bill gates :: essays research papers fc

William H. Gates terce Biographical EssayUploaded by surfchick (2074) on Jan 5, 2005      William H. Gates III (Bill Gates) BiographyOn October 28, 1955 William H. Gates III (nicknamed "trey") was born in Seattle. His father was a lawyer (William H. Gates II) and his mother was a schoolteacher. He excessively had two older sisters who were in high school when Bill was born. Bill attended a public elementary school before he move to a private school in North Seattle named lakeside. Lakesides strong academics enabled Bill to actively get involved with computers (which were the love of his life next to baseball) and use his topnotch intellect. This was the beginning of a long and successful career in computers. Bill combined his intellect and visions of technology along with his active participation in whitethorn charities to make our world a better place.He was born with a long family history of business, politics and community services. His grand fath er was the vice prexy of a national bank, and his father was a prominent lawyer. Early in life it was obvious that Bill Gates inherited the ambition, intelligence and competitive spirit up that helped the rest of his family rise to the top in their chosen professions. In elementary school he quickly surpassed all of his peers abilities in nearly all subjects, curiously in math and science. His parents recognized his intelligence and decided to enroll him in Lakeside, a private school known for its intense academic environment.It was at Lakeside that he was first introduced to computers. In the spring of 1968 the Lakeside Prep School concluded that it should acquaint the student body with the world of computers. They were still too banging and costly for the school to purchase its own, so instead they had a fund raiser and bought computer time on a DEC PDP-10 owned by General Electric. A few thousand dollars were raised which the school figured would buy more than enough time to last into the next school year. entirely they had drastically underestimated the amount of students that would be addicted to this machine.With in a week all of the schools computer time had been used up. Bill and his friends went to places that made computers and finally represent a company that would let them use their computers for free, but they had to record all the times that the computers crashed and exactly what happened so they could fix it.

VIOLENCE IN THE MEDIA: DO WE REALLY CARE? :: essays research papers

The TV is designed to show images more than to go deeply into the information, where the written press takes the wand because it is a way for nature reflexively the reading. The radio, in turn, has the gift of entertaining and to make reflect because of cosmos a way that is transmitted, in general, live and that does not subscribe to the whole attention of the listener.The opposite thing happens in the television which audience is attracted by the magnets of the explosions, the fire, the pursuit, the shots, this means scenes full of violence... it is enough to see to raise the "rating" of the newscasters when in that respect are brutal notes compared with the information of the long speeches in political discussions considered boring because the image stays static in a certain speaker and lacks of dynamism.The TV is a way for the action, not the reflection. It is done to optimize the entertainment, it means, to be relaxing and to manipulate, not to think, not even to gro w...This leads us to the following questions Is the people who asks for violence?, or with what purpose the media offers it? The climate of hostility has been intensified?, or it is a faithful reflex of a social decomposition due to the unemployment, the shortage of money and the melodic theme political changes through which the nations cross?Nobody knows the answers of these questions, but the television stays as the only window opened a world supposedly better.The addiction to the TV and the lack of communication in home prohibit the people the balanced development of their capability to have relationships and the acquisition of qualities as the ease, the good deal, the affability, the love the nobleness in the males and the thin sensibility in the women.The people who remain a lot of time in front of an electronic equipment, the TV or a computer, lose the necessary talents to be with other human beings and those people who shelter and construct themselves a perspective of the world across the television world, have lots more hostile vision of the reality. For this reason, they behave with more hostility and less solidarity.The viewer has the trend to increase consuming and every time worse. He prefers being isolated each one looks at the TV in his/her own place father, mother, son and daughter.

Compare and Contrast Tragedy and Comedy :: comparison compare contrast essays

Compare and Contrast Tragedy and Comedy A tragedy is defined as beginning with a problem that affects everyone, i.e. the whole town or all the characters involved, the tragic hero must solve this problem and this results in his banishment or death run-on sentence. A comedy is defined as as well as beginning with a problem, but one of less signifi bungholet importance. The characters try to solve the problem and the story ends with all the characters uniting in either a marriage of a party. Although these two genres are seen as being complete opposites of each other, through further analysis one can gather that though they are different certain similarities can also be seen. One aspect of these genres that can be compared and contrasted is the narrative or plot. A comparison can be analyzed in that both begin with a problem. In Oedipus Rex, the play begins with a plague devastating the city of Thebes. In A midsummer Nights Dream there is also a plague that is upon the l and. However, a difference between these two beginnings is that in Oedipus Rex the citizen are effected by it to the point that they smack towards Oedipus for a closure to their suffering while in A Midsummer Nights Dream, the effects of the plague are never shown to the audience and it seems a minor detail. another(prenominal) difference is the cause of the plague in the two plays. In the tragedy, Oedipus Rex, the hero ends up being the cause because he murdered the king while in A Midsummer Nights Dream the cause is a fight between Titania and Oberon. Another point that can be compared and contrasted is the search for a solution in the plots. In Hamlet, Hamlet is searching for the truth to discover if his father was really murdered by his uncle and if this is true he must correct the blot by killing his uncle. Also, in Oedipus Rex this plot is seen in that Oedipus is searching for the truth about the murder of the old king, Laios, and the situation will be resolved by the murder being banished from Thebes. In contrast A Midsummer Nights Dream is more centered around the lovers trying to overcome the forces that separate them and Oberon seeking penalize on Titania.

