A Philosophical Discussion in Contemporary Music: Janes Addiction and Bush :: Music Musical Jane Addiction Bush Essays

A Philosophical Discussion in Contemporary Music: Jane's Addiction and Bush The purpose of this paper is to examine philosophical and theological themes in the work of two modern musical groups. The alternative rock bands Jane’s Addiction and Bush will be the focus of this study. I have chosen these two artists since I have observed what I believe to be contrasting ideas in their work. Perry Farrell was the songwriter for Jane’s Addiction. His band’s release in 1988, titled Nothing’s Shocking contains views on God, man’s place in the world, and instruction on living a life that adheres to Zen philosophical views. Songs on the album include â€Å"Ocean Size," a memoir about how life should be lived; â€Å"Had A Dad," Perry Farrell’s beliefs about God; and â€Å"Ted, Just Admit It...", that will be discussed in more detail below. Bush’s lyrics, written by Gavin Rossdale on the album Sixteen Stone, argue directly with the ideas contained on Nothing’s Shocking. I believe that his song â€Å"Everything Z en† is a response to Perry Farrell’s beliefs. I will first attempt to fit the ideas of Perry Farrell into a philosophical Zen framework. A good starting point is the song â€Å"Ocean Size† that points to the Zen theme of a oneness with nature. The speaker in the song seeks to get beyond his thinking self, and become like the ocean. The almost interminable suffering of human existence is described by Farrell as, â€Å"Like a tooth aching a jawbone† (2:6). He writes of his own human weaknesses, â€Å"I was made with a heart of stone/ to be broken/ with one hard blow." (2:7-9). His frailty contrasts with the strength of nature, â€Å"We’ve seen the ocean/ brake on the shore/ come together with no harm done" (2:10-12). The song’s verse states, â€Å"It ain’t easy living.../ I want to be/ as deep/ as the ocean/ mother ocean" (2:13-17). He calls upon the common theme that words fail to convey the true meanings in Zen with, â€Å"I want to be like the ocean/ no talking/ all action" (2:21-23). In t he words of Lao-tzu â€Å"Those who know do not speak; Those who speak do not know† (Watts xii-xiii). Only through an escape from his thinking, talking self can the author can stop experiencing the suffering of being human. Zen themes may be familiar to a student of religion, since they arise from Buddhism. The Buddha, Sidhartha Gautama, is said to have achieved his four noble truths about the nature of existence through meditation.

Problems In Todays Society :: essays research papers

Problems In Today's Society   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many problems right now in the society. Some of these problems can be easily solved, or can be impossible to solve depending how bad it is. Many people think these problems should be solved by the governments, since they are in charge. But we can also solve these problems if we get together. Not all the problems, but some that can be solved. I think the three major problems in the society today are: unemployment, violence, and pollution.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first problem in the society right now is unemployment. Many people today are either unemployed or underemployed. Some of these people just stay home and collect their welfare cheque every month, when they should go out and at least try to get a job. If there are more people like this, the country would be poor and therefore the government would have to collect more taxes. Also the standard of living would decrease because of their income that is way below the average income. Right now, there is also a big gap between the low income people and the high income people and this is becoming a problem. Low income people are starting to get lower wages and higher income people are starting to get higher wages.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another problem in the society is violence. Today, there are many violence in the streets, some schools, and also in the media. These violence in the streets can cause the neighbourhood to become a bad place to live. This will cause people not to go there or move in there because of these violence. There are also many violence and gangs in some school, causing some of the school to be very unsafe to go. With these violence and gangs, students will probably be afraid of these people. In addition, the media can contain violence too. These violence, can cause kids to do what ever is on TV. For example, my little brother likes to watch wrestling and he sometimes does wrestling moves on me for no reason and thinking it's fun. Even though it doesn't hurt me because I'm bigger than him, he might hurt someone smaller in school or something.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The third problem in the society today is pollution. Many things these days cause pollution such as cars, air conditioners, refrigerators, factories, CFC cans, etc.. All these things together can cause a pollution problem in the society today. The CFC cans used to be a serious problem to the ozone layer, but luckily it was taken off the market. Refrigerators and air conditioners are also a problem to the zone because of the liquid called freon.

