Hatha Yoga is the fifth of the five basic yogas.
Each basic form of yoga serves as the way to attain enlightenment. These are the five basic yogas:
Bhakti Yoga - stresses love and devotion
Karma Yoga - selfless work
Jnana Yoga - knowledge and discernment
Raja Yoga - eight-limbed system of disciplines emphasizing meditation.
Hatha Yoga - purification of the physical to attain purification of the mind.
Hatha yoga has come to our attention as the yoga necessary to attain health and vitality. Hatha Yoga exercises, stretches and liberates the body to make it healthy and essential tool for the mind and soul. Hatha yoga practitioner also notices extreme clarity of the mind and concentration. Some yogis use hatha yoga as the primary means to attain spiritual realization. Clear minds and healthy bodies make it easier to go into meditation.
Hatha literally means sun and moon, being ha as the word for sun in Sanskrit and tha means moon. Hatha yoga emphasizes the need to unite the body's inner currents specifically Feeling, Thinking, Willing, and Acting until they are in perfect harmony.
Generally, the hatha yogi directs energy at the ajna or around half an inch above the point between the eyebrows to attain a calm mind then moves the awareness into a super-conscious state. The individual life, the temporary state meets, touches and combines momentarily with the infinite.
Hatha yoga meditation is not as popular today as it was then. It also demands that the practitioner strives for the purity of life which demands a lot of time and energy. However, those who become hatha yogis attain health and universal unity.
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Psychology of Yoga
Yoga just like Psychology utilizes the mind to achieve its end-purposes.
Just like psychology or the methods of psychology, yoga also makes use of the mind in a variety of ways. This is because Yoga needs to employ the practice of two important processes: 1. concentration or dharana and, 2. meditation or dhyana.
Dharana, as defined by Patanjali, refers to the "binding of consciousness to a single point." In order to attain Dhyana is attained by focusing the awareness on a single sensation such as breathing. This act will lead to meditation or dhyana. This state enables the inner senses to develop and unite with the larger truth. Meditators sometimes experiences stillness, bliss, and harmony.
Benefits of Yoga
A heightened sense of awareness enables practicers to experience positive effects. Daily and continuous practice of yoga often leads to beneficial results. The benefits derived from yoga are numerous and varied. Common among the yoga benefits are enhanced physical well-being, emotional and mental health and state of bliss. Those who are experts in practicing yoga often attain samadhi or an advanced state of meditation where the practitioner becomes conscious of inner bliss.
Among the Western nations, where individualism is strongly adhered to, propagation of yoga practices came about due to the need to find oneself or find meaning and purpose for one's existence and to unite the different facets of self.
It is important to note that Yoga's main emphasis is the promotion of general well-being. Although it is not exactly discussed here but yoga even showed some promise in treating a variety of conditions. Due to its holistic approach in attaining well-being, yoga teaches people to acquire a new lifestyle, a better way of thinking, and a healthier way of life.
How to Summon Your Guardian Angel
My Guardian Angel
This is a true story.
I read an article about guardian angels in the papers sometime in 1998. I found the story very interesting that is why I was able to commit this to memory.
The author is a girl studying in one of the exclusive schools. She was intrigued by the idea of a guardian angel. So while driving on her way to school she whispered a prayer asking God to manifest to her the guardian angel.
Upon arriving in school, she followed the required steps to enrol. To her surprise, none of her friends bothered to come near her and offered to help even though they bumped with each other at the hallway.
Later that day, after she finished with the enrolment process, she approached one of her friends and asked why they seemed to be avoiding her.
To her amazement, her friend replied "We don't want to bother you and your date."
"Date? What date are you talking about? I was alone the entire day!" She quickly retorted.
"You can't be serious! Then who's the good-looking chinito guy hovering near you the entire day?" her friend asked.
Not contented with her friend's explanation she called the rest of her friends to ask them the same question. And all seven of her friends said the same thing.
She was accompanied by a tall, good-looking guy the entire day!Thinking that he was her date, they did not bother to go near her. Even her classmates who saw her said the same thing.
The author surmised that the guy she was with, whom everybody saw except her, was probably her guardian angel. She prayed for the angel to manifest and God must have answered her prayers. And she excitedly shared her story to show that angels are indeed Real!
After reading her story, naturally I was curious about it. So I muttered a short prayer on my way to work asking God to manifest to me my guardian angel. I think these are the words I mumbled that day:
"Lord, I humbly request that You manifest to me my guardian angel. I know You send someone to protect and look after me daily. I want to thank this person for his/her constant care. You have manifested the angel to this girl, if it is Your Will, please help me see mine. This I ask thru Christ our Lord. Amen."
As the day dragged on, my hopes gave way to disappointmenet as the day seemed to end with no angel in sight.
Then a few minutes before the office closed, my officemate walked in with this beautiful carved statue. She put it on top of my table and said that she was giving it to me as a gift.
Guess what it was?
It was an angel! A cherubim actually. She looked no more than 10 years old, very pretty, very sweet-looking creature.
I almost cried upon seeing the little statue.
When my excitement subsided, I inquired from my officemate why she thought of giving me (of all things!) an angel figurine?
She replied matter-of-factly, "Well, I passed by St. Paul's to buy a rosary on my way here. Then my eye caught sight of this beautiful angel. The first thing that came to my mind was you. So I decided to buy it and give it to you. It was just one of those spur-of-the-moment thing, an instinct. I guess."
I nodded. Then smiled widely and thanked her.
Deep in my heart I know it wasn't just an instinct. It was my angel calling out to her!
Is Plato a Feminist?
Plato and Feminism
Plato to a certain extent espoused the feminists’ view of women being equal to men. Some of Plato’s views on The Republic support this claim particularly in book 5 where Plato tackles on Socrates’ view that women make potential good guardians or philosopher-rulers of the state. His assertion that a person should be judged on his or her soul and not on external appearance is the basis for this claim.
Plato’s view on feminism is further entrenched by the views he held 1) that woman’s biology ought not to settle the question of her destiny and (2) that women’s intelligence and reason ought to be called upon in the running of the state. These two served as the basis for believing that to a certain extent Plato supports the feminists’ views.
In book 5, Plato discusses the possibility of equality among men and women. He does not want to limit the woman’s role as merely inferior to that of man. Just because the women’s bodies are made differently do not necessarily follows that it would make them different from and inferior to men. As a matter of fact, Plato believes that some women are capable of being equal to the best of men if not superior. Due to that, the best state must provide women the opportunity to govern. This chance should not be withhold upon women on the basis of gender alone.
In Book 5 of Plato’s Republic, Socrates suggests that women have the makings of becoming effective guardians or having the ability to fulfill the role of philosopher-rulers of the state just like men. This view might be unpopular even opposed by most men during Plato’s time because this was not the custom uphold in that period of Athenian society and history. Women were then treated as properties and often viewed as inferior to men in status.
This view on the equality of men and women preached by Plato must have took his contemporaries by surprise. What makes it even more surprising is the fact that those who are familiar with Plato know his tendency to be undemocratic and antiegalitarian. This simply means that Plato does not believe in equality in social functions. He explicitly adheres to the view that one class of people is presumably superior to other classes. Plato’s inegalitarianism view further stresses that some people are by nature equipped to rule, others assist them, and still others to be ruled. This concept entails that there are different natures, found in different kinds of souls.
In keeping with Plato’s view on inegalitarianism, he delineates the principles behind a society rooted in justice: 1) different kinds of people have different natures and 2) both individuals and the state are best served if people perform the functions for which their natures, complemented by the appropriate education, best suit them. People need other people because one could not everything well. As a matter of fact, everyone can only do one thing well. Justice is existence of harmony in such conditions. It necessarily follows then that Plato believes that by virtue of justice men and women are supposed to fulfill different responsibilities and functions which are not necessarily determined by their gender. Gender therefore is irrelevant to the state of soul of a person. The soul is an innate aspect of the person, one which is not dictated upon by society or gender but by the individual inclinations or the manifestations of the soul. The person is born with the kind of soul he or she has and her/his amount of responsibility depends on the type of soul he/she has whether ruler, auxiliary or multitude. For instance, if a man and woman have a physician’s soul then they have the same nature regardless of the fact that they don’t have the same gender.
In book 5 of the Republic Socrates maintains that there is no reason women should be excluded among the philosopher-rulers. This is in consonance with the principle that “different pursuits to different natures and the same to the same”. A man’s virtue then is not brought about by his sex. Virtue is virtue regardless of the person’s gender.
Plato asserts that no facts about a person’s body imply facts about the person’s nature or soul. Even if some bodily facts reveal something about the person’s nature, their sexuality is not one of these facts. Plato then believes that the soul/body distinction allow him to “see beyond” a person’s sex. The soul and body then are two different kind of things.
The reason why this statement is considered contradictory is due to the fact that he often makes comments on what he viewed as the shortcomings of womanhood. Plato often utilizes the female gender as a way to stress his philosophical point. Plato adheres to the belief that the soul is more important than the body. Paying too much attention to bodies will corrupt the soul. As an example to this he points to the women as the embodiment of corrupted souls. Women are believed to be the vain kind. They are believed to be more interested in the pursuit of beautifying one’s appearance instead of enriching the soul. Women also, more often than not, allow emotions to overpower their reason. This is the weakness Plato is pointing out in his examples that he believes is often embodied by a woman. Women have the tendency to use emotion rather than reason. “A woman , young or old or wrangling with her husband, defying heaven, loudly boasting, fortunate in her own conceit, or involved in misfortune or possessed by grief and lamention” provides a poor role model for a young man and the worse model is “a woman that is sick, in love or in labor” (Republic 395).
According to Plato to have more concern for the body than the soul is to act like a woman. The opposing views that Plato holds on women are due partly to his drive to make a clear distinction between the soul and the body and not necessarily on the gender of the person. It is not an assessment of the sex of a person but rather on preaching on the significance of soul as personalized by the characteristics of men and women.
In order for Plato’s pronouncements to be consistent it necessary to separate Plato’s prejudice against women from other forms of oppression. This is the irony that Plato presents despite being dubbed as the first feminist philosopher.
As previously pointed out, Plato sees the soul and body as two different things. Souls are not visible, cannot be observed through senses and could not be decayed. Bodies on the other hand are visible, seen by the senses and undergo decay. Socrates summarizes this distinction in Phaedo
“(The soul is) most like that which is divine, immortal, intelligible, uniform, indissoluble and ever self-consistent and invariable, whereas (the) body is most like that which is human, mortal, multiform, unintelligible, dissoluble and never self-consistent.
The soul not is different kind from the body, it can exist without it. At death, the invisible, indissoluble soul separates from the visible decaying body (Phaedo 64c, 67d; Gorgias 524b; Laws 828e, 927a).
The dialogues point out important lessons about the soul and the body that supports the fact that Plato does not judge a person’s soul through gender. Being a philosopher-ruler is not determined by the kind of body one has which is either male of female. This is so because as what Plato pointed above, the state of one soul is separate from the body and the former can exist without the latter. The soul is independent from the body. The state of the body does not and will not determine the state of the person’s soul.
This position suggesting that women be allowed to govern the polis, as expected, elicited unfavorable response even for the democrats of Athens. Plato does not attempt to make political assertions though. The premise of such concept is based on its logical and metaphysical implications. In short, he was merely pointing out a basic truth otherwise overlooked by his contemporaries and that is, the sex is irrelevant to the state of the soul of the individual.
It does not subscribe to existing arguments on equality. Plato never attempted to convince the democrats to allow women to help formulate the policies of the state. Ironically, his assertion is derived from two metaphysical arguments that emphasize inequality: 1). People are by nature different and because of that should be educated separately to be able to assume different roles in the polis. 2). People with special skills can spot particular talents or skills that are vital in a specific pursuits, these people should become leaders. To sum it all up, the arguments that support equality of some women to some men are the same arguments needed to establish the inequality of some women to some men.
Plato’s eqalitarianism may stress that women are as fit to rule as men. Yet his inegalitarianism view points out the fact that people play different roles as some are made to rule, others to help the rulers and still others to be ruled. This means that souls may be equal and distinct such as being a male or female but that does not discount the fact that there are different kinds of souls. Or that the souls are made for different functions but not necessarily affected by the gender of the person.
This simply means that we cannot tell from the kind of body a person has the kind of soul he or she has. Both souls of men and women maybe meant to rule, others to help rule and still others be subject to rule but the body does not reveal the kind of soul by virtue of his being male or female alone.
Being male and female therefore is irrelevant to the soul you have. The physical self does not reveal the kind of soul one has. This argument stressing equality between men and women could undermine his own inegalitarian view which espoused the inequality among the philosopher-rulers, supporters and the majority. Pointing out the irrelevance of sexual identity is a contradiction to the idea that people could belong to groups. Since Plato believes that souls need to be grouped according to their skills or natural abilities, the elimination of gender in choosing the grouping somehow contradicts the idea of grouping.
The dialogue in The Republic provides a way to escape this perceived dualism or the irony in Plato’s preaching. Firstly, the philosopher-kings and queens are equipped with the special skills from training and nature “to distinguish the baseborn from the trueborn” (Republic 536), and the welfare of the state depends on this capacity.
For when the knowledge necessary to make such discriminations is lacking in individual or state, they unawares employ at random for any of these purposes the crippled and baseborn natures, as their friends or rulers (Republic 536).
The rulers’ duty to “assign(ing) to each the status due to his nature” is described as a delicate task and should be handled with the greatest care. As a matter of fact, they must be ready to confront the painful and even “thrust (their own sons) out among the artisans or the farmers” if they do not have their parent’s nature (Repbulic 415).
To put it simply, philosopher-rulers have the skill and nature to spot potential guardians or philosopher-rulers. They can also tell which talents are needed to accomplish a certain task.
Secondly, even though Plato stresses that we can’t see from the person’s gender the kind of soul he or she has but still, how one conducts himself or herself is revealed by his/her body. Thus, although nature is not revealed through gender, it is revealed through the activities a person does.
Plato always looks into the way philosophers should conduct themselves and what activities they accomplish. This is a crucial requirement in the development of a philosopher’s souls. He believes that those with special skills behave differently from others that is why he continuously stresses the need for education. Philosophers-in-training need to be tested over and over again to see if their souls are up to the task from the littlest to the biggest things. They must continuously check themselves or subject themselves to discipline to be able to develop their natural skills. For instance, to see if they remain “immune to such witchcraft and preserve (their) composure throughout,” demonstrating their skill to become good guardians or rulers of themselves and the culture they received (Republic 413).
While one’s body can be an obstacle to the proper functioning of the soul of a philosopher, a woman is a philosopher will by her nature avoid the entrapments brought about by her own body; and her education, which is the same as that of her male equals, will strengthen her natural resolve. Thus whatever differences there are between men and women are irrelevant when it comes to qualification for the guardianship of the state. The following quote from Book 5 of Plato’s The Republic best captures the essence of Plato’s view on feminism:
“We see now why Plato’s example of carpenter (Republic 454) is so telling: Socrates is trying to get Glaucon to understand that if we think carefully about who is fit to be a ruler of the state, what matters is not whether you are male or female but what kinds of pursuits you are suited for, what kinds of activities you can do well, and how you respond to challenges to self-control. What matters is not what kind of body you have, but what you do with it, and how well you can control it. If you have the kind of soul that a carpenter does, you don’t have the kind of soul a ruler does; both rulers and ruled might be male or female. We can only tell that some women have the souls of philosopher-rulers if they do what philosopher-rulers do and not what carpenters say or male or female slaves do.”