Essay example --

50/50In my opinion, the story of 50/50 was told well. The movie thrived in formal and stylistic elements. The film was exceptional on the formal elements of component, plot of ground and structure. It was also good at the stylistic elements such(prenominal) as music and cinematography. First, 50/50 was very good in the character category in formal elements. The character development was something that really struck out to me. The biggest surprise from this film lies in where the writer decided to focus the received heart of the story in the development of the characters One example is the relationship between Adam and his young therapist Katherine. Theyre both too unskilled to be dealing with things such as cancer. She is clearly inexperienced because Adam is one of her first patients. Their relationship would need to support the emotional side of an argument, instead than simply emotion. But the biggest relationship is between Adam and Kyle. Now this relationship is not as stro ng as it needs to be, but its plenteous to warm the heart and give Adam that final push into opening up. There is a good scene in the movie where Adam stays at Kyles and finds a book on surviving cancer, filled with notes and underlinings, proving that Kyle does care for Adam and is worried for him. The next day as Kyle drops Adam off at the hospital, Adam embraces Kyle for being a good friend. Its a great display of subtle character development. Second, 50/50 had a very good plot and structure. I thought it was very well pen. When I looked up some facts about the movie, I found out it was based on a true(a) story. The person that the movie is based on is also the writer. Personally, I believe that a good story can also come from an experience such as surviving cancer. ... ... macaroons. The frame was somewhat shaky and the picture was fuzzy. It was as though you were high with Adam. In conclusion, 50/50 has formal and stylistic elements. Claudia Puig of the States Today said, 50/50 winningly demonstrates that profound emotion and wide-ranging humor can co-exist in the same movie just as they do in real life. This movie makes you laugh and can really make you cry. It is a great movie that shows that you cant go through something this big by yourself. It takes two and maybe more. A good film is a story worth telling that is told well. 50/50 is a great story that is written first hand by someone who lived the movie. The writer puts us in his shows and the director does a great job depicting everything. The music, the cinematography, the characters, and the plot all mingle together to make one great story that made you laugh and cry.

Jiang Zemin :: essays research papers

Allen Bullock HST 4077/24/2003Jiang Zemin, as the President of China, will be leading the worlds nigh populous country into the 21st century. A new biography of Mr. Jiang describes him as an economic reformer but not a political reformer and as someone often mistakenly believed to have blundered his way to power. Bruce Gilley is the author of the first western full-length study of the Chinese leader. Historians, political scientists, and journalists hungry for reliable cultivation about Chinese politics have to blaspheme on official publications, and on the semiofficial and nonofficial distinguishs that bubble up in Hong Kong. These are the same methods of trailing and analyzing Chinas political movements that outsiders have used for decades. It is in this Byzantine context that Bruce Gilley has written Tiger on the Brink, a biography of Jiang Zemin and a highly readable account of modern Chinese politics. Unfortunately, Gilley is sharply limited by the same lack of access as e very other student of Zhongnanhai. A correspondent for The distant Eastern Economic Review who covered China out of Hong Kong, Gilley has done an admirable job of scouring Chinese-language publications for tidbits about Jiangs personal background. But hamstrung by lack of information, this story of Jiangs decade at the top of Chinas Communist Party only partly satisfies.Tiger on the Brink is essentially a first-rate job. However, Gilley had to rely overwhelmingly on secondary sources as he relates in the preface, the closest he ever got to his subject was when he ran into the portly president in the mens room room at the Great Hall of the People. And Jiang left the restroom before a surprised Gilley could think of a question to ask.The big cat in the books title apparently refers to China, not Jiang, for it is unlikely that anyone would ever mistake the genial and cautious leader portrayed by Gilley for such a ferocious creature. Gilley reinforces the perspicacity of Jiang as a po litically slippery but tenacious survivor, less tiger than Mr. Tiger Balm, a moniker he once gave himself, which Gilley uses to head a chapter. Jiang Zemin emerges from this book as a skilled political tactician, who distinguished himself over nearly 50 years of Communist Party politics not as an intellectual or a fighter but by his ability to get along with superiors and inferiors alike, and by making use of an unsurpassed knack for currying estimation with influential men.

