Hinduism Paper Essay Example for Free

Hinduism Paper Essay Hinduism began in India and is one of the oldest religions known to man and as such does not have a prominent founder that anyone can remember. In India, the land lying on the southern side of the Hindu-Kush Mountains was considered the land of the Hindus or Hindustan and the religion followed by the people there was known as Hinduism. It is a religion that is based upon Aryan settlers. The Hindu people believe that their religion has no beginning and no end. It consists of thousands of different religious groups that have evolved in India since 1500 BCE. Because of the wide variety of Hindu traditions, freedom of belief and practice are notable features of Hinduism. In Hinduism, Buddha is the last avatar of the ten avatars of Lord Vishnu. The word Buddha was not used to describe the last avatar of Vishnu, the description, time and place of his arrival is well chronicled in scriptures prior to the advent of the Buddha. Buddhism and Jainism are outside the Hindu tradition but are regarded as related religions. Hinduism is different than Christianity and other monotheistic religions in that it doesn’t have a single holy text that the people follow or a single system of morality and or a central religious authority. This individual freedom to meditate and act according to one’s own conscious seems to give the followers more personal responsibility in their own actions. By this I mean they are not consciously breaking rules set down by doctrine; when they feel they have done wrong, it is because their conscious is telling them they have done wrong. Hinduism has grown to become the worlds third largest religion, after Christianity and Islam. It claims about 950 million followers about 14% of the worlds population. It is the dominant religion in India, Nepal, and among the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Hinduism provides a freedom of belief system based in meditation and peaceful resolution to one’s problems. This belief of and by itself is an extremely beneficial factor in aiding the people of India and other densely populated areas maintain an ordered and peaceful society. In many areas of India, resources such clean water and food are limited and sometimes scarce and in the struggle for such limited commodities, tensions may run high. The precepts of Hinduism help the people share and take what they need without hoarding. With the spread of Hinduism throughout the countries of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka there has been a positive impact on the people not only in the accepting the scarcity of basic needs but in the tolerance of others not of the Hindu faith. Hindus, unlike Catholics or most other religions do not believe in judging others but instead are focused on self-perfection; this focus, done correctly would make judgment of others counterproductive to their underlying goal. It is meditation that helps them find there center to calm and relax, resulting in a more holistic perspecti ve to their problems. These attributes of Hinduism help the culture to be more relaxed and tolerant providing a greater chance for success in their democracy. A significant negative aspect in the society which is not entirely caused by the religion, but is also not helped by the religion is the apparent denigration of women including high levels of domestic violence. The desire for liberation from earthly existence is a basic premise of Hinduism and involves the perfection of oneself while being true to one’s individualism. The freedom to express themselves this is one reason people practice Hinduism. The primary teaching of Hindu is self-realization in that the people don’t follow a certain book or person to tell them what to do. True liberation means liberation of the individual soul from the constant cycle of births and deaths. Hindus understand that perfection might involve multiple lives and reincarnations to get it right and become a perfected being. Liberation is known in Hinduism as mukti, kaivalya, moksha or nirvana. When your soul becomes aware of the true nature of understanding and transcends into the sky to gain freedom and become one with the divine. As one of the oldest of all religions Hinduism has stood the test of time; partly perhaps due to the lack of a founding father or the lack of a dogmatic scripture which often becomes dated and irrelevant over time. Hinduism puts the responsibility for correct behavior on the follower personally, we all know when we have done wrong, and Hindus must be shamed by themselves alone. The religion helps followers deal with incredible hardships when it comes to meeting the basic needs of their families and avoid wasting time on jealousy of others who have more. They are more tolerant of others while focusing on self-perfection to achieve their ultimate goal of Nirvana; while Hinduism may not be for everyone, all of us could benefit from accepting some of these precepts. Reference Page 1.http://www.religioustolerance.org/hinduism.htm 2.http://www.answers.com/topic/hinduism

The Insane Mind of Edgar Allan Poe Probes Essay example -- American Li

The Insane Mind of Edgar Allan Poe Probes As a short-story writer, Poe was a fascinating man of imagination. In theme, Poe places the human mind under investigation and probes insanity beneath the surface of normal existence. He was the first author in American literature to make the neurotic, the heroic figure, the protagonist, in his stories. Poe's most enduring tales are those of horror, the horror coming, from the working of an irrational or criminal mind, driven to evil or insanity by a perverse irrational force which, to Poe, is an elementary impulse in man. Typically, The Cask of Amontillado, The Black Cat, and The Tell Tale Heart are three criminal stories of this kind. In these tales, Poe takes readers in the murky territories of the strange world of insanity. And now, let's see what the features and familiarities of these half-mad, evil, and dark criminal minds. To start with, like many Poe's stories, the main characters in these three stories are all driven by their emotions, and mostly, hatred against their antagonists. For example, in The Cask of Amontillado...