Plato to a certain extent espoused the feminists’ view of women being equal to men. Some of Plato’s views on The Republic support this claim particularly in book 5 where Plato tackles on Socrates’ view that women make potential good guardians or philosopher-rulers of the state. His assertion that a person should be judged on his or her soul and not on external appearance is the basis for this claim.
Plato’s view on feminism is further entrenched by the views he held 1) that woman’s biology ought not to settle the question of her destiny and (2) that women’s intelligence and reason ought to be called upon in the running of the state. These two served as the basis for believing that to a certain extent Plato supports the feminists’ views.
In book 5, Plato discusses the possibility of equality among men and women. He does not want to limit the woman’s role as merely inferior to that of man. Just because the women’s bodies are made differently do not necessarily follows that it would make them different from and inferior to men. As a matter of fact, Plato believes that some women are capable of being equal to the best of men if not superior. Due to that, the best state must provide women the opportunity to govern. This chance should not be withhold upon women on the basis of gender alone.
In Book 5 of Plato’s Republic, Socrates suggests that women have the makings of becoming effective guardians or having the ability to fulfill the role of philosopher-rulers of the state just like men. This view might be unpopular even opposed by most men during Plato’s time because this was not the custom uphold in that period of Athenian society and history. Women were then treated as properties and often viewed as inferior to men in status.
This view on the equality of men and women preached by Plato must have took his contemporaries by surprise. What makes it even more surprising is the fact that those who are familiar with Plato know his tendency to be undemocratic and antiegalitarian. This simply means that Plato does not believe in equality in social functions. He explicitly adheres to the view that one class of people is presumably superior to other classes. Plato’s inegalitarianism view further stresses that some people are by nature equipped to rule, others assist them, and still others to be ruled. This concept entails that there are different natures, found in different kinds of souls.
In keeping with Plato’s view on inegalitarianism, he delineates the principles behind a society rooted in justice: 1) different kinds of people have different natures and 2) both individuals and the state are best served if people perform the functions for which their natures, complemented by the appropriate education, best suit them. People need other people because one could not everything well. As a matter of fact, everyone can only do one thing well. Justice is existence of harmony in such conditions. It necessarily follows then that Plato believes that by virtue of justice men and women are supposed to fulfill different responsibilities and functions which are not necessarily determined by their gender. Gender therefore is irrelevant to the state of soul of a person. The soul is an innate aspect of the person, one which is not dictated upon by society or gender but by the individual inclinations or the manifestations of the soul. The person is born with the kind of soul he or she has and her/his amount of responsibility depends on the type of soul he/she has whether ruler, auxiliary or multitude. For instance, if a man and woman have a physician’s soul then they have the same nature regardless of the fact that they don’t have the same gender.
In book 5 of the Republic Socrates maintains that there is no reason women should be excluded among the philosopher-rulers. This is in consonance with the principle that “different pursuits to different natures and the same to the same”. A man’s virtue then is not brought about by his sex. Virtue is virtue regardless of the person’s gender.
Plato asserts that no facts about a person’s body imply facts about the person’s nature or soul. Even if some bodily facts reveal something about the person’s nature, their sexuality is not one of these facts. Plato then believes that the soul/body distinction allow him to “see beyond” a person’s sex. The soul and body then are two different kind of things.
The reason why this statement is considered contradictory is due to the fact that he often makes comments on what he viewed as the shortcomings of womanhood. Plato often utilizes the female gender as a way to stress his philosophical point. Plato adheres to the belief that the soul is more important than the body. Paying too much attention to bodies will corrupt the soul. As an example to this he points to the women as the embodiment of corrupted souls. Women are believed to be the vain kind. They are believed to be more interested in the pursuit of beautifying one’s appearance instead of enriching the soul. Women also, more often than not, allow emotions to overpower their reason. This is the weakness Plato is pointing out in his examples that he believes is often embodied by a woman. Women have the tendency to use emotion rather than reason. “A woman , young or old or wrangling with her husband, defying heaven, loudly boasting, fortunate in her own conceit, or involved in misfortune or possessed by grief and lamention” provides a poor role model for a young man and the worse model is “a woman that is sick, in love or in labor” (Republic 395).
According to Plato to have more concern for the body than the soul is to act like a woman. The opposing views that Plato holds on women are due partly to his drive to make a clear distinction between the soul and the body and not necessarily on the gender of the person. It is not an assessment of the sex of a person but rather on preaching on the significance of soul as personalized by the characteristics of men and women.
In order for Plato’s pronouncements to be consistent it necessary to separate Plato’s prejudice against women from other forms of oppression. This is the irony that Plato presents despite being dubbed as the first feminist philosopher.
As previously pointed out, Plato sees the soul and body as two different things. Souls are not visible, cannot be observed through senses and could not be decayed. Bodies on the other hand are visible, seen by the senses and undergo decay. Socrates summarizes this distinction in Phaedo
“(The soul is) most like that which is divine, immortal, intelligible, uniform, indissoluble and ever self-consistent and invariable, whereas (the) body is most like that which is human, mortal, multiform, unintelligible, dissoluble and never self-consistent.
The soul not is different kind from the body, it can exist without it. At death, the invisible, indissoluble soul separates from the visible decaying body (Phaedo 64c, 67d; Gorgias 524b; Laws 828e, 927a).
The dialogues point out important lessons about the soul and the body that supports the fact that Plato does not judge a person’s soul through gender. Being a philosopher-ruler is not determined by the kind of body one has which is either male of female. This is so because as what Plato pointed above, the state of one soul is separate from the body and the former can exist without the latter. The soul is independent from the body. The state of the body does not and will not determine the state of the person’s soul.
This position suggesting that women be allowed to govern the polis, as expected, elicited unfavorable response even for the democrats of Athens. Plato does not attempt to make political assertions though. The premise of such concept is based on its logical and metaphysical implications. In short, he was merely pointing out a basic truth otherwise overlooked by his contemporaries and that is, the sex is irrelevant to the state of the soul of the individual.
It does not subscribe to existing arguments on equality. Plato never attempted to convince the democrats to allow women to help formulate the policies of the state. Ironically, his assertion is derived from two metaphysical arguments that emphasize inequality: 1). People are by nature different and because of that should be educated separately to be able to assume different roles in the polis. 2). People with special skills can spot particular talents or skills that are vital in a specific pursuits, these people should become leaders. To sum it all up, the arguments that support equality of some women to some men are the same arguments needed to establish the inequality of some women to some men.
Plato’s eqalitarianism may stress that women are as fit to rule as men. Yet his inegalitarianism view points out the fact that people play different roles as some are made to rule, others to help the rulers and still others to be ruled. This means that souls may be equal and distinct such as being a male or female but that does not discount the fact that there are different kinds of souls. Or that the souls are made for different functions but not necessarily affected by the gender of the person.
This simply means that we cannot tell from the kind of body a person has the kind of soul he or she has. Both souls of men and women maybe meant to rule, others to help rule and still others be subject to rule but the body does not reveal the kind of soul by virtue of his being male or female alone.
Being male and female therefore is irrelevant to the soul you have. The physical self does not reveal the kind of soul one has. This argument stressing equality between men and women could undermine his own inegalitarian view which espoused the inequality among the philosopher-rulers, supporters and the majority. Pointing out the irrelevance of sexual identity is a contradiction to the idea that people could belong to groups. Since Plato believes that souls need to be grouped according to their skills or natural abilities, the elimination of gender in choosing the grouping somehow contradicts the idea of grouping.
The dialogue in The Republic provides a way to escape this perceived dualism or the irony in Plato’s preaching. Firstly, the philosopher-kings and queens are equipped with the special skills from training and nature “to distinguish the baseborn from the trueborn” (Republic 536), and the welfare of the state depends on this capacity.
For when the knowledge necessary to make such discriminations is lacking in individual or state, they unawares employ at random for any of these purposes the crippled and baseborn natures, as their friends or rulers (Republic 536).
The rulers’ duty to “assign(ing) to each the status due to his nature” is described as a delicate task and should be handled with the greatest care. As a matter of fact, they must be ready to confront the painful and even “thrust (their own sons) out among the artisans or the farmers” if they do not have their parent’s nature (Repbulic 415).
To put it simply, philosopher-rulers have the skill and nature to spot potential guardians or philosopher-rulers. They can also tell which talents are needed to accomplish a certain task.
Secondly, even though Plato stresses that we can’t see from the person’s gender the kind of soul he or she has but still, how one conducts himself or herself is revealed by his/her body. Thus, although nature is not revealed through gender, it is revealed through the activities a person does.
Plato always looks into the way philosophers should conduct themselves and what activities they accomplish. This is a crucial requirement in the development of a philosopher’s souls. He believes that those with special skills behave differently from others that is why he continuously stresses the need for education. Philosophers-in-training need to be tested over and over again to see if their souls are up to the task from the littlest to the biggest things. They must continuously check themselves or subject themselves to discipline to be able to develop their natural skills. For instance, to see if they remain “immune to such witchcraft and preserve (their) composure throughout,” demonstrating their skill to become good guardians or rulers of themselves and the culture they received (Republic 413).
While one’s body can be an obstacle to the proper functioning of the soul of a philosopher, a woman is a philosopher will by her nature avoid the entrapments brought about by her own body; and her education, which is the same as that of her male equals, will strengthen her natural resolve. Thus whatever differences there are between men and women are irrelevant when it comes to qualification for the guardianship of the state. The following quote from Book 5 of Plato’s The Republic best captures the essence of Plato’s view on feminism:
“We see now why Plato’s example of carpenter (Republic 454) is so telling: Socrates is trying to get Glaucon to understand that if we think carefully about who is fit to be a ruler of the state, what matters is not whether you are male or female but what kinds of pursuits you are suited for, what kinds of activities you can do well, and how you respond to challenges to self-control. What matters is not what kind of body you have, but what you do with it, and how well you can control it. If you have the kind of soul that a carpenter does, you don’t have the kind of soul a ruler does; both rulers and ruled might be male or female. We can only tell that some women have the souls of philosopher-rulers if they do what philosopher-rulers do and not what carpenters say or male or female slaves do.”
Is Plato a Feminist?
Plato and Feminism
Plato to a certain extent espoused the feminists’ view of women being equal to men. Some of Plato’s views on The Republic support this claim particularly in book 5 where Plato tackles on Socrates’ view that women make potential good guardians or philosopher-rulers of the state. His assertion that a person should be judged on his or her soul and not on external appearance is the basis for this claim.
Plato’s view on feminism is further entrenched by the views he held 1) that woman’s biology ought not to settle the question of her destiny and (2) that women’s intelligence and reason ought to be called upon in the running of the state. These two served as the basis for believing that to a certain extent Plato supports the feminists’ views.
In book 5, Plato discusses the possibility of equality among men and women. He does not want to limit the woman’s role as merely inferior to that of man. Just because the women’s bodies are made differently do not necessarily follows that it would make them different from and inferior to men. As a matter of fact, Plato believes that some women are capable of being equal to the best of men if not superior. Due to that, the best state must provide women the opportunity to govern. This chance should not be withhold upon women on the basis of gender alone.
In Book 5 of Plato’s Republic, Socrates suggests that women have the makings of becoming effective guardians or having the ability to fulfill the role of philosopher-rulers of the state just like men. This view might be unpopular even opposed by most men during Plato’s time because this was not the custom uphold in that period of Athenian society and history. Women were then treated as properties and often viewed as inferior to men in status.
This view on the equality of men and women preached by Plato must have took his contemporaries by surprise. What makes it even more surprising is the fact that those who are familiar with Plato know his tendency to be undemocratic and antiegalitarian. This simply means that Plato does not believe in equality in social functions. He explicitly adheres to the view that one class of people is presumably superior to other classes. Plato’s inegalitarianism view further stresses that some people are by nature equipped to rule, others assist them, and still others to be ruled. This concept entails that there are different natures, found in different kinds of souls.
In keeping with Plato’s view on inegalitarianism, he delineates the principles behind a society rooted in justice: 1) different kinds of people have different natures and 2) both individuals and the state are best served if people perform the functions for which their natures, complemented by the appropriate education, best suit them. People need other people because one could not everything well. As a matter of fact, everyone can only do one thing well. Justice is existence of harmony in such conditions. It necessarily follows then that Plato believes that by virtue of justice men and women are supposed to fulfill different responsibilities and functions which are not necessarily determined by their gender. Gender therefore is irrelevant to the state of soul of a person. The soul is an innate aspect of the person, one which is not dictated upon by society or gender but by the individual inclinations or the manifestations of the soul. The person is born with the kind of soul he or she has and her/his amount of responsibility depends on the type of soul he/she has whether ruler, auxiliary or multitude. For instance, if a man and woman have a physician’s soul then they have the same nature regardless of the fact that they don’t have the same gender.
In book 5 of the Republic Socrates maintains that there is no reason women should be excluded among the philosopher-rulers. This is in consonance with the principle that “different pursuits to different natures and the same to the same”. A man’s virtue then is not brought about by his sex. Virtue is virtue regardless of the person’s gender.
Plato asserts that no facts about a person’s body imply facts about the person’s nature or soul. Even if some bodily facts reveal something about the person’s nature, their sexuality is not one of these facts. Plato then believes that the soul/body distinction allow him to “see beyond” a person’s sex. The soul and body then are two different kind of things.
The reason why this statement is considered contradictory is due to the fact that he often makes comments on what he viewed as the shortcomings of womanhood. Plato often utilizes the female gender as a way to stress his philosophical point. Plato adheres to the belief that the soul is more important than the body. Paying too much attention to bodies will corrupt the soul. As an example to this he points to the women as the embodiment of corrupted souls. Women are believed to be the vain kind. They are believed to be more interested in the pursuit of beautifying one’s appearance instead of enriching the soul. Women also, more often than not, allow emotions to overpower their reason. This is the weakness Plato is pointing out in his examples that he believes is often embodied by a woman. Women have the tendency to use emotion rather than reason. “A woman , young or old or wrangling with her husband, defying heaven, loudly boasting, fortunate in her own conceit, or involved in misfortune or possessed by grief and lamention” provides a poor role model for a young man and the worse model is “a woman that is sick, in love or in labor” (Republic 395).
According to Plato to have more concern for the body than the soul is to act like a woman. The opposing views that Plato holds on women are due partly to his drive to make a clear distinction between the soul and the body and not necessarily on the gender of the person. It is not an assessment of the sex of a person but rather on preaching on the significance of soul as personalized by the characteristics of men and women.
In order for Plato’s pronouncements to be consistent it necessary to separate Plato’s prejudice against women from other forms of oppression. This is the irony that Plato presents despite being dubbed as the first feminist philosopher.
As previously pointed out, Plato sees the soul and body as two different things. Souls are not visible, cannot be observed through senses and could not be decayed. Bodies on the other hand are visible, seen by the senses and undergo decay. Socrates summarizes this distinction in Phaedo
“(The soul is) most like that which is divine, immortal, intelligible, uniform, indissoluble and ever self-consistent and invariable, whereas (the) body is most like that which is human, mortal, multiform, unintelligible, dissoluble and never self-consistent.
The soul not is different kind from the body, it can exist without it. At death, the invisible, indissoluble soul separates from the visible decaying body (Phaedo 64c, 67d; Gorgias 524b; Laws 828e, 927a).
The dialogues point out important lessons about the soul and the body that supports the fact that Plato does not judge a person’s soul through gender. Being a philosopher-ruler is not determined by the kind of body one has which is either male of female. This is so because as what Plato pointed above, the state of one soul is separate from the body and the former can exist without the latter. The soul is independent from the body. The state of the body does not and will not determine the state of the person’s soul.
