has one, a girl doesn’t. The boy thinks she must have cut hers off and worries that she’ll cut his off. Penis Envy – the girl looks, he has something she doesn’t, she k nows she’s never had one, and she wants one. In this myth, Semele insists to see Zeus â€Å"as he really is†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦or naked. She’s obsessed about it (penis envy).But when he stands there naked, he has to kill her (castration anxiety). Creation Know that myths conflict and contradict each other, and the Greeks did not have them in a logical order. One does, through, give a story of creation, which we compare to Genesis from the Bible. Genesis – God is already in existence at the beginning of Genesis, then he creates the universe; the creation order matches the evolutionary order. The climax of the story is when god creates the first man. But then, man complains that he needs a companion, so woman is created. Greek – starts with chaos, which in Greek means â€Å"emptiness† or â€Å"nothing†.So you start with nothing. Then five beings come into existence: * Ge – (pro. ‘gay’) – the earth (feminine; any word that ends in ‘e’ in Greek is feminine) * Tartarus – dark terrible prison located beneath the earth * Eros – passionate love * Erebus – darkness * Night – night Of the five, three are frightening and dark. It’s scary because 90% of human animal information comes from sight, and human animal has poor night vision. So night was scary for primitive humans, because their predators had either excellent night vision or great sense of smell. Night is a time when we’re defenseless.Only one of the five was imagined by Greeks to be in human form. Eros was an adolescent boy. They knew a 16-year-old boy could impregnate more women at that age than at any other time in his life. When Romans took over Eros, they turned him into the five-year-old boy we know as Cupid. Next, Ge gives birth, with no help from a man, to Mountains, Seas and Heavens: Ge does this without the help of any male. It was assumed for a long time that women made babies all on their own, with no help from men. This gave them a position of importance and prominence in society, while the men were unimportant.After all, sex was just for fun, and there was no immediate effect. No one put it together until man learned how to count – that was a bad day for women. They figured out the solar year, then the months, then that 9 months after sex, the baby came along. So it was the man involved after all. And eggs were inside and invisible, while the male secretion was obvious. So it was the man that actually parented the child, the woman was just a carrier. So now men were the most important. So later, Ge needed a husband, since men were necessary after all.She married her son Heaven, or Uranus (Ouranos). Since Uranus was the man and Ge was the woman, Uranus got all the credit. After a long dry spell when the rains came and the land became green again, it was Uranus up in the heavens that fertilized his wife Ge and gave them crops. Also, heaven must be male b ecause he’s on top and above Mother Earth. Primitive people, like children, saw the world in terms of themselves – they thought rain from the sky was male sperm impregnating the earth. Anthropomorphism – the process by which we give human form to things that are not really human.His current example was Barney, but the Greek gods had the same range of emotions (hatred, jealousy) that Greek humans had. This is man making god in man’s image, since it was the only form they knew well. (i. e. marriage of heaven and earth – putting a human occurrence to the supernatural) (True of Greek gods) So we’ve got Ge and Uranus. But Uranus hated his children – he thought they were ugly. So he stuffed each one of them back into the body of Ge (earth). Ge was in pain so she asked the kids inside of her for help, but only Cronus (youngest child) would help her.She got some iron from inside herself and formed a sickle (common instrument with curved blade to cut grain), and gave it to Cronus. Cronus hid in the evening until Uranus came back to sleep with his wife, then Cronus jumped out, grabbed Uranus’ genitals, chopped them off, and threw them into the sea, where they floated. A foam formed around the genitals, and out of that foam came Aphrodite, the goddess of passionate love. (Remember: god of love is Eros) How does Cronus get out? Does he stand on his mother Ge, since she is the earth? Is Uranus the heavens or is he a man with genitals?The Greeks weren’t concerned with realistic details (didn’t think that way) – the more bizarre, irrational and violent the story, the older and more primitive it is. Now, the male is the only real parent, since he provides the visible sperm and the woman is just a carrier. So the male is the head of the family, and a male king rules over all families. So since baby-making was the important part, a castrated male could not be in charge. So Uranus was no longer chief â €“ Cronus, his defeater, became the chief god Once, he became the chief god, Cronus let all of his siblings out of Ge.And he needed to marry so he could make babies. So he married his sister Rhea. They had kids, but Cronus knew from his own experience that kids could endanger his power. So he swallowed each child whole. Rhea was distressed, him swallowing the kids and all, and went to Ge and Uranus for advice. They said to give him a rock wrapped in baby clothes next time, that he’d never know the difference. So she hid the next child, Zeus, and Cronus swallowed a rock instead. Rhea took Zeus to Crete and hid him in a cave to grow up safely away from Cronus.Once grown, Zeus tricked Cronus into spitting up all of his brothers and sisters, and there was a war between Cronus and Rhea’s generation and Zeus’ generation. Cronus’ generation (his brothers and sisters) were called the Titans. Zeus’ people chose Mt. Olympus as their war base, and after w inning, he and his siblings lived on Mt. Olympus (a mountaintop, where primitive Greeks would expect their gods to live). Zeus and crew were called the Olympians. Zeus used lightning bolts as his weapon to lead the Olympians to victory over the Titans, and Zeus took over as god of the universe until the end of mythology.Zeus hurled most of the Titans (his aunts