How Did the Constitution Guard Against Tyranny

How Did the Constitution Guard Against Tyranny? What do you think tyranny means? When we think of tyranny, we consider its harsh absolute power in the hands of one individual, like King George Ill. In James Madison's argument for his support of the Constitution he wrote that â€Å"The accumulation of all power†¦ in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many is the very definition of tyranny. † In 1787, the framers came together in Philadelphia to write the Constitution to help guard against tyranny.The Constitution guarded gainst tyranny in several ways which were federalism, separation of power, checks and balances, and big states versus small states. The first guard against tyranny was federalism which means the federal principle of government. In the Federalist Paper #51 James Madison wrote that â€Å"In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and the portion allotted to each subdivid ed among distinct and separate departments. † (Doc. A). Madison's idea was known as Federalism, the division of ower between central and state governments.Federalism provides a double security to the people by the arise of the people's rights. Central and state governments have shared and separate powers. For instant, both governments set up courts and pass laws. Powers given to the Central Government were regulate trade, declaring war, setting up post offices, and making immigration laws. Powers given to the states were holding elections, setting up local governments, passing marriages and divorce laws, and establishing schools. Federalism protects against yranny because both governments were equal and gave people a say in the government.A second guard against tyranny was separation of power which means the government divided into three branches. They separated the government into the executive branch, legislative branch, and Judicial branch. In the Federalist Paper #47 James Madison said â€Å"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may be Just pronounced the very definition of yranny†¦ † (Doc B). The idea Madison advocated with this quote was that through the separation of powers there tyranny shouldn't form.The Job of each branch is to protect the rights of the people. The separation of powers protects against tyranny because one branch cannot do something without the consultancy of another branch. This provided equal powers between the three branches. The third guard against tyranny was checks and balances which means a balance in power. As indicated in the chart, document C, the legislative branch or congress has check over he executive and Judicial branch it can override the vote of the executive branch and approve of presidential nominations. With the Judicial branch it could impeach judges and remove them from office.They could also do the same with the President and remove him or her from office. The executive branch could appoint Judges to the Supreme Court and can veto Congressional legislation. The Judicial branch can declare laws unconstitutional and declare presidential acts as unconstitutional. James Madison said that â€Å"†¦ (The three branches) should not be so far separated as to ave no constitutional control over each other,† meaning that without check and balances it would be one step closer to a tyranny, because one of the branches could gain all the control of the power (Doc C).In that the fght over how the states should be represented in congress began. The fourth and final step the delegates implied was the arguments between the small and big states and how they should be represented in congress. In the Constitutional Convention there was a big fuss over how the states should be represented, so that the big states votes or uggestions wouldn't overrid e the votes or suggestions of the smaller states. They came to the agreement known as the Great Compromise.In the compromise the agreed that under the House of Representatives the states would be represented by population (Doc. D). This made the larger states happier because they would have more representation over the smaller states. They also agreed to that the Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators per state, making the smaller states happier because of the equal representation. With the compromise the states ould become united and this would help guard against tyranny.In the Constitutional Convention the delegates and Madison used arguments of federalism through the division of powers, checks and balances and the arguments between the larger and smaller states to guard against tyranny. Although checks and balances and the arguments between are important reason to prevent tyranny, the most important reason for the prevent of tyranny is the separation of pow ers, through the separation of powers the delegates insecurity of our rights. Therefore preventing one group gaining control of all powers. How Did The Constitution Guard Against Tyranny? Tyranny is a malicious enemy, it takes over and, will make you go against your will. The Articles Of Confederation was the first step the American Colonists took to get rid tyranny, but that dramatically failed. The Articles Of Confederation was missing many key parts such as a central government, there was no president, and the wasn’t even a court system. Also it didn’t justify a currency for the whole country.When you went to other states, they all had different currencies, so it was almost impossible to buy things, because people didn’t know how much one currency was worth compared to the other. Another problem the Articles Of Confederation didn’t cover was that there was no way for the central government to force states to pay their taxes. This was a problem because if states didn’t pay their taxes, the states would be a tyrant over the federal government. American Colonists decided that they needed a new constitution if they didn’t want the country to fall apart.The framers of the constitution protected us from the terrible evil of tyranny using four methods, which were, Federalism, dividing the government into three branches, a system of checks and balances, and preventing large states from creating a tyranny over the small states. Document A shows that the first step the framer took to protect us from tyranny was using a form of government called Federalism. Madison’s idea of division of power between central and state governments is known as federalism. (Doc A) From the chart in Document A, you can clearly see that this prevents any tyranny from happening.Powers that are needed to run a country are given to the federal government such as Declaring war, coining money, and conducting foreign relations. (Doc A) Also powers that are needed for a state are given, such as holding elections, and regulating in-state business. (Doc A) Powers that are needed by both states, and the federal law are shared. This prev ents any tyranny from happening because the states can’t take control of federal powers, and the federal government can’t take control of state powers. They can only take the power shared and the powers they own.The second step the framers took to protect us from tyranny was divide the central government into three branches. The section taken from the constitution it’s self shows the three branches of government. James Madison said, â€Å"the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, wether of one, a few, or many, and wether hereditary, self-appointed, or elected, may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny. (Doc B) The constitution clearly doesn’t put the powers of legislative, executive, and judiciary in one, or many hands.All the branches have split powers. The Legislative branch can only have the powers of congress. (Doc B) The Executive branch has powers vested within the president. (Doc B) Las tly, the Judicial branch has its powers vested in the highest court of the nation, the Supreme Court. As you can see the constitution prevents any branch to gain any more power from other branches. You may ask, â€Å"wasn’t Germany a democracy before Hitler took over? † Yes it was, but the next paragraph explains how the constitution prevented any other branch from taking over powers of another branch.The framers of the constitution created an ingenious way to prevent tyranny of one branch over other branches, with a system of checks and balances. James Madison said, â€Å"the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that they may be a check on the other†. (Doc C) The diagram shows the branches have checks on each other. If the president tries to take the power of another branch, than the legislative branch can impeach the president. (Doc C) This is one of the checks of the legislative branch on the Executive branch.Each bran ch has a check of every other branch, so if one branch is doing something wrong, another branch can check the wronged branch, and fix the problem. This probably answers your question on how another branch can’t take control. One of the last things the framer of the constitution did to make sure no tyrant would arise, was to make sure the smaller states got a fair vote in congress. In the constitutional convention, two plans were proposed called the Virginia plan, and the New Jersey plan. The Virginia plan was favored large states, and was based of population.The New jersey plan favored small states, and gave each state an equal amount of votes. Eventually they came up of something called the great compromise, and they proposed that congress would be composed of the senate, and The House Of Representatives. The House Of Representatives is based of population, which provides fairness to large states. (Doc D) On the other hand, the Senate has two representatives from each state, which provides fairness to smaller states. (Doc D) Undoubtedly, this provides fairness among both large, and small states, ultimately taking a closer step to rid of tyranny.To sum it up, the framers of the constitution protected us from the terrible evil of tyranny using the four methods, Federalism, dividing the government into three branches, a system of checks and balances, and preventing large states from creating a tyranny over the small states in congress. James Madison said, â€Å"the accumulation of powers in the same hands, wether of one, a few, or many, is the very definition of tyranny† , and the constitution does a good job of preventing that. The framers succeeded in creating a well built constitution because all four methods have created security that no tyrant, or tyranny would arise.

