Monday, June 30, 2014

Baal of the Bible angered God (Numbers 25.3)

In the spring of 1928 an Arab peasant working in his field on the Syrian coast of the Mediterranean struck his plow against a slab of solid rock. He discovered that the loosened rock concealed a decrepit stairway leading deep into the earth. Fifty feet in a vaulted tomb lie hidden were a number of artifacts and metal vessels. Beyond these ancient artifacts lay a wavering city of the dead. The articles dated back nearly 4000 years. It also resurrected for a brief thought-provoking moment an ancient deity Baal who, some thirty centuries before the time of Christ, was worshiped throughout the entire Middle Eastern world.
The excavation site became an open field displaying bodies of the ancient dead. The clank of shovels, the careful shifting of the earth, the silent, patient brushing of the artifacts was like a litany dedicated to the memory of Baal, the god to the Babylonians, Mercury or Hermes to the Greeks, Jupiter to the Romans, and Adonis to the Phoenicians. But to the Canaanites, he was Baal, god of the sun and sex.
In Canaan his influence was so great that many minor deities were known as Baalim  to prove the god was everywhere at once.  His symbol was in the shape of a phallus displayed in the places of worship. It was spoken of as “Baal” as though the god himself was there. The Semitic word, baal, meant husband, possessor, or lord and prince. His symbol was found in every home, public place and temple. Mothers named their children after him; names like Hannibal (the grace of Baal), Baal-Sham (the power of Baal), and Asdrubal (Baal is my helper). Cities dedicated to him were given the names of Baal-Gad, Baal-Parazin, and Baal-Hana).
The priests of Baal declared that the god first appeared when a primal universal force called EI, the elemental god, and Athirate, the goddess of the earth, who holds the ocean in her womb, became the parents of the gods. Baal was their firstborn and was given the sun for his throne. Soon the priests decreed that Baal and EI were one and the same, and that Baal’s consort was Astarte or Ashtoreth. She was known as Aphrodite to the Greeks, Ishtar to the Babylonians, Nana to the Sumerians, and Venus to her devotees in Rome. Regardless of her name or place, she was the wife of Baal, the virgin queen of heaven who bore fruit although she never conceived.
Marble temples and alters honoring Baal and Astarte glistened on sacred hills throughout the land of Canaan. At the beginning of spring, when the winds were still, the evening fires burned on hills. With impassioned ceremonies, the people involved their lives intimately with the life of the god. The reproductive force was the most powerful and mysterious of all manifestations. The power of generation was the object of the gods’ devotion,  and Baal was its personification.
Sacred Prostitution
All the land was Baal’s, and the location of smaller temples and shrines was determined by the phallic character or the proved fertility of natural plants and objects in the midst which suggested it was here that Baal dwelled.  Here the god’s shrines were built and fruit trees were planted. Walls were constructed to sanctify them. The worshippers were restricted  in how far they may enter, only the priests advanced into the inner sanctum where the young and muscular figure of Baal, hewn out of Granite, set upon a throne bathed in the light that filtered through an opening to the sky. Adjoining the temple were courts and chambers for the temple prostitutes, women chosen for special duties to gain the favor of a god who was best worshiped in the union of the sexes (When Sex Was Religion).
When a man approached a woman in the court, he tossed a coin to her and said, “I beseech the goddess Astarte to favor thee, and Baal to favor me.” The money became a part of the temple treasury, and the art of prostitution a sacred obligation to be fulfilled.
Throughout the land, the presence of Baal was marked by pillars or tree stems stuck upright into the ground. Because Baal impregnated the land by copulation, the ceremonies in his honor were often imitative sexual acts. The people believed that there was a secret power waiting to be unleashed through the rite.
Records indicate that the Semitic Canaanites were industrious, freedom-loving people. Their houses were large with spacious open yards between. They were great admirers of horses and loved games in which horses played a major part. They had great knowledge of agriculture and expert trades people who worked with clay and metal, creating impressive sculptured pieces in bronze, copper, gold, and silver, always reserving their ablest talent for creating statues of Baal. Images of Astarte depicted her in the nude, holding two white doves in her hands, while at her feet a lion and a coiled serpent lay stretched out submissively.
A thousand years of struggle were to take place between Baal, god of the sun, and Jehovah, God of destiny, between a god of the flesh and a God of the spirit. During these years, the Canaanites and the Israelites intermingled, each often worshiping the other’s god. For a thousand years the god of sex consistently triumphed and his followers increased. For a thousand years the cult Baal worked its magic, rewarding its followers with the joy of life in a productive land. The temples of Omri, Jezebel, and Athaliah flourished. It was as though the god of fertility lavished his abundant harvests upon the people to convince  them that he was mightier than Jehovah, that worship to him was honorable, and that a spiritual power was inherent in the orgasmic rites. So successful was he that there were Israelites who said, “if the worship of the sun god is an offense to Jehovah, why does not Jehovah rise up and defeat the great god Baal? There were also those who, condemning the idolatry turned from the immoral spectacles to the rituals of their holy faith. They watched and waited to see what the God of Israel would do.