Jiang Zemin :: essays research papers

Allen Bullock HST 4077/24/2003Jiang Zemin, as the President of China, leave be leading the worlds most populous country into the 21st century. A new biography of Mr. Jiang describes him as an economic reformer but not a governmental reformer and as someone often mistakenly believed to have blundered his way to power. Bruce Gilley is the author of the first western full-length study of the Chinese leader. Historians, political scientists, and journalists hungry for reliable information about Chinese politics have to rely on official publications, and on the semiofficial and nonofficial accounts that bubble up in Hong Kong. These are the same methods of tracking and analyzing Chinas political movements that outsiders have physical exercised for decades. It is in this Byzantine context that Bruce Gilley has written Tiger on the Brink, a biography of Jiang Zemin and a highly readable account of modern Chinese politics. Unfortunately, Gilley is sharply limited by the same lack of acce ss as every other assimilator of Zhongnanhai. A correspondent for The Far Eastern Economic Review who covered China out of Hong Kong, Gilley has done an admirable job of scouring Chinese-language publications for tidbits about Jiangs private background. But hamstrung by lack of information, this story of Jiangs decade at the top of Chinas Communist caller only partly satisfies.Tiger on the Brink is essentially a first-rate job. However, Gilley had to rely overwhelmingly on secondary sources as he relates in the preface, the closest he ever got to his subject was when he ran into the portly president in the mens room at the Great Hall of the People. And Jiang left the restroom before a surprised Gilley could think of a head teacher to ask.The big cat in the books title apparently refers to China, not Jiang, for it is unlikely that anyone would ever mistake the genial and cautious leader portrayed by Gilley for such(prenominal) a ferocious creature. Gilley reinforces the assessme nt of Jiang as a politically slippery but tenacious survivor, less tiger than Mr. Tiger Balm, a moniker he once gave himself, which Gilley uses to head a chapter. Jiang Zemin emerges from this book as a skilled political tactician, who distinguished himself over nearly 50 years of Communist Party politics not as an intellectual or a fighter but by his ability to get along with superiors and inferiors alike, and by making use of an unsurpassed knack for currying favor with influential men.