and uncles) down to Tartarus (the deep prison) so that they could never challenge his power. But he couldn’t bring himself to do that to Cronus, his father. Cronus was sent west into exile (traveled west because it was the direction of death), never to return to Greece. Cronus went to Italy and hid there, where he used the Latin name Saturn, which â€Å"Saturday† was named after. (Hiding place of Cronus: Lateo, Latium, Latini). Cronus was still a god and presided over a golden age in Italy.Then we went further west , but the Italians recalled the golden age with a mid-winter festival called Saturnalia, in which the high point was December 25th. On that day, no one worked or went to school, and families exchanged gifts with each other. When the Catholic church took over Rome, the took over existing festival days (smoother transition), and Saturnalia was changed to celebrate the Mass of Christ (Christmas). Generations: Ge & Uranus Cronus & Rhea Zeus & Hera Creating People: The creation of the first man (male) was very unimportant.Myth is not even clear as to who did it. Some versions say Zeus created man out of dirt. Others say Zeus’ cousin Prometheus (son of one of the Titians) created man and had sympathy for humans. But male human life was pathetic and weak and helpless and inferior to animals – humans can only walk better. So Prometheus went to heaven and stole fire and gave it to man. Now, every human had fire for warmth, light and protection. When Zeus found out, he was so angry that he wanted to offset the gift of fire, so he gave man something very terrible – wom an. The creation of woman was a big deal.Hephaestus, the craftsman, constructed the first woman and handed her over to Aphrodite, the goddess of passionate love and the most beautiful. Aphrodite gave woman irresistible beauty and charm, then handed her over to Athena, goddess of wisdom. Athena taught woman important and useful skills, then handed her over to the god Hermes, who among other things is god of the practical joke. Hermes gave woman the character of a thief and the mind of a bitch. Then all of these gods – Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, and Hermes – brought woman before Zeus, who named her â€Å"all gifts†, or Pandora. Zeus had a gift for Pandora – a big jar (not a box!! , ceramic, 4 or 5 feet tall. She asked what was in it, but Zeus refused to answer – just take it with you, he said. Zeus took her and her jar down to earth and the society of men. Prometheus had an earthly brother, Epimetheus. Prometheus means â€Å"forethought†, and thinking before speaking or acting. His brother Epimetheus†¦well, not so much. Afterthought. Prometheus had warned his brother not to accept any gifts from gods, but he took one look at Pandora, she of irresistible beauty and charm, and took her and her jar in. Life was good for a while, but Pandora was so curious about the jar.She’d go and listen to it, shake it, smell it. Finally, one day she opened the seal, and out came all of the ills that we face – sickness, death, disease, pain, famine, drought – only hope was left in the jar, and it remained there when she finally got the lid back on. So, hope was left in the jar – what was â€Å"hope† doing in a jar full of evils? The Greeks were deeply pessimistic and felt that life was hard and cruel, with no â€Å"happy ending†. Note that most myths end unhappily and violent. So to them, hope was the greatest evil of all – hope makes you think none of the evils would happen to you .But the certain future is that we’re all going to die, so the Greek pessimism is based in reality. But hope makes us think that none of that will happen to us. Second Creation – The Great Flood: In the Old Testament, God wipes out horrible man and saves only Noah’s family. God tells him to build an ark, and despite sure ridicule, Noah does. He puts a male and female of each animal on the ark with his family, and survive when the rains come and flood the land. He sends out doves until one returns with an olive branch – a sign of dry land. The ark sets down on Mt. Ararat and Noah and his family reproductively recreate the human race.Every culture has a flood story. Were the Biblical stories made up as the myths were to make sense of the world around them? But there are flood stories all over the world – proof of a great flood? The earth goes through warming and cooling periods – did a warmth come through and melt the glaciers, flooding all in habitable land? Many ancient cities were built in river valleys – at some point or another, every river will challenge its banks and flood, which would create a version of the same story all over the world. So some myths may well be based in reality. The Greek Flood version:Zeus went down to earth disguised as a human to check out human society and found it disgusting, corrupt, evil and treacherous. So Zeus returned to Mt. Olympus and told the other gods that he was going to flood the earth to get rid of the evil human race. The other gods provided an answer to the question â€Å"why does man exist? † If Zeus destroyed all humans, there would be no one left to worship the gods. That are how humans were perceived in greek myth; they were only there to worship the gods. So Zeus goes back and finds a husband/wife worth saving, Deucalion and Pyrrha.They were pious and just – they had the right relationship with the gods and they had right in their dealings with othe r humans. (This parallels Jesus’ two great commandments – love only one god and love thy neighbor). Usually, Greek myth is not concerned with human morality, but here it mattered to Zeus. So Zeus puts Deucalion and Pyrrha in a boat and flooded the land. After the waters subsided, Deucalion and Pyrrha saw that they were the only people left, and they were terrified. Being pious, they prayed to the gods for advice. They were told â€Å"Take the bones of your mother and throw them over your shoulder. You often see strange answers when people talk to gods. This was even weirder because the Greeks prioritized proper burial, so digging up bones didn’t sound appropriate. So Deucalion and Pyrrha tried to figure it out, and came up with ‘mother’ was Ge, Mother Earth. So they threw rocks and stones over their shoulders, and where they landed, the new human race