Dreams In Aboriginal Beliefs

Dreams In Aboriginal Beliefs Like other religions, Aboriginal belief includes when things were created. They believe that their Ancestral Beings created land forms and animals plants. The Aboriginal word for this Creation Period varies according to each linguistic region throughout Australia. Aboriginal people often interpret dreams as being the memory of things that happened in this Creation Period. Dreams are important to Aboriginal people as it is a time when they are transformed back to their ancestral time. This connection of dreams to to the Creation Period has led to the commonly used term The Dreamtime to describe the time of creation in Aboriginal religion. The Dreamtime does not mean that a person is dreaming but it is a reference to the Creation Period. Definition of Dreaming The Dreamtime, or the Dreaming as it is sometimes referred to as, has no beginning or end but links the past with the present to determine the future. Dreaming stories explain the truth from the past together with a Code of Law for the present. The Dreaming or Tjukurrpa also means to see and understand the law as translated from the Arrernte language. Dreaming stories pass on important knowledge, cultural values and belief systems to later generations. Aborigines have maintained a link with the Dreaming from ancient times by expressing dreaming stories through song, dance, painting and story telling. Every part of Aboriginal culture is full of legends and beings associated with the Dreamtime. Each tribe has many stories, often containing a moral or a lesson to be learned, about duties, animals, plants and other beings. These stories are told to children, talked about campfires, and are sung and acted out during ceremonies. The Dreaming means our identity as people. The cultural teaching and everything thats part of our lives here you know? .. its the understanding of what we have around us. (Merv Penrith Elder, Wallaga Lake, 1996) Today we know where the Ancestral Beings have been and where they came to rest. The Dreaming explains how people came to Australia and the links between the groups throughout Australia. Connection between Dreaming, Land and Identity In essence, the Dreaming comes from the land. In Aboriginal society people do not own land but rather the land is part of them and it is their duty to respect and look after the land. The Dreaming did not cease when the Europeans arrived in Australia but just entered a different phase. Dreaming stories connect theories of occupation to the Aborigines close relationship with the land. This is often described by Aboriginal people when they talk about the land as my Mother. Aboriginal people believe that the same spirits who created the land, sea, waterways and life are involved with the conception and birth of a child. There is a direct link between Ancestral Beings and life. Land is fundamental to the well-being of Aboriginal people. For Aborigines the land is not just rocks or soil or minerals but it is the whole environment that sustains the people and is sustained by the people and culture. For Aboriginal people the land is the centre of all spirituality. This relationship between the land and the people continues to be central to the issues that are important to Aboriginal people today. Australian Aborigines were originally hunters and gathers with each clan or tribe having its own territory from which they gathered all they needed to live. These territories or traditional lands were contained by geographic boundaries such as rivers, lakes and mountains. Aboriginal people understood and cared for the different environments and adapted to them. Example of a Dreaming Creation story and significance to Aboriginal people Once the Ancestor Beings had created the world they changed the stars, rocks, watering holes and other objects into sacred places. These sacred places have special properties. The Ancestral Beings did not disappear at the end of the Dreaming but, according to Aboriginal belief, they remained in these sacred places. This concept of the presence of the Ancestral Beings with the land reinforces the idea that the Dreaming is never ending and links the past and the present, the people and the land. Our story is in the land . it is written in those sacred places . My children will look after those places. Thats the law. (Bill Neidjie, Kakadu Elder) The Creation or Dreaming stories, which relate the travels of the spiritual ancestors, are integral to Aboriginal spirituality. Mens and womens stories are often separated in Aboriginal culture. Knowledge of the law and Dreaming stories is passed on at different periods of life for Aboriginal people. The serpent as a Creation Being is perhaps the oldest continuing religious belief in the world. It dates back several thousand years. The Rainbow Serpent is part of Dreamtime stories of many Aboriginal nations and is always linked with watercourses such as billabongs, rivers, creeks and lagoons. The Rainbow Serpent is the protector of the land, its people and the source of all life. However, the Rainbow Serpent can also be a force that destroys if it is not respected. The most common version of the Rainbow Serpent story relates that during the Dreaming the world was flat, bare and cold. The Rainbow Serpent slept under the ground with all the animals tribes in her belly waiting to be born. When the time came she pushed up and called all the animals to come from their sleep. She pushed the land out, making rivers and lakes. She made the sun, the fire and all the colours. The Gagudju people believe the Rainbow Serpent was called Almudji and was a major creature being. It made passages through rocks and created waterholes. Today they believe, Almudji is still a creator as it brings the wet season each year. This causes all forms of life to multiply and it appears in the sky as a rainbow. However, they also believe that Almudji is also to be feared as he can punish anyone who breaks the law by drowning them in floods. The Gagudju people still believe that Almudji lives in a pool under a waterfall. The Jowoyn people of the Katherine Gorge area of the Northern Territory relate how the