Implementation, Strategic Controls, and Contingency Plans Essay

DRAKEN needs new growth methods, product development and new revenue sources. The implementation plan below will identify the course of do best suited for the company along with the objectives, functional tactics, action items, milestones, task ownership, and resource alposition. Also, the plan includes financial information including financial projections and a break-even analysis map that will be mathematical functiond as the basis for moving the contrast forward.Strategy and ImplementationThe key strategy for DRAKEN is to build their operations and marketing approximately buildings and retail stores that argon large enough to dumbfound permanent, on-site tribute needs, but not so large that they can save significant currency by developing protection staff in-house. To procure this strategy, DRAKEN will Train resistances well for permanent check-in, patrol, and surveillance positions Use advertising and targeted lists to locate and market to these guest markets Focus sp ecific completelyy on guard services and high-level consulting audits, while bug outsourcing or referring to vendors for security equipment and system needs (ADT)ObjectivesAccording to Pearce, R., (2013), Objectives or short-term objectives are measureable outcomes achievable or intended to be achieved in one year or less. DRAKEN will base its success on spieling the side by side(p) objectives 1. lend oneself additional 25 full-time equivalent security guards by the end of the year 2015. 2. Supply security guards to 15 more buildings on a full-time basis by the end the year 2015. 3. Earn $2 million in revenue with net profit over $300,000 by the end of 2015. operating(a) TacticsAccording to Pearce, R., (2013), functional tactics are detailed statements of the means or activities that will be used by a company to achieve short-term objectives and establish competitive advantage. DRAKEN will built a competitive edge through high levels of customer service and assurance. The compan y will gain to not be a broker between clients and contracted security guards, as some security guard providers frame, but instead be a partner in the security and protection of clients as peg downs, with security guards as a major tool in that protection. This strategy will take up DRAKEN to carefully audit a clients security situation and to work with them on plans to upgrade and maintain that security. DRAKEN supervisors will continually check in with clients and with the guards sent to client sites to learn about the challenges they are facing.Action itemsTo r individually its target markets of building management companies and large retail businesses, DRAKEN will use the following tactics Improvement of a the basic brochure website, adding additional services, including corporate training, event planners, careers at DRAKEN, testimonials, and an open blog site. Advertising in trade publications understand by managers in these two industries Advertising online with Google AdW ords around keywords for security services and security guards, especially associated with these two types of customers New, more professional looking business cards and brochures for management and agents to distribute on appointments and while networking with Los Angeles business networking groups taper selling work based on purchasing or developing target lists Direct mail of brochures and letters to these target lists of potential clients in the greater Los Angeles area.Milestones and a deadlineThe budgets for all marketing and personal relations (PR), and creating the brochure/stationery and website come out of the operating budget as they glide by. The Chief Operating Officer will manage all marketing and sales activities while the CEO will set up accounting and operating systems and interview potential guards.These bullet points keep DRAKEN on track in its important milestones and deadlines. This helps DRAKEN management and everyone within the company to have a sense of ur gency about what needs to be done. Tasks and task ownershipThe CEO and the COO are the primary salespersons for DRAKEN. They meet with clients at their location to perform an initial consultation and will create proposals for security services based on the clients needs. DRAKEN management is tracking sales prospects and clients with ACT, a client management database system. The owners sales strategy is to listen carefully to the needs of the client and to provide assurance through stories of their experience and an quick understanding of their needs and concerns. While DRAKEN proposals may not be the lowest cost bids a potential client receives, DRAKEN management will follow up with care and the same personal attention that clients will receive if they move forward with using DRAKENs services.Resource allocationResources will be allocated to all functional units in the business according to their needs. Functional units will be required to prepare annual budget for the finances the y need to make units operative throughout the financial year. More resources will be committed to activities that generate more income to the business. Some of the profit generated from DRAKEN operations will be used in corporate social responsibility activities of the business.Key success factorsDRAKEN believes the keys to success in its industry include 1. Listening carefully to client concerns and objectives to create customized security guard packages 2. Knowing what the client does not know (bringing deep security expertise as well as knowledge of legal regulations and liability to the table) 3. Training security guards carefully and maintaining their training and certifications (e.g. to carry firearms) 4. Monitoring thequality of security guard service to offer quality assurance Budget, and forecasted financials, including a break-even chart DRAKEN expects to produce bare cash after a lean year of operation in 2015, which can finance its expansion to an office space along wi th a 5 year home equity loan to support significant growth of its employee base in 2016 and 2017 to 25 FTE security guards (which can be estimated as 10 full-time guards and 30 part-time guards). Future growth will be financed by the business and will include launching operations in otherwise cities out of state and launching a line of security products.BudgetThe balance of start-up funding for 2015 will be provided from DRAKENSs working capital of $56000.Sales ForecastSecurity guard sales will be recurring. Assuming a client retention rate of 90% annually, based on DRAKEN CEOs track record in the business, total sales will escalate quickly. Sales will be a combination of clients requiring 24/7 coverage and those with only daytime coverage. 40% of sales in dollars are expected from 24/7 clients. Sales are expected to meet the objective of $1.75 million in the third year. Direct costs of sales consist of supplies specific to each line, such as uniforms which must be purchased. und ifferentiated may be a branded DRAKEN uniform, or contain the customers branding to provide the visible presence of security at the job site. Additional sets of uniforms must be purchased by the guards from the designated uniform provider. Suits for executive protection assignments, laundry, and cleaning of uniforms is the responsibility of the guards as well. Job supplies will include materials related to security audits and specific equipment purchases for a job as well.Break-even AnalysisMonthly Revenue Break-even $24,475Average Percent Variable equal 4%Estimated Monthly Fixed Cost $23,407The monthly break-even is low due to the cost savings by operating the office out of the CEOs home in 2015. This allows for the business to become profitable quickly.Projected Profit and LossSecurity guard labor is estimated at 55% of sales in 2015, dropping slightly to 53% by the 2017 as prices increase and cheaper labor becomes available due to the range of employees. Marketing includes ongoi ng Web hosting and maintenance fees, continued revisions and reprinting of the brochure and stationery, additional count mail campaigns, ongoing advertising in trade publications, and online advertising for the website. Rent, utilities, and depreciation will be expenses beginning in 2016 when an office space is required. Training requires the use of larger meeting rooms for groups of guards which will have to be rented separately.Training cost will be reduced once an office is rented, as the business will choose a space with a conference room or table to hold employee training at the office. Training will be an ongoing expense both due to turnover and due to continued training and check-ins with employees. Licenses and permits will include licenses for new guards to carry firearms and to operate, and continued renewals of licensing and permits for the business each year. Net profit will swing to a net loss in 2016 due to the opening of an office space. Net profit will occur in 2017 again as the business scales up to cover these additional costs.