This position suggesting that women be allowed to govern the polis, as expected, elicited unfavorable response even for the democrats of Athens. Plato does not attempt to make political assertions though. The premise of such concept is based on its logical and metaphysical implications. In short, he was merely pointing out a basic truth otherwise overlooked by his contemporaries and that is, the sex is irrelevant to the state of the soul of the individual.
It does not subscribe to existing arguments on equality. Plato never attempted to convince the democrats to allow women to help formulate the policies of the state. Ironically, his assertion is derived from two metaphysical arguments that emphasize inequality: 1). People are by nature different and because of that should be educated separately to be able to assume different roles in the polis. 2). People with special skills can spot particular talents or skills that are vital in a specific pursuits, these people should become leaders. To sum it all up, the arguments that support equality of some women to some men are the same arguments needed to establish the inequality of some women to some men.
Plato’s eqalitarianism may stress that women are as fit to rule as men. Yet his inegalitarianism view points out the fact that people play different roles as some are made to rule, others to help the rulers and still others to be ruled. This means that souls may be equal and distinct such as being a male or female but that does not discount the fact that there are different kinds of souls. Or that the souls are made for different functions but not necessarily affected by the gender of the person.
This simply means that we cannot tell from the kind of body a person has the kind of soul he or she has. Both souls of men and women maybe meant to rule, others to help rule and still others be subject to rule but the body does not reveal the kind of soul by virtue of his being male or female alone.
Being male and female therefore is irrelevant to the soul you have. The physical self does not reveal the kind of soul one has. This argument stressing equality between men and women could undermine his own inegalitarian view which espoused the inequality among the philosopher-rulers, supporters and the majority. Pointing out the irrelevance of sexual identity is a contradiction to the idea that people could belong to groups. Since Plato believes that souls need to be grouped according to their skills or natural abilities, the elimination of gender in choosing the grouping somehow contradicts the idea of grouping.
The dialogue in The Republic provides a way to escape this perceived dualism or the irony in Plato’s preaching. Firstly, the philosopher-kings and queens are equipped with the special skills from training and nature “to distinguish the baseborn from the trueborn” (Republic 536), and the welfare of the state depends on this capacity.
For when the knowledge necessary to make such discriminations is lacking in individual or state, they unawares employ at random for any of these purposes the crippled and baseborn natures, as their friends or rulers (Republic 536).
The rulers’ duty to “assign(ing) to each the status due to his nature” is described as a delicate task and should be handled with the greatest care. As a matter of fact, they must be ready to confront the painful and even “thrust (their own sons) out among the artisans or the farmers” if they do not have their parent’s nature (Repbulic 415).
To put it simply, philosopher-rulers have the skill and nature to spot potential guardians or philosopher-rulers. They can also tell which talents are needed to accomplish a certain task.
Secondly, even though Plato stresses that we can’t see from the person’s gender the kind of soul he or she has but still, how one conducts himself or herself is revealed by his/her body. Thus, although nature is not revealed through gender, it is revealed through the activities a person does.
Plato always looks into the way philosophers should conduct themselves and what activities they accomplish. This is a crucial requirement in the development of a philosopher’s souls. He believes that those with special skills behave differently from others that is why he continuously stresses the need for education. Philosophers-in-training need to be tested over and over again to see if their souls are up to the task from the littlest to the biggest things. They must continuously check themselves or subject themselves to discipline to be able to develop their natural skills. For instance, to see if they remain “immune to such witchcraft and preserve (their) composure throughout,” demonstrating their skill to become good guardians or rulers of themselves and the culture they received (Republic 413).
While one’s body can be an obstacle to the proper functioning of the soul of a philosopher, a woman is a philosopher will by her nature avoid the entrapments brought about by her own body; and her education, which is the same as that of her male equals, will strengthen her natural resolve. Thus whatever differences there are between men and women are irrelevant when it comes to qualification for the guardianship of the state. The following quote from Book 5 of Plato’s The Republic best captures the essence of Plato’s view on feminism:
“We see now why Plato’s example of carpenter (Republic 454) is so telling: Socrates is trying to get Glaucon to understand that if we think carefully about who is fit to be a ruler of the state, what matters is not whether you are male or female but what kinds of pursuits you are suited for, what kinds of activities you can do well, and how you respond to challenges to self-control. What matters is not what kind of body you have, but what you do with it, and how well you can control it. If you have the kind of soul that a carpenter does, you don’t have the kind of soul a ruler does; both rulers and ruled might be male or female. We can only tell that some women have the souls of philosopher-rulers if they do what philosopher-rulers do and not what carpenters say or male or female slaves do.”
Plato to a certain extent espoused the feminists’ view of women being equal to men. Some of Plato’s views on The Republic support this claim particularly in book 5 where Plato tackles on Socrates’ view that women make potential good guardians or philosopher-rulers of the state. His assertion that a person should be judged on his or her soul and not on external appearance is the basis for this claim.
Plato’s view on feminism is further entrenched by the views he held 1) that woman’s biology ought not to settle the question of her destiny and (2) that women’s intelligence and reason ought to be called upon in the running of the state. These two served as the basis for believing that to a certain extent Plato supports the feminists’ views.
In book 5, Plato discusses the possibility of equality among men and women. He does not want to limit the woman’s role as merely inferior to that of man. Just because the women’s bodies are made differently do not necessarily follows that it would make them different from and inferior to men. As a matter of fact, Plato believes that some women are capable of being equal to the best of men if not superior. Due to that, the best state must provide women the opportunity to govern. This chance should not be withhold upon women on the basis of gender alone.
In Book 5 of Plato’s Republic, Socrates suggests that women have the makings of becoming effective guardians or having the ability to fulfill the role of philosopher-rulers of the state just like men. This view might be unpopular even opposed by most men during Plato’s time because this was not the custom uphold in that period of Athenian society and history. Women were then treated as properties and often viewed as inferior to men in status.
This view on the equality of men and women preached by Plato must have took his contemporaries by surprise. What makes it even more surprising is the fact that those who are familiar with Plato know his tendency to be undemocratic and antiegalitarian. This simply means that Plato does not believe in equality in social functions. He explicitly adheres to the view that one class of people is presumably superior to other classes. Plato’s inegalitarianism view further stresses that some people are by nature equipped to rule, others assist them, and still others to be ruled. This concept entails that there are different natures, found in different kinds of souls.
In keeping with Plato’s view on inegalitarianism, he delineates the principles behind a society rooted in justice: 1) different kinds of people have different natures and 2) both individuals and the state are best served if people perform the functions for which their natures, complemented by the appropriate education, best suit them. People need other people because one could not everything well. As a matter of fact, everyone can only do one thing well. Justice is existence of harmony in such conditions. It necessarily follows then that Plato believes that by virtue of justice men and women are supposed to fulfill different responsibilities and functions which are not necessarily determined by their gender. Gender therefore is irrelevant to the state of soul of a person. The soul is an innate aspect of the person, one which is not dictated upon by society or gender but by the individual inclinations or the manifestations of the soul. The person is born with the kind of soul he or she has and her/his amount of responsibility depends on the type of soul he/she has whether ruler, auxiliary or multitude. For instance, if a man and woman have a physician’s soul then they have the same nature regardless of the fact that they don’t have the same gender.
In book 5 of the Republic Socrates maintains that there is no reason women should be excluded among the philosopher-rulers. This is in consonance with the principle that “different pursuits to different natures and the same to the same”. A man’s virtue then is not brought about by his sex. Virtue is virtue regardless of the person’s gender.
Plato asserts that no facts about a person’s body imply facts about the person’s nature or soul. Even if some bodily facts reveal something about the person’s nature, their sexuality is not one of these facts. Plato then believes that the soul/body distinction allow him to “see beyond” a person’s sex. The soul and body then are two different kind of things.
The reason why this statement is considered contradictory is due to the fact that he often makes comments on what he viewed as the shortcomings of womanhood. Plato often utilizes the female gender as a way to stress his philosophical point. Plato adheres to the belief that the soul is more important than the body. Paying too much attention to bodies will corrupt the soul. As an example to this he points to the women as the embodiment of corrupted souls. Women are believed to be the vain kind. They are believed to be more interested in the pursuit of beautifying one’s appearance instead of enriching the soul. Women also, more often than not, allow emotions to overpower their reason. This is the weakness Plato is pointing out in his examples that he believes is often embodied by a woman. Women have the tendency to use emotion rather than reason. “A woman , young or old or wrangling with her husband, defying heaven, loudly boasting, fortunate in her own conceit, or involved in misfortune or possessed by grief and lamention” provides a poor role model for a young man and the worse model is “a woman that is sick, in love or in labor” (Republic 395).
According to Plato to have more concern for the body than the soul is to act like a woman. The opposing views that Plato holds on women are due partly to his drive to make a clear distinction between the soul and the body and not necessarily on the gender of the person. It is not an assessment of the sex of a person but rather on preaching on the significance of soul as personalized by the characteristics of men and women.
In order for Plato’s pronouncements to be consistent it necessary to separate Plato’s prejudice against women from other forms of oppression. This is the irony that Plato presents despite being dubbed as the first feminist philosopher.
As previously pointed out, Plato sees the soul and body as two different things. Souls are not visible, cannot be observed through senses and could not be decayed. Bodies on the other hand are visible, seen by the senses and undergo decay. Socrates summarizes this distinction in Phaedo
“(The soul is) most like that which is divine, immortal, intelligible, uniform, indissoluble and ever self-consistent and invariable, whereas (the) body is most like that which is human, mortal, multiform, unintelligible, dissoluble and never self-consistent.
The soul not is different kind from the body, it can exist without it. At death, the invisible, indissoluble soul separates from the visible decaying body (Phaedo 64c, 67d; Gorgias 524b; Laws 828e, 927a).
The dialogues point out important lessons about the soul and the body that supports the fact that Plato does not judge a person’s soul through gender. Being a philosopher-ruler is not determined by the kind of body one has which is either male of female. This is so because as what Plato pointed above, the state of one soul is separate from the body and the former can exist without the latter. The soul is independent from the body. The state of the body does not and will not determine the state of the person’s soul.
This position suggesting that women be allowed to govern the polis, as expected, elicited unfavorable response even for the democrats of Athens. Plato does not attempt to make political assertions though. The premise of such concept is based on its logical and metaphysical implications. In short, he was merely pointing out a basic truth otherwise overlooked by his contemporaries and that is, the sex is irrelevant to the state of the soul of the individual.
It does not subscribe to existing arguments on equality. Plato never attempted to convince the democrats to allow women to help formulate the policies of the state. Ironically, his assertion is derived from two metaphysical arguments that emphasize inequality: 1). People are by nature different and because of that should be educated separately to be able to assume different roles in the polis. 2). People with special skills can spot particular talents or skills that are vital in a specific pursuits, these people should become leaders. To sum it all up, the arguments that support equality of some women to some men are the same arguments needed to establish the inequality of some women to some men.
Plato’s eqalitarianism may stress that women are as fit to rule as men. Yet his inegalitarianism view points out the fact that people play different roles as some are made to rule, others to help the rulers and still others to be ruled. This means that souls may be equal and distinct such as being a male or female but that does not discount the fact that there are different kinds of souls. Or that the souls are made for different functions but not necessarily affected by the gender of the person.
This simply means that we cannot tell from the kind of body a person has the kind of soul he or she has. Both souls of men and women maybe meant to rule, others to help rule and still others be subject to rule but the body does not reveal the kind of soul by virtue of his being male or female alone.
Being male and female therefore is irrelevant to the soul you have. The physical self does not reveal the kind of soul one has. This argument stressing equality between men and women could undermine his own inegalitarian view which espoused the inequality among the philosopher-rulers, supporters and the majority. Pointing out the irrelevance of sexual identity is a contradiction to the idea that people could belong to groups. Since Plato believes that souls need to be grouped according to their skills or natural abilities, the elimination of gender in choosing the grouping somehow contradicts the idea of grouping.
The dialogue in The Republic provides a way to escape this perceived dualism or the irony in Plato’s preaching. Firstly, the philosopher-kings and queens are equipped with the special skills from training and nature “to distinguish the baseborn from the trueborn” (Republic 536), and the welfare of the state depends on this capacity.
For when the knowledge necessary to make such discriminations is lacking in individual or state, they unawares employ at random for any of these purposes the crippled and baseborn natures, as their friends or rulers (Republic 536).
The rulers’ duty to “assign(ing) to each the status due to his nature” is described as a delicate task and should be handled with the greatest care. As a matter of fact, they must be ready to confront the painful and even “thrust (their own sons) out among the artisans or the farmers” if they do not have their parent’s nature (Repbulic 415).
To put it simply, philosopher-rulers have the skill and nature to spot potential guardians or philosopher-rulers. They can also tell which talents are needed to accomplish a certain task.
Secondly, even though Plato stresses that we can’t see from the person’s gender the kind of soul he or she has but still, how one conducts himself or herself is revealed by his/her body. Thus, although nature is not revealed through gender, it is revealed through the activities a person does.
Plato always looks into the way philosophers should conduct themselves and what activities they accomplish. This is a crucial requirement in the development of a philosopher’s souls. He believes that those with special skills behave differently from others that is why he continuously stresses the need for education. Philosophers-in-training need to be tested over and over again to see if their souls are up to the task from the littlest to the biggest things. They must continuously check themselves or subject themselves to discipline to be able to develop their natural skills. For instance, to see if they remain “immune to such witchcraft and preserve (their) composure throughout,” demonstrating their skill to become good guardians or rulers of themselves and the culture they received (Republic 413).
While one’s body can be an obstacle to the proper functioning of the soul of a philosopher, a woman is a philosopher will by her nature avoid the entrapments brought about by her own body; and her education, which is the same as that of her male equals, will strengthen her natural resolve. Thus whatever differences there are between men and women are irrelevant when it comes to qualification for the guardianship of the state. The following quote from Book 5 of Plato’s The Republic best captures the essence of Plato’s view on feminism:
“We see now why Plato’s example of carpenter (Republic 454) is so telling: Socrates is trying to get Glaucon to understand that if we think carefully about who is fit to be a ruler of the state, what matters is not whether you are male or female but what kinds of pursuits you are suited for, what kinds of activities you can do well, and how you respond to challenges to self-control. What matters is not what kind of body you have, but what you do with it, and how well you can control it. If you have the kind of soul that a carpenter does, you don’t have the kind of soul a ruler does; both rulers and ruled might be male or female. We can only tell that some women have the souls of philosopher-rulers if they do what philosopher-rulers do and not what carpenters say or male or female slaves do.”
The Origins of Yoga
Yoga is one of the oldest holistic approaches practiced by mankind.
History of yoga begins some four to eight thousand years ago up to today. There were images found that features yogi in the middle of meditation from the Indus Valley Civilization which dates some 6 to 7 thousand years ago.
There were signs that yoga has been practiced since pre-Vedic times. Vedic refers to the oldest sacred Hindu scripture. The first written story of yoga was found in the Rig Veda which was written around 1500 and 1200 BC. Rig Veda is a compilation of Vedic Sanskrit hymns which forms a part of the Vedas. Due to the fact that original accounts of Rig Veda were passed on through word of mouth for at least a millenium, it is hard to use this as the main basis.
The first yoga text is around 2nd century BC by the Patanjali and recommends the "eight limbs" which comprise the "Ashtanga Yoga" and its purpose is to gain serenity of mind and to become one with god. Yoga then was infused in Buddhist and Jain philosophies and found its way into our present times. Yoga is a practice that endures through centuries.
Yoga was evident in the Vedic shastras or religious Hindu texts, consequently, pegging its age to be around four thousand years.