The faithful now build new alters to honor the God Jehovah, but in a little while a hymn to Baal echoes again somewhere deep within the throbbing earth and steals once more into the minds and acts of people. A voice is heard saying “the great god Baal is dead.”  Or did he ever die?

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Sex Worship

Wherever people live, people worship. The search for a satisfying religion is the greatest adventure and the boldest quest. As far back as we can go in history, before there were alters, churches, prophets and priests, humans were trying to come to terms with the mystery and magic of the universe.
Primitive races asked themselves the same questions that we ask ourselves today. “How can I understand the hidden forces that play upon my life? How can I deal with the mysterious power which is sometimes so near I can control it with a prayer, and at other times, so far away it defies my prayers and my faith?”
As humanity set about to solve the enigma of personal relationships with the unseen, methods were used that seem curious and strange.  It was the beginning of a quest for truth, and seeking to unravel the mysteries of the universe.
In the simple mind of the ancients, it was logical that every stick, stone, plant, and tree appeared to be impregnated with life. Sticks were the source of both fire and fuel; stones provided both weapons and places for protection. Certain branches when stuck into the earth began to grow, certain plants contained magical powers to heal. Certain trees seemed never to die; certain herbs when eaten gave exotic visions of a life to come. Humans learned all this as they moved upon the bosom of the earth, having been placed here by whom or what, was unknown. They only knew that peace must be made with a strange, unmeasured, and at times, a lonely and a frightening land.  
The ancients seeing animals around them got the first clue of their own inherent instincts. In beasts and reptiles humans dimly perceived and believed they were ancestors which led to a better understanding of self. Each creature had the ability to reproduce its kind and, through its sexual functions, overcame the awesome power of death, gaining, it seemed, a small step toward some sort of immortality.
The first religious symbol was the totem, a pole in the shape of a phallus on which was crudely carved an image of an ancestral animal god. The first ceremonies were mimicking the animal which the clan or tribe had chosen. The dances, chants, and earliest prayers mimicked the movements, utterances, and habits of their deity. The most intimate ritual was patterned after the copulative act as observed in the creation which was the totem guardian and the god of the clan.
As humanity began to recognize the reproductive urge in all living things, the relationship between humans and the world deepened. Birds were reverenced because they flew upward toward the source of light. Fish became symbols of life (Marcus Bach in his book Strange Sects And Curious Cults suggests that the ancients somehow knew the modern truth that  fish resembled spermatozoon, whereas in my book When Sex Was Religion, I point out that the ancients believed fish were virgin born, and possess aphrodisiacal properties by the worshippers of Venus, it was also pointed out by George Ryley Scott Phallic Worship 1941 in regards to fish worship,  that it was because fish was considered to bear some resemblance to that of the female vulva). The virile animals, particularly the bull, ram, lion were honored for their creative power and the hint of conquest over fear. These were the gods and demigods etched upon the totem, and reverenced in ritual and song, unfolding the qualities hoped to be found within humans themselves.
The worship of the totem turned to the adoration of nature itself. Nature as the creator was more powerful than its creatures. At times it was cruel and formidable, but it was also loving and kind. It was also an unpredictable force. The wind was a spirit, the rain a messenger, the night a specter, the moon an eye, and the sun, a god. There was no god greater than the sun. It blessed and cursed brought joy and grief, filled humans with fear when it dropped from sight and aroused in the mind a hymn of praise at its reappearing.  Most of all, the sun stimulated and energized human creative powers. Light and life were its attributes and there was nothing in the vast world more worthy of worship and awe.  The sun was a king and the earth a queen; a queen endowed with never-ending life by her royal consort. The ancients reasoned that the rising and setting of the sun was a sexual act which fertilized the earth. As a mother begets her children, so mother earth begot her fruit. Out of this thought came the first hint of the cosmic father-mother relationship – the sexual union of the universe – of which man and woman were a part. This was the answer to the mystery of creation; it was light upon the puzzle of birth and death.  
It was reasoned that the earth had its springtime of impregnation, its summer of fruitful productivity, its autumn waning and its wintery death, and we were all part of this cosmic drama and death. As the earth received impulse from the sun to create and bear fruit, Humanity also reasoned that we too, were dependent upon the sun god for creative powers.
In a very real sense, it was believed we were considered a solar being, an offspring of the solar deity, the sun.
Prehistoric humanity developed the rudimentary concepts of religion.  The origin of religion as phallic worship was profound. They have left their influence upon worship all through the ages.  The meaning behind the sacrifices, chants, the rituals and rites, the ceremonies and ceremonials, together with the sexual symbolism, have persisted until our present day even though, with malice of forethought, we have sought to destroy their ancient meaning.   
The earliest elements of divine services had to do with the sun and sex. These have persisted all the way from the lingam and yoni in the temples of Hinduism to the towering minarets of Islam; from the star of David in Judaism to the phallic crus ansata in the Christian Faith.
If we reject the evidence pointing to some form of union for creation and the evolution of thought it inspired, the entire history of world religions become unintelligible and grotesque. If, however, this key to religion is grasped, it will unlock the past and show us that all that has happened is meaningful and profound.