Rainbow Serpent slept under the ground until she awoke in the Dreaming. She pushed her way to the surface and travelled the land, sleeping when she was tired. She left behind her winding tracks and the imprint of her sleeping body on the ground. When she had finished travelling the earth she returned and called all the frogs to come out but they were slow because their bellies were full of water. The Rainbow Serpent tickled their bellies and when they laughed, water flowed out their mouths and filled the tracks and hollows left by the Rainbow Serpent, so creating rivers and lakes. This woke all the animals and plants who then followed the Rainbow Serpent across the land. Traditional Aboriginal rituals and significance of these to Aboriginal people Ceremonial ceremonies are seen as the core of cultural life for Aboriginal people. Small ceremonies, or rituals, are still practised in some remote areas of Australia. These rituals take the form of chanting, singing, dancing or ritual action to ask the Ancestral Beings to ensure a good supply of food or rain. The most important ceremonies are connected to initiation of boys and girls into adulthood. These ceremonies can last for weeks with nightly singing and dancing, story telling and use of body decorations and ceremonial objects. During the ceremonies, songs and dances about Ancestral Beings are told. Some of these are for women and children to see and hear while others are restricted just to initiates to learn. Another important ritual is on the death of a person. Aboriginal people cover their bodies with white paint, cut themselves to show sorrow for the loss of their loved one and take part in a number of rituals, songs and dances to help the persons spirit leave and return to its birth place where it can be reborn. Burial rites differ throughout Australia. People are buried in parts of southern and central Australia but have a different burial in northern Australia. In northern Australia a burial has two stages with each accompanied by ritual and ceremony. The primary burial takes place when the body is placed on a raised wooden platform, covered with leaves and branches and left for several months so the flesh rots from the bones. The secondary burial occurs when the bones are collected, painted with red ochre and then scattered in different ways. Sometimes a relative will carry some of the bones with them for a year or more. Sometimes they are wrapped in paperbark and placed in a cave. In parts of Arnhem Land the bones are placed in a large hollow log and left in the bush. Conclusion All parts of Aboriginal culture contain many legends and beings associated with the Creation Period or Dreamtime. Each tribe has its own stories, often with a lesson to be learned from the story, about the Creation Period spirits, animals, plants and other beings. These stories are told to children and at different ceremonies throughout the life of an Aborigine to ensure that the Dreamtime is passed on to each generation.

Physical Education and Academic Achievement in 10th grade Essay

Physical education in high schools in the United States of America is the one branch of academic filed which is gaining fast attention on the side of the Government policy, the schools administration. More and more emphasis-shift is being observed toward orientation of the students and their parents with regard to the importance of physical education and its connection with real life, health, and, above all, with higher academic achievement. In schools, although all grades bear importance with relation to physical education and higher academic achievement and attendance rate, it is, however, the ninth and tenth-grades where there is a turning point for the students. Therefore, it is the time for the schools administration to pay more attention toward the planning and application of the physical education in these grades. â€Å"Physical activity is critical to the development and maintenance of good health. The goal of physical education is to develop physically educated individuals who have the knowledge, skills, and confidence to enjoy a lifetime of healthful physical activity† (aahperd. org) It is apt to say that the way their physical education is planned and implemented required different parameters. This is so because the demands of students are different. They need to be exposed to such physical activities which not only excite them but also create a sense of responsibility in them; the main focus of such activities should then be to prepare them for real-life situation and challenges. Read more:  Physical Education Essays The present paper examines the link between physical education in 10th-grade and higher academic achievement in secondary schools of the United States of America. It also focuses on the link between physical education and its advantages when it comes to higher attendance rate and so on. The paper also investigates the findings of some major studies conducted in the area of academic achievement and its hypothesized relationship with such other diverse areas as after-school pursuits, homework phenomena, types of activities in and out of school, cross gender and ethnicity issues. This is to give the reader a proper understanding of the major issues in the present debate of achievement in high school and particularly of the tenth-graders. Review of Literature Physical education is a â€Å"systematic instruction in sports, exercises, and hygiene given as part of a school or college program† (infoplease. com). Thus, there are certain goals to be met by implementing the physical education scenario. There have been considerable attempts in encircling the physical education curriculum in the United States of America. However, it is only recently that more and more emphasis is being laid on the importance of physical education and its link between higher academic achievement and proportionate significance of attendance rate. Since the year 1987, NASPE (the National Association for Sport and Physical Education) has been in constant pursuit in the updated information about the awareness in public of physical education in US education system. There are certain reservations that come to us in this regard. Three of them are mainly discussed in the present literature about physical education in the US educational system. These are: (1) There is no federal law, as yet, which says that physical education is to be provided to the students in the US education system; also there are not listed any incentives to offer physical education programs. 