Solstice Celebrations

If future archaeologists were to replay news audiotapes from the turn-of-the-21st century holidays, they would hear weekly updates on the success or failure of area merchants and editorials on how their sales figures reveal the true state of the economy. If they also had access to computer records, they might assume the legal definition of Christmas in the U.S. includes a fiscal obligation for each family to incur self-destructive debt. Is there a connection between dwindling light and conspicuous consumption? Between the end of the year and irresponsible behavior? Certainly, there is a connection between the solstice and the presence of millions of twinkling little bulbs illuminating a sky that has been dark for too long. And there is a biological connection between cold and overindulgence in food, but even if less logical, the connection between festivities and years end seems just as central to our behavior. There are many winter celebrations that antedate our placement of Christmas on December 25, three of which are described on the following pages: SaturnaliaHanukkahMithras Holiday Extravagance The festival of the Kalends is celebrated everywhere as far as the limits of the Roman Empire extend... The impulse to spend seizes everyone.... People are not only generous towards themselves, but also towards their fellow-men. A stream of presents pours itself out on all sides.... The Kalends festival banishes all that is connected with toil and allows men to give themselves up to undisturbed enjoyment. From the minds of young people, it removes two kinds of dread: the dread of the schoolmaster and the dread of the stern pedagogue.... Another great quality of the festival is that it teaches men not to hold too fast to their money, but to part with it and let it pass into other hands. Libanius, quoted in The Xmas Story Part 3 In Ancient Rome, the mythical age of Saturns kingship was a golden age of happiness for all men, without theft or servitude, and without private property. Saturn, dethroned by his son Jupiter, had joined Janus as ruler in Italy, but when his time as earthly king was up, he disappeared. â€Å"It is said that to this day He lies in a magic sleep on a secret island near Britain, and at some future time ... He will return to inaugurate another Golden Age.† Janus instituted the Saturnalia as a yearly tribute to his friend, Saturn. For mortals, the festival provided a yearly symbolic return to the Golden Age. It was an offense during this period to punish a criminal or start a war. The meal normally prepared only for the masters was prepared and served first to the slaves, and in further reversal of the normal order, it was served to the slaves by the masters. All people were equal and, because Saturn ruled before the current cosmic order, Misrule, with its lord (Saturnalia Princeps), was the order of the day. Children and adults exchanged gifts, but the adult exchange became so great a problem -- the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer -- that a law was enacted making it legal only for richer people to give them to poorer. According to Macrobius Saturnalia, the holiday was originally probably only one day, although he notes an Atellan playwright, Novius, described it as being seven days. With Caesars changing of the calendar, the number of days of the festival increased. Another festival connected with lights in the middle of winter, gift giving, and indulgent food is the 2000-year old holiday [www.ort.org/ort/hanukkah/history.htm] Hanukkah, literally, dedication, since Hanukkah is a celebration of the re-dedication of the Temple following a purification ritual. Following this re-dedication, in 164 B.C., the Maccabees were planning to relight the Temples candles, but there wasnt enough unpolluted oil to keep them burning until fresh oil could be obtained. By a miracle, the one nights worth of oil lasted eight days -- plenty of time for to obtain a new supply. In commemoration of this event a menorah, a 9-branched candlestick, is lit each of 8 nights (using the ninth candle), amid singing and blessings. This commemoration is Hanukkah (also spelled Hanukah or Channuka / Chanukkah). According to reader Ami Isseroff: â€Å"Channuka was originally Chag Haurim - the festival of light. This leads to the suspicion that it, too, was a solstice holiday that existed before the victory of the Maccabees, which was welded unto it.† Dateline: 12/23/97 Mithras, Mithra, Mitra Mithraism radiated from India where there is evidence of its practice from 1400 B.C. Mitra was part of the Hindu pantheon* and Mithra was, perhaps, a minor Zoroastrian deity**, the god of the airy light between heaven and earth. He was also said to have been a military general in Chinese mythology. The soldiers god, even in Rome (although the faith was embraced by male emperors, farmers, bureaucrats, merchants, and slaves, as well as soldiers), demanded a high standard of behavior, temperance, self-control, and compassion -- even in victory. Such virtues were sought by Christian, too. Tertullian chides his fellow Christians for unbecoming behavior: Are you not ashamed, my fellow soldiers of Christ, that you will be condemned, not by Christ, but by some soldier of Mithras? Survivals of Roman Religions p. 150 Since earliest history, the Sun has been celebrated with rituals by many cultures