Thursday, June 19, 2014

Bullying in school and the community


       Bullying, violence, schools and society

The transformation of the ethnic composition in Canadian society is ongoing. Our schools are changing and our classrooms are international.  Educators, teachers, and parents need to come to terms with the diverse nature of our education system. Canadian society is multicultural and the education system should prepare our citizens to cope with the national and global realities.
Reasons why ASSIMILATION is important
·         All humans are members of a single species, there are no biologically meaningful subspecies within it.  The concept of races, are social constructs corresponding to no biological reality.
·         Differences between human populations are entirely the product of the social environment.
·         Racism in all cultures and ethnocentrism are irrational with dysfunctional attitudes, to which certain rigid, authoritarian types of personality are especially prone. Such attitudes must be challenged by promoting equal status between groups.
Racial inequality and sexual politics in Canada dates back to the original contact between the European colonizers and the Natives who were the first people in the country. The Europeans quickly established their political and economic dominance and the Natives soon came under the direct control of the European colonial powers.  The British and the French emerged as the dominant national groups, while the natives were pushed onto the reserves and subjected to discrimination while being denied access to economic and political power.
By controlling immigration policies, both the English and French consolidated their cultural and institutional dominance. They determined which groups would be allowed entry, where they would settle, what jobs should be allocated, and which languages should be spoken.  English Canadians offered preferred status to immigrants from Britain and Northern and Western Europe, who were culturally and socially similar, while the less preferred ethnic groups, mostly from southern Europe, Asia, and Central America, took low occupational and social roles.
Until 1962, the Canadian Immigration Act openly discriminated against non-white immigrants. In 1967, changes in immigration laws altered composition, resulting in a multiracial society, but the stratification system has not been significantly changed. Despite a reduction in ethnic inequality, immigrants from warmer climates continue to exhibit lower socioeconomic status.
 The school system plays a pivotal role in addressing the issue of youth violence & bullying, because of the potential for reaching a large number of children.  Teachers are ideally positioned to identify children who have social, emotional, behavioural, and academic problems that may require special assistance. Much can be done within the school system to reduce aggressive and violent behaviour among children and youth and to increase and promote pro-social responses to conflict.
School based violence does not manifest itself in the same form and to the same degree in all school districts. As a result, these differences will necessitate developing policies that are individualized to the needs of the particular school board.
Considerations when designing a prevention school-based violence policy
(a)   A school board’s violence prevention policy should be internally consistent; the various statements, procedures, and provisions should relate to each other to form a unified document. For example, if a school board has an elaborately detailed policy concerning weapons, e.g., defining what constitutes a weapon, outlining the consequences for an infraction, and so forth. There should also be a policy concerning less sever behaviours such as intimidation/bullying/threats, harassment, and fighting.  Policies should build up from the less to the more serious behaviours, otherwise, the policy as a whole appears disjointed.
(b)   In addition to being internally consistent, policies should be congruent with programs. For example, if a conflict resolution program is implemented within a board’s schools, this preventative approach to dealing with school violence and promoting social skills should be reflected within the board’s policy documents.
(c)    Policies should be comprehensive in order to address the various aspects of school-based violence. For example, programs could be targeted toward ;
-          The school “community” and student body as a whole (e.g., conflict resolution, curriculum-based programs, promoting a positive school climate and academic excellence.
-          Teachers (e.g. staff development)
-          Identified students (counselling and support services, social skills training, alternative –to-suspension programs)
-          Victims of violence  (e.g. aftermath services, protocols for responding to emergency situations)
-          The community outside the school (e.g. police liaison programs, involvement of community groups in the development of violence prevention policy).
-          Board policies should have a community focus. The causes of youth violence are many and often lie outside the purview of the school system. Partnerships between schools and community groups must be developed for concerted, sustained, and comprehensive violence prevention efforts to occur.
-          School boards should have supplemental programs for students who are disruptive, aggressive, and violent. These programs should be supportive and corrective rather than punitive, demoralizing, and inflexible.  There will always be a group of students who require specialized services such as social skills, self-control, anger management training, and individual counselling and therapy. Placing students in special education and behaviour classrooms is often not sufficient to address the range of needs for some students or for students with disruptive behaviour be placed in a regular classroom setting. As well, programs targeted to the entire school community may not be effective with a growing population.
Supplemental programs may be provided either internally, using the school board’s own resources, or through the services of a community-based social services agency that specializes in dealing with difficult children and youth. E.g.  Provincial mental health programs, non-profit societies, etc.

  Why  you should nominate and vote for me for Vancouver School Board Trustee


On Saturday November 15, 2014, Vancouver will be voting for Mayor, city counsellors and School trustees. The difficult question is who are these people, and who should I vote for?  