formed. But why did they have to throw it over their shoulder? That parallels Lot and his wife lea ving Sodom and Gomorrah. She looks back over her shoulder after being warned not to, and is turned to a pillar of salt.She wasn’t supposed to see the supernatural. So that’s why they threw ‘bones’ over their shoulders – so they couldn’t see the supernatural event. You can’t watch – you’ll destroy yourself (Zeus destroying Semele) or you cancel out the event. Greek religion was not a monotheism (one god), or a polytheism (many gods), but a form of polytheism, henotheism – belief in one god most powerful, but other gods exist. Zeus is the powerful one here, over other gods and humans. Now, Zeus was sleeping with any woman he could get his hands on – human, goddess, nymph – because his power came from baby-making.Unsentimentally, â€Å"father† is like a dog that sires, just a baby-maker. Morality didn’t matter, Zeus was the great father god up in heaven, a carouser (but that’s due to anthropomorphism as well). So Zeus marries his sister Hera and appoints two of his brothers to control parts of the universe, under his command and authority. Poseidon, god of the sea, and Hades, god of the world of the dead. Zeus has control over heavens and the earth Hera is the goddess of marriage – she understands marriage, she’s not nice or sweet, but cunning and cruel, with sexual jealousy being the worst.Her Latin name is Juno, so June weddings are traditional and girls wanted to marry in her month to gain her blessing. Poseidon – god of the sea – Latin name Neptune, often shown as jolly, but he’s not. Poseidon was associated with horror, sea monsters, tidal waves and earthquakes. He also constantly was having affairs, one with a human girl named Scylla. Poseidon’s wife (no name given) finds out about the affair, waits for Scylla to get in the bathtub, then poisons the water. When Scylla stood up, she had a ring of wolves heads growi ng out of her waist.Poseidon came back to make love to her – no way, wolfie. She begged him to hide her, so he put her in a cave near the edge of the Mediterranean sea, where she waited for sailors to come too close, where she’d capture them and feed them to the wolf heads. Poseidon is an example of gods being more than just gods. Poseidon is god of the sea, but Poseidon also is the sea. The Mediterranean is violent, like Poseidon. Gods always have the character of what they’re god of. Hades is god of the dead. There were no temples built to Hades to honor him with statues and sacrifices.Every human makes his individual sacrifice to Hades by their own death. The earth had three layers – the top layer which Greeks walked on, the land of the dead (underworld), and Tartarus, the deep prison in which the Titans were kept. Dead people go to the underworld. The Greeks believed in immortality of the soul, and that the souls of all people go to these dark, unhapp y caverns for eternity. Odyssey – Homer – told the stories of the travels of Odysseus, who goes to the entrance of the world of the dead and looks in (the west’s oldest account of death).He saw that the ghosts of the dead were transparent, recognizable, and too weak to talk or to touch, and they shrieked like bats. Odysseus kills an animal and drains its blood, which they drink to give them the strength to talk to him. This makes sense – the body rots away when you die, leaving only bones and eventually dust. The Greeks knew to love live, because the afterlife had none of the pleasurable experiences of life in the body. To the Greeks, the afterlife had no place of reward nor punishment – all souls went to the same gloomy place, longing for physical life and the pleasures of the body.Alternatively, Christianity teaches that the pleasures of the soul are better than of the body – that the body is somehow dirty. Gymnasium literally means to tak e off close in the gym. The Greeks, though, praised nudity. They figured that God made the body, so every part of it, down to the armpits, should be considered beautiful. So the Greeks imagined gods in beautiful human forms, thinking there was no form any higher or more beautiful. Cronus & Rhea Hestia —– Hades —– Poseidon —– Demeter —– Hera —– Zeus Hestia is one of the oldest children, the goddess of hearth (fireplace).She is elusive in Greek myth. She just stayed home and kept the fire going – never married, just stayed home. The Temples to Hestia always had fire going for people who needed it. Her Roman name was Vesta, as in Vestal Virgins. No real stories about Hestia. Demeter – Zeus’s sister, goddess of Agriculture; recall that the father is the only real parent, but if the mom/female doesn’t feed and nourish the child, it dies. Therefore, the earth, which provides food to people, i s female. So Demeter is also the goddess of Motherhood. Anthropomorphic form of mother Ge.Demeter’s daughter is Persephone, whose father is unclear, maybe Zeus. The father is irreverent between the mother and child relationship. Demeter completely loved her child (an anthropomorphic transference of emotion). Hades was Persephone’s uncle, but he fell in love with her. Being god of the dead, he knew he could not persuade her to love him, so he opened up the earth, rose up in his chariot, swept her up, and took her back with him to the underworld as the earth closed. So Demeter comes back and can’t find her daughter. She goes nuts. Searched and searched.Finally, the sun, who sees all, tells her that Hades had abducted her. Now, gods cannot interfere with other gods – only Zeus has that power, so she knew there was nothing that she could do, and couldn’t get Persephone back. Demeter disguised herself as an old human woman and went to work for a family with a newborn baby. She transferred the love she had to someone else’s child. She loved the child, and wanted to give the human child a divine gift. So every night, she’d hold him in the fire to make him immortal. One night, the real mother walks in and sees her holding her baby in the fire.She screamed madly and rushed toward Demeter. Demeter became very angry and threw the child on the floor – angry because the fantasy she had built up to battle her own grief had been shattered. Now she had to face the fact that her child Persephone was gone. The family of the baby