when it began its journey into dominance after its apparent weakness during winter. The origin of these rites, Mithrasists believe, is this proclamation at the dawn of human history by Mithras commanding His followers to observe such rites on that day to celebrate the birth of Mithras, the Invincible Sun. dies natalis solis invicti Mithraism, like Christianity, offers salvation to its adherents. Mithras was born into the world to save humanity from evil. Both figures ascended in human form, Mithras to wield the sun chariot, Christ to Heaven. The following summarizes the aspects of Mithraism that are also found in Christianity. Mithras, the sun-god, was born of a virgin in a cave on December 25, and worshipped on Sunday, the day of the conquering sun. He was a savior-god who rivaled Jesus in popularity. He died and was resurrected in order to become a messenger god, an intermediary between man and the good god of light, and the leader of the forces of righteousness against the dark forces of the god evil.- Pagan Origins of Christmas Update: 12/23/09 See: Mithraism Aurelian, Constantine, and Sol in Late Antiquity *On G. Wissowas (1912, 367) contention that the festival was instituted by Aurelian, cf. Wallraff 2001, 176-7 n. 12; Salzman 1990, 151 n. 106; Heim 1999, 643 with refs. There is no explicit evidence stating that the feast of December 25th was instituted by Aurelian. In fact the calendar of 354, supplemented by Julians hymn to Helios, is our only conclusive evidence for an official feast day in honour of Sol on that day. On the evidence currently available we cannot exclude the possibility that, for instance, the 30 chariot races held in honor of Sol on December 25th were instituted in reaction to the Christian claim of December 25th as the birthday of Christ. In general, the extent to which late pagan festivals copied, incorporated, or responded to Christian practices, elements, and dates deserves far more attention than it has received; cf. Bowersock 1990, 26-7, 44-53. For more on the virgin (or other) birth of Mithras, see: The Miraculous Birth of Mithras, by M. J. Vermaseren Mnemosyne, Fourth Series, Vol. 4, Fasc. 3/4 (1951), pp. 285-301 For more on modern biographies of Mithras, see: Merkelbachs Mithras, by Roger Beck. Phoenix, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Autumn, 1987), pp. 296-316 *On the Antiquity of Vedic CultureHermann OldenbergThe Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, (Oct., 1909), pp. 1095-1100 **On Mithras Part in ZoroastrianismMary BoyceBulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 32, No. 1 (1969), pp. 10-34andZoroastrian Survivals in Iranian FolkloreR. C. ZaehnerIran, Vol. 3, (1965), pp. 87-96

Differences Between Morgenthau And Kant - 1311 Words

A school of thought, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is a point of view held by a particular group. Schools of thought relating to world politics are theories that have been the center and cause of countless debates. Two of the most well-known and influential schools of thought in the realm of international politics are realism and liberalism. While the ideas making up both systems have been around for centuries, each school has been since furthered and analyzed by international relations experts and philosophers. Two notable figures of realism and liberalism are Hans Morgenthau and Immanuel Kant, respectively, who formed basic principles that became the center of each school of thought. There are several key differences between Morgenthau and Kant. Some of these lie in their opposing views on international systems, states as actors in international affairs, and ethical issues. Others revolve around government systems and the concept of human nature. Hans Morgenthau, a philosopher of realist thought, believed individual states to be the most important actors on the international stage. He argues that states are self-interested forces constantly vying with other states for dominance; that they’re vying with them for power. Power refers to â€Å"anything that establishes and maintains the control of man over man.† States are consistently consumed with the process of maintaining the power they already have and acquiring more. In Politics Among Nations, MorgenthauShow MoreRelatedJohn Locke : A Work Of Political Ingenuity872 Words   |  4 Pagespower between state and its people without common superior intervening revert a society to state of nature. BETWEEN KANT AND LOCKE: SIMILARITIES AND THE INCONGRUITY IN THEIR THOUGHT This part focuses on the contrasting views and similarities between the works of Locke and Kant on civil society. 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Religiosity of Hwadu (Koan) Meditation Free Essays