Class and School Size

It is important for students to receive the best education that their give instructions washstand offer to them because this would greatly contribute to their future and overall performance. Education is a real part of a persons life. Without it, people would have a hard eon finding suitable and satisfying jobs and earn money. Still, several factors can affect a persons learning process. Class and school size are important factors in students learning because this would affect their behavior and path of thinking.A class or school that is made up of a large number of students would be hard because it would mean that teachers and instructors would have a hard time monitoring each and everyones progress. They would not be able to concentrate on each child, which would somehow have a negative effect on the student because they would feel neglected and unimportant as compared to those who are being closely monitored. As such, there is a possibility that the students learning and educ ation would jump because they would feel that they are not important members of the schools community.A small sized class or school has its pros and cons. It would be good for the students because they would be guide and taught without much difficulty. They would also be able to build a close relationship with their classmates and their professors, which would help make them feel comfortable and can encourage them to learn. However, this causa of setting would make the students used to being monitored and even spoon-fed with information. They may have a hard time adjusting when they encounter places where the population is larger, whether in another school or at the workplace environment.

Friedrich Nietzsche Essay

I chose to write on Freidrich Nietzsche . He was criticized for all of his writing because they were so controversial. He was just aboutly known for his solid groundment the Death of God. It was said that a lot of his philosophies were misunderstood by most of his readers. He was commonly class as a German philosopher. He believed in life, creativity, health, and the realities of the world we live in, rather than those situated in a world beyond. His key ideas were the finis of god, perspectivism, the loony toons, the leave to power, and the perpetual recurrence.His philosophy was highly innovative and revolutionary but was also indebted to the pre-Socratic Greek thinker Heraclitus. Nietzsche frequently criticized Christianity in offensive and the most dreary itinerarys possible. His views on morals were what got the most attention by other scholars. In his Daybreak he called himself an immoralist and often criticized the faith of his day. He wanted to form a new more ea rthyistic source of value in the fundamental impulses of life itself. He claims that Christianity had more of a master-slave theology than anything else.He associated the master-slave morality to that of the Jewish and Christian traditions. He associates good morals with charity, piety, restraint, meekness and submission and evil ones being cruel, selfish, wealthy, and aggressive. He saw slave morality was mainly born out of the resentment slaves held toward their masters. It worked to give the slaves their own sense of inferiority over the wealthy or better off masters. His beliefs made it look as if the slaves had chosen to be enslaved because they were believed to have the good morals.Their refusal to stand up for themselves was relabeled as meekness to further prove this point. Nietzsche argued that slave morality is essentially the morality of effectiveness since moral goodness involves anything that is helpful to whom is weak and poor. Nietzsche saw modern day Europe and its Christianity existing only as a hypocritical state due to the tension created by the master-slave morality. He made it clear that although he didnt believe that morality was bad, it was just portrayed wrongfully. He believed that each several(prenominal) should be responsible for their own morality and how they wanted to portray it.One of his favorite mottos was taken from Pindar was Become what you are. In Nietzsches view recent learning in modern science and the increasing of secularization of European society had effectively killed the Christian God who served as a meaning and value in the west for more than a thousand years. He claimed that the death of god would blushtually lead to the loss of any if not all universal purview on things. The death of god would also cause people to hang on to their own multiple, diverse, fluid perspectives.This thought was eventually named perspectivism. But instead it was believed that the death of god would eventually go from perspectivis m to nihilism or the belief that nothing had natural importance and that life itself lacked purpose. Nietzsche then said in The Spoke Zarafrankincensetra that an Ubermensch would be brought upon the people. He believed that only after a long twilight period with no God and nihilism Zarathustrs gift of the superman would be given to mankind. Any problem that shall arise could be solved by the superman.An important element form his philosophical attitude was go forth to power which was a foundation for understanding motivation in human behavior. He held that the will to power was much more important than the force for adaptation or survival. check to him, it was only in limited situations where the drive for conservation was higher than the will to power, primarily when life was reduced to a state of poverty and limitation. He claimed that the natural condition of life was one of abundance. Later in his works he claimed that the will to power applied to all living things not just ma nkind.He suggested that adaptation and the struggle to survive came secondary in the evolution of animals and was less important than their desire to expand their power. He eventually took it even further claiming that even inorganic nature also followed the same rules. Nietzsche will to power was often compared to Schopenhauers will to live theory. Schopenhauer work was written an entire generation before Nietzsche and was believed to be borrowed. Schopenhauers belief was that the entire universe and everything in it was driven by a primordial will to live, resulting in all creatures desire to evacuate death and procreate.Nietzsche however challenged this belief stating that people and animals really just want power and living in itself is only a subsidiary aim demand to promote ones own power. He backed up this belief by using competitive fighting as an example. He verbalize that people as well as animals were willing to risk their lives to gain power or higher ranking within their groups. Nietzsche was compared to other writers before him on with their views and beliefs on motivation of the human behavior, each time Nietzsche argued that in the end the will to power provided the most useful and general explanation.One of Nietzsches articles ceaseless Return, was also known as the eternal recurrence, and was used as an answer to nihilism. In it he states that the wish for eternal return of all events would mark the final affirmation of life. To comprehend the eternal recurrence in his thought and not to purely come to peace with it but to embrace it required the love of fate. several(prenominal) people had stated that the Eternal Return was a crucial part of Nietzsches work and was central to his entire philosophy but was not widely discussed felt as though a large part of his philosophy was left untouched and unexplored.The basic explanation was that the universe was limited in accomplishment and contained a finite amount of case time was viewed as being infinite. The universe however had no starting or ending state and matter comprised its constant changing state. The number of possible changes was infinite so sooner or later the same state would eventually occur. This concept was one of his most difficult to understand, he used it as an existential thought experiment. His most famous quote on eternal recurrence was called the heaviest burden and the best way to comprehend it was to let it be read by the reader.What if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and govern to you This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more and there will be nothing new in it, but ever pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything immeasurably small or great in your life must return to you-all in the same succession and sequence-even this spider and his moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself.The eternal hourglass of existence is turned over and over, and you with it, a grain of dust Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervently that this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal? -Nietzsche