found out she was a goddess and were very frightened, and built her a temple on that very spot. Demeter walked into the temple and started to grieve. The Earth went barren and would give no fruit, responding to Demeter’s grief. Recall that the goddess of earth IS earth. Without food, people started dying in droves.Eventually, the other gods went to Zeus to get him to do something – if all the people died, there’d be no one to worship them. Zeus sent a messenger to Hades to give it up. Hades stood before Persephone and handed her a pomegranate. She took one bite and handed it back to him. He then took her in his chariot and brought her back up to earth and set her down next to Demeter’s temple. Demeter saw her and was overjoyed, and the earth bloomed and grew. But because she ate part of the pomegranate, she must go back to Hades for part of each year, and during that time, Demeter grieves for her and the earth does not give food.This fits into Muller and nature – it explains the seasons and why food does not grow during certain parts of the year. Putting the story in such human terms made it easy for the Greeks to understand that season. In some societies, a man and woman sharing a meal (the pomegranate), especially in his home, means that they’re married. This is still continued with the bride and groom sharing cake, the oldest part of the modern ceremony. New story: Orpheus was the best musician in the Greek world. â€Å"Orpheum† theatres are still named after him. He was so good that wild animals would come to listen to him, such as the lion in the statue.He played a lyre, a stringed harp-like instrument. Trees would also uproot themselves and move closer to him when he played, and rocks would roll over toward him. This shows the power of music – it has no physical benefit, yet it has a tremendous effect on us. On Orpheus’ wedding day to Eurydice, his bride stepped on a poisonous snake, was bitten, and died. So Orpheus went to Hades and pleaded for him to send his dead wife’s soul back to earth. He brought his lyre, and got ready to play to persuade Hades. Orpheus appeared before the court of Hades and began to sing about how much he missed Eurydice.It was so moving and powerful that even Hades, god of the dead, wept. So Hades allowed the soul of Eurydice to return to earth, but Or pheus was told he must walk back up to earth the way he had come and Eurydice would be sent after him. But – Orpheus could not turn around and look behind him to see if she was indeed following him. Remember, you can’t look at the supernatural, such as the dead coming back to life. So Orpheus starts walking back up the dark, gloomy corridors, excited about getting his Eurydice back. He tries to listen for her behind him – he tries to look peripherally at the walls to detect her shadow moving.He sees nothing, and begins to doubt. After all, the gods had never allowed the dead to come back to life before – maybe Hades had just told him that to get rid of him. He became convinced he would never get his Eurydice back, and grief overtook him. It seemed so simple when Hades agreed, but now he simply could not believe it was true. So he turned around – and there was Eurydice, right behind him, beautiful as ever. But as soon as Orpheus looked, she was snat ched back to the land of the dead – he had cancelled the miracle and had lost her again, but this time it was entirely his own fault!He ran back down to Hades to beg him to let her return, but Hades said he would not grant it a second time. So Orpheus had to return to earth alone. He became a hater of women – not because they had wronged him, but because Orpheus was afraid of getting hurt again. So now he became famous for two reasons – his music and his hatred of women. He was singing in the woods one day, alone he thought, when a group of women came upon him and killed him, tearing him apart. He then joined Eurydice in the underworld.The Greeks made this myth to show that, theoretically, it was possible to survive permanent death in some joy, if you did exactly what the gods or priests said. The Great Greek Gods of Olympia: Aphrodite – name means â€Å"born from the foam†, that being the foam of her father Uranus’ genitals when they were c ast into the sea. Her Roman name is â€Å"Venus†, and she is the Greek goddess of love, being the most beautiful of all gods and goddess. But it’s not hand-holding warm and fuzzy love – it’s uncontrollable sexual desire that makes you crazy and not concerned with the risks or consequences of such passion.Now the Greeks through the powers of the weather came from heaven, that the sea’s power was from the gods, and even the earth can feed or starve – they personify the powers of nature in gods. So why sex? They thought that inside you there are also powerful forces, and Greeks needed to understand why sexual wantonness was so powerful, so there’s a goddess for it. Now since gods are what they represent, Aphrodite is sex – a real slut. Humans are not instinctively monogamous – promiscuity was instinctive, and Aphrodite is the goddess of the promiscuity. She did sleep around a lot, with human and with god.But Aphrodite was m arried to Hephaestus, the god of craftsmen who crafted Pandora. Hephaestus is the only physically imperfect god, having crippled legs. So the only imperfect god is married to the most perfect goddess. The Greeks that only a disabled person would stay inside all day (outside good to Greeks! ) and make things with his hands. Manliness was defined by fighting and hunting, but Hephaestus cannot fight. Now Hephaestus had a brother, Ares (Roman – Mars), the god of war, and because war was hated, Ares was the most hated god, even among the other gods. But he was a perfect physical specimen.As soon as Hephaestus would leave for his shop, Ares would sneak in the back door for a little lovin’ from Aphrodite. Eventually, the sun, who sees all, told Hephaestus about the affair. So Hephaestus made a giant, strong net and concealed it above the bed. The next day after he left for work and Ares came in, the net came down and held them in place, so tightly that they could not even mov e out of their lovemaking position. So Hephaestus comes in, but gods cannot harm one another – so he went out and invited all the other gods and