2) Although states may come up with some ground for the physical education policies, the state schools are free to work on their own in promoting, retaining, reducing the physical education portfolio in their own way. ) Another issue is that many states let go the responsibility for all content taught in schools to local school districts. (pe4life. com) The evidence is also found on other literature and net resources that plainly make it public that in the United States of America, physical education is not something prioritized. Even physical education in high school and elsewhere are â€Å"in sorry shape† and that the physical education â€Å"has been squeezed out of school by new curriculum requirements and other factors† (ducationworld. om). Apart from this, there is now word by such professionals as physicians who see that physical education is very necessary for a better future generation. More solid evidence comes form the Report to the President: Promoting Better Health for Young People through Physical Activity and Sports. In this report, Donna Shalala, Health and Human Services Secretary, and Richard Riley, Education Secretary, boldly wrote: â€Å"Our nation’s young people are, in large measure, inactive, unfit, and increasingly overweight. This report should stimulate action to make sure that daily physical activity for young people becomes the norm in our nation† (pe4life. com). Although we can see that today more and more attention is being paid to the physical education policy in US education system, there are grave critical areas that need to be addressed for a better physical education policy. For example there are trends of abating physical education time in schools because of pressure from academic side. This is very much a problem present in today’s education system. The simple fact is that more and more research findings are coming along with results that show that the old maxim â€Å"sound mind in a sound body† is aptly right. Thus it is now acknowledged that the students who are physically fit perform better on the academic side as well. In this connection we see that: â€Å"a 2002 California Department of Education study found a direct correlation between higher levels of physical fitness and higher academic test scores. According to Delaine Eastin, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, â€Å"We now have the proof we’ve been looking for: students achieve best when they are physically fit† (pe4life. com (b)). As such, a new educational approach is now being said to be coming up on the educational front of the US schools that is called ‘total mind, total body educational approach’. In addition to the above, U. S. Surgeon General Report states that â€Å"Nearly two out of three adult Americans, or 130 million of us, are overweight or obese†; as such The health problems related to our growing girths are well known – more heart diseases, diabetes and other weigh-related ailments that send 300,000 Americans to an early grave every year. In fact, if childhood obesity continues to grow at current levels, some health officials contend, this generation of youngsters may actually have a shorter lifespan than their parents – a first in history† (smc. edu). When the report gives this alerting call to the nation, it is of much relief that in the same report the U. S. surgeons also carve out some strategies to overcome the problem. Among these strategies, the most prominent place is give to the physical education for the youths in the high schools. However, this is also not wrong to state that with the advent of the recognition of physical education in high schools, specially in ninth- and tenth-grades, another debate has taken birth: Whether or not physical education grade be included in high school students’ GPA. This school of thought considers that inclusion of physical education grades in student’s GPA will boost up students’ morale and will encourage them to do better in the physical education class because â€Å"Physical education is truly a microcosm of life, and every lesson taught has the potential to translate into the â€Å"real world† and prepare students to become healthy, productive members of society† (elibrary. bigchalk. com). Whatever the arguments are, we can be certain that in today’s literature about physical activity and high schools, physical education is something that needs more and more space in schools policies so that a better tomorrow can be handed down to our future generation that is already getting more pressure from academic side. If we look at the schools curriculum regarding physical education of ninth- and tenth-grades, we find that there are no serious attempts at defining the education. For example, a school in US states only three basic goals for physical education for the ninth- and tenth-grades (benton. k12. wi. us). Another school very shortly gives only the names of the physical activities to be observed by the students (rockingham. k12. va. us). This kind of treatment is in abundance and needs serious attention on the part of the government and school administrations to bring solid measures for the improvement in this area. Physical Education and Academic Achievement in 10th-grade When it comes to physical education in high schools, we find that it is very important for people who are in grades ninth and tenth because â€Å"This is an age when students begin to impose self-judgement in terms of accepting their physical appearance and their willingness to involve themselves in positive physical activities† (teacherweb. com). According to the Physical Activity and Health (a report of the surgeon genera) there is deep linkage between physical education and academic achievement. Physical education makes it possible for a better and healthy start in life enabling students to go for challenges