Hum105 Cosimic Creation Myths - 1037 Words

Cosmic Creation Myths Across Cultures Alexi LaBrenz HUM 105 Professor Jordan â€Å"Chris† April 10, 2016 Cosmic Creation Myths Across Cultures When discussing different cosmic creation myths, something to remember is the style of creation myth it is. There are nine different styles of myths when talking about creation: accretion or conjunction, secretion, sacrifice, division or consummation, earth-diver, emergence, two creators, deus faber, and ex nihillo. For the purpose of discussing the Norse creation myth, and the Genesis myth focus will be on secretion, division or consummation, deus faber and ex nihillo (Leonard, 2004). Genesis: The Creation Account Arguably one of the most well-known mythological account of how the world†¦show more content†¦Secretion continues with Aphrodite. She is born when Zeus emasculates his father, Kronos, and blood begins to drop from the severed testicles. From this blood Aphrodite is born, and forever known as the goddess of love and attraction. Her emergence from the blood symbolizes the beginning of generative life on earth (Rosenberg, 2006). Creation Myths Creation myths play an important role in our culture and even modern day society. They give us something to believe in when the unknown seems daunting. Ontological yearning is the need to know why, and not just accept what is. This is why we not only need creation myths, and myths in general, but actually seek them out. We find every possible reason to believe in them so that we are not faced with the unknown. This is the beauty of myths, we know that they are not true, they cannot be proven scientifically, or even logically, but they explain the unknown to us. It is because of this that we are so quick to believe them as if they are fact. Conclusion It is very interesting to read all of the myths about creation and be able to pick them apart to their core to see the deeper meaning behind them. Genesis, a book in the bible I am sure many are familiar with, was especially enjoyable to pick apart, as well as The Creation, Death, and rebirth of the Universe, although interesting, I

The United States Classification As An Empire - 1941 Words

Although much debate surrounds the United States’ classification as an empire, there is no doubt or argument saying that the U.S.’s involvement in global affairs has changed the world, whether that is a positive or negative outcome will be left for another day. In this paper, the US shall be regarded as an empire because of its past and present actions in the global viewpoint. American dominance in the global view of the world can be traced back to the end of the Second World War, when they surpassed the United Kingdom as the world’s superpower, although many British people did not accept it at the time. It was at this time that the U.S. began to fight proxy wars to contain the threat of Communism, which just ended up undermining American†¦show more content†¦When the U.S. has resisted change and tried to maintain PA as it was once was, it has faced global opposition and ultimately its power was undermined, which shows that PA is no longer what it once w as and must be changed. An example of this would be when the U.S. promised to reform the International Monetary Fund, but Congress stalled. This led to the Chinese setting up their own bank with supporters that are the US’s allies. China is no longer dependent on the western nations and given the US’s relative weakness, they might try to shape the world to their needs (Layne). China has the capability to shape the world and may even surpass the U.S. militarily and economically with its very large workforce and government that can get things passed and done. The U.S. ultimately hurt itself by stalling reforms, allowing China to take action their own way (Cassidy). The U.S. has not only resisted change externally when dealing with PA, they have also resisted change internally by trying to keep up the old efforts and spending from when PA was sustainable and by engaging in bad politics. The U.S. has spread too thin in terms of military, but many American politicians are s till pushing for more military