goddesses to come in and take a long look.The goddesses were too modest, but the gods came in. They laughed, pointed, measured, discussed what they would do if they were in Ares position, which many of them probably had been. So there was no physical violence, but lots of laughing and humiliation. Hephaestus freed them, and Ares never entertained Aphrodite again. So sexuality was beyond the Greeks control – that’s why they had to have a god for it. Pygmalion – a rare Greek happily-ever-after myth. Pygmalion (a guy) was a sculptor, but he was very lonely. So he carved a statue of a beautiful woman and eventually fell in love with the statue.So he went to the temple of Aphrodite, made sacrifices, and prayed for the statue to be a real woman. So he gets home, and the statue comes alive. They lived happily ever after . So how does this parallel Greek life? The man who finds the perfect woman is the man who creates her himself. This reflects the frustration that the Greek people had in finding someone to love. This myth was a fantasy – not of coping with reality, but of escaping from it. Cybele – not a Greek myth, but a Near-Eastern legend on which a Greek myth was based, but changed and adjusted, as we’ll see.Most Greek culture was adapted from ancient near east. The story is violent and bizarre. Cybele was the great mother goddess, who was both male and female. She decided that she’d be much better off just being female, so she cut off her male genitalia and threw it away. Where it landed, the first almond tree grew. Along came Nana, a nymph (Greek for â€Å"bride†) – nymphs are half-human and half-divine, they live forever and are always young and beautiful, but they have no god-like power and cannot leave the area where they’re assigned. Nana t ook a white blossom off that first almond tree and put it between her breasts.It disappeared there and she turned up pregnant. She named her son Attis, and he was a perfect example of a young man. So much so that Cybele, mother goddess, fell in love with him. But Attis loved someone else, so Cybele’s love drove him insane until finally he castrated himself and died from the wound. Cybele was so distraught that she asked the other gods to bring him back to life. They agreed, but with the condition that he’d have to be castrated and die every year. The Greek version: Myrrha – Myrrha was a human girl whose only real parent was her father, since her mother died when she was very young.She loved her father dearly and deeply – too much, because she realized that she wanted to sleep with him, even though she knew it was wrong. She eventually became physically lovesick and depressed over it. When the nanny who raised her noticed that Myrrha was sick, she asked wh y. Myrrha tried to hide it, but eventually blurted out the truth. Well, the old woman nanny was only concerned with Myrrha’s happiness, so she went to the father and told him that a young girl in town wanted to sleep with him – but the girl was shy and wanted her identity to be concealed, so there must be no lights.He agreed. So the old woman told Myrrha that she had arranged it, and Myrrha was horrified! She had wanted it, yes, but now that it was possible†¦. Eventually, she decided to go ahead with it. So she started to visit her father repeatedly in his dark room. She got pregnant. In the meantime, the father was getting curious about who his lover was, tried to recognize her around town and couldn’t, so one night he hid a lantern in the cupboard and closed the door. While his lover was in his dark room, he took out the lantern, saw his own daughter, and realized what he had done.He was furious that he had been tricked and tried to kill Myrrha, who praye d to Aphrodite. Aphrodite transformed her into a myrrh tree (which is where the name came from). Myrrh trees give off an aromatic sap that was used in embalming – the symbolism of Jesus getting a gift of myrrh signified that he would die. This myth helps explain why myrrh sap is used in embalming – death is associated with sadness, and the sap is the sad tears of Myrrha. But Aphrodite saved Myrrha’s baby – a boy child named Adonis. Adonis was a perfect young man, and Aphrodite herself fell in love with him.It was a dangerous world, and Aphrodite was concerned about Adonis, but he didn’t care, and he went boar hunting. Boar hunting was very challenging and dangerous because the boars are smart and would hunt their hunters. So boar hunting was done in groups – they’d use dogs to track and corner a boar into a cave. The hunters formed a semicircle around the cave and the dogs would drive the boar out. The plan was that when the boar came out and saw all the hunters, it would freeze for just a second – long enough for the hunters to kill it. But some boars didn’t freeze – they just charged out and killed a hunter or two in the process.Charge – bye Adonis. Aphrodite grieved and asked the gods to bring Adonis back. They agreed, but once a year Adonis would have to be killed by a boar and come back again. Both Attis and Adonis are called ‘resurrection gods’. With a woman loving both of their dead bodies, we saw a statue of how that resembles Mary holding the body of crucified Jesus. A whole religion grew out of Adonis. Now, for a god to fall in love with a human was considered disgusting to the gods, much like a human falling in love with a chicken. But Aphrodite delighted in making gods fall in love with humans for her amusement.So Zeus decreed that Aphrodite would fall in love with the next human she saw. That human was a shepherd named Anchises. It was summer, and in the summ er shepherds worked naked. So she transformed herself into a beautiful human girl and approached him – told him that she was under a spell and the only way to break the spell was for him to sleep with her. Anchises became uneasy†¦he could tell she was a god because 1) gods were tall, where Greeks were short, 2) gods were blonde, where Greeks were dark, and 3) gods smell good, not like meat-eating Greeks who stank.Anchises thought it was too good to be true, but still he agreed. Afterward, he rolled over and went to sleep. Aphrodite didn’t care about him any more – she had conquered and the novelty was gone, so she decided to tell him her real identity. She woke him up and told him and Anchises was filled with terror – thinking she had used him up and that he’d be impotent. She laughed at him and assured him it would still work. So she went back to Olympus, and he, like any other guy, went to the nearby city of Troy and bragged that he had made love to the goddess Aphrodite.Bad move, he should’ve kept quiet. Zeus was angry with him and struck him with a lightning bolt which crippled him. Aphrodite, on the other hand with it being revealed that she had slept with a human, was mocked, ridiculed and humiliated. Test 1 info: Need a sheet of paper 25 short answer questions (fill in the blank) 1 extra credit question (from book) Zeus’ generation was named from ___? Name one of â€Å"Heaven† daughters? Greek name for â€Å"heaven† was Uranus Rhea Who said that myth resolved conflict? Levi struass