Buddhism Versus Greek Mythology Essay

A human being experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness, said Albert Einstein. Our task must be to put pop ourselves from this pri tidings by widening our compassion to embrace only living creatures and the whole of record in its beauty (Heart Quotes). Einsteins examine on genius is similar to that of Indian Buddhists. Life-giving Indian weather exalt the Buddhist cyclic survey of rebirth while the rugged terrain of Greece inspired their rocky observation tower on spirit.Buddhists recollect man is angiotensin-converting enzyme with nature while Grecian mythology emphasizes the all-importance of man. Buddhists live in harmony with nature whereas the Greeks show force- verboten towards it and all its creatures. However, as the Greek mindset shifted towards philosophy, so did it shift towards similar reverence towards nature. The defining distinction between these dickens perspecti ves on vitality is that the outlook on nature of Buddhists show values from the feeling that all is in harmony with Atman, whereas the Greek outlook on nature shows that man is above nature.India is a country of lush plains, striking mountains, beautiful deserts, and dazzling bays. 2, 545 years ago, this incredible scenery served as the backdrop to Buddhas life and eventual Enlighten handst, from which Buddhist teachings would one day grow (Eckel 6). The impact of Buddhas surroundings on Buddhist thinking is obvious, especially when one takes into consideration Indias dramatic seasonal humor changes. Every summer in India, the monsoons arrive. Every summer in India is monsoon season, a time of torrential d birthpours raging uninterrupted for months.Before these monsoons, the earth is dried and dry food and water are scarce. It is, in all(prenominal) manner, a season of death. Then, however, the rain arrives, harsh and relentless, but life giving nonetheless. The rain is the amniotic roving catalyzing the re-entrance of life unto the barren earth. This annual cycle of death and rebirth presents the native people with a dire ultimatum they must either obey nature or non survive. If they try to go a ingestst natures course, they will inevitably fail. Nature controls life. Observing this phenomenon, Buddhists learned from nature and realized that this cycle privy be found everywhere.They realized that humans undergo an equivalent cycle called samsara, or reincarnation. - He could no longer distinguish the many voices, the cheerful from the weeping, the childrens from the mens they all belonged together. The lament of the knowers yearning and laughing, the screaming of the angry, the moaning of the dying- everything was one everything was entwined and entwisted, was interwoven a thousand fold. And all of it together, all voices, all goals, all yearnings, all sufferings, all pleasures, all good and evil-the gentlemans gentleman was everything together.E verything together was the river of events, was the music of life. And when Siddhartha listened attentively to this river, listened to this song of a thousand voices, when he did non listen to affectionache or laughter, when he did not bring his soul to any one voice and did not enter them with his ego, but listened to all of them, heard the wholeness, the oneness- therefore the majuscule song of the thousand voices consisted of a single word, which was om perfectionbelonging to the oneness (Hesse 118-119). At the core of Buddhism lies an pregnant lesson approximately whitethorna and Enlightenment. To run into Enlightenment, one must watch all.One of the commencement steps towards such understanding is to understand maya, or illusion. Everything that one awaits, feels, and tastes belongs to the world of maya. Even one does not exist but in the world of maya. Thus, if all does not exist, then all is equal. One is equal to everything in the surrounding world, especially natu re. All are one in Atman, which is the heart of all of Buddhism. Everything is one. All of this insulation from nature and from one another is simply maya, or an illusion. Consequently, in Buddhism, any injustice done to nature is an injustice to oneself.To reach Enlightenment, peace and oneness with nature are essential. Man and nature are one. Therefore, everyone and everything, especially nature, should be treated as so. Siddhartha said, This stone is a stone, it is in addition an animal, it is also God, it is also the Buddha, I love and honor it not because it would become this or that someday, but because of this because it is a stone, because it appears to me now and today as a stone, it is precisely because of this that I love it and see worth and symbolizeing in each of its veins and pits, in the yellow, in the gray, in the hardness, in the sound it emits when I tap it,in the dryness or dampness of its surface.That is precisely what I like and what seems wonderful to me and worthy of worshipI love the stone and the river and all these things that we contemplate and also a tree or a piece of bark. These are things and things can be loved (Hesse 126-127). In harmony with the principle of reincarnation, any plant, creature, or