Hwadu means a Korean word for koan. A koan can be pronounced as ko.an, which is a dialog, a question, a story or a statement in the history and lore of Zen Buddhism. We will write a custom essay sample on Religiosity of Hwadu (Koan) Meditation or any similar topic only for you Order Now Generally containing aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding, yet that may be accessible to intuition. Human beings are made perfectly. It has the body, soul and spirit which other creatures here on land do not possess. It has the capacity to rationalize things happen around. The human beings are created as the most intelligent and superior creature here on earth but the argument is how can a human being considered as superior when he/she does not aware of his/her own mind? Perhaps, if a human being ponders and seeks what’s really in his/her mind, he/she will be able to comprehend his true nature.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   . A human being who comes to that deep realization and awakening is regarded as a Buddha (Enlightened or Awakened One), a master of all things and a noble man indeed. He or she is one who transcended the commonplace and was awaked from the shared â€Å"bad dream† that we call as normal waking reality. All human beings are perceived as Buddhas in spirit as they are born. But if the mind of a Buddha is obscured by â€Å"normal† upbringing or trauma, he or she will lose awareness of Buddhahood and function as a sentient being. As long as one is only concerned with the body and enslaved by the idea of separation, desire and dependence on satisfaction from the environment, this world will remain as a â€Å"defiled† realm, full of uncertainty, fear and suffering. But upon awakening to one’s inherent Buddhahood, this very same world becomes a †Pure   Land†. The purpose of practicing Zen meditation is to awaken the mind. This practice doesn’t involve just sitting quietly and trying to calm and pacify the mind. It doesn’t also entail contemplating the breath. Instead it involves direct inquiry into a hwadu. An example of a hwadu would be a question such as asking of things (what is this? or what is this mind?). What you are searching for can be called by many different names -mind, spirit, soul, true nature, and so forth -but such designations are merely labels. You should put aside all of these names and reflect on the fact that the true master of the body is more than just the label mind. The master of the body is not the Buddha (awakened), for it is not yet awakened nor is it anything material, because it cannot be physically given away or received, nor is it simply empty space, for empty space cannot pose questions or have knowledge of good and evil. There are many ways how hwadu meditation being practiced. Korean Buddhism was able to formulate and developed unique characteristics that will only be found in them. The foremost part of its characteristics is that Korean Buddhism is Seon (Zen: Japanese pronunciation of Chinese character Buddhism. Seon Buddhism follows the tradition of Juaseon or sitting meditation with Hwadu (Koan) practice. The foremost part of its characteristics is that Korean Buddhism is Seon (Zen: Japanese pronunciation of Chinese character Buddhism. Seon Buddhism follows the tradition of Juaseon or sitting meditation with Hwadu (Koan) practice. It aims to bring the human being into his or her own Buddha nature without to study complicated teachings of Buddhism. 1 (Korean Buddhism Basis of Japanese Buddhism, The Soul Times, May29, 2004). The other way is the yogic exercise. Yogic exercise involves not only the mind per se but also it involves body movements like in the form of exercise. There are lots of yogic exercises such as hatha yogic exercise which is known as yoga; physical exercises like jogging, walking, swimming and doing household chores; and yogic breathing. In yogic breathing just combine the three body positions –sitting, standing and lying on the back. To complete it, combine all the three parts- abdominal, middle and upper parts of the chest in a wave-like movement. After exhaling completely, begin to inhale, letting the abdomen come out a little, and filling the lower part of the lungs, then expanding the ribs, while slightly drawing in the stomach until finally the top part of the lungs is filled. Yogic exercise has lots of benefits not only it provides good relaxation but most of all you enjoyed it. The view points of dependent origination especially the religiosity of hwadu meditation is believing and doing the things as they are. Dependent origination is a doctrine that believing the entire teaching of Buddha. They believe in meditation practice especially in tranquility and insight. Buddha taught also breathe, visualization practice and among other as conducive to mental cultivation†¦ Peaceful reflection then gives rise to happiness or bliss, which in turn leads to a state of â€Å"Samadhi† or deep unshakeable concentration. In dependent origination, human being is believed to be anxious and struggle to fulfill their desire which is impossible for anyone to do. The more they search, the more anxious they become. Suffering follows all the way. There is no balance and fulfillment because people’s minds are dominated by Ignorance. Therefore, imperfection will always be present. Zen Buddhists are generally known as the â€Å"meditation Buddhists†. Zazen is a particular kind of meditation which is unique to Zen that functions centrally as the very heart of the practice. Basically, zazen is the study of the self. References: Korean Buddhism Basis of Japanese Buddhism. The Seoul Times, May 29, 2004. The Seoul   Times, May 29, 2004 http://www.buddhistnews.tv/current/kr-buddhism-290504.php On Dependent Origination† by Ryuei Michael McCormick   2002. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koan http://www.indiangyan.com/books/yogabooks/yoga_harmony/complete  Ã‚   yogic_breathing.shtm How to cite Religiosity of Hwadu (Koan) Meditation, Essay examples