Constitutional Democracy And Bureaucratic Power Essay

Throughout the rigmarole of political history of the United States of America, the growth of the â€Å"fourth branch of government†, the Bureaucracy, has been a prominent, controversial topic. Peter Woll, in his article â€Å"Constitutional Democracy and Bureaucratic Power†, and James Q. Wilson, in his article â€Å"The Rise of the Bureaucratic State†, discuss this developing administrative branch. The Constitution has no written mention of an â€Å"administrative branch†, and today’s Bureaucracy is often tedious, corrupt, and even undemocratic. But such a branch’s development and expansion is necessary in order to keep par with an evolving and changing society. There is a plethora of criticisms about the effectiveness of the Bureaucracy. Even during the 19th century, as Wilson writes, the Post Office â€Å"was an organization marred by inefficiency and corruption†. With an appointment standard such as the â€Å"spoils system†, where individuals or groups are granted high level positions based on political favors alone, corruption is almost a certainty. The political aspect of the Bureaucracy was prevalent in the military for over 100 years, as Wilson states â€Å"the size and deployment of the military establishment in this country was governed entirely by decisions made by political leaders on political grounds†. Political favors and factors plague our government, including the Bureaucracy. A by-product of these political favors and corruptions are stagnancy and mediocrity. An example of this, asShow MoreRelatedThe Non Delegation Doctrine ( Administrative Law )1358 Words   |  6 Pages To start off, one must explain what a full Democracy entails. The Greek word meaning demo means citizen while kratos means ruled, therefore, the full meaning of democracy is ruled by the citizen(s). 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