The idea behind yoga which is to unite mind, body and soul with god was explicitly discussed in the most important religious texts of Hinduism, the Upanishads or Vedanta, which are found in the Vedas. These texts are found in the Maitrayaniya Upanishad (ca. 200-300 BCE) where yoga is described as follows:
"Shadanga-Yoga - The uniting discipline of the six limbs (shad-anga), as expounded in the Maitrayaniya-Upanishad: (1) breath control (pranayama), (2) sensory inhibition (pratyahara), (3) meditation (dhyana), (4) concentration (dharana), (5) examination (tarka), and (6) ecstasy (samadhi)."
The basic thinking behind Upanishads is that instead of using sacrifices and ceremonies to please external gods, man can gain more favor with the gods by attaining unity with the Supreme Being through inner sacrifices and developing spiritual qualities such as moral culture, discipline of the mind and self-control.
The Meaning of the Word Yoga
The word "yoga" is from a Sanskrit word with religious connotations.
The term "yoga" is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj ("to yoke"); which is equivalent to the modern English word for "yoke". Both comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *yeug- which is "to join" or "unite".
It is generally translated as union of the individual atma or the person's soul with the Paramatma or the universal soul. This means the human body mind and spirit becomes one with the Divine. The person then who wants to try yoga may be called a yogi. In Sanskrit, it is referred to as yogin for male and yogini for female. These title are often used to refer to advanced practitioners of yoga and not for beginners.
Yoga and Religion
Yoga is so closely linked to religion that in the practices of Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jain, the spiritual goals of yoga are forms part of the religions. Some yogis point out that the distinction between religion and yoga lies in its purpose. For religion, the main purpose is the fulfillment and promotion of culture, values, beliefs and rituals. Yoga, on the other hand, is more focused on attaining self-realization. Religion and yoga then are complementary. It is hard to get to one without using the other.
The yoga traditions originated from India but the efforts of modern yogis helped propagate the study and practice of yoga in the West. Prominent yogis are Swami Vivekananda and Paramahansa Yogananda. Their efforts pave the way for yoga to progress. Western practice of yoga though sometimes reduced it to mere physical exercises not for the attainment of deeper spirituality that was originally intended to be.
The term "yoga" is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj ("to yoke"); which is equivalent to the modern English word for "yoke". Both comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *yeug- which is "to join" or "unite".
It is generally translated as union of the individual atma or the person's soul with the Paramatma or the universal soul. This means the human body mind and spirit becomes one with the Divine. The person then who wants to try yoga may be called a yogi. In Sanskrit, it is referred to as yogin for male and yogini for female. These title are often used to refer to advanced practitioners of yoga and not for beginners.
Yoga and Religion
Yoga is so closely linked to religion that in the practices of Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jain, the spiritual goals of yoga are forms part of the religions. Some yogis point out that the distinction between religion and yoga lies in its purpose. For religion, the main purpose is the fulfillment and promotion of culture, values, beliefs and rituals. Yoga, on the other hand, is more focused on attaining self-realization. Religion and yoga then are complementary. It is hard to get to one without using the other.
The yoga traditions originated from India but the efforts of modern yogis helped propagate the study and practice of yoga in the West. Prominent yogis are Swami Vivekananda and Paramahansa Yogananda. Their efforts pave the way for yoga to progress. Western practice of yoga though sometimes reduced it to mere physical exercises not for the attainment of deeper spirituality that was originally intended to be.
Yoga and Metaphysical Faith
Yoga is based on faith. Knowing its metaphysical foundations lets one appreciate it all the more.
The modern practice of yoga usually comprises of elements customarily derived from Hinduism. These elements include the following: moral and ethical principles, postures that will make the body healthy, spiritual philosophy, use of guru in giving instructions, mantra chanting, breathing quietly and meditation to achieve calmness of mind. These elements are used to be able to facilitate the needs of non-Hindu practitioners.
Different traditions used yoga for a variety of purposes. In Hinduism, yoga is intended as a group pf practices that will enable people to attain closer ties with god or union with god. In, Buddhism, yoga is not meant to foster god-centered relationship but to gain more wisdom, compassion and insight.
In Hindu yoga the terms Self-Realization and God-Realization are often synonymous. This is so because the attainment of self-realization often leads to attaining god-like nature or characteristics.
Yoga is meant to arrive at the ultimate goal of achieving freedom Moksha from sufferings the world wrought and to stop the cycle of birth and death or Samsara. Yoga requires mastery over body, mind, emotional self and the overcoming worldly desires. Through yoga we attain knowledge of what is real and true.
The Yogi or the practitioner of yoga must reach a state of enlightenment where thought stops and one experiences perfect union of the person's soul or the Atman with the highest Reality or Brahman as preached in the Vedanta philosophy; or with a particular god or goddess as advocated by Hinduism and some types of Buddhism. Enlightenment also pertains to the disappearance of the limited ego and the direct and permanent insight of the oneness of the universe.
An average person not in the state of enlightenment, yoga aids the person in attaining spiritual awareness or nurturing spiritual qualities such as compassion and insight. Yoga is often associated with Hinduism but adherents to yoga believe that it is not a religion but delineates the applicable steps which can help people irregardless of religion.
The metaphysical foundations of Yoga are necessary components in the actual practice of Yoga. A person who embarks on the practice of yoga and does not equip himself with the knowledge on its philosophical basis would end up merely acting out a routine. He is similar to a machine, doing things mechanically assuming that he or she is doing yoga. The attainment and truth should be at the heart of every yoga practice.
Review on The Wonderful World of Adam Smith
Review on Chapter 3 The Wonderful World of Adam Smith
In the book The Worldly Philosophers Book, Chapter 3 The Wonderful World of Adam Smith discusses in great detail Smith’s various works. It particularly made mention of Adam Smith’s masterpiece “The Wealth of Nations”. In it, he delineated the four laws which govern the economy. Smith mentioned in this book four enduring laws which until now are still being considered acceptable. It is important to note that despite the fact that centuries engulfed between our time and Smith, still his claims remain true to this day.
Smith showed strong leaning towards the concept of “laissez faire” or unregulated economy as the backbone of capitalism. He got this idea from French physiocrat Francois Quesnay. From this theory, Smith came up with the four economic laws of the market.
Adam Smith’s first law of the market is self –interest or profit motive. This first law is important because from it stems all the economic activities man is willing to do in exchange of money. Pursuing self-interest may appear self-serving but “it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from our regard to their self-interest."
The second law of the market according to Adam Smith is the law of competition. In an unregulated economy like capitalism, competition makes it possible for individual businessmen to operate within the boundaries of decency or what is fair to all. A certain amount of competition among businessmen help spurs the economy and protects interest of the working group.
As the demand for a product grows, self-interest sets in. Individual businessmen shift to the business with higher demand to be able to earn more. Thus, competition guarantees that there will be no exploitation of workers and the goods delivered are of the best quality.
The third law according to Adam Smith is the law of accumulation which refers to the accumulation of profits or what is aptly called retained earnings meant for business projects such as acquisition of more machinery and raw materials. This in turn is deemed to earn more profits.
Adam Smith’s fourth law is the law of population. As more machinery are purchased, the demand for workers grows. As more workers compete for jobs, wages come down because there is more supply than demand of labor which results in more profits for the capitalist.
According to Adam Smith, demand and supply plays a major role in the market especially for a self-regulated economy evident in laissez-faire. As the demand rises, supply tends to rise in proportion to the demand. This is the theory behind competition.
Competition may pose as a threat to businesses but it does serve its helpful purpose.
Smith believed that capitalism allows the worker freedom to choose his trade. Competition available in the person’s chosen trade prevents him from overpricing his commodities or services. Thus, Smith supposed that competition prevents monopoly and ruthless profiteering. With more and more business competing for a growing market of consumers, the quality of goods also gets better.
This principle of competition adhered to by Smith is applicable even to our times. We can see that the economic environment is, more than ever, alive and vibrant today. Great strides have been achieved in the capitalistic world. We see the rise of huge multinational corporations and massive labor unions which was virtually non-existent before.
Current business trends are leaning towards technology particularly computers, internet and mobile phone devices. Every business as a matter of fact cannot do without computers these days. With the advent of the internet age, competition becomes more prominent.
Competition has become stiffer through the years. Competition is more complicated than ever. Businesses are learning more and better ways to cope with the challenges competition poses. Management must come up with various strategies to keep afloat in an ever-changing business environment.
Strategic management helps make the business stay competitive. The survival of the business depends to a large extent on its ability to address specific problems to the organization effectively. This is where strategy in business management comes in.
Strategy provides the direction in which the business should take. Delineating company objectives clearly, establishing policies and plans and implementing plans by using resources are all parts of an effective strategy. Knowing the strategy that works then is essential for the growth of the company.
As Smith explains, when there is a growing public demand for shirts than bags, there will be a good business for shirts, but less demand for bags. As a result, the price of shirts will increase became the demand is more than the supply. The price of bags will go down because the supply is more than the demand.
The competition scenario during Adam Smith’s time may not be as cutthroat as it is today. In order to increase demand for their products, today’s businessmen expand their operations worldwide. Competition is no longer contained in a single community or locality but to the world. With the aid of computers and internet technology, the world is becoming smaller and smaller. Globalization becomes the new thrust for multinational companies. Along with the new technology also rise new challenges to business.
Globalization is a by-product of Adam Smith’s first law which is the profit motive or the self-interest motive. It is the reality in today’s multinational companies. With globalization come a number of opportunities to earn more profits. But it also poses a number of risks and difficulties which need to be addressed. It is easy to assume that what works in one works with another. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the international scene.
In their haste to gain more profits, a lot of companies make the same mistake of adopting the same policies at home in promoting their products in another country. They promote the same product, do the same advertising campaigns, even the brand names and packaging remain the same. In most cases this leads to failure since international companies find themselves beaten by locally-based competitors who knew the market well. This is so because assuming that one approach works everywhere fails to recognize the fact that differences do exist between countries and cultures. A number of companies who sell internationally maybe successful following a standardized marketing strategy but assuming this approach will work for your company too without prior research is a fatal error.
Take McDonalds for instance. This brand is recognizable worldwide. Their global success is attributed to the fact that they consider several factors before infiltrating a country. This is so because there are factors operating in domestic mix that differs or is not applicable in another.
To be competitive, marketing the product internationally should take into consideration several factors that could play a role in the success of the product. These factors include: country’s culture, resources found in that target country, current marketing situation, existing competition for McDonalds products, environmental forces operating in that country, cultural influences such as family, state, church, school and media. The 4P’s is essential in coming up with international marketing concepts – product, price, promotion and placement.
An example of this situation is the fact that McDonalds may sell a lot of burgers in the United States but this could not be true in China. Since Chinese prefer to eat chicken more than beef. Necessary adjustments then should be adopted before penetrating international market.
Other factors important in international marketing are: language, culture and religion.
In order to protect their profit motives, it is essential for companies to consider that language and cultural blunders inevitably lead to deals that go awry resulting in lost opportunities. The areas of cross-cultural and language training are essential to conducting international business and marketing strategies.
The development of branding is one way of remaining competitive in the global scene. This is also in keeping with Adam Smith’s law on competition since branding enables companies to create demand for their particular product. There are many examples of branding that has operated successfully with similar images that are designed to be culturally generic, such as Pepsi-Cola in United States and Japan. Market placement of goods refers to the methods which define the sectors where the goods need to get delivered to or identifying segments of potential customers. International and local trade laws obviously affect the marketing strategy of a business as these could set limits in the approach they used.
To succeed globally, Adam Smith believes that competition spurred by self-interest or the profit motive enables businesses to come up with strategies that would ensure their success such as the amalgamation of factors – effort, money and time. Adam Smith’s profit motive is particularly evident in the companies bid for globalization since the international market is four times larger than the U.S. market. Even to this day, Adam Smith’s law of self-interest and competition is still very much evident.
In the book The Worldly Philosophers Book, Chapter 3 The Wonderful World of Adam Smith discusses in great detail Smith’s various works. It particularly made mention of Adam Smith’s masterpiece “The Wealth of Nations”. In it, he delineated the four laws which govern the economy. Smith mentioned in this book four enduring laws which until now are still being considered acceptable. It is important to note that despite the fact that centuries engulfed between our time and Smith, still his claims remain true to this day.
Smith showed strong leaning towards the concept of “laissez faire” or unregulated economy as the backbone of capitalism. He got this idea from French physiocrat Francois Quesnay. From this theory, Smith came up with the four economic laws of the market.
Adam Smith’s first law of the market is self –interest or profit motive. This first law is important because from it stems all the economic activities man is willing to do in exchange of money. Pursuing self-interest may appear self-serving but “it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from our regard to their self-interest."
The second law of the market according to Adam Smith is the law of competition. In an unregulated economy like capitalism, competition makes it possible for individual businessmen to operate within the boundaries of decency or what is fair to all. A certain amount of competition among businessmen help spurs the economy and protects interest of the working group.
As the demand for a product grows, self-interest sets in. Individual businessmen shift to the business with higher demand to be able to earn more. Thus, competition guarantees that there will be no exploitation of workers and the goods delivered are of the best quality.
The third law according to Adam Smith is the law of accumulation which refers to the accumulation of profits or what is aptly called retained earnings meant for business projects such as acquisition of more machinery and raw materials. This in turn is deemed to earn more profits.
Adam Smith’s fourth law is the law of population. As more machinery are purchased, the demand for workers grows. As more workers compete for jobs, wages come down because there is more supply than demand of labor which results in more profits for the capitalist.
According to Adam Smith, demand and supply plays a major role in the market especially for a self-regulated economy evident in laissez-faire. As the demand rises, supply tends to rise in proportion to the demand. This is the theory behind competition.
Competition may pose as a threat to businesses but it does serve its helpful purpose.
Smith believed that capitalism allows the worker freedom to choose his trade. Competition available in the person’s chosen trade prevents him from overpricing his commodities or services. Thus, Smith supposed that competition prevents monopoly and ruthless profiteering. With more and more business competing for a growing market of consumers, the quality of goods also gets better.
This principle of competition adhered to by Smith is applicable even to our times. We can see that the economic environment is, more than ever, alive and vibrant today. Great strides have been achieved in the capitalistic world. We see the rise of huge multinational corporations and massive labor unions which was virtually non-existent before.
Current business trends are leaning towards technology particularly computers, internet and mobile phone devices. Every business as a matter of fact cannot do without computers these days. With the advent of the internet age, competition becomes more prominent.
Competition has become stiffer through the years. Competition is more complicated than ever. Businesses are learning more and better ways to cope with the challenges competition poses. Management must come up with various strategies to keep afloat in an ever-changing business environment.
Strategic management helps make the business stay competitive. The survival of the business depends to a large extent on its ability to address specific problems to the organization effectively. This is where strategy in business management comes in.
Strategy provides the direction in which the business should take. Delineating company objectives clearly, establishing policies and plans and implementing plans by using resources are all parts of an effective strategy. Knowing the strategy that works then is essential for the growth of the company.
As Smith explains, when there is a growing public demand for shirts than bags, there will be a good business for shirts, but less demand for bags. As a result, the price of shirts will increase became the demand is more than the supply. The price of bags will go down because the supply is more than the demand.
The competition scenario during Adam Smith’s time may not be as cutthroat as it is today. In order to increase demand for their products, today’s businessmen expand their operations worldwide. Competition is no longer contained in a single community or locality but to the world. With the aid of computers and internet technology, the world is becoming smaller and smaller. Globalization becomes the new thrust for multinational companies. Along with the new technology also rise new challenges to business.