Adolescence is the period Essay

Adolescence is the period of transition from childhood to adulthood, which is between 13 to 20 years of age. The term â€Å"adolescent† refers to the arraignment of psychological maturity. Puberty, on the other hand, refer to the stage wherein adolescents become physically and biologically ready for reproduction. Most people refer to this stage as a period that is highly stressful and volatile although teenagers nowadays successfully meet these challenges. Every individual is born into a family with several generations of cultural traditions, norms and social patters. They belong to a specific family, race and community with its own language and religion. The social setting with which the child is brought up may have an effect on his growth and development, including his ability to think, his emotions as well as the behavior he exhibits. Children fundamentally learn through the adult’s modeling and instructions. Social settings include the child’s home, the school, the community at large, as well as religious organizations. Positive relationships with family members serve to protect individuals from the risk of negative behaviors. These relationships provide as secure and fundamental base for which individuals learn to grow and develop positively. The family exerts a considerable influence on shaping the individuals concept of self and his outlook towards those outside the family. The family serves as role models so that the child learns which behaviors are socially acceptable, the enhancement of relationship skills as well as maintaining effective communication patterns. In addition, conflicts within the family that are effectively resolved are also important since the child will be using these as the basis during his dealings with those outside the family See more: Beowulf essay essay According to Piaget, changes occurring inside the individual’s mind as well as his broadening exposure to various social settings allow the adolescent to achieve the highest level in terms of intellectual development, which is known as formal operations. The adolescent develops the ability to determine possibilities, rank possibilities, solve problems and make decisions through logical operations. The teenager has the ability for abstract thought and is able to effectively answer questions or problems that may be hypothetical in nature. Adolescents have the capacity to reason with respect to possibilities and new cognitive powers allow the adolescent to do more far-reaching problem solving including their future and that of others. Although adolescents have the capacity to think as well as an adult, they lack experiences on which to build their decisions which may also result in conflicts between teens and their parents. Piaget acknowledged that biological maturation plays a role in this developmental theory but believed that rates of development depend upon the intellectual stimulation and challenge in the child’s environment. An adolescent may perform at different levels in different situations based on past experiences, formal education, and motivation in the use of logic and effective deductive reasoning. Erik Erikson established the psychosocial development of human beings that consists of eight stages starting from infancy until the late adult stage. During each stage of psychosocial development, the individual is confronted with several challenges that he must master and be able to successfully master the conflicts within each stage as the inability to do so would result to future problems. The major task of adolescent psychosocial development according to Erikson is the search for personal identity. Teenagers may become isolated socially during their inability to establish close relationships within their social environment. The primary danger of this stage is identity versus role confusion. Adolescents work at becoming socially independent from their parents while retaining family ties. Furthermore, they need to develop their own ethical systems based on their own personal values and principles. Choices, especially regarding lifestyle, vocation and future education must be made by the adolescent. Indecisiveness and the inability to make an occupational choice are behaviors indicating negative resolution of the developmental task at hand. According to Kohlberg’s Moral Developmental Theory, adolescents are at the â€Å"Post Conventional Level† wherein individuals find a balance between basic human rights and obligations and societal rules and regulations in this level. Individuals move away from moral decisions based on authority or conformity to groups to define their own moral values and principles. Individuals at this stage start to look at what an ideal society would be like. Under this Level, are 2 stages namely: Social Contract Orientation and Universal Ethical Principle Orientation. Under social contract orientation, an individual may follow societal law but he recognizes the possibility of changing the law to improve society. The individual may also recognize that different societal groups may have differing views as well as values although they may be in agreement on several fundamental concepts such liberty and life. On the other hand, the universal ethical principle orientation defines the â€Å"right† by decision of conscience with self chosen ethical principles. Kohlberg himself questioned this stage because he found out that very few subjects reasoned at this stage and thus termed it a â€Å"theoretical† stage. References: Behrman, R. , Kiegman, R. and H. Jenson. Nelson textbook of Pediatrics. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 2000. Bukatko, D. , and M. Daehler. Child development, a thematic approach. 4th ed..Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Edelman, C. , and C. Mandle. Health promotion throughout the Life Span. 5th ed.. St. Louis: Mosby, 2002. Hockenberry , M. J. Wong’s nursing care of infants and children. 7th ed. St. Louis: Mosby, 2003 Howe, D. , Brandon, M. , Hinings, D. and Schofield (1999). Attachment Theory, Child Maltreatment and Family Support. A Practice and Assessment Model. Palgrave: Houndmlls, Basingstoke, Hampshire and New York. Kohlberg, L.. â€Å"Review of child development research. â€Å"Hoffman, ML. 1964.