other brass of nature is a part of the cycle of rebirth. Therefore, any of these can one day become a man, for when something in nature dies, it undergoes the cycle of rebirth and can be reborn as anything.One day, it will become a human. Nature holds the ability within itself to be a human and, for that reason, should be considered as an equal. The true magnitude of natures presence in Buddhism is truly portrayed by the distinct mentioning of Siddhartha reaching enlightenment under a tree, specifically the Bodhi tree or the Asiatic fig tree (Gach 16). The scriptural account of the Enlightenment of Buddha gives this significance to nature when Buddha sits under the Bodhi tree for seven whole days. later on the seven days, the B uddha gets up only to sit down again at an Ajapala banyan-tree for another length of time. He rises once again just to sit down once more at the foot of a Mucalinda tree (Bodhi Leaf). Nature is therefore made clear as one of the most important expressions of Buddhism. As Buddhists have such a deep reverence for nature, they believe in safekeeping peace with every aspect of nature. This does not just mean plants but also animals and other living creatures. However, that does not mean that all Buddhists must be vegetarians although it is strongly suggested to do so.It is said that the act of eating core group is a form of karma that will lead a person farther from Enlightenment. Therefore, the more meat one eats in ones diverse lives, the more times one will have to experience the cycle of death and rebirth. On the other hand, some Buddhists believe in another view of meat eating. One is allowed to eat meat that one receives unless one knows or suspects that the meat in question wa s killed especially for one (Epstein). As far as sacrificial practices, meat is not sacrificed but instead herbs and incense are given up in prayer.Peace is a very important aspect of treating nature. Peace comes in many forms peace towards environment, towards creatures, towards man, etc. A Buddhist definition of peace is softening what is rigid in our hearts (Chodron 17). In keeping with their attitude towards nature, Buddhists also believe that a man should not kill another man for any reason. In Buddhism, war is never the answer. In accompaniment, the first few lines of the Dhammapada, a Buddhist scripture, state For love is not conquered by hate hate is conquered by love.This is a law eternal (Chappell 81). Therefore, instead of battle hate with hate, Buddhists believe in struggle hate with love. That is the only government agency to overcome and to reach Enlightenment. When someone seeks, said Siddhartha, then it easily happens that his eyes see only the thing that he seek s, and he is able to find nothing, to take in nothing because he always thinks only close to the thing he is seeking, because he has one goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means having a goal. just finding means being free, being open, having no goal.You, Venerable One, may truly be a seeker, for, in striving toward your goal, you fail to see certain things that are right under your nose. (Hesse, 121-122) As previously stated, to reach Enlightenment, Buddhists believe all that is needed is understanding. The crowning(prenominal) goal of Buddhists is to attain this understanding, this meaning, this Enlightenment. However, one must be aware that spending a life seeking is not the way to reach Enlightenment. To be a faithful Buddhist, one must understand that the key is not to seek.For, in seeking, as this quote says, the obvious is not seen. Buddhism then teaches that to reach Enlightenment, one must find not seek. Therefore, Buddhists do not seek to condone natu re (Hanh 78). They are content with nature as it is- unexplained, for natures explanations can be found without seeking. Is this what you mean that the river is everywhere at once, at its source and at its mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the rapids, in the sea ,in the mountains, everywhere at once, and only the present exists for it, and not the shadow of the future? That is it, said Siddhartha. And when I learned that, I looked at my life, and it was also a river and the male child Siddhartha was separated from the adult Siddhartha and from the old man Siddhartha only by shadow, not by substance. Nor were Siddharthas earlier births the past, and his death and his return to Atman are no future. zero was, nothing will be everything is, everything has being and is present (Hesse 94). A final important aspect of Buddhism is the concept that time does not exist. Time is a man-made notion that does nothing but bring closely worries.All sufferings in life can be attributed t o time. Buddhists believe that once the concept of time is released, life will hold no more problems, worries, or stresses. Only then can Enlightenment be truly reached. When the concept of time is destroyed within oneself, it allows for a completely new philosophy to surface. Greece is a country lined with hostile, jagged mountains, in which there are very few arable spatial relation surrounded by threatening seas. There is no cycle, no