Globalization is a by-product of Adam Smith’s first law which is the profit motive or the self-interest motive. It is the reality in today’s multinational companies. With globalization come a number of opportunities to earn more profits. But it also poses a number of risks and difficulties which need to be addressed. It is easy to assume that what works in one works with another. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the international scene.
In their haste to gain more profits, a lot of companies make the same mistake of adopting the same policies at home in promoting their products in another country. They promote the same product, do the same advertising campaigns, even the brand names and packaging remain the same. In most cases this leads to failure since international companies find themselves beaten by locally-based competitors who knew the market well. This is so because assuming that one approach works everywhere fails to recognize the fact that differences do exist between countries and cultures. A number of companies who sell internationally maybe successful following a standardized marketing strategy but assuming this approach will work for your company too without prior research is a fatal error.
Take McDonalds for instance. This brand is recognizable worldwide. Their global success is attributed to the fact that they consider several factors before infiltrating a country. This is so because there are factors operating in domestic mix that differs or is not applicable in another.
To be competitive, marketing the product internationally should take into consideration several factors that could play a role in the success of the product. These factors include: country’s culture, resources found in that target country, current marketing situation, existing competition for McDonalds products, environmental forces operating in that country, cultural influences such as family, state, church, school and media. The 4P’s is essential in coming up with international marketing concepts – product, price, promotion and placement.
An example of this situation is the fact that McDonalds may sell a lot of burgers in the United States but this could not be true in China. Since Chinese prefer to eat chicken more than beef. Necessary adjustments then should be adopted before penetrating international market.
Other factors important in international marketing are: language, culture and religion.
In order to protect their profit motives, it is essential for companies to consider that language and cultural blunders inevitably lead to deals that go awry resulting in lost opportunities. The areas of cross-cultural and language training are essential to conducting international business and marketing strategies.
The development of branding is one way of remaining competitive in the global scene. This is also in keeping with Adam Smith’s law on competition since branding enables companies to create demand for their particular product. There are many examples of branding that has operated successfully with similar images that are designed to be culturally generic, such as Pepsi-Cola in United States and Japan. Market placement of goods refers to the methods which define the sectors where the goods need to get delivered to or identifying segments of potential customers. International and local trade laws obviously affect the marketing strategy of a business as these could set limits in the approach they used.
To succeed globally, Adam Smith believes that competition spurred by self-interest or the profit motive enables businesses to come up with strategies that would ensure their success such as the amalgamation of factors – effort, money and time. Adam Smith’s profit motive is particularly evident in the companies bid for globalization since the international market is four times larger than the U.S. market. Even to this day, Adam Smith’s law of self-interest and competition is still very much evident.
Diagnosis of Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs)
What Makes Hannibal Lecter So Evil? A Closer Look at the Man Who Haunts the Big Screen.
Hannibal Lecter was born in 1938 in Lithuania. He belonged to a wealthy family. His father was a count. His mother came from aristocratic lineage of Visconti family from Milan. His younger sister was Mischa.
When he was six years old, he witnessed both his parents killed by German deserters. Lecter, his younger sister Mischa and other children were kept by the deserters to be slaughtered for food during the Baltic winter.
Lecter saw Mischa’s murder. Mischa was cannibalized by the German deserters. Lecter managed to escape. But the gruesome murders he witnessed scarred him for life. He lost his faith in God in the process. He believed that justice would not prevail. As a child, Lecter first manifested signs of sociopathic behavior in his sadism towards animals. He appeared to be unremorseful of his evil deeds. Also, he lied habitually.
He was later put in a government-owned orphanage where he lived for ten years. He tried to run away several times. But eh never stayed away for long because he got caught stealing food or clothes from the market. Frustration grew. Added to that was the misery he felt for losing his sister. He missed his terribly. At night, he would be found alone in his room talking to his dead sister.
Dr. Lecter would say later that his sister commanded him to do something everyday and he would carry it out. The employees at the orphanage did not sympathize with young Lecter. The financial strain of running an orphanage denied him the psychiatric care he desperately needed.
When he was 16, he was made to leave the orphanage and lived on the street. He stayed with his Aunt. There, he went to school. He was an extremely intelligent student but could not get along well with other children his age. At 20, his aunt disappeared.
Lecter moved to Baltimore, Maryland in the ‘70s. There he started his own psychiatric practice. He became very popular. He moved to New York where he became a part of a mental institution that provides counseling and aid to patients.
As per police records, Dr. Lecter killed at least nine people before he got captured. The last six were killed in a short period where he indulged in violence. All of his victims were partially disfigured. Dr. Lecter himself confessed to eating parts of his victims.
Lecter targeted men he considered mean and rude. Raspail the inferior flutist, Krendler the vindictive bureaucrat, Pazzi the corrupt cop, the census taker, even Mason Verger, one of his victims who managed to survive Lecter’ hatred —all of them reflected the traits of the deserters who cannibalized his sister.
Mischa’s gruesome murder became Lecter’s motivation for his later revenge and killing spree. Lecter wanted to seek revenge for Mischa and to restore dignity for his beloved sister.
By appearances, Dr. Lecter seemed soft-spoken, mild-mannered and very calm. He was clean-shaven and very warm. When asked about his childhood, he would only recall Mischa fondly, “Oh how I love her so. You know she talks to me every day. How could God abandon her?” About his belief in God, he said, “Why would I believe in a God who does not answer my prayers.” When asked the reason for his killing people, he said, “For I am royalty, a champion not simply without, but especially without God or law.” When asked if he wants to commit suicide, he replied, “Why would I want to kill myself.”
DIAGNOSIS
|---------------------------------------------- DSM-IV codes
|Axis I | Paranoid Schizophrenia ------------ 295.3
|Axis II | Schizotypal Personality Disorder-- 301.22
Antisocial Personality Disorder ------------- 301.7
|Axis III | Diagnosis Deferred
|Axis IV | Incarcerated for life
No social network
|Axis V | Global Assessment of Functioning-10
JUSTIFICATION OF DIAGNOSIS
Dr. Lecter is able to act cognitively and achieved his desired end. He is quite delusional. He sees himself as royalty and even similar to God. He also experiences auditory hallucinations every night as he converses with his dead sister where she asked him to carry out tasks for her.
His delusions and hallucinations stemmed from the gruesome murder of his beloved sister. He does not entertain suicidal thoughts. He is extremely intelligent since he does so well in his studies and later on with his practice. He has a reputation of being a brilliant Doctor of psychiatry.
Dr. Lecter is a loner. He does not find time for social interactions. He was never in a relationship. His aggressive and violent behavior shows utter disrespect for the rights of others. He murdered nine people and does not feel a bit remorseful about his actions. He is capable of inflicting great danger to other people. He disfigures and cannibalizes his victims. One of those, a census taker, he boldly declares that he ate him with "fava beans and a big Amarone". Before turning fifteen, at such a tender age, he already experienced stealing food and clothes.
The global assessment scale of 10 is due to the fact that he has shown signs of being able to inflict severe danger or hurt to others. He relishes the idea of consuming his victims. He is not suicidal though and is able to look after personal hygiene. He is also capable of handling a full time job.
Treatment Modalities of Hannibal Lecter
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies (CBTs)
The CBTs uses insight both verbal and intellectual to produce an emotional result on the patient. CBTs believe that the verbal cues, sentences often repeated serve as inner dialogues that would lead to healing if used in a positive sense. For instance, continuously saying “I am lovable” could later on produce positive results to the person’s self-esteem as it reinforces the person’s belief in oneself.
The therapist's role is to interpret the data the patient discovers (psychoanalysis) by enabling the patient to relate past experience and open up to the therapist. Another role the therapist has to play in order to effectively handle personality disorder in Hannibal Lecter is to actively strive to make the patient feel emotionally safe. To put the patient in an environment that is beneficial in creating positive changes in the patient.
Dynamic Psychotherapy
Or Psychodynamic Therapy, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
At the start of the therapy the therapist get into a "pact" with the analysand (patient or client). The pact must require the patient to continue exploring his problems regardless of the length of time it takes not to mention expenses. This would make the therapeutic environment conducive to the patient’s progress because he/she is aware that the analyst would be there for him or her no matter how it long it takes.
Hannibal Lecter was born in 1938 in Lithuania. He belonged to a wealthy family. His father was a count. His mother came from aristocratic lineage of Visconti family from Milan. His younger sister was Mischa.
When he was six years old, he witnessed both his parents killed by German deserters. Lecter, his younger sister Mischa and other children were kept by the deserters to be slaughtered for food during the Baltic winter.
Lecter saw Mischa’s murder. Mischa was cannibalized by the German deserters. Lecter managed to escape. But the gruesome murders he witnessed scarred him for life. He lost his faith in God in the process. He believed that justice would not prevail. As a child, Lecter first manifested signs of sociopathic behavior in his sadism towards animals. He appeared to be unremorseful of his evil deeds. Also, he lied habitually.
He was later put in a government-owned orphanage where he lived for ten years. He tried to run away several times. But eh never stayed away for long because he got caught stealing food or clothes from the market. Frustration grew. Added to that was the misery he felt for losing his sister. He missed his terribly. At night, he would be found alone in his room talking to his dead sister.
Dr. Lecter would say later that his sister commanded him to do something everyday and he would carry it out. The employees at the orphanage did not sympathize with young Lecter. The financial strain of running an orphanage denied him the psychiatric care he desperately needed.
When he was 16, he was made to leave the orphanage and lived on the street. He stayed with his Aunt. There, he went to school. He was an extremely intelligent student but could not get along well with other children his age. At 20, his aunt disappeared.
Lecter moved to Baltimore, Maryland in the ‘70s. There he started his own psychiatric practice. He became very popular. He moved to New York where he became a part of a mental institution that provides counseling and aid to patients.
As per police records, Dr. Lecter killed at least nine people before he got captured. The last six were killed in a short period where he indulged in violence. All of his victims were partially disfigured. Dr. Lecter himself confessed to eating parts of his victims.
Lecter targeted men he considered mean and rude. Raspail the inferior flutist, Krendler the vindictive bureaucrat, Pazzi the corrupt cop, the census taker, even Mason Verger, one of his victims who managed to survive Lecter’ hatred —all of them reflected the traits of the deserters who cannibalized his sister.
Mischa’s gruesome murder became Lecter’s motivation for his later revenge and killing spree. Lecter wanted to seek revenge for Mischa and to restore dignity for his beloved sister.
By appearances, Dr. Lecter seemed soft-spoken, mild-mannered and very calm. He was clean-shaven and very warm. When asked about his childhood, he would only recall Mischa fondly, “Oh how I love her so. You know she talks to me every day. How could God abandon her?” About his belief in God, he said, “Why would I believe in a God who does not answer my prayers.” When asked the reason for his killing people, he said, “For I am royalty, a champion not simply without, but especially without God or law.” When asked if he wants to commit suicide, he replied, “Why would I want to kill myself.”
DIAGNOSIS
|---------------------------------------------- DSM-IV codes
|Axis I | Paranoid Schizophrenia ------------ 295.3
|Axis II | Schizotypal Personality Disorder-- 301.22
Antisocial Personality Disorder ------------- 301.7
|Axis III | Diagnosis Deferred
|Axis IV | Incarcerated for life
No social network
|Axis V | Global Assessment of Functioning-10
JUSTIFICATION OF DIAGNOSIS
Dr. Lecter is able to act cognitively and achieved his desired end. He is quite delusional. He sees himself as royalty and even similar to God. He also experiences auditory hallucinations every night as he converses with his dead sister where she asked him to carry out tasks for her.
His delusions and hallucinations stemmed from the gruesome murder of his beloved sister. He does not entertain suicidal thoughts. He is extremely intelligent since he does so well in his studies and later on with his practice. He has a reputation of being a brilliant Doctor of psychiatry.
Dr. Lecter is a loner. He does not find time for social interactions. He was never in a relationship. His aggressive and violent behavior shows utter disrespect for the rights of others. He murdered nine people and does not feel a bit remorseful about his actions. He is capable of inflicting great danger to other people. He disfigures and cannibalizes his victims. One of those, a census taker, he boldly declares that he ate him with "fava beans and a big Amarone". Before turning fifteen, at such a tender age, he already experienced stealing food and clothes.
The global assessment scale of 10 is due to the fact that he has shown signs of being able to inflict severe danger or hurt to others. He relishes the idea of consuming his victims. He is not suicidal though and is able to look after personal hygiene. He is also capable of handling a full time job.
Treatment Modalities of Hannibal Lecter
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies (CBTs)
The CBTs uses insight both verbal and intellectual to produce an emotional result on the patient. CBTs believe that the verbal cues, sentences often repeated serve as inner dialogues that would lead to healing if used in a positive sense. For instance, continuously saying “I am lovable” could later on produce positive results to the person’s self-esteem as it reinforces the person’s belief in oneself.
The therapist's role is to interpret the data the patient discovers (psychoanalysis) by enabling the patient to relate past experience and open up to the therapist. Another role the therapist has to play in order to effectively handle personality disorder in Hannibal Lecter is to actively strive to make the patient feel emotionally safe. To put the patient in an environment that is beneficial in creating positive changes in the patient.
Dynamic Psychotherapy
Or Psychodynamic Therapy, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
At the start of the therapy the therapist get into a "pact" with the analysand (patient or client). The pact must require the patient to continue exploring his problems regardless of the length of time it takes not to mention expenses. This would make the therapeutic environment conducive to the patient’s progress because he/she is aware that the analyst would be there for him or her no matter how it long it takes.
A Review on Alice Walker's Everyday Use
Quilting and Relationships
Everyday Use by Alice Walker is a story of a mother and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee. Despite being sisters, Maggie and Dee’s personalities are as opposite as night and day. Dee is the popular one who aspires for higher goals. Maggie, on the other hand, contents herself with staying at the shadow of sister and to learn how to quilt.
Towards the end of the story, the mother must make a choice as to whom to give the quilt which they hold for generations. When Maggie spoke and suggested that the quilt be given to her older sister Dee, she began to see Maggie in a different light. She also learned to appreciate Maggie’s simplicity and goodness as compared to Dee’s sophistication and ambitions.
Barbara Christian noted that in Walker's work one can gleaned "contrariness," a "willingness at all turns to challenge the fashionable belief of the day." The much-covered quilt pertains to a trope. In this instance, the trope is a metaphor to reality as experienced by the author during her times. Sam Whitsitt said that “the tightness of the stitching depends on the tightness of the identity of any group which claims the quilt as its sign”. Kelley believes that "the most resonant quality of [real] quiltmaking is the promise of creating unity amongst disparate elements". Recently, Showalter observes that the quilt has "transcended the stigma of its sources in women's culhire" and become the "central metaphor of American cultural identity".
During Alice Walker’s time "the writing of fiction," as Mary Helen Washington observes, may refer to having "done under the shadow of men". Therefore, the quilt could mean it takes the women from the domination of men and give them a voice, a place of their own.
As Sam Whitsitt points out “Moving out of the shadow of men, however, can lead to entanglements in the threads of women”. In a related article "The Needle or the Pen: The Literary Rediscovery of Women's Textile Work," Elaine Hedges narrates how women writers before the mid-1900s protect themselves and calm their nerves on the largely male-dominated literary establishment by used metaphor by saying writing was actually mere sewing-the pen refers to only a needle.
Both Elaine Hedges and Elaine Showalter recognize the importance of quilting, but have hesitations as to how it is used. Hedges notes "whether the needle doesn't at times move too magically to dispel conflict, to solve complex issues of gender and male power", and Elaine Showalter points out that, "while quilting does have crucial meaning for American women's texts, it can't be taken as a transhistorical and essential form of female expression, but rather as a gendered practice that change[s] from one generation to the next...".