that are not touched upon by those who are not active through physical activity. Moreover, the report suggests that schools should create such programs that can offer students opportunities by which they can get into physical activity. At this stage, this becomes more important because that report informs that as people grow, they show more and more declination in goring for physical activity: â€Å"Physical activity declines dramatically with age during adolescence† (cdc. gov). Thus, there is stark need that students of ninth and tenth-grade must be made aware of the importance of physical education and their academic achievement. The physical education should also be given priority by the school administration so that a sound educational environment can be achieved for healthier and academically better grounds for the students of high schools. This has been found through the research that physical activities may enhance cognitive functioning of the brain. This, as a result, may explain the relationship found between the students’ involvement in physical activities and their academic success (nps. 12. va. us). There are three major findings in the literature that relate physical activity involvement and the cognitive functioning. These are: 1) There is a significantly â€Å"positive relationship between physical activity and cognitive functioning in children†; 2) â€Å"Results support possibility that participation in physical activity causes improvements in cognitive function†; 3) â€Å"Acute bouts of physical activity exert short-term positive benefits on the behavioural and cognitive functioning of youths†; ) It has also been found that â€Å"Being on a school sports team and having a positive achievement orientation were positively associated with physical activity levels† (holidaycalendar. dsr. wa). Therefore, from this very analysis it becomes pretty clear that in 10th grade (or roughly in high school), physical education plays a very important role as far as the phenomena of long, healthy life is concerned; as far as real-life active participation by the youth is concerned; and, above all, their academic achievement is concerned. However, looking at the picture more closely, we find that the present scenario in the United States of America, when it comes to physical education, academic success, link between physical education and academic success and real-life situation; there are certain challenges present to the Government. For example, â€Å"Nearly half of young people aged 12-21 are not vigorously active on a regular basis and physical activity declines dramatically with age during adolescence† (arlington. k12. va. us). And this has surely given the government a call of high alert because it is simply suggested that less physical activity on the side of the youth will give rise to ailments that will in return proportionately affect academic achievement of the students. Thus, today we can see that the United States of America is building more solid policies for coping up with the situation. In this very connection, a recent example is the President’s Challenge program, which purely focuses on bringing the people of the U.  S. to the physical activity grounds so that a healthier society for the future can be the possibility. This is â€Å"a program that encourages all Americans to make being active part of their everyday lives. No matter what your activity and fitness level, the President’s Challenge can help motivate you to improve† (presidentschallenge. org). The Presidential Challenge program is all about remaining with an active lifestyle and the program specifically focuses on how to assess the citizens in this regard. This program also introduces some rewards for the participants of the program like PALA (Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (presidentschallenge. org). This simply gives us the idea that the government of the U. S. has come up with grave policies which focus on the physical fitness of the citizens for a better tomorrow and a healthy society. Physical Education and Academic Achievement Debate  There are different schools of thoughts within the research that circle around the relationship between academic achievement in students and such other phenomena as physical education, homework, social loafing, and so forth. A considerable area of research exists that especially takes into examination the students of eighth to tenth grade. For example the article After-school pursuits, ethnicity, and achievement for 8th- and 10th-grade students which is one of the remarkable piece showing the contribution of people like James B.  Schreiber , Elisha A. Chambers, Walberg, Paschal, & Weinstein, Cooper, and so on. Thus the proponents of homework suggest that â€Å"Homework has been shown to have a positive relationship with† academic achievement. And that there is also a proportionate difference between the amount of time spent on homework (After-School Pursuits). However, the other side of the pole comes up with the argument that there is not total contribution that can be related to homework alone when looking into the matter of higher academic achievement. This school of though aptly analyzes the effects of physical education on academic achievement of the students. For example, a research review by Holland and Andre in the year 1987 brought into their examination the relationship, if any, between physical education or athletic participation and academic achievement in the students. Their findings brought some more elements of debate in the intellectual circle because they found that there were sex-related differences among students as far as physical education and academic achievement is concerned. They reported that the research demonstrated that male high school athletes received somewhat higher grade point averages (GPAs) than did nonathletes. However, when one considers standardized achievement or aptitude tests, boys whose only after-school activity was sports scored lower than national averages on the Standardized achievement Test. No significant differences in GPAs or standardized tests were observed between female athletes and nonathletes† (After-School Pursuits).