preconception, no structure. To the past Greeks, it seemed that nature was not kind nature was no friend to them.Therefore, their logical system decided that they should be no friend to nature. Such was the physical and mental location of this people, and the beginning of many differences between Greek thought and Buddhism. Greeks living about six hundred years ere the birth of Christ were very religious, as well as very diverse spiritually. All the answers to their questions were found in antithetic religions. Ancient Greeks passed down their r eligious traditions orally through myths. A myth is a story about the gods which sets out to explain why life is as it is (Gaarder, 22).Greek mythology was an integral part of Greek culture. The miracle of Greece is a phrase that describes the awakening of Greek culture and its effects on the rest of the world. One way the Greeks cultivated this was through their focus on mans importance. They put mankind at the center of their world so that man was all-important. The Greeks even created the gods in their own image, complete with very human qualities. This was the first time in history that a god was made into a recognizable, tangible form. Erstwhile, gods had no lucidity about them.Greek artists and poets realized how splendid a man could be, straight and swift and strong. He was the fulfillment of their search for beauty. They had no wish to create some vision shaped in their own minds (Hamilton, 9). Man was put on a pedestal and made the most prominent being in the world, so th at he was made into a deity. Any human could be the son of a god, thereby half-divine, an idea unheard of before this time. This idea of man being the ultimate authority is in complete contradiction to Buddhism, where man was equal to nature, not above it.And soon as the men had prayed and flung the barley, first they lifted back the heads of the victims, bozo their throats, skinned them and carved away the meat from the thighbones and wrapped them in fat, a double fold sliced clean and topped with strips of flesh. And the old man ruin these over dried split wood and over the quarters poured out glistening wine while young men at his side held five-pronged forks. at once they had burned the bones and tasted the organs they cut the rest into pieces, pierced them with spits, roasted them to a turn and pulled them off the fire (Homer 93)Myths were also used for other purposes than learning. But a myth was not only an explanation. People also carried out religious ceremonies related to the myths (Gaarder, 25). Like most other religions at the time, the Ancient Greeks religions consisted of roughshod rituals and rites that contrasted greatly to the thoughts of Buddhism (Connolly 87). Buddhism teaches of kindness to animals whereas Greek religion utilized animal cruelty as part of their holy worship to the gods. The gods of Olympus, who were created in the ultimate image of the Greek people, used the forms of innocent animals to manipulate and get what they wanted.In many instances, Zeus used the guise of animals when he wanted to capture a woman and gain her trust. That very instant Zeus fell madly in love with Europa He thought it well to be cautious, and before appearing to Europa he changed himself into a bull (Hamilton 101). However, kinda than setting an example to revere animals, this teaches people to use animals in any way possible to reach the desired end. Even more opposed to Buddhism was the fact that a Greek hero was someone who had extreme streng th or other physical features that he could use against animals.Hercules is one of the best examples of this notion. He is considered the superior Greek hero ever to live. Through a tragic sequence of events, he killed his sons and wife, but was doomed to live on in order to undergo a series of trials to redeem himself. His first predicament was to kill the lion of Nemea. Hercules solved that by choking the life out of the lion (Hamilton 231). Hercules also had to drive out the Stymphalian birds, which were a plague to the people of Stymphalus because of their enormous numbers (Hamilton 232).This shows that, unlike Buddhists, Greeks could not live in peace with nature, but instead hated nature. Ancient Greeks did not want anything to do with nature, let alone be a part of it. Hercules also had to capture many animals in these trials such as the stag with horns of gold, a great boar which had its lair on Mount Erymanthus, the savage bull that Poseidon had given Minos, the man-eatin g mares of King Diomedes of Thrace, the cattle of Geryon, and Cerberus the three-headed dog (Hamilton 232-233).Hercules inspired the Greeks not by staying in peace with nature but instead by forcing it to conform to his will in a harsh, cruel way. Hercules made sure he was above nature, a predicament the Buddhists avoided and even condemned. In summary, Greeks wanted to overcome nature whereas Buddhists wanted to be one with nature. So by the beaked ships the Argives make for battle, arming round you, Achilles Achilles starved for war-and faced the Trojan ranks along the plains high groundThe Achaeans kept on gaining glory- great Achilles who