Differential Calculus: Maximum and Minimum Problem and Solution

An oil refinery is located on the north bank of a straight river that is 2 km wide. A pipeline is to be constructed from the refinery to storage tanks located on the south bank of the river 6 km east of the refinery. The cost of laying pipe is $200,000 per km over land to a point P on the north bank and $400,000 per km under the river to the tanks. To minimize the cost of the pipeline, how far from the refinery should P be located? (Round your answer to two decimal places. ) 1 year ago Report Abuse Colorado†¦ Best Answer – Chosen by VotersThis is a min-max calculus problem, where we want to minimize the cost function: We need a drawing of the situation: see https://docs. google. com/drawings/d/1PvkU†¦ where R is the refinery, O will be the x-axis origin, P is the point on the north bank, and x= distance from O to the storage tanks. [Note, we could have put R at the origin, but the algebra is a little simpler this way] The cost C(x) of the pipeline as a function of x is: C(x) = distance along north shore * pipeline cost over land + distance under the river * pipeline cost under land The distance along the north shore is 6-xThe distance (by Pythagorean theorem) under the water is sqrt( 2^2 + x^2) So, C(x) = (6-x)*200000 + sqrt(4 + x^2) * 400000 [You should graph this] To find the value of x where C(x) is minimized, we set dC/dx = 0, [Reminder – use the chain rule to differentiate the second term] Differentiating and simplifying, we get dC/dx = C'(x) = -200000 + 400000x/ sqrt(4+x^2) = 0 400000x / sqrt(4+x^2) = 200000 400000x/200000 = sqrt(4+x^2) Squaring both sides, we get 4x^2= 4 + x^2 x = sqrt(4/3) = 1. 15 So the distance from the refinery to point P is 6-x = 4. 85 km

Carbon Dioxide Essay

Carbon dioxide is the main pollutant that warms our planet Earth. Living things produce carbon dioxide when they breathe. However, carbon dioxide is considered to be a harmful pollutant when linked with any vehicle, trains, power plants, as well as other various human activities that involve burning fossil fuels such as gasoline and natural gas. Studies have shown that In the past 150 years, such activities have released enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to raise its levels higher than they have ever been before. One of the most obvious consequences of carbon dioxide emissions is gray, muggy smog hanging over large cities. Smog creates many harmful health effects to human beings, it can cause anything from minor pain to deadly diseases such as lung cancer. When an area becomes covered in smog, people feel the effects immediately. But there are many different kinds of pollution, some visible, some invisible – that contribute to global warming. Generally, any substance that people bring into the atmosphere that has damaging effects on living things and the environment is considered air pollution. Other greenhouse gases include methane—which comes from such sources as swamps and gas emitted by livestock—and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were used in refrigerants and aerosol propellants such as hairspray, until they were banned because of their deteriorating effect on Earth’s ozone layer. Another pollutant associated with climate change is sulfur dioxide, a component of smog. Sulfur dioxide and closely related chemicals are known primarily as a cause of acid rain. But they also reflect light when released in the atmosphere, which keeps sunlight out and causes Earth to cool. Volcanic eruptions can spew massive amounts of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, sometimes causing cooling that lasts for years. In fact, volcanoes used to be the main source of atmospheric sulfur dioxide; today people are. Indus trialized countries have worked to reduce levels of sulfur dioxide, smog, and smoke in order to improve people’s health. But a result, not predicted until recently, is that the lower sulfur dioxide levels may actually make global warming worse. Just as sulfur dioxide from volcanoes can cool the planet by blocking sunlight, cutting the amount of the compound in the atmosphere lets more sunlight through, warming the Earth. This effect is exaggerated when elevated levels of other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trap the additional heat. Most people agree that to put a harness around global warming, a variety of measures will need to be taken. On a personal level, driving less, (carpooling when you can, using mass transit systems as much as possible) recycling, and conservation reduces a person’s â€Å"carbon footprint†: the amount of carbon dioxide a person is responsible for putting into the atmosphere. On a larger scale, governments are taking measures to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. One way is through the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement between countries that they will cut back on carbon dioxide emissions. Another method is to put taxes on carbon emissions or higher taxes on gasoline, so that people and companies will have greater incentives to conserve energy and pollute less.