Bakers said that "the sorority of quiltmakers, fragment weavers, holy patchers, possesses a sacred wisdom that it hands down from generation to generation of those who refuse the center for the ludic and unconfined spaces of the margins." This analysis pertains to Dee, the prodigal daughter in the story. She is the character who plays on the margins. Dee, in the story, is being excluded according to Nancy Tuten calls "the establishment of a sisterhood between mother and daughter," which pertains to the sisterhood between Mama and her daughter Maggie, not to the other daughter/sister, Dee.
In the story, Patricia Kane believes Dee is the prodigal daughter who does not receive the welcome she anticipates as opposed to the biblical story ‘prodigal son’. The explanation for this is simple, Nancy Tuten believes that Mama has a "distaste for Dee's egotism," that Maggie feels "disgust with her sister," and that, "in the end, Dee's oppressive voice is mute, for Mama has narrated her out of the story altogether."
The Bakers are more upfront. To them, Dee is evil, a "serpent" in Mama's "calm pasture"; inauthentic ("Dee is not an example of the indigenous rapping and styling out of Afro-America"; and a traitor ("Individualism and a flouting of convention in order to achieve 'aesthetic' success constitute acts of treachery in 'Everyday Use)".
Mary Helen Washington believes that "Walker is most closely aligned in the story with the 'bad daughter,' Dee... the one who goes out in the world and returns with African clothes and an African name”. Which means, Walker most likely identifies herself with Dee more than any other character in the story ‘Everyday Use’. Walker refers to Dee as an "autonomous person," and she points out the similarities like Dee, has an "African name ... and I love it and use it when I want to, and I love my Kenyan gowns and my Ugandan gowns--the whole bit--it's part of me" (Washington 102). Moreover, the name Dee is given, "Wangero," is the same name Walker herself was given when she went to Africa (Christian 13).
Susan Willis in noting that, "when the black writer takes the materials of folk culture and subjects them to fiction[,]... she is engaged in 'an enterprise fraught with contradiction.' Dee being the one fraught with contradiction is in danger of being branded as a traitor or excluded and shunned. But in a story as Diana Fuss pointed out in her book Essentially Speaking, it is definitely for the good to put some conflict rather than attempt to completely eliminate it. That is why in the end; Dee is relegated to the background and branded as a traitor.
Barbara Christian said that "Toomer's women are silent, their sense of themselves and their condition interpreted by a male narrator."
The iron though as what Washington points out, is that the story of "Everyday Use," which is supposed to give voice to people in and outside of the story, make their stories heard, is distributed in a market that does not include them. Whitsitt said, “They never hear their voices being heard”.
Mama's "epiphanic moment of recognition" (Baker and Pierce-Baker 161) is a re-cognition that she ought to live in the moment. That she does not see reality as it presents. Bakers believe that it should be taken in the context of logic or politics of discovering identity. Barbara Christian believes in Walker's "contrariness". This is because she creates characters who act in spite of themselves or who act out of character. This creates "differences within identities" (Fuss 103).
Walker changes her sentence to past tense when she writes about Mama’s epiphanic moment. "Something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet," which leads to "I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me..." In this instance, as Whitsitt said “But the past tense is not opposed to the present.”
The story ends with this newly-discovered intimacy between a mother and daughter, found presently as they never have done before. The fact is it is written in the past tense and the story ends that way. This, in turn, leads one to wonder about how present the present tense is at the beginning of the story. This somehow creates a contradiction which is unique to Walker’s writings.
As Elaine Showalter says in her article "Common Threads," the quilt itself is no longer specifically tied to woman's culture as years go by: "The patchwork quilt came to replace the melting-pot as the central metaphor of American cultural identity. In a very unusual pattern, it transcended the stigma of its sources in women's culture and has been remade as a universal sign of American identity."
Everyday Use by Alice Walker is a story of a mother and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee. Despite being sisters, Maggie and Dee’s personalities are as opposite as night and day. Dee is the popular one who aspires for higher goals. Maggie, on the other hand, contents herself with staying at the shadow of sister and to learn how to quilt.
Towards the end of the story, the mother must make a choice as to whom to give the quilt which they hold for generations. When Maggie spoke and suggested that the quilt be given to her older sister Dee, she began to see Maggie in a different light. She also learned to appreciate Maggie’s simplicity and goodness as compared to Dee’s sophistication and ambitions.
Barbara Christian noted that in Walker's work one can gleaned "contrariness," a "willingness at all turns to challenge the fashionable belief of the day." The much-covered quilt pertains to a trope. In this instance, the trope is a metaphor to reality as experienced by the author during her times. Sam Whitsitt said that “the tightness of the stitching depends on the tightness of the identity of any group which claims the quilt as its sign”. Kelley believes that "the most resonant quality of [real] quiltmaking is the promise of creating unity amongst disparate elements". Recently, Showalter observes that the quilt has "transcended the stigma of its sources in women's culhire" and become the "central metaphor of American cultural identity".
During Alice Walker’s time "the writing of fiction," as Mary Helen Washington observes, may refer to having "done under the shadow of men". Therefore, the quilt could mean it takes the women from the domination of men and give them a voice, a place of their own.
As Sam Whitsitt points out “Moving out of the shadow of men, however, can lead to entanglements in the threads of women”. In a related article "The Needle or the Pen: The Literary Rediscovery of Women's Textile Work," Elaine Hedges narrates how women writers before the mid-1900s protect themselves and calm their nerves on the largely male-dominated literary establishment by used metaphor by saying writing was actually mere sewing-the pen refers to only a needle.
Both Elaine Hedges and Elaine Showalter recognize the importance of quilting, but have hesitations as to how it is used. Hedges notes "whether the needle doesn't at times move too magically to dispel conflict, to solve complex issues of gender and male power", and Elaine Showalter points out that, "while quilting does have crucial meaning for American women's texts, it can't be taken as a transhistorical and essential form of female expression, but rather as a gendered practice that change[s] from one generation to the next...".
Bakers said that "the sorority of quiltmakers, fragment weavers, holy patchers, possesses a sacred wisdom that it hands down from generation to generation of those who refuse the center for the ludic and unconfined spaces of the margins." This analysis pertains to Dee, the prodigal daughter in the story. She is the character who plays on the margins. Dee, in the story, is being excluded according to Nancy Tuten calls "the establishment of a sisterhood between mother and daughter," which pertains to the sisterhood between Mama and her daughter Maggie, not to the other daughter/sister, Dee.
In the story, Patricia Kane believes Dee is the prodigal daughter who does not receive the welcome she anticipates as opposed to the biblical story ‘prodigal son’. The explanation for this is simple, Nancy Tuten believes that Mama has a "distaste for Dee's egotism," that Maggie feels "disgust with her sister," and that, "in the end, Dee's oppressive voice is mute, for Mama has narrated her out of the story altogether."
The Bakers are more upfront. To them, Dee is evil, a "serpent" in Mama's "calm pasture"; inauthentic ("Dee is not an example of the indigenous rapping and styling out of Afro-America"; and a traitor ("Individualism and a flouting of convention in order to achieve 'aesthetic' success constitute acts of treachery in 'Everyday Use)".
Mary Helen Washington believes that "Walker is most closely aligned in the story with the 'bad daughter,' Dee... the one who goes out in the world and returns with African clothes and an African name”. Which means, Walker most likely identifies herself with Dee more than any other character in the story ‘Everyday Use’. Walker refers to Dee as an "autonomous person," and she points out the similarities like Dee, has an "African name ... and I love it and use it when I want to, and I love my Kenyan gowns and my Ugandan gowns--the whole bit--it's part of me" (Washington 102). Moreover, the name Dee is given, "Wangero," is the same name Walker herself was given when she went to Africa (Christian 13).
Susan Willis in noting that, "when the black writer takes the materials of folk culture and subjects them to fiction[,]... she is engaged in 'an enterprise fraught with contradiction.' Dee being the one fraught with contradiction is in danger of being branded as a traitor or excluded and shunned. But in a story as Diana Fuss pointed out in her book Essentially Speaking, it is definitely for the good to put some conflict rather than attempt to completely eliminate it. That is why in the end; Dee is relegated to the background and branded as a traitor.
Barbara Christian said that "Toomer's women are silent, their sense of themselves and their condition interpreted by a male narrator."
The iron though as what Washington points out, is that the story of "Everyday Use," which is supposed to give voice to people in and outside of the story, make their stories heard, is distributed in a market that does not include them. Whitsitt said, “They never hear their voices being heard”.
Mama's "epiphanic moment of recognition" (Baker and Pierce-Baker 161) is a re-cognition that she ought to live in the moment. That she does not see reality as it presents. Bakers believe that it should be taken in the context of logic or politics of discovering identity. Barbara Christian believes in Walker's "contrariness". This is because she creates characters who act in spite of themselves or who act out of character. This creates "differences within identities" (Fuss 103).
Walker changes her sentence to past tense when she writes about Mama’s epiphanic moment. "Something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet," which leads to "I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me..." In this instance, as Whitsitt said “But the past tense is not opposed to the present.”
The story ends with this newly-discovered intimacy between a mother and daughter, found presently as they never have done before. The fact is it is written in the past tense and the story ends that way. This, in turn, leads one to wonder about how present the present tense is at the beginning of the story. This somehow creates a contradiction which is unique to Walker’s writings.
As Elaine Showalter says in her article "Common Threads," the quilt itself is no longer specifically tied to woman's culture as years go by: "The patchwork quilt came to replace the melting-pot as the central metaphor of American cultural identity. In a very unusual pattern, it transcended the stigma of its sources in women's culture and has been remade as a universal sign of American identity."
What You Should Know About Road Rage and Aggressive Driving
Aggressive driving pertains to display of aggression by a driver. The term is often misinterpreted as similar to ‘road rage'. There is a marked difference between the two terms though. Although both stem from aggressive behaviors, the New York State Police have stated that there is an important difference.
The New York State Police defines Aggressive Driver as one person who:
Operates a motor vehicle in a selfish, bold or pushy manner, without regard for the rights or safety of the other users of the streets and highways.
Road Rage, on the other hand, as defined by the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety and used in a study published in 1997 was taken to be:
an incident in which an angry or impatient motorist or passenger injures or kills another motorist, passenger, or pedestrian, or attempts or threatens to injure or kill another motorist, passenger, or pedestrian.
New York State Police have stated that "Road Rage", such as using the vehicle as a weapon or physically assaulting a driver or their vehicle, is NOT aggressive driving. Such acts comprise criminal offenses, and are penalized under the law as grave offenses or violent crimes. The term road rage should refer specifically to the criminal acts of assault.
Is Aggressive Driving Increasing?
The American Automobile Association, Foundation for Traffic Safety wanted to address the problem on shortage of available information with regards to aggressive driving trends or the scope of the problems of aggressive driving and road rage by commissioning a study on aggressive driving in the United States in 1996.
The result of the study was compiled and published in March 1997 together with two studies by the Group Public Policy Road Safety Unit of the Automobile Association in Britain.
Aggressive Driving Study -
(AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety)
The study was conducted in the United States focused on incidents of violence that were due to traffic altercations and the use of vehicles as weapons. The cases included were some of the most violent incidents which were reported in a police crime report or newspaper article. These comprise only a small portion of the incidents which would fall under aggressive driving.
From January 1, 1990 through September 1, 1996, 10,037 extremely violent incidents occurred:
Year Extreme Aggressive Driving Incidents
1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,129
1991 . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . 1,297
1992 . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . 1,478
1993 . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . 1,555
1994 . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1,669
1995 . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 1,708
1996* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,201
Total . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 10,037
* Figures for 1996 were for an eight month period only. The projected total for the year is almost 1,800.
Profile of Aggressive Driver
There is not one specific profile for the aggressive driver. The majority though falls under the ages 18 to 26 years of age, not-so educated males with criminal histories such as violence and drug or alcohol problems. Most of them had recently undergone emotional or professional problems.
A startling number though revealed that hundreds of these people branded as aggressive drivers were actually successful men and women with no crime, violence or substance abuse records. Drivers between the ages of 26 and 50 were also noticeable. And 86 reported incidents where the drivers aged 50 to 75 years old. Study reveals that a seemingly minor traffic problem leads to an aggressive driving incident which is due to some stressful events in an individual's life which ends in extreme violence.
Gender Differences in Driving
Men and women reveal a number of driving behaviors that influence their attitudes, safety and insurance risk. Many factors are behind these differences such as neurochemical structures and hormonal processes brought about by evolution and universal socialization practices. Each plays a role in explaining why men and women drivers differ when it comes to records in accidents and insurance claims. Studies conducted over a period of time in different countries revealed that differences between male and female drivers in terms of crash rates are noticeable in a wide range of countries, including the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa, with males being significantly more at risk than females.
Similar differences are apparent among male and female pedestrians and accidents taking place at home and work. The differences do not reveal the levels of competence and driving skill of men and women. The differences in aggressive driving history actually are due to the most basic differences in specific areas of behavior and psychological functioning.
Extensive studies conducted point to the undeniable fact that men, and young men in particular, tend to be more aggressive than women (in all known cultures) and they express aggression in a direct, rather than indirect, manner. This behavior has a very significant effect on driving. It encourages the competitive and hostile behavior which leads to higher probabilities of accidents such as crashing.
Levels of deviant or rule-breaking behavior are seen to be markedly higher in men than in women. This behavior is apparent in a young man's tendency to have greater frequency of violation of traffic regulations, such as speed limits, traffic controls, drink-driving, etc.
More often than not men, on average, manifest higher levels of sensation-seeking and risk-taking attitudes in a number of settings. This ingrained sex difference has a hormonal and neurochemical basis. It is not brought about simply by socialization or experience.
The differences between male and female when it comes to their penchant for taking risks while driving can be explained, at least in part, using the evolutionary psychology perspective. This view suggest that much of neural circuitry of the human brain evolved to come up to the requirements set by societies and cultures. We evolved from a culture that is very different from our own as that of a hunter gatherer - that existed for over 99% of our evolution as a species. Despite our advancement to the 21st century, our human brains are basically still ‘stone-age' brains. The brains of men are women are different in certain crucial aspects.
Stone-age man may not have cars or know how to drive but his hunting, aggressive and risk-taking past - qualities that enabled him to survive and mate has been handed down to our present males. This is his way of passing his genes to future generations and which manifests in certain instances in today's male such as in the way a man drives his car.
A report published by the Department of Gender and Women's Health at the World Health Organization has demanded that these fundamental differences between men and women drivers and the need to develop policies that are relevant to each gender should be recognized.
This increased level of risk among young men is not just limited to driving. The WHO (1999) and (2002) report shows that men are also more likely to die from falls, drowning, poisoning and a range of other events. Only in the case of deaths in fires are women seemed to show a slightly higher figure than men. The report also shows that injury and fatality rates are higher among men for every type of road injury victim in several developing countries. In Kampala, Uganda, for instance, the ratio for males and females is between 2 and 7 to 1 among injured vehicle drivers, passengers and pedestrians. In the United States male drivers have more possibility of getting injured or killed in road accidents than females. Figures showed that male accounts for 71% of all driver fatalities. This figure is consistent since 1975.
To a certain degree these differences are explained by the greater exposure of males to potential accidents because there are more men who are licensed drivers and have greater annual mileages than women. But this factor however do not account for the fact that levels of male driver injuries and fatalities and those resulting from being a pedestrian, passenger, cyclist etc. are almost similar. This goes to show that the risk-proneness of men while driving is directly reflective of their risk in a number of other settings not just in driving. The number of driver deaths fell substantially between 1977 and 1995 but the relative male/female ratios remained substantially the same throughout the period. (See also Mayhew et al (2003).