Marco Polo Worships the Great Khan Free Essays

Traveling from Cathay to Tinju, there is not a single page in The Travels of Marco Polo where he does not mention the Great Khan.   Whether this is a positive or a negative, the power of the Great Khan is routinely emphasized and the leader is repeatedly discussed in terms of his ability as a ruler.   . We will write a custom essay sample on Marco Polo Worships the Great Khan or any similar topic only for you Order Now A great deal of the reason for this is that when one looks at a different culture and its history, there is a tacit avoidance of providing judgment on the way the militarism of a culture may conduct itself. Through his travels in China, Marco Polo depicts the Great Khan as a powerful, benevolent, and ambitious leader of East Asia. It is easy to see that the Great Khan had great power throughout most of China.   In chapter 4 of The Travels, Polo describes various visits to different locations in northern and southwestern China.   He states clearly that â€Å"Tibet belongs to the Great Khan, as do all the other kingdoms and provinces and regions described in this book, except only the provinces mentioned at the beginning of our book which belong to the son of Arghun† (174). In chapter 5, all places that Polo visits use the Great Khan’s paper currency and the people remain subjects of the Great Khan.   In his description of the journey from Ho-Kein-fu through Kein-ning-fu, the idea that stands out   is that â€Å"people are idolaters, subjects to the Great Khan and using paper money† because such a brief and generalized statement provides significant insight into the overriding themes of the Great Khan’s motivations. (211). However, in different areas under Khan’s rule, a unique monetary system was used.   For example, Kaindu had very unique hard currency: â€Å"They have gold in bars and weight it out by saggi; and it is valued according to its weight.   But they have no coined money bearing a stamp† (176). Ironically, in some instances, salt was used as short change currency. Traders in Tibet made an immense profit, because they could use the salt in food as well as for buying the necessities of life.   In the cities they used fragments of salt blocks in cooking and spent the unbroken blocks. However, regardless of the fact that Kaindu did not use the Great Khan’s money, the Great Khan’s influence remained strongly evident within these providences.   Kaindu was subject to the Great Khan and it was in an area known to have an abundance of pearls.   Regardless the Great Khan would not let anyone harvest pearls because he believed harvesting too many pearls would eliminate their scarcity and lead to a significant devaluation. Thus, â€Å"The Great Khan, when he has a mind, has pearls taken from it for his own use only; but no one else may take them on pain of death† (175) There was also a mountain there with a plentiful supply of turquoise which produced very fine gems but the Great Khan would not allow them to be taken except at his bidding. This would seem to indicate that the Great Khan’s brash exterior hid a very insecure interior. That is, he seemed to desire wealth and treasure as a way of propping up his own image. Allowing greater access to wealth and precious metals was, perhaps, something the Great Khan feared because it would chip away at his ‘loftiness’. (175). Marco Polo also conveys the notion that the Great Khan maintained a sense of benevolence that tempered his displays of power.   In particular, Polo’s story about Litan emphasizes this benevolence.   Tandinfu was a very large city and once a great kingdom, but the Great Khan had conquered it through force of arms.   In 1272, the Great Khan had appointed one of his barons, Litan Sangon, to hold this city and province.   However, Litan planned a monstrous act of disloyalty when he and his followers rebelled against the Great Khan in a stunning display of disobedience.   When the Great Khan discovered this, he sent his militia to confront them. When Litan was defeated, the Great Khan pardoned those who served under Litan forgave them for their trespasses and indiscretions.   Those who were pardoned never afterward displaced any disloyalty towards their great leader.   This story reflects the Great Khan’s benevolence because, unlike other leaders who would respond ruthlessly to opposition, The Great Khan instead made them into the most loyal subjects by bestowing a pardon to them. It is clear the Kubilai Khan was exceptionally ambitious and this is what made him so powerful and played a great part in allowing him to conquer most of Asia.   Polo’s description of the conquest of Manzi evokes the ambitiousness of the Great Khan.   After conquering many cities and countries, Kubilai was still not satisfied and continued the expansion of his territory. He attempted to conquer the great province of Manzi, a wealthy territory.   The king of Manzi had discovered through astrology that he could not lose his kingdom except at the hands of a man with a hundred eyes.   In response,   Bayan Chincsan, known as â€Å"Bayan Hundred-eyes,† was sent into Manzi by order of the Great Khan.   Bayan succeeded and Kubilai finally conquered Manzi. This clearly demonstrates the Great Khan’s desire to expand his power base from all fronts. Perhaps, in a way, it depicts over ambition as opposed to logistical, military expansion. Ultimately, this type of imperialism would later lead to Khan’s eventually overextension and downfall. From Marco Polo’s descriptions of the influence of the Great Khan throughout most of China, it appears that he was a powerful sovereign whose impression on history still resonates to this very day.   However, Marco Polo’s presentation of the Great Khan drafts an image of the Great Khan as the only leader who could rule and dominate the world Although Marco Polo’s explanation that many cities he visited were ruled by the Great Khan is true, to the reader it seems like he venerated Kubilai Khan above all others. Perhaps Marco Polo was in such awe of Khan, he sought to see him as a great leader as opposed to a destructive, predatory imperialist and from this, an idealized version of history was cr How to cite Marco Polo Worships the Great Khan, Essay examples