In politics the gap between promises and delivery is one of the reasons there is so much cynicism. Opposition parties draw as much attention as they can to a government’s shortcomings, while media coverage may also focus on unfulfilled promises. In such situations people become disenchanted and look for simple explanations.
The fact is, we need passionate people to be elected in a position that requires not only knowledge, but vision, creativity, and passion. That’s why I am seeking nomination and seeking your support.
My priorities include;
1. Ensure all students receive top quality education with high standards
2. Parents, students, and community engagement
3.Financial management and promotion of current social and commercial educational needs. This will translate into business and employment opportunities for graduating students.    
                     
School Trustees and stewardship
Every sector of society is constantly in the process of reform. Government reform and education reform, as well as all other organizations, are always packaged in economic terms first.  Although the real issues are far more serious, our schools and other agencies are under financial scrutiny. All organizations continue to search for the latest programs and ideas to reduce cost.
 A budget crisis usually means the organization is failing in its core purpose. As a result, it is unable to serve its constituents or the society as a whole. And if it is unable to serve its constituents, that means it has failed to serve its own internal workings. The way organizations move forward (in this case a school board), has to do with the definition of purpose or governance. Governance recognizes the political nature of our environment, and hope for genuine organizational reform, resides in how we each define purpose, and balance the budget.

Education and society

It’s not that some cultures are smarter but that some people are not given the opportunity to learn.
Data spanning over 3000 years shows that education can take many forms and serve many needs.  Over time, instruction of the young shifted from parents and skilled adults to institutional settings such as royal courts and temples, each with its own standardized body of knowledge. Schools with prescribed curricula and appointed teachers were founded for various purposes to transmit knowledge and information, social values, and useful technical skills. The purpose was also to socialize individuals to particular roles.
In North America by the second half of the 19th century, the selective preparation of the elite members of society had evolved into more inclusive systems of education.
One of the most significant phenomena of the 20th century was the dramatic expansion of public education systems (government-sponsored).
In the early 19th century the education system in Canada, was much the same as it was in England; it was provided through the efforts of religious and philanthropic organizations and dominated by the Church of England. Although there was overlap among types of schools, there are records of parish schools, charity schools, Sunday schools, and monitored schools for the common people. The institutional method was a rudimentary combination of religious instruction and literacy skills.
More advanced education was limited to the upper social classes and was given in Latin grammar schools, or in private schools with various curricular extensions on the classical base. Until about 1870 public systems of education emerged, accommodating religious interests in a state framework. Public support was won for the common school, leading toward universal elementary education. Secondary and higher education began to assume a public character. Local responsibility and authority was elaborated in the respective provinces.
The federal government has maintained and supported the education of armed-forces personnel. Research and development in higher education are promoted directly through grants from national research councils for social sciences and humanities. Grants are also available for natural sciences, engineering, medicine, and the arts.
In 2002 the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia published a report from its Standing Committee on Education. It outlined a vision for the renewal of education and the public consensus about the importance of education to the economic prospects and social welfare of both the individual learner and society. Many of the accounts emphasized that learners should have an opportunity to accomplish their intellectual, social, individual, and vocational development. It was also suggested that emphasis should be given to preparing learners to meet the province’s human resource needs and that there should be a closer link between work opportunities and schooling, particularly at the secondary and post-secondary levels.
This shows the belief in the intrinsic worth of education, suggesting that it is better to be well educated than to be poorly educated. Further, it reflected societal beliefs that an educated individual has considerable social and economic value for the self and thus for society.
Schools in British Columbia 
In 2014 according to “The Mandate of the British Columbia School System,” the purpose is to enable learners to develop their individual potential and to acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to contribute to a healthy society and a prosperous and sustainable economy.
In the secondary schools it’s common to have a two day rotation that consists of 4 courses per day. If students fail an individual subject they still move on to the next grade level in subjects they pass. Some courses are required in order to graduate both at the school level and other courses require provincial exams in order to graduate.
The curriculum and learning standards are mandated by the Ministry of Education. The key principles include the following:
(a)    Learning involves the active participation of the individual student.
(b)   Learning takes place in a variety of ways and at different rates.
(c)    Learning is both an individual and group process.