The Influence of the Global Moment Essay Example

The Influence of the Global Moment Essay Example The Influence of the Global Moment Essay The Influence of the Global Moment Essay Western Area History Professor Klaus Dietrich July 15, 2014 The year 1919 has very significant meanings throughout the world history. It is because the World War One which took four years finally ended in November 1918. Germany surrendered to the Allies and a new world order was established under the Treaty of Versailles In 1919. Before the Great War, the almost whole Europe especially the Brittle Empire and France and also the united States and Japan which Is the first Asian nation were obsessed with the imperialism and the colonialism. It is because these countries needed a new land. After the Industrial Revolution, these countries experienced the excessive capital accumulation and the rapid population growth. Therefore, they needed a new market to export their capital surplus and a new territory for their overpopulation. Also, the Social Darwinism and the strengthened nationalism after Italian and German unification In 1861 and 1871 respectively justified their imperialism. Therefore, many Asia and Africa countries were their typical sacrifices. Korea and Poland were also the sacrifices. Both countries were under the control of other countries and Poland was colonized faster than Korea. Poland experienced three partitions in 1772, 1793 and 1795 by the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and Hapsburg Austria. The occupied Polish society looked different depended on the occupying nation. The area occupied by Russia was the 1830 and the January Uprising in 1863, brutal revenge followed by the Russian government. It tried to erase all traces of former Polish autonomy. For example, it changed the name of the Congress Pollards land into Fistula Land (Kara Individuals) and divided the kingdom into ten provinces. Also it banned the Polish language and Russian became the official language of the country. Only the area controlled by Austria was better than the others. The Austrian government allowed a certain local autonomy so the Poles in this area could have their own local government called Governor Commission (Osmosis Gubernatorial) which had a considerable power and Polish language was also accepted. However, all Poles have the same, single desire to achieve independence and unify the divided countries although they were controlled by different countries. On the other hand, in the late 19th century, the Korean Peninsula was ruled by the Jones dynasty. From 1800 the little children aged around 10 became the king continually and they could not manage the country very well. So internally there were many peasant uprisings continuously. The rebellion of Hong Geeing-Ana in 1811 and the peasant rebellion in Jinni in 1862 were typical examples. Many western countries coerced the Jones Dynasty to open the ports for trade but the Jones government was afraid that their ideology and social order which they had preserved with great effort by their ancestors would be destroyed by strange Westerners. It already had a conflict with the Roman Catholicism. It was introduced in Korea under the name of Western Learning (8%) after the late 18th century and brought shocking ideas such as the human equality and the refusal to carry out ancestral worship to the society. Nobles and the government who were deeply influenced by the Confucianism were hard to accept these ideas so they stuck to isolationism as their only measure to protect the country. In addition, the two Opium Wars between the Great Britain and the King Dynasty made the Someones door closed more tightly. However, this isolationism could not protect them unlike their expectation. It was Just a temporary expedient which made Jones fall behind international developments. As a result, the hermit Jones was unveiled forcibly by Japan and other imperialist countries. Jones was exposed to the world capitalistic market defenseless and eventually it was annexed by Japan in 1910. Toward the end of the World War One in 1918, people were totally exhausted with imperialism and disgusting wars. They wanted peace earnestly and Woodrow Willows Fourteen Points was good enough to satisfy the peoples desire. Wilson was the president of the United States and he presented the fourteen points in the Congress on the 8th of January, 1918 in order to make the fundamental principles for finishing the war and establishing a Justice and lasting peace. There are several reasons to say that Willows fourteen points succeeded in some degree. Firstly, the Fourteen Points helped the Allied Forces to win the World War One. Actually, the fact itself that the United States participated in the World War One was a tremendous assistance to the Allied Forces for sure. In addition, the points Justified and motivated he Allied Forces by censuring the German imperialism and the provocation. I think this Justification might be a mental supporter to help the Allied troops reassured and win. Also, Willows statement might succeed a little bit to persuade the German and the Austrian to cooperate to make the world peace together. Secondly, Willows foundation of the League of Nations. However, frankly speaking, the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations nominally spoke about the peace which was similar to Willows ideology, but both had a lot of weaknesses. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties. It was very important because it would decide the future of Germany after the war. However, the victorious countries were not interested in her future at all. It was not the promise for the peace based on reconciliation but revenge. It was a very harsh and humiliating treaty for Germany. Germany lost all the foreign investment, colonies and vessels but the most brutal article was about reparations. It cost 132 billion Marks which was an exorbitant amount of money. The Germans thought that it was too severe and unfair even though they prepared for humiliation and loss as the people of the defeated country. The peace treaty ironically became a seed of another revenge. Another problem is the League of Nations could not impose tough sanctions because it did not have its own army. So it could only imposed economic sanctions which were not enough to solve international disputes. As a result, the onset of the Second World War proved that the League did not do its role well. Even though both had a lot of weaknesses, at least the Treaty of Versailles contributed to the postwar stability and also the League of Nations had some meanings as the first international peace organization. Lastly, Willows Fourteen Points helped many countries achieve their independence or affected their independence movements a lot. We cannot talk about the Fourteen Points without the self-determination. I think self-determination is the most important vocabulary in his speech because it affected the world the most among the other principles such as open diplomacy and agreements, free trade with the equal terms of trade, reduced armaments and democracy. It had a special meaning because the self-determination in the points was not simply for finishing the war but for eliminating the original reasons of the war. Wilson tried not to simply focus on the balance of the power but to focus on the self-determination which means all countries should have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or interferences regardless of their power. He said, It is the principle of Justice to all peoples and nationalities and their right to live on equal terms of liberty and safety with one another, whether they be strong or weak. 2 It gave a huge hope not only to European countries but also to the colonial countries in Asia. In reality, many ethnic minorities dominated by Germany ND Austria established independent nations. To be specific, Poland, Finland, Baltic countries (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia), Hungary, Czechoslovakia and many other countries achieved independence. These are the three reasons why Willows Fourteen Points are important and a series of worldwide situations resulted from the points so that is why some people call the global moment of 1919 as the Wilson Moment. Now, let us look more deeply about Poland and Korea situation after the global moment. As I said before, Poland enjoyed the pleasure of independence after 123 years of partitions but it was not all pleasure. Most regions in Poland were destroyed because of the war and they were poor. Also it had a serious regional imbalance problem because three regions were under the control of different countries before unification. They had used different currencies and had different combine all together. The Second Polish Republic was created after the independence and JÂ ¶kef Pulaski became the chief of State. It was a parliamentary democracy with the president who had limited powers. The global moment brought independence and democracy to Poland but could not maintain the peace and democracy for a long time because of Pulaski. He wanted to recover the former territory of the kingdom of Poland so he started the Polish-Soviet War in 1919. In addition, other wars with neighboring countries were continued even after independence to decide the borderline. At the end, he seized the power by a military coup in 1926 so democracy ended in short. On the other hand, Korea could not achieve the independence because Korea was the colony of the victorious country, Japan. The Fourteen Points was only for colonies of defeated countries. That is why some people say that Koreans who believed that the Willows speech would bring hem independence were too naive or they did not understand the situation well. However, I think this is not true. Koreans already knew that they could not achieve the independence according to the Willows Fourteen Points, especially the Korean students studying in Tokyo who did 2. 8 Independence Declaration in 1919. However they attempted to extend the range of application to establish a foothold for independence. Willows Fourteen Points failed to give Korea independence directly but it is certain that it gave Korea a huge hope and possibility of independence. This name out as the most famous Korean independence movement, March 1st Movement in 1919 and after this movement, many things changed. Firstly, there was a huge transition of independence method. The independence movement was done by secret associations in sass, so participants were limited. However, after this movement, they began to accept diverse ideologies like democracy and socialism. So many people could participate in the movement and the activities became more various. Secondly, March 1st Movement changed the Japanese governance. Japanese government realized that the Forced Rule in sass was not proper to control the Koreans, so the government changed the rule to Cultural Rule which allowed Koreans to have limited freedom. Lastly, March 1st Movement influenced other countries such as Sandhogs campaigns for independence from the British Empire which is famous for nonviolent disobedience in India and also had effect on the May Fourth Movement in China. I think the global moment still have important meanings in Korean history because of the reasons above. It proved Koreans strength. They continued independence movements rather than giving up, even though their hope was disregarded by Western countries. In conclusion, the global moment influenced lot not only Poland and Korea but also the whole world after the World War One. Peoples fatigue and desire for the peace led to Willows Fourteen Points and his speech opened the global moment.