Evaluation of a Psychodynamic Theory of Personality...

Evaluation of a Psychodynamic Theory of Personality Development The basis of Freuds psychoanalytic theory was that the mind contained three parts: The Id, Ego, and Superego. He argued that the Id controlled the primal instincts such as aggression and sexual desire (libido), and was found in the unconscious mind. Its purpose is to gain immediate gratification, according to the pleasure principle. The Id, he said, was in competition with the ego. This is because the ego, working on the reality principle, is the more rational, and conscious mind. The superego oversees the Id and ego, and creates the sense of what is right and wrong. Freud believed that the Id was innate, that the Ego developed by†¦show more content†¦However, since the personality divisions are not physical, there is no way to prove that they do or do not exist. As a result of the conflicts between the Id, ego and Super Ego, Freud argued that the mind prepared ego defence mechanisms to reduce anxiety. These were Repression, Displacement, Projection, Denial and Intellectualisation. Myers and Brewin provided support for this theory in their study. They identified a set of people as repressors, and found that it took them longer to recall a childhood event than the control group. The study indicates that repression can be used as a defence. However, there is no way of checking the data the participants gave, and no way of confirming that repression had occurred. Freud also proposed that there were five distinct stages of psychosexual development, from birth until puberty. An innate driving force for satisfaction, called Libido, was responsible for the series of fixations on body parts. During the oral stage, the infant enjoys eating and sucking objects, during the anal stage, it develops an interest in the anal region, and during the phallic stage it gains satisfaction from the genital region. Afterwards, there is a latency stage and a genital stage. 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Essay Camparing Christian Mysticism and Buddhism - 3257 Words

What can be said about the unspeakable? How does one begin to describe the indescribable? The very act of discussing ineffability questions whether anything can be truly ineffable in the first place. Religion almost always critically depends on the ineffability of some experience or entity. This is a widespread tendency, but some would argue that it is a rule for all religions. That there must be the recognition of something â€Å"beyond,† â€Å"transcendent† or â€Å"pure.† Prior to judging Christian or Buddhist beliefs, it is necessary to understand ineffability itself. Generally speaking, it is unspeakable. Conceptually, it is not attainable. By our standards, it is beyond our human realm. To speak is to make distinctions. As†¦show more content†¦In order to grasp the ultimate truth, it is necessary to escape the linguistic and conceptual limitations that are part of humanity. To see beyond our filters and ourselves is the only way to experience something purely. 2. Christian Mysticism In the Christian religions, there is a God. Worshiped and loved, this divinity is three persons in one: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Ghost. Among the multitude of denominations, and through the ages there have been many types of Christian mystics. The foundation of all religions is arguably set by mysticism, which is as Evelyn Underhill put it, â€Å"the direct intuition or experience of God† (Fanning, 2). Those who are identified as mystics in the Christian traditions claim to have had a very intimate, direct connection to God. This divine communion with God is claimed by mystics to be beyond words. It is not something that can be described to anyone who has not experienced it. That which we have heard it called, includes: â€Å"divine possession†, â€Å"mystical marriage with the deity†, and â€Å"mystical ecstasy† (Fanning, 7-13). They feel to have become one with God, and that they are God. They say that their way is the only way to properly worship God. Simply knowing of him is not enough; one must truly come to know him through mystical experiences. In order to achieve such a feeling, devotes must go through some personal growth first. To