Looking at the BC School System Values and Beliefs

-          Learning takes place in different ways and at different rates
-          Learning is both an individual and social process
-          Everyone can learn - and learn together
-          Play is an important way to learn
-          Group work is an integral part of school work
-          The amount of homework learners are given depends on their ages
-          Oral language development is an important part of learning
-          Students usually move through elementary school with children who are the same age
-          Learning how to learn and how to gain access information are considered critical skills
-          Letter grades are based on much more than test results

Different age groups

Kindergarten

-          No letter grades are given
-          Learning is play based
-          The focus is on developing social skills and basic concepts

Grades 1 to 3
-          No letter grades are given
-          Learning is theme based
-          Literacy skills are developed using many books rather than specific textbooks
-          The focus is on building oral language, vocabulary and on developing reading and writing skills
-          Usually one teacher for all subject areas
-          Development is focused on five areas: intellectual, physical, social, artistic, and emotional

Grades 4 to 7
-          Letter grades are usually given
-          There is often more than one teacher
-          Students begin to use textbooks, as well as other sources of information
-          More of a focus on reading and writing skills
-          Oral language and group work
-          Students given more responsibility for their own learning and conduct

Grades 8 to 12
-          Students may have 8 subjects and 8 teachers
-          Given greater responsibility for self-sufficiency and responsibility

Education may be defined as the process of training and developing the knowledge, skill, mind and character, by formal training

In general it is a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training, and research.  A right to education has not been recognized by all governments. Although, at the global level, Article 13 of the United Nations’1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes the right of everyone to an education. 

Scholars and Universities
 In the fifth century, barbarian invasions and unpredictable climate changes swept away much of the culture of antiquity. Books and the written word held little interest for fighting men hungry for land, bent on pillage and instant gratification. Only the monasteries preserved the writings of the saints and a few Greek and Latin manuscripts that had been rescued from destruction. The monks copied the texts in elegant manuscripts, destined for the treasuries of the churches rather than for general reading. Books were precious, in the same way a silver plate or golden chalice were. Nevertheless, under Charlemagne’s rule, 768 AD – 814, written culture was revived.  The empire needed men who could read and write legal texts. But it only affected the elite belonging to the palace.
It was not until the twelfth century that a new Western culture began to take form. Population growth, expansion of trade, and the building of towns stimulated the exchange and movement of ideas. Men of learning, enriched by a knowledge of Greek and Arabic texts, rediscovered the authors of antiquity. They absorbed the new thinking alongside the lessons of the Bible and the teachings of the founding fathers of Christianity. Nurtured by this new culture, the masters changed their behavior and attitudes.
In Paris, Oxford, Bologna, and all over Europe, universities were created, linked to the growth of towns and cities. Unlike the monastery schools, where the teaching was often rigid, they were true centers of learning, attended by students from far and wide.
The Latin word universitas means “guild,” and the masters, who were both teachers and scholars, banded together to form guilds to protect their rights. They lived on the money their students paid for lessons. Some were followed from town to town and were regarded as true masters of thinking. Some universities were more highly regarded than others and some became specialized.
Education often consisted of a study of texts and “disputes” on their meaning, questions and interrogations on their hidden significance. Seated on a dais, the master read aloud, commented, and gave answers. Opposite him sat the students, who were often poor. They had no permanent home and they went from town to town to get what education they could. Sometimes, to earn a living, they worked as jugglers or clowns, begged or stole.
In the thirteenth century, as the universities became organized, the wondering scholars became fewer in number and the bands of lively witted travelers and vagabonds faded away. They were succeeded by students who were better off or given financial assistance by charitable institutions. One of the first such institutions was the college founded by Robert de Sorbon 1253, in Paris, which was to grow into the Sorbonne, the present day University of Paris.
Alongside oral lessons, the basis of teaching became the written word. The authors of the syllabus had to be read by both masters and students, and records were kept of the professors’ lectures. The book, once a luxury item, became a manual, a tool. Paper-making processes improved, books became smaller, abbreviations and a modern script came into use.  Reeds were replaced by quill pens, which made it possible to copy manuscripts more speedily.
The university consisted of four independent faculties and prescribed a complicated examination system that regulated the allocation of grades.  The arts faculty taught a six year course and granted a bachelor’s degree. The specialized faculties, law and medicine, granted the students a doctor’s degree.  Theology, which was regarded the most “noble” discipline, demanded from 15 to 16 additional years of study. 
A new form of study also developed alongside the teachings of the Church.
During the intellectual renaissance of the twelfth century, the Arabs served as intermediaries. Moslem schools and libraries were filled with the works of ancient Greece. These manuscripts travelled from the East through Italy and Spain to the West. Some original Arabic texts, Arabic versions of Greek texts, and original Greek texts were translated with the help of Spanish Christians who had lived under Moslem rule. Research, logic, and science made enormous progress by contact with Euclid’s mathematical works, Aristotle’s philosophy, and Hippocrates’ writings on medicine. In addition, the Arabs made their own contribution, including the writing of modern numerals and subjects such as algebra, agronomy (the science of crop production), and alchemy. The Koran was also translated and amended by order of Pierre the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny.
In Canada, the Association of Universities and Colleges, with its presidents, held its first meeting in 1911. They gathered in Montreal to discuss what questions should be raised, when they attend a meeting of the Congress of Empire Universities held the following year in London.
In 1915, the presidents, with 26 representatives from 18 universities, met again to discuss common problems, which they had recognized as a need for a national organization to exchange information. By 1917 the group had become formalized and as named the National Conference of Canadian Universities. It is described as “the voice and conscience of Canada’s institutions of higher learning.” The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada was incorporated by the Canadian Parliament in 1965.
Through various organizational structures and names, the association continues to provide leadership for higher education in Canada and abroad.
In regards to the Canadian Aboriginal population, only 8 percent of the people aged 25 to 64 have a university degree while 23 percent of non-aboriginals of the same age group have a university degree. Another issue is more than one-third of Aboriginal people have not completed high school, and federal funding to support Aboriginal students attending a postsecondary institution has increased only two percent a year since 1996 while tuition has increased at an average of 4.4 percent a year since 1998.
Community engagement is a major factor in education. According to the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, through collaboration, universities and communities make each other stronger. Community-engaged research tackles social challenges, improves healthcare and solves environmental problems. University outreach activities address local needs. And business partnerships fuel prosperity.
At the same time, a community’s unique culture, economy and assets,help shape the research, curriculum and service commitment of a university.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Coping with stress and work