How to Be Old Poem Analysis

â€Å"How to Be Old† It is easy to be young, (Everybody is, at first.) It is not easy to be old. It takes time. Youth is given; age is achieved. One must work a magic to mix with time in order to become old. Youth is given. One must put it away like a doll in a closet, take it out and play with it only on holidays. One must have many dresses and dress the doll impeccably (but not to show the doll, to keep it hidden. ) It is necessary to adore the doll, to remember it in the dark on the ordinary days, and every day congratulate one's aging face in the mirror. In time one will be very old. In time, one's life will be accomplished.And in time, in time, the doll–– like new, though ancient––will be found. – May SwensonWho is the speaker? What is the point of view? What is the mood? What is the tone? What is the imagery? What is the form? What is the theme? What is the figurative language? The speaker in the poem â€Å" How to Be Old† by May Swenson is an elder teaching children about growing old. The poem is in third person point of view. The mood is kind of sad because your moving on from childhood and growing up. The theme is serious, the author is telling you to hide your inner child and only take it out on special occasions. While reading this poem I imagined a little girl putting her doll away and then growing up into adulthood. The theme of the poem is cherish the past, but embrace the future. In this poem the word doll is used to describe childhood, because childhood like a doll is fun and playful, but at some point in your life, you're going to have to put that doll in your closet and move on. You're growing up and maturing, you can still think about your childhood and even bring out the inner child in your heart but not often because there is a time and a place to release your inner child.

The following event is from Chicago's history. Explain in detail an Research Paper

The following event is from Chicago's history. Explain in detail an important effect the Pullman Strike produced in either local - Research Paper Example Gradually with time the demand for the Pullman cars decreased and the owner decided to lower the wages of the railroad employees. It was here that the role of Eugene Debs came into play to save the wrath that the employees had to face (Beik 2005). The workers of the railroad company were members of a renowned labor union known as the American Railway Union. Eugene Debs urged the employees to launch a strike against the company so that their wages could be increased and their demands met. The workers then launched a boycott against the Pullman cars and gained a lot of support by joining hands. Debs launched a peaceful strike urging Pullman and the authorities to take the aggravating conditions of the workers into notice. The Union was supported by a number of railroad employees and the number almost reached the mark of 200,000. The Pullman Car Company had the support of the government because of the capitalistic nature of the government. It was because of this reason that the federal government started intervening in the state affairs and an offensive against the labor union was launched. Debs was not successful enough to make the strike successful as the railroads used the government to cut down the strike. Richard Olney interfered and ordered federal intervention for the strike. Federal troops were given the permission to break up the strike as they believed that the delivery of the U.S mail was being affected by the strike. The strike was finally broken down on July 10, 1894 when Debs along with three members of the organization was arrested. Debs was sentenced for six months in the prison and the strike was called off so that the workers could resume their jobs. Although the strike was unsuccessful it proved to be a great event for the labor unions and federal agencies altogether. It had an effect on the national politics of the United States as it favored socialism over the capitalism that was already prevalent in the state. Capitalism and socialism were bo th affected through the strike. Socialism could not be revived for twenty years after the strike was made unsuccessful by the federal agencies and capitalism was brought down in the next elections. President Grover Cleveland was held responsible for the situation that occurred after the Pullman strike. This essay would further provide an overview of the effect that the Pullman strike had over the national politics of the United States of America (Beik 2005; Salvatore et al 1999). Effect of Pullman Strike The Pullman strike was an unsuccessful venture launched by the labor unions in a time of industrialization. The labor union in those times was not strong enough to fight the capitalist governments and hence they lost to the authoritative powers. The overall effect of the strike was to create a socialist environment in the United States. It brought forward the things that took place against the workers to the attention of people. The Supreme Court also decided against the Pullman Car Company as they violated the charter of companies by providing their workers with the wrong environment and conditions. The strike made the federal government stronger as they were able to launch an offensive against the labor unions. Antitrust laws against the labor