Finance law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Finance law - Essay Example zation of banking and the system of accounts but is not applicable to the relationships between the banking institutions and recipient’s, not loans or between clients settling accounts. The law covers the following subsections, legal regulation of an organization’s income and expenditures. It deals with the budget laws, foreign exchange legislation and the legal grounds of credit in institutions, companies or State. There are several instances in the case study where financial law applies. First, the Northpic bank limited is in the record for providing financing facilities to the Q companies for a number of years in the form of loans. Loan agreements, debentures and letters of credit signed between the two organizations involves documentation, which is a part of financial law (Bamford 2011, P.4). A financial lawyer offers advice to the two companies on local law issues, and from other professional stakeholders. Financial law manifests through the legal grounds of credit set by the signing of the corporate treasury agreement document between Tco and the Q group of companies. A financial lawyer witnesses the signing of the agreement. He or she ensures the execution of the terms in the agreement throughout the contract span of duration. Financial law articulates for honoring and keeping of the agreements through a legal perspective (Ryder, Griffiths, & Singh 2012, p. 344). It is a type of fiscal security to the parties involved. Another instance where finance law is evident from the case study is the Risk transfer process where Northpic transfers risks to the Southpoc. A financial lawyer oversees the signing of the Risk transfer document and files a copy binding the two institutions together. Southpoc deciding that it wants some security and requires Tco to pledge a deposit maintained by Eastpac, another bank requires application of financial laws. Security law is a subsection of the financial law and ensures that the organizations involved in a given financial

Michele Moody-Adams argues that moral progress is possible Essay

Michele Moody-Adams argues that moral progress is possible - Essay Example The Concept of Moral Progress Throughout History Considering the evolution of morality throughout the historical process, it should be emphasized that moral progress can be traced only from the instance the human life gained its uppermost value. This instance came with the Renaissance period in Europe. The Renaissance Humanism is featured with the appearance of the specific behavior codex that can be regarded as the initial step of the moral progress. This codex involved refusal from slavery, admiration for the human body and soul, human rights protection, and so on. The next step of the moral evolution of the humankind is the post World War I period. The global society became obsessed with the issues of war prevention and conflict resolving on a world scale, and the foundation of The League of Nations, as the global arbiter can be regarded as the further moral growth of the humanity. The further assimilation of the moral progress, discussed by Moody-Adams (259) is the result of the post World War II morality expansion: democratic movements, the wars for independence are the key aspects of the further morality assimilation, and moral progress throughout the world. Moral Progress In defining moral progress as a global perspective, the necessity of defining some common moral standard is crucial. Particular arbitrary decisions, needed for judging morality, have to be developed in accordance with the moral progress principles, such as: 1. Equality 2. Justice 3. Righteousness However, different moral groups cannot be included into a single judgment system otherwise dominant society will declare and impose its own moral system on the other weaker one, which exceeds the morality requirements. In the light of this statement, it should be emphasized that creation of the global arbitrary organizations cannot resolve moral conflicts, and creates the hierarchically arranged global society, where Superpowers declare their own values and moral standards for subdominant gover nments and societies. This originates the silence concept offered by Fricker (287). Considering the fact that cultural relativism offers the clear definitions of right and wrong, these definitions can be relevant and righteous only within the society that originated these definitions. Therefore, in the given circumstances of the global arbitration, the moral progress is featured with the local character mainly (Moody-Adams, 258). Moreover, if the morality values system of the â€Å"convicted† society contradicts the morality system of the global arbiter, the institutional prejudice is inevitable (Fricker 291) In general, the dialogic morality is almost meaningless without the basic persuasion that the humanity is constantly moving to greater equality, compassion, and justice. Nevertheless, the skepticism among scientists is enormous, since hierarchically arranged societies are not featured with high virtues. Nevertheless, the very fact that these societies are based on the le gislative activity signifies that such a progress has to be pursued. The evident logical contradiction in cognitive and moral relativism can be enunciated with the following question: considering the fact that all the members of the given society are ethnocentric, does this mean that cultural relativism is one of the forms of ethnocentrism? Moreover, cultural relativis