  • There are times when we look around ourselves and we recognize that various parts of our character have different personalities. We can do goodness, or we can choose to cause harm to others. It is a choice we make in our day-to-day communications or transaction. This transaction occurs when two or more people encounter each other…sooner or later one person will speak, or give some other indication of acknowledging the presence of the others. The person will then say something or do something which is in some way related to the original speaker. This form of transactional analysis suggests “I do something to you and you do something back,” it also determines which part of the personality the first speaker is using and how it can influence others for good or bad. For example, you are on a new job and your new supervisor tells you that there are certain things expected of you, and if you don’t follow the rules you are fired. The next day a colleague of the supervisor keeps watching you as you work without offering an explanation. Although you arrive bright and early for work, your supervisor accuses you of being late because you were not seen by him. The third day you’re told by the supervisor’s friend you are no longer required for work.
  • In the form of Transactional Analysis we can organize the information derived from such behaviour and see the good or negative results the person projects. As you watch and listen to people you can see them change. There are simultaneous changes in facial expression, vocabulary, gestures, posture, and body functions, which may cause the face to flush, the heart to pound, or the breathing to become rapid. Changes from one state to another are apparent in manner, appearance, words, and gestures. In the case of the supervisor there were there were three different and distinct personalities in one person; one dominated by feelings like a child, one of self-righteousness and one of perceived reasoning and logical. The cause of such passive-aggressive behaviour in this cause requires further investigation, although the three states of thought exist in all people.
  • Most of our energy day after day is used in decision making, and often are expressed in frustration and indecisiveness. In solving either of these difficulties we must recognize that in each decision there are three sets of data to be processed. The first set of data is dominated by feelings, the second self-righteousness, and the third is the feeling of perceived reasoning and logic. Feelings are based on past experiences and represent an external reality as it exists in the present, with a wide range of information accumulated in the past. Thus, we judge and expect rather than deal with the present. These recordings, reinforced through the years of negative experience are a powerful force bearing on a person’s decision. The power of this incoming data lies in its ability to reproduce fear.
  • The second set of data is feelings of self-rightfulness and fear. What will happen if he won’t listen to me? You can’t trust these new workers to do what I tell them.” There are realistic difficulties here, but the intensity of the feelings are based on past difficulties stemming from a few years ago. With that assumption of past  experiences and fear it produces the churning stomach and the sweaty hands. The conflict becomes so painful the man becomes withdrawn. The third set of data comes from reality with no concept of reasoning. He simply gives in to whatever situation, thinking the old ways are the best ways. It is human nature for people to not listen. History repeats itself. Let someone else deal with this problem.
  • What makes people want to change?
  • Three things make people want to change. One is that they had enough pain. They have beat their heads against the same wall so long that they decide they have had enough. They are drug addicts, their ulcers bleed. They have hit the bottom. They bag for relief. They want to change.
  • Another thing that make people change is a slow type of despair or boredom until he realizes something must be done and willing to make a change.
  • The third thing that makes people want to change is the sudden discovery that they can.
  • A simple, and yet, difficult formula.
  • Often when a person faces a difficult challenge, they respond by saying “I can’t. “ What they are really saying is I “choose” not to deal with it. The first step is whenever you feel your palms sweating, heart beating fast, head feeling like its spinning, and your thoughts are racing “oh no, what can I do?”  “Why is this person bothering me. ” –
  • (a)    Stop for a second long enough to ask yourself why you are giving your power away to something else, and take a little time out for yourself. Step away from the problem that controls you, or if you can’t, take a deep breath and slowly try to relax your muscles.
  • (b)   Evaluate. Ask yourself what in the past causes you to act this way and why you are allowing it to control you now when you are supposed to have control over yourself.
  • (c)    Be brave, believe in yourself, act with courage and take charge of your own life. There are many organizations who are there to help you, but only if you truly want help.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Civilization before Adam and Eve

Civilization is far more complex that the story told in Genesis. There is much debate about the location of the Garden of Eden. It was believed that Paradise is located somewhere near Tigris and Euphrates River. Earlier reports suggest the Garden of Eden might have been located in Mongolia, India and Ethiopia. In all cases there was silence in regards to other cultures who flourished outside Eden, such as North American native tribes, various African and European tribes, Indian cultures, Asian, and others. Nor is there mention of the culture that existed east of Eden where Cain settled, married a foreign woman, and created his own family.