Differences between men end women in terms of their driving behavior and accident rates have long been revealed in the UK, mainland Europe, the United States, Australia and in many other countries. In all studies and analyses, without exception, men showed a higher rate of crashes than women. This gender difference is particularly noticeable for those 25 years below. Somehow this is also evident among older drivers. The difference between the sexes in terms of the number of fatalities resulting from road crashes is similarly marked.
The scale of this difference between the sexes is very substantial. Chipman et al (1992), for instance, show that men have double the number of crashes (per 1,000 drivers) than women. Waller et al (2001) also note that in addition to having a higher number of crashes, men encounter their first crash earlier in their driving career and are more likely than women to be held to blame for the incident. Norris et al (2000) and others believes this greater level of crash-proneness is due to higher driving speeds among men and less regard for traffic laws.
Waylen and McKenna (2002) observe that the pattern of road accident involvement also differs between the sexes. Men are more likely than women to be involved in crashes that occur on bends, in the dark or those that involve overtaking. Women, on the other hand, have a greater frequency of crashes occurring at junctions than men. This supports the suggestion by Storie (1977) that men are more at risk from accidents involving high speed while women are at more likely to be involved in accidents resulting from perceptual judgment errors.
Studies revealed that in the age category 20-29 years the fatality rate for males (including drivers, passengers, pedestrians, cyclists, etc.) was 535% greater than that of females. The difference between the sexes declined sharply with age - the difference between men and women in their sixties and older being insignificant. This is consistent with the findings of Maycock et al (1991) that the greatest difference between males and females in this context is in the 16-20 and 21-24 age groups.
The WHO report and other research documents put forward various reasons to explain the observed sex differences in the risk of injury or death while driving. These, overall, fall into three distinct groups, indicating differential levels of:
aggression
speeding and violation of traffic laws
sensation-seeking and risk-taking
Triggers of Road Rage
Part of the aggressive driving problem may be the roads themselves. The roads are more crowded these days. The number of vehicle miles driven each year increases by 35% in the past ten years, and more vehicles are plying on the roads. Yet the number of miles of roadway has increased by only 1%. Also, people are busier. Time is an important factor and the road congestion causes frustration for those pressed for time.
According to the media, there are a number of instances manifesting aggressive driving or "road rage" on the public highways. There is mounting concern among motorists about this problem. The American Automobile Association (AAA), Potomac Club commissioned a survey in early 1996 to determine what issues drivers were most concerned about in the Washington, D.C. area. About 40% of drivers revealed that they considered an aggressive driver as a major threat to traffic safety.
Road rage may have little effect on the total road fatality statistics but, as the Western Australian study reveals, it may form a significant part of violence between strangers and is therefore an occurrence that should not be ignored. The authors of the Western Australian study identified five ‘triggers' that may trigger a road rage incident:
Coming across slow drivers;
cutting in or overtaking by other drivers;
stereotyped sex roles (males believe females are incompetent drivers);
accidents between vehicles; and
competing for parking spaces.
Minor incidents may explode to violence due partly to the stress of driving. Road rage incidents tend to happen often in heavily congested traffic areas and are often committed by people that spend long hours on the road. Moreover, the environment inside the car ‘cocoon' decreases the ability of both victims and aggressors to neutralize potentially violent situations by pacifying gestures and language. Without the conciliatory acts, each act of driving could be seen by the angry driver as aggressive and insulting consequently causing an aggressive response.
Knowing what triggers the road rage behavior may enable us to understand the psychology behind road rage. The act of cutting in or overtaking may anger some people who think their ‘status' is being challenged. A Western Australian study reveals that:
violence is then seen as a necessary and justified response to what is perceived to be an injustice, usually some form of degradation or threat to the value of the self. Violence is thus a defense of honor and a means of restoring the self.
The use of violence to respond to a perceived injustice or to defend one's well-being is probably as old as the human species itself; to some extent such reactions are an evolutionary defense mechanism intended to enhance the chance of survival.
Other Findings
Crowded roadways and pent-up frustration lead to aggressive driving
How you feel before you can even start your vehicle will determine the level of stress while driving.
Humans are territorial by nature. When this territory is invaded, people instinctively try to protect themselves. Some drivers bring this tendency too far by asserting dominance in the road and chasing another driver. This behavior could lead to fatal consequences.
An earlier study conducted in 1992 by the Automobile Association (AA) in Britain examined lifestyle factors of young men who had previously been identified as "safe" or "unsafe" drivers. The study revealed that mood influenced the "unsafe" driver to a greater extent than it did the "safe" driver. It also revealed that being in a bad mood had a negative effect on driving behavior, especially for the "unsafe" driver, who was more likely to react to the actions of other road users.
This supports the view that some people are more likely to succumb to "road rage", but it does not mean that "road rage" cannot be controlled. Although the 1992 study was specific to young men, the 1995 study indicated that there was very little age or gender difference in the prevalence of "road rage".
Conclusion
Men and women are different. The differences in driving behavior are shown by the greater tendency of males to take risks, exhibit aggression and seek thrilling sensations. The results of these differences are shown very clearly all over the world in the form of higher accident statistics, more expensive and frequent insurance claims and higher rates of convictions for offenses such as dangerous and drink-driving.
These differences may be brought about by socialization, but they are rooted in more basic human factors. Evolutionary psychology provides a strong basis for these back to the almost similar cognitive structures required by our hunter-gather ancestors in the past.
In conclusion, there is overwhelming evidence that tendencies towards certain types of behavior, including less-safe driving, are deeply ingrained in men. The conclusion of the Department of Gender and Women's Health at the World Health Organization calling for recognition of the fundamental differences between men and women drivers and the development of gender-differentiated policies in relevant areas has valid basis and should be heeded.
The New York State Police defines Aggressive Driver as one person who:
Operates a motor vehicle in a selfish, bold or pushy manner, without regard for the rights or safety of the other users of the streets and highways.
Road Rage, on the other hand, as defined by the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety and used in a study published in 1997 was taken to be:
an incident in which an angry or impatient motorist or passenger injures or kills another motorist, passenger, or pedestrian, or attempts or threatens to injure or kill another motorist, passenger, or pedestrian.
New York State Police have stated that "Road Rage", such as using the vehicle as a weapon or physically assaulting a driver or their vehicle, is NOT aggressive driving. Such acts comprise criminal offenses, and are penalized under the law as grave offenses or violent crimes. The term road rage should refer specifically to the criminal acts of assault.
Is Aggressive Driving Increasing?
The American Automobile Association, Foundation for Traffic Safety wanted to address the problem on shortage of available information with regards to aggressive driving trends or the scope of the problems of aggressive driving and road rage by commissioning a study on aggressive driving in the United States in 1996.
The result of the study was compiled and published in March 1997 together with two studies by the Group Public Policy Road Safety Unit of the Automobile Association in Britain.
Aggressive Driving Study -
(AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety)
The study was conducted in the United States focused on incidents of violence that were due to traffic altercations and the use of vehicles as weapons. The cases included were some of the most violent incidents which were reported in a police crime report or newspaper article. These comprise only a small portion of the incidents which would fall under aggressive driving.
From January 1, 1990 through September 1, 1996, 10,037 extremely violent incidents occurred:
Year Extreme Aggressive Driving Incidents
1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,129
1991 . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . 1,297
1992 . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . 1,478
1993 . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . 1,555
1994 . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1,669
1995 . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 1,708
1996* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,201
Total . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 10,037
* Figures for 1996 were for an eight month period only. The projected total for the year is almost 1,800.
Profile of Aggressive Driver
There is not one specific profile for the aggressive driver. The majority though falls under the ages 18 to 26 years of age, not-so educated males with criminal histories such as violence and drug or alcohol problems. Most of them had recently undergone emotional or professional problems.
A startling number though revealed that hundreds of these people branded as aggressive drivers were actually successful men and women with no crime, violence or substance abuse records. Drivers between the ages of 26 and 50 were also noticeable. And 86 reported incidents where the drivers aged 50 to 75 years old. Study reveals that a seemingly minor traffic problem leads to an aggressive driving incident which is due to some stressful events in an individual's life which ends in extreme violence.
Gender Differences in Driving
Men and women reveal a number of driving behaviors that influence their attitudes, safety and insurance risk. Many factors are behind these differences such as neurochemical structures and hormonal processes brought about by evolution and universal socialization practices. Each plays a role in explaining why men and women drivers differ when it comes to records in accidents and insurance claims. Studies conducted over a period of time in different countries revealed that differences between male and female drivers in terms of crash rates are noticeable in a wide range of countries, including the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa, with males being significantly more at risk than females.
Similar differences are apparent among male and female pedestrians and accidents taking place at home and work. The differences do not reveal the levels of competence and driving skill of men and women. The differences in aggressive driving history actually are due to the most basic differences in specific areas of behavior and psychological functioning.
Extensive studies conducted point to the undeniable fact that men, and young men in particular, tend to be more aggressive than women (in all known cultures) and they express aggression in a direct, rather than indirect, manner. This behavior has a very significant effect on driving. It encourages the competitive and hostile behavior which leads to higher probabilities of accidents such as crashing.
Levels of deviant or rule-breaking behavior are seen to be markedly higher in men than in women. This behavior is apparent in a young man's tendency to have greater frequency of violation of traffic regulations, such as speed limits, traffic controls, drink-driving, etc.
More often than not men, on average, manifest higher levels of sensation-seeking and risk-taking attitudes in a number of settings. This ingrained sex difference has a hormonal and neurochemical basis. It is not brought about simply by socialization or experience.
The differences between male and female when it comes to their penchant for taking risks while driving can be explained, at least in part, using the evolutionary psychology perspective. This view suggest that much of neural circuitry of the human brain evolved to come up to the requirements set by societies and cultures. We evolved from a culture that is very different from our own as that of a hunter gatherer - that existed for over 99% of our evolution as a species. Despite our advancement to the 21st century, our human brains are basically still ‘stone-age' brains. The brains of men are women are different in certain crucial aspects.
Stone-age man may not have cars or know how to drive but his hunting, aggressive and risk-taking past - qualities that enabled him to survive and mate has been handed down to our present males. This is his way of passing his genes to future generations and which manifests in certain instances in today's male such as in the way a man drives his car.
A report published by the Department of Gender and Women's Health at the World Health Organization has demanded that these fundamental differences between men and women drivers and the need to develop policies that are relevant to each gender should be recognized.
This increased level of risk among young men is not just limited to driving. The WHO (1999) and (2002) report shows that men are also more likely to die from falls, drowning, poisoning and a range of other events. Only in the case of deaths in fires are women seemed to show a slightly higher figure than men. The report also shows that injury and fatality rates are higher among men for every type of road injury victim in several developing countries. In Kampala, Uganda, for instance, the ratio for males and females is between 2 and 7 to 1 among injured vehicle drivers, passengers and pedestrians. In the United States male drivers have more possibility of getting injured or killed in road accidents than females. Figures showed that male accounts for 71% of all driver fatalities. This figure is consistent since 1975.
To a certain degree these differences are explained by the greater exposure of males to potential accidents because there are more men who are licensed drivers and have greater annual mileages than women. But this factor however do not account for the fact that levels of male driver injuries and fatalities and those resulting from being a pedestrian, passenger, cyclist etc. are almost similar. This goes to show that the risk-proneness of men while driving is directly reflective of their risk in a number of other settings not just in driving. The number of driver deaths fell substantially between 1977 and 1995 but the relative male/female ratios remained substantially the same throughout the period. (See also Mayhew et al (2003).
Differences between men end women in terms of their driving behavior and accident rates have long been revealed in the UK, mainland Europe, the United States, Australia and in many other countries. In all studies and analyses, without exception, men showed a higher rate of crashes than women. This gender difference is particularly noticeable for those 25 years below. Somehow this is also evident among older drivers. The difference between the sexes in terms of the number of fatalities resulting from road crashes is similarly marked.
The scale of this difference between the sexes is very substantial. Chipman et al (1992), for instance, show that men have double the number of crashes (per 1,000 drivers) than women. Waller et al (2001) also note that in addition to having a higher number of crashes, men encounter their first crash earlier in their driving career and are more likely than women to be held to blame for the incident. Norris et al (2000) and others believes this greater level of crash-proneness is due to higher driving speeds among men and less regard for traffic laws.
Waylen and McKenna (2002) observe that the pattern of road accident involvement also differs between the sexes. Men are more likely than women to be involved in crashes that occur on bends, in the dark or those that involve overtaking. Women, on the other hand, have a greater frequency of crashes occurring at junctions than men. This supports the suggestion by Storie (1977) that men are more at risk from accidents involving high speed while women are at more likely to be involved in accidents resulting from perceptual judgment errors.
Studies revealed that in the age category 20-29 years the fatality rate for males (including drivers, passengers, pedestrians, cyclists, etc.) was 535% greater than that of females. The difference between the sexes declined sharply with age - the difference between men and women in their sixties and older being insignificant. This is consistent with the findings of Maycock et al (1991) that the greatest difference between males and females in this context is in the 16-20 and 21-24 age groups.
The WHO report and other research documents put forward various reasons to explain the observed sex differences in the risk of injury or death while driving. These, overall, fall into three distinct groups, indicating differential levels of:
aggression
speeding and violation of traffic laws
sensation-seeking and risk-taking
Triggers of Road Rage
Part of the aggressive driving problem may be the roads themselves. The roads are more crowded these days. The number of vehicle miles driven each year increases by 35% in the past ten years, and more vehicles are plying on the roads. Yet the number of miles of roadway has increased by only 1%. Also, people are busier. Time is an important factor and the road congestion causes frustration for those pressed for time.
According to the media, there are a number of instances manifesting aggressive driving or "road rage" on the public highways. There is mounting concern among motorists about this problem. The American Automobile Association (AAA), Potomac Club commissioned a survey in early 1996 to determine what issues drivers were most concerned about in the Washington, D.C. area. About 40% of drivers revealed that they considered an aggressive driver as a major threat to traffic safety.
Road rage may have little effect on the total road fatality statistics but, as the Western Australian study reveals, it may form a significant part of violence between strangers and is therefore an occurrence that should not be ignored. The authors of the Western Australian study identified five ‘triggers' that may trigger a road rage incident:
Coming across slow drivers;
cutting in or overtaking by other drivers;
stereotyped sex roles (males believe females are incompetent drivers);
accidents between vehicles; and
competing for parking spaces.
Minor incidents may explode to violence due partly to the stress of driving. Road rage incidents tend to happen often in heavily congested traffic areas and are often committed by people that spend long hours on the road. Moreover, the environment inside the car ‘cocoon' decreases the ability of both victims and aggressors to neutralize potentially violent situations by pacifying gestures and language. Without the conciliatory acts, each act of driving could be seen by the angry driver as aggressive and insulting consequently causing an aggressive response.
Knowing what triggers the road rage behavior may enable us to understand the psychology behind road rage. The act of cutting in or overtaking may anger some people who think their ‘status' is being challenged. A Western Australian study reveals that:
violence is then seen as a necessary and justified response to what is perceived to be an injustice, usually some form of degradation or threat to the value of the self. Violence is thus a defense of honor and a means of restoring the self.
The use of violence to respond to a perceived injustice or to defend one's well-being is probably as old as the human species itself; to some extent such reactions are an evolutionary defense mechanism intended to enhance the chance of survival.
Other Findings
Crowded roadways and pent-up frustration lead to aggressive driving
How you feel before you can even start your vehicle will determine the level of stress while driving.