One Art - Elizabeth Bishop free essay sample

To Love, is to Lose The most prominent quality of Elizabeth Bishop’s, â€Å"One Art,† remains the concise organization and rhyme scheme of the poem, which amazingly keeps the audience informed at all times what the theme. Her choice of a villanelle constantly reminds the audience that â€Å"the art of losing† always seem easy until one loses something so much more than an inanimate object and at the point, it does become a â€Å"disaster. † Written in 1976, the poem is very modern and uses an impeccable rhyme scheme, diction, and imagery to convey the hints of misery and frantic the speaker feels. In the opening of the poem, the speaker immediately begins to ponder about â€Å"the art of losing. † By writing â€Å"the art of losing isn’t hard to master,† she sets the mood of her piece as somewhat of a recollection of how un-difficult it is to lose something (1). Though by repeating it in lines 6 and 12, she puts emphasis on the words and seems to want that line to be the truth. We will write a custom essay sample on One Art Elizabeth Bishop or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The speaker then lists items in each stanza that she has once lost and that it wasn’t something of significance to care so much. The speaker continues with how the process of losing something just takes â€Å"practice† (7) and again, it â€Å"won’t be a disaster† (9). While she seems nonchalant that losing items and â€Å"none of these will bring disaster (9), it is clear that by the end of line 16, there is a particular person that she seems to have a tough time losing. The speaker writes, â€Å"Even losing you (the joking voice a gesture / I love, I shan’t lie it’s evident,† (16-17) as if writing to someone particular in a sarcastic and fake humorous way—showing a side that seems a little more vulnerable than the rest of the poem. By the end of the poem, the speaker’s diction illustrates some sort of pain and she concludes with a lone, â€Å"though it may look like (Write it! ) disaster† (19)—as she forces herself to write the last line subconsciously. After reading this, it is as if the entire were a facade and that her confident advice that losing something is bearable is a way for her to cope with a significant loss. In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker puts significant emphasis on the words â€Å"master† and â€Å"disaster. Throughout the entire poem, these two words are repeated and seem to work as a key to unity in all her thoughts. Her diction is strong, confident, and unweathering. In the second stanza, the speaker introduces the first item that isn’t difficult to lose and reminds readers of the daily life hassles of finding lost keys. This is the first example of something in life that is easily lost for her. She further backs it up her original statement by saying that their intent is â€Å"to be lost† (3), saying that things are meant to be lost, no matter what happens. She instructs the audience to â€Å"lose† and â€Å"accept† (4), which suggests that she has gone through loss before and it would be better to accept losing things since it would not hurt as much. She then instructs the audience to â€Å"practice† (7) losing, so her heart will not be crushed when the audience is accustomed to losing. By line 6, the speaker gets frantic. Her words become careless and the words take a sort of rhythm. She says â€Å"losing farther, losing faster†. The alliteration in this line emphasizes how much and how fast she has lost that it is in a place so unreachable at this point. She then loses â€Å"places, and names, and where it was [she] meant / to travel† (8-9). She lost more important things, but they were bearable. In the fourth stanza, the speaker begins to explain more items that have been lost and it apparent that the more she writes, the more she is becoming less nonchalant and more frantic. When she says â€Å"And look! My last, or / next-to-last† (10), the exclamation point indicates a careless abandon. The fact that she can’t point out any details of the item she lost shows she doesn’t care about it and it doesn’t matter. She starts using the first person, saying that the items she lost were hers. She had begun with losing small things like â€Å"lost door keys, the hour badly spent†. Then she lost her â€Å"mother’s watch† and then â€Å"three loved houses†, but still she was able to bear with it. She lost â€Å"two cities†, â€Å"some realms [she] owned, two rivers, a continent† (line 13-14) but it didn’t matter to her. The things she lost were worth nothing to her and were easily disposable. But there is one thing that she can’t seem to get over losing. The last stanza, which is where the shift takes place, reflects the hidden pain that the speaker has tried to hide all along. Her nonchalant attitude of loss was only a way for her to cope with the significant loss in her life. Not only does she revert to speaking in first person, it is evident that there is one person that she is dedicating the entire poem to. She admits she â€Å"shan’t have lied† when saying losing things is easy because she found the one thing that hurts to lose: â€Å"you†. Here is where her audience changes to her lover. She still loves him; he uses the present tense word â€Å"love†. She hasn’t gotten over it. Looking back, she seems to be losing things to cope with the loss she has suffered. She thought if she lost some things, she might get used to the feeling of loss and accept his loss. Her use of parenthesis seems like a tool to incorporate humor to lighten up the tone and show readers what she is thinking inside her own mind. At this point, her diction isn’t as clean and organized as the rest of the stanzas. Her rhyme scheme in this doesn’t fit perfect as it did previously. Her tone is a lot more sarcastic in this last stanza. Clearly, her message to the audience is clear: the only way to overcome something painful is to make sure you can pretend that everything is not painful. Elizabeth Bishop’s, â€Å"One Art,† was written as a villanelle with 19 lines. The rhyme scheme she chose to write in was ABAB. Her choice of words for repetition in each stanza were, â€Å"master† and â€Å"disaster,† which puts a negative outcast throughout the entirety of the poem. Her choice in form certainly complements her tragic theme. These two words, repeatedly used, tie in how much it is hard to lose someone that you care about. The form usually seems constricted because the writer is forced to continually use the same lines but it only enhanced her forced facade and desire to keep order so that she would not break down. This poem was written in 1976 and certain demonstrates a more modern language and it easy to understand. To understand â€Å"One Art,† the audience needs to know how much the speaker wants to believe that losing something is simple and easy. But, it is not. Her order of choice in losing things starts from easy to complex—from a pair of keys to the person you love. Yes, it may not be â€Å"hard to master,† but it does cause â€Å"a disaster† in some cases. Bishop portrays the conflict or struggle that many people in society go through on a day-to-day basis. People lose things at every second in the day and people feel such tremendous heartache. Although she never blatantly admits that she struggles to forget the utter loss she feels, the audience can see (especially in the last stanza) that it’s never easy for her and she has to demand herself to finish a poem. This poem reflects sympathy for those who need it.