Data surviving from prehistory shows no evidence of the existence of Eden but relates to the quest for food and history of subsistence. As humans evolved they became skilled in hunting, fishing, and foraging. Isolated families  living in remote places eventually became aware of other groups outside their own territory. In time, with the increase in population and travel,. neighbors joined together forming communities.  

According to the Wolfson College Lectures 1978, The Origins of Civilization, in regards to hunting and socialization,  he suggests that the hunting of large mammals depended on social as well as technological factors. It involved an organized system of co-operation among hunters who were exclusively men that involved travel of long duration. ( this might be due to locating and/or following migrating herds certain periods of the year). The women would remain behind guarding the home base, bringing up the young, foraging for plant food and small animals. The mothers would also initiate the young children in gathering food and other activities.

The earliest human economies are likely to have been  based on a subdivision of functions between the men who concerned themselves with hunting, operating a distance from home, and the women who watched over the young, cooked, maintain the home surroundings, and engaged in foraging in the near neighbourhood. Hunting large animals probably involved active co-operation between the males. This was a social bond that held complete bands together, just as the division between hunting and foraging cemented individual family units."The system by which the earliest communities lived was thus based throughout on co-operation and sharing rather than struggle. Once communities were established, it was self-regulating. Which may explain why the earliest cultural patterns were slow to change.

Archaeological evidence recovered from a site dating back to 1 million years ago continued to reflect the importance of hunting and prowess of the men who pursued their prey. Some sites showed the use of fire for the first time. The evidence of fossil pollen pointing to forest clearance and the expansion of open vegetation in England, as well as the aborigines of  Australia show the use of fire.

Findings from 35,000 years ago in Europe, south Russia, north Africa, and Asia, show the practice of careful burial and a personal awareness of death. There was also expansion of the geographical territories. New lands were colonized in northern Europe, Far East and south-east Asia. The Japanese islands were occupied, and the Yukon on the Asian side of North American glacier zone was already occupied. Slowly but surely there emerged a new economy that changed the face of hunting and gathering. The new economy and its' complexity consisted of new words; crop, harvest, and husbandry.
 

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Modesty, not nudity,responsible for sexual inappropriateness

In order to understand why modesty might be a contributing factor to unwanted sexual acts, we may find the answer in some earlier sex research papers. Most of us think we have a reasonably clear insight into the sexual behaviour of those we love, and some notion of the sexuality of our friends and neighbors. From this assumption we formulate an opinion of what is normal and what is abnormal.
One of the first and most influential sexologists to investigate this egocentric perspective was Henry Havelock Ellis (1859 - 1939). He contributed more than any other individual to the overthrow of old ideas in the study of human sexuality, and he presented concepts of individual and cultural relativism which underlie almost all significant sex research today.
Ellis devoted many decades of his life to mastering most of what had been learned about human sexuality since the days of the ancient Greeks.  As a counselor and healer, he studied the sex lives of his contemporaries directly and recorded his findings in a series of volumes,Studies in the Psychology of Sex, which he published and periodically revised between 1896 and 1928. What he discovered was that: everybody is not like you, you loved ones, and your friends and neighbors.
Ellis was an English Victorian. He accordingly opened his essay on modesty with the generally accepted Victorian belief that virtue consists essentially in keeping the human body , and especially the human female body, adequately clothed. To illustrate this relationship between modesty and clothing, he recounted a visit paid by Jacques (Giacomo Girolamo) Casanova to the public baths near Berne, Switzerland, late in the nineteenth century.
According to the custom of the time and place, Ellis explained, Casanova at arriving at the baths selected a young girl of eighteen from the cluster of attendants awaiting patrons. She undressed him, undressed herself, entered the bath with him, and proceeded to massage him thoroughly all over, "in the most serious manner and without a word being spoken." When the message was completed , Casanova perceived that the girl expected him to make sexual advances. He felt-strangely enough for a world renowned womanizer - no desire to do so. This seducer of scores of women, now near the peak of his career as an international philanderer, felt embarrassed even to examine her nudity below the waist. "Though without gazing at the girl's figure," Casanova had written in his Memoirs, I had seen enough to recognize that she had all that a man can desire to find in a woman: a beautiful face, lively and well formed eyes, a beautiful mouth, with good teeth, a healthy complexion, well-developed breasts, and everything in harmony...Yet I remained extremely cold. What was the cause of this? That was the question that I asked myself."
Casanova thereupon ventured to answer his own question. Perhaps modesty in a woman was one of the factors arousing a man's sexual desire.  Perhaps, lacking modesty, the Berne bath attendant lacked sexual appeal. But Ellis was not so sure. He went on to demonstrate, from a review of the literature of anthropology, that the relation of the clothing to modesty, and of modesty to sexual desire, is in fact, far more complex that Casanova had supposed. In Tierra del Fuego, South America, for example, women once wore only a minute triangle of animal skin suspended between their thighs; yet they were so modest, they never removed it. Even during sexual intercourse they merely raised it. Among natives of the Amazon Valley, the men went naked while the women wore a short skirt. Among another tribe in the area, the men always wore a loincloth while the women went naked. According to an article written in an 1892 issue of the American Journal Of Obstetrics, almost every woman in one tribe of North American Indians were sexually free, yet they were modest when one of them , near death during childbirth, refused to let any man attend her. At length consented to be examined by a physician only if her whole body was covered with only the vaginal opening remaining visible. Ellis also recorded another tribe in Africa where it was a punishable offense for a man to expose any part of his leg above the knee, "the wives of the King would attend his Court naked." One African tribe considered it shameful for a man to conceal his penis.According to E. Brecher (1969),  in his book The Sex Researchers, when a British anthropologist remarked on the nudity of the women in the Congo, a chief replied that "concealment is food for the inquisitive." Another British anthropologist commented with respect to Central Africa: It has been my experience that the more naked the people, and the more to us obscene and shameless their manners and customs, the more moral and strict they are in the matter of sexual intercourse."

