Does the Beauty and Majesty of the Natural World Need to Be Tied to a Essay

Does the Beauty and Majesty of the Natural World Need to Be Tied to a Higher or More Spiritual Force to Be Truly Understood - Essay Example Even in the cases when nature itself is considered divine, more conscious attitude to one’s own religious beliefs is psychologically beneficial. Some objections to this view are examined and followed by counterarguments related to current environmental ethics and politics. People need to have values in life. The need for spirituality is proven by psychological studies (Schroeder, 1992) and numerous moments of our daily experience. We want to transcend the limits of our own personalities by experiencing Other, be it in God, nature, or other entities (Schroeder, 1992, p. 25). Protection of environment is another acute need of humanity. There are numerous ways of satisfying these two necessities. The difference between them lies in the question where is the Other. Or, to put it playfully, who is the Significant Other? Once a person has decided, it becomes clear what God and nature mean to him or her. For pantheists and deep ecologists, nature is valuable by definition (Naess, 197 3). For most of the believers of world religions, nature is beautiful and majestic as long as its phenomena are sanctioned by some deity. Even pagans worship the deities of streams, trees, and rocks, not nature itself. But regardless from the forces considered divine in any one of these cases, the value of nature should not be mediated and limited by any other values.... It often establishes some hierarchy: many animals are believed to be ‘unclean’ or ‘sacred’ in various religions, and the believers treat those animals accordingly. Usually, this inequality does not result in animal massacres or maltreatment, but it has subtler implications for the entire ecosystems. In most of such hierarchies of world religions, human beings are usually situated above the other living creatures, so that the decisions about the entire ecosystems are made, so to speak, in their ‘favour’. This anthropocentrism of traditional culture is blamed for environmental crisis by deep ecologists and radical environmentalists, as it fails to represent the parts of ecosystem as interrelated (Leopold, 1949). There is also selectivity of non-human species: for instance, people are more likely to preserve the spotted owls than the insects that belong to the same ecosystem. It may be argued that human eye is selective by nature and that our exper ience of nature is still mediated by something, be it religion, science, or anything else. This view echoes the one expressed by Ralph Emerson, a classic representative of transcendentalism: that the poet’s eye â€Å"can integrate all the parts† (Emerson, 1836), thereby giving them sense. For Emerson, art and spirit were superior to nature: â€Å"Have mountains, and waves, and skies, no significance but what we consciously give them, when we employ them as emblems of our thoughts? (...) the whole of nature is a metaphor of the human mind† (Emerson, 1836). From the fact that our interaction with nature is mediated, it does not follow that our view is right. Schroeder (1992) explains that spiritual experience, including the spiritual experience of nature, should be

First Person Paper about Esther Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

First Person Paper about Esther - Essay Example However, the queen rejected the Kings Command and the king was furious. The king was advised accordingly that the queen’s behavior would make all women in the kingdom to despise their husbands. A royal decree was made and recorded that her royal position be given to another better woman as a lesson to all women and make men masters in their houses. The king was advised that a search be made for young beautiful virgins in the entire kingdom and be given beauty treatment so that the virgin who would please the king most would be made queen instead Vashti. I was living in the kingdom with my uncle Mordecai as exiles from Jerusalem. My uncle had brought me up as his own daughter since I had no father or mother and I was a young woman lovely and beautiful. When the king’s command was heard, I was also taken with many young women to the palace, under the care of Hegai his eunuch who kept his concubines. I pleased Hegai and gained his favor and this made him give me the best b eauty preparations. Meanwhile I kept my identity secret because my Uncle advised me so. My Uncle showed concern for me and he visited the women’s quarter daily to find out about my progress. ... He placed a crown on my head and made me the queen instead of Vashti. The king made a great feast for me for all his officials and servants, and he proclaimed a holiday in all the provinces and gave gifts generously. In the palace, I never disclosed my identity since I obeyed the advice of my uncle. My Uncle later discovered that people were plotting to eliminate the king and he informed me and I told the king about it. The matter was investigated and was found as true. The men were hanged and this was written in the chronicles before the king. After these things, the king promoted Hamah one of his officers and set him above all the princes and all servants who were commanded by the king to bow to Haman. However, Mordecai would not bow to Haman because he was a Jew and this made Harman very angry. He decided to destroy all the Jews in the whole kingdom and he set a date and month for carrying the plan. He sought permission from the king saying that the practices of the Jews were not in the best interest of the king and he promised to enrich the king’s treasury with silver and gold. The king allowed Haman to do with the Jews as he pleased and a decree was made in all the provinces in all languages and it was sealed with the king’s signet ring. The letters were sent to all provinces to destroy, to annihilate all Jews young and old including women and children on the twelfth month. Mordecai leant of this and he tore his clothes, sat in ashes, and cried loud in the city bitterly and he came to the king’s gate but he could not be allowed because of his attire. All Jews cried in all provinces with fasting, wailing and crying. My made and servants told me and I was distressed and I sent him