Humans are territorial by nature. When this territory is invaded, people instinctively try to protect themselves. Some drivers bring this tendency too far by asserting dominance in the road and chasing another driver. This behavior could lead to fatal consequences.
An earlier study conducted in 1992 by the Automobile Association (AA) in Britain examined lifestyle factors of young men who had previously been identified as "safe" or "unsafe" drivers. The study revealed that mood influenced the "unsafe" driver to a greater extent than it did the "safe" driver. It also revealed that being in a bad mood had a negative effect on driving behavior, especially for the "unsafe" driver, who was more likely to react to the actions of other road users.
This supports the view that some people are more likely to succumb to "road rage", but it does not mean that "road rage" cannot be controlled. Although the 1992 study was specific to young men, the 1995 study indicated that there was very little age or gender difference in the prevalence of "road rage".
Conclusion
Men and women are different. The differences in driving behavior are shown by the greater tendency of males to take risks, exhibit aggression and seek thrilling sensations. The results of these differences are shown very clearly all over the world in the form of higher accident statistics, more expensive and frequent insurance claims and higher rates of convictions for offenses such as dangerous and drink-driving.
These differences may be brought about by socialization, but they are rooted in more basic human factors. Evolutionary psychology provides a strong basis for these back to the almost similar cognitive structures required by our hunter-gather ancestors in the past.
In conclusion, there is overwhelming evidence that tendencies towards certain types of behavior, including less-safe driving, are deeply ingrained in men. The conclusion of the Department of Gender and Women's Health at the World Health Organization calling for recognition of the fundamental differences between men and women drivers and the development of gender-differentiated policies in relevant areas has valid basis and should be heeded.
Psychological Realism in Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys
“Good morning, Midnight” by Jean Rhys presents a narrative on the life of its main character Sasha Jensen. In the story Sasha Jansen comes to Paris using borrowed money to reminisce the past and purge the pain that haunts her.
Jean Rhys expertly employs her own brand of tragicomedy in this story. Tragicomedy is when the boundaries of comedy and tragedy dissolves. This she employs to portray psychological realism of Sasha’s life which many believes is a story of her own life. Rhys has the distinctive style of dry humor and quick wit which she utilizes on her characters.
Rhys is very adept in injecting funny moments in somber scenes. For instance, she writes of Sasha Jensen observing a group of women, “fifteen women in a queue, each clutching her penny, not one bold spirit to dash out of her turn past the stern-faced attendant. That’s what I call discipline” (10).
The same way that James Joyce employs internal monologues in his characters, Rhys also uses similar style. Helen Carr notes that there is a “melancholy haze through which her work is often read” (77). Rhys novels are filled with irony, farce and internal conversations of a character and Good Morning Midnight is of no exception to her brand of narrative style.
Rhys also employs flashbacks in the past. In the book one can see the main character Sasha Jensen constantly looking back to her past as she walks through the streets of Paris. “Here this happened, here that happened” (Rhys 15). People and places serve as painful and constant reminder of what she left behind.
These flashbacks and internal monologues are used by Rhys to better illustrate and understand the inner workings of Sasha’s mind. These techniques, of course, lend psychological realism to the story.
The rooms and street she passed by recalls her past like a film rolling before her eyes. “This damned room – it’s saturated with the past. . . . It’s all the rooms I’ve ever slept in, all the streets I’ve ever walked in. Now the whole thing moves in an ordered, undulating procession past my eyes. Rooms, streets, streets, rooms. . . .” (109).
The story may be told in first person and serves as a recollection of Sasha’s past but there are some doubts as to the veracity of her accounts. This is largely because her narrations are clouded by the use of alcohol and luminal ( sleeping pill).
This reveals Sasha’s uncertainties particularly on her very own identity. Sasha describes herself, through the imagined perception of other perople, as an old woman or “la vieille” [sic] (41).
Her indecisiveness extends to her views in life. As the story unfolds, one can understand the reason why Sasha is depressed. She recalls all that has transpired while she lived in Paris – her job as a mannequin and shop assistant, the death of her love Enno and the death of her baby son. There's a flashback when looks at her dead baby. She simply says, 'no wrinkle' as if she doesn’t care.
Sasha does not have a truly positive encounter with men as all of the men in her life disappointed her. For instance, the love of her life, Enno, and her father, both left her which made her feel empty and abandoned. She does not trust men, to the point that she does not trust herself to trust men.
Sasha’s emotions fluctuate quickly. Rhys makes use of short paragraphs and sentences to demonstrate this. The whole idea of the book is like a documentation of inward reflection of Sasha’s uneventful life. The story does not have major climaxes.
Later, Sasha meets Rene, a young gigolo who offers her hope. She likes him a lot but Sasha’s low self-esteem leads her to reject his advances. As the novel ends, one finds Sasha seeking comfort in the arms of her strange neighbor whom she, ironically, dislikes.
The beauty of Sasha is she just doesn’t tell her story, she actually lives it. In her mind, she dwells in the past. She merges the present with what happens in the past. Rhys’ depiction of female consciousness and experiences is flawless. Sasha’s life may be depressing but there is one redeeming quality in her which is her sense of humor. She sees funny things even in the most difficult circumstances. She understands the comedy and tragedy of life. That is why the end of the story may appear quiet terrifying to some but not to Sasha because she understands life’s ironies.
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko features Tayo, a half-white Laguna Indian who just got home from The Battle of Bataan where he is stationed in the World War II. The horrors of the war plagues him. He is struggling to get rid of the unwanted and horrible memories. He wants to run from an unsavory past but the past won’t let him. He comes home to seek comfort and healing from the ancient rituals and the refuge offered by nature.
The ceremonies Tayo recreates help him change and overcome whatever mental anguish and past demons that haunt him. He attains peace only by "finally seeing the pattern, the way all the stories fit together -- the old stories, the war stories, their stories -- to become the story that was still being told."
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko is a story of alienation. That is why there are two opposing forces operating in the story: good versus bad, Indian vs “white” and the traditional practices vs. Modern views.
Silko employs a number of images and symbolisms to get the message across in the story. “White fog”, “white skin” and “snow” are some of these allusions.
Tayo feels alienated all his life. His “white skin” makes him different from the Indian people surrounding him. His mission in life seems to revolve around eradicating this seeming distance or imagined wall that separates him from the rest. He cries for his mother and feels happy when his aunt talks to him.
The “white fog” signifies his inner struggles. The images of “white fog” conjures images of confusion, invisibility and detachment. Tayo used to be a man lost in the fog. White fog represents Tayo’s need for invisibility and the need to detach oneself from others even from himself. It is the fog of fragmented identity that bewilders.
In the Veterans' Hospital in Los Angeles where he was confined after the war, Tayo feels like white fog: invisible, oblivious to his surroundings and unable to talk. At first, Tayo refers to himself only in the third person. He cries a lot to the point that he vomits.
But the psychological distance is aggravated by physical distance. Tayo finds himself sent to the Philippines to fight the Japanese in World War II. This causes some emotional and psychological problems in the process. Tayo experiences a breakdown as he begins to imagine his enemies as relatives.
When his brother-cousin, Rocky, and beloved uncle Josiah passed away, Tayo has no one left to live for. He is unable to deal with reality so he thinks of himself as invisible like a “fog.” He tries to detach from everything, even from himself. So much so that talks about himself in third person.
“He inhabited a gray winter fog on a distant elk mountain where hunters are
lost indefinitely and their own bones mark the boundaries.
The new doctor asked him if he had ever been visible, and Tayo spoke to him
softly and said that he was sorry but no one was allowed to speak to an
invisible one. . . . The sun was dissolving the fog, and one day Tayo heard a voice answering the doctor. The voice was saying, `He can't talk to you. He is invisible. His words are formed with an invisible tongue, they have no sound.”(15)
Tayo, who has long denied his being half-breed, finally admits it when he gets home. His friend and later, deadly nemesis, Emo taunts him in. Tayo’s admission, however, is an important part of his healing process. It signals the start of his willingness to embrace wholeness again.
Things finally to make sense and fall into place when he encounters Betonie – a half-breed (Indian and White) like him. He says to Tayo, “Nothing is that simple. . . you don't write off all the white people, just like you don't trust all the Indians." (128)
This is something Tayo knows all along but refuses to admit even to himself. He knows that Emo is a killer but he feels inclined to keep a blind eye to his faults because he is Indian. He also feels compelled to distrust all white people simply because they are white.
Betonie relates a story to Tayo which changes his life. Tayo begins to understand and pursue Josiah’s dream. He falls in love and realizes that love erases all distance. He begins to accept the strangeness surrounding him in order to accept his own uniqueness.
Living may be hard but not to live and be dead inside is worse. Such is the fate of the destroyers.
“There are much worse things, you know. The destroyers: they work to see how much
can be lost, how much can be forgotten. They destroy the feeling people have for each
other. . . . Their highest ambition is to gut human beings while they are still breathing,
to hold the heart still beating so the victim will never feel anything again. When they
finish, you watch yourself from a distance and you can't even cry -- not even for
yourself.' (229)
From Betonie, Tayo learns that he is part of a family. Understanding this is the key to understanding what it means to really live as opposed to merely exist. Another lesson he learns is that reality can be predictable. It does not need to be exciting and extraordinary. It is to be found in the ordinary and routine.
The reference of “snow” in the story seems to pertain to accepting the nature of changes.
For instance, Tayo fears a white rancher named Floyd Lee. He wants to turn back because of this fear. However, as he lies under a pine tree, Tayo has an epiphany. He becomes “insubstantial” and free from the fear of Lee’s riders. Then sees a mountain lion:
“Relentless moton was the lion’s greatest beauty, changing substance and color in
rhythm... dark as lava rock and suddenly bright as a field of snow... (204).”
The lion teaches Tayo to have no hesitations as he moves with the natural rhythm like “snow.” In this instance, snow is associated with the nature of change. Tayo must have self-confidence in order to cope with this kind of change. This transforms Tayo from a lost person - as to the time when he got lost due to a fog - to someone who is able to grasp the significance of events and be able to act in response to it. This knowledge enables him to confidently confront his nemesis Emo in the latter part of the story.
Another instance where “snow” is mentioned is when Tayo walks off the mountain, he realizes that he and the lion have been saved by the falling snow “the snowflakes were swirlingin tall chimneys of wind, filling his tracks like pollen sprinked in the mountain lion’s footprints” (215). Snow here is significant as it pertains to help or aid extended to him and the lion at a crucial part of their lives.
Another mention of snow is when he meets a mysterious man carrying a deer. When they arrive at a cabin, the snow threatens to topple down the branches of a tree near them. He turns to Ts’eh saying “The tree... you (Ts’eh) better fold up the blanket before the snowstorm breaks the branches” (218). Ts’eh goes to the bedroom where a “black storm-patterned blanket” lays. The storm ends when she folds the blanket. One can glean that Ts’eh’s blanket can bring and end snow. Snow, in this instance, becomes a threat to their lives.
All these instances and Tayo’s encounter with the snow prepares him for any eventualities. Snow signifies changes which could sometimes be swift or sudden. Snow could be both life-saving and life-threatening at the same time. And it comes when you least expect it.
The symbolism of “snow” strengthens Tayo and his resolve to face any eventualities. The white fog signifies his confusion which is a mark of his former self. As the story progresses, one can sense changes in Tayo particularly in his ability to accept his “white skin” and thus embrace wholeness.
As Tayo learns acceptance, “the white fog” in his life clears. He tranforms from a man who was once lost in the fog into a compelling and strong hero. The “snow” signifies changes and his eventual acceptance of these changes. The struggles that Tayo needs to cope revolves mainly around his “white skin” which at the start of the story symbolizes a part of his life that is difficult to embrace. The thick white skin serves to shield him and keep him insensitive to the things around him. It numbs his feelings from love and grief.
‘Their highest ambition is to gut human beings while they are still breathing, to hold
the heart still beating so the victim will never feel anything again. When they finish,
you watch yourself from a distance and you can’t even cry—not even for yourself.’
“He recognized it then: the thick white skin that had enclosed him, silencing the
sensations of living, the love as well as the grief; and he had been left with only the hum of the tissues that enclosed him. He never knew how long he had been lost there, in that hospital in Los Angeles.
‘They are all around now. Only destruction is capable of arousing a sensation,
the remains of something alive in them; for each time they do it, the scar thickens, and
they feel less and less, yet still hungering for more’. ” (229- 230)
The quotation refers to the need to destroy. The numbness the destroyers feel can only be awakened by the sensation of destruction. This is the only way for the destroyers to feel alive. Yet each time they destroy something, a bit of themselves die, making them more insensitive than ever. Their feelings or possibly consciences are effectively drowned in the process and they hunger for more destruction to feel alive.
The different effect of “white fog’ and “snow” lead to the above quotation because “white fog” makes Tayo alive but he is actually dead inside. He does not live but merely exists because of this incompleteness inside him. The ‘snow’ is what transforms him later and gives him confidence to accept change and really live his life. It is a befitting end to Tayo’s quest of self, healing and redemption.
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Marketing Audit of Nike's Strategies
Nike is the leading footwear company in the world. PEST Analysis sums up how the company's business strategies fare in the macro environmental level.
Nike, Inc. is an incorporated company that designs, develops and markets worldwide athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories. Nike employs both traditional and non-traditional distribution channels in almost 200 countries with primary market regions in the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Americas.
Nike has some 20,000 retailers worldwide including Nike factory stores, Nike stores, NikeTowns, Cole Haan stores, and Web sites which sell Nike's sports and leisure products. Nike accounts for 33% of the global market share in the athletic footwear industry.
PEST Analysis of Nike
Nike, being an international organization, needs to focus on macro environmental factors. Macro environmental factors comprise Political, Economics, Society, and Technology, viz, PEST Analysis.
Political Analysis
The government must create economic policies that will foster the growth of businesses. Nike, fortunately, has been helped by the US policies which enable it to advance its products. The support accorded to Nike by the US government, particularly in the general macroeconomic stability, low interest rates, stable currency conditions and the international competitiveness of the tax system, form the foundation critical to Nike’s growth.
Economic Analysis
In economy, the biggest threat for Nike would be economic recession. During recession, Nike’s growth will be adversely affected. The US economy is experiencing a downturn right now. Consumer purchases are slowing down. Currently, Nike's feeling the pinch of the economic recession. The Asian economic crisis also affects Nike since its goods are manufactured in Asia. The labor costs and material prices are going up.
Nike's growth is not just affected by the local economy but also in the international economy. A weak Euro and an Asian recession could mean weak sales for Nike. The overall results in the sales generated by Nike in athletic footwear, however, remained stable. The global market makes up for the variances in sales particularly between peak and lean seasons.
Society Analysis
People are more health conscious nowadays. Diet and health are getting more prominence. Consequently, more and more people are joining fitness clubs. There is an accompanying demand for fitness products particularly exercise apparel, shoes and equipment. Nike is at the forefront of this surge in demand as people are looking for sports shoes, apparel and equipment.
Nike, however, failed to foresee problems brought about by a sweatshop expose pertaining to labor and factory conditions at production locations in Asia. This caused bad publicity and declining sales as society and consumers demand more socially responsible companies.
Technology Analysis
Nike uses IT in its marketing information systems very effectively. Nike applies marketing information systems to the economics of innovation, segmentation and differentiation for most of its businesses. Nike’s leadership status owes in large part to the use of extremely valuable Information Technology, and applying it to every aspect of the product from development to distribution.
Nike, being the world leader in the athletic footwear industry, is able to effectively harness its environment to boost its marketing efforts. This strategy has translated into robust sales of Nike's products.
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