Monday, February 10, 2014

Coercive sex (rape)

Rape is an emotionally-laden subject surrounded by myths and misunderstandings. While it is defined as a sexual act, it is primarily an expression of violence, anger, or power. Its victims can be male or female, very young, very old, rich, poor, mentally challenged, physically disabled, or able-bodied.  Those who rape are also a diverse group that defies classification.

The word rape comes from a Latin term (rapere) that means to steal, seize, or carry away. In ancient times, rape was one way to procure a wife: a man simply overpowered a desirable woman and then brought her into his tribe. The man then had to protect his property and his honor by preventing others from seizing or raping his wife. This appears to have provided the origins for the first laws against rape in which rape was viewed as crime against property or honour but not against women.

According to the Code of Hammurabi, a set of laws established in Babylonia about 4000 years ago, a man who raped a betrothed virgin was to be put to death. If a man raped a married woman, both the rapist and his victim were regarded as guilty and were executed by drowning. A similar distinction with a slightly different twist was found in biblical injunctions about rape (Deuteronomy 22:22-28): A married woman who was raped was seen as a willing accomplice, so she and her rapist were killed; a virgin was considered guilty only if she was raped in the city, since it was assumed that her screams would have led to her rescue. In contrast, a virgin who was raped in a field outside the city walls was spared, since no one could hear her screaming. If she was betrothed to someone, her rapist was stoned to death – if not, he had to marry her (whether or not she liked this arrangement didn’t seem to matter).

Later laws against rape continued to specify varying circumstances by which rape was judged as more or less serious. Penalties were higher if the woman was a virgin or high social class. Under William the Conqueror (1035-1087), a man who raped a virgin of high social standing was punished by castration and blinding. Guilt, however, was determined by trial by combat, or unless the victim had a champion willing to risk his life by fighting the accused rapist, she had no way of establishing her case.

By the twelfth century, jury trails replaced combat, as a means of determining guilt or innocence.  Yet all were not equal in the eyes of the law: A nobleman or knight could easily blame a rape he committed on one of his men and save his vision and chances for fatherhood. At the end of thirteenth century, two additional changes appeared in English Law concerning rape: the distinction between raping a virgin or a married woman was dropped, and the old custom of penitence through marriage was permanently banned.

Despite the legal system, rape has not always been regarded as bad. In wartime, from thousands of years ago until today, victorious soldiers have raped enemy- women. In literature, rape has sometimes been presented in heroic terms, as Ayn Rand did in The Fountain Head. In society, rape has often been practically defined in terms of the social positions of victim and victimizer: In the 1940s and 1950s for example, a white male was rarely charged with raping a black woman in the south, but a black man charged with raping a white woman was dealt with swiftly and harshly. Even today, in most jurisdictions, a man is unlikely to be charged with raping a prostitute, and forced intercourse between husband and wife does not “count” as rape in many countries.  The last few decades saw a great increase in public awareness of rape. The women’s movement played a major role in this process, raising issues and demanding improvements in services to rape victims.


Forcible rape is far and away the most common form of rape but, there are also several subcategories of forcible rape that can be distinguished, although most of these are not legally defined terms.  The solo rape is carried out by one man acting alone and often occurs in forcible date rape and mate rate. Gang rape is a terrifying form of rape involving two or a group of men, sometimes with a female accomplice, who take turns raping the victim. A rear form of gang rape involves several women raping a man. A more common version of gang rape is a group of men who rape another man rectally. The rape of men by men is infrequent among gay men and usually involves heterosexual men in prison.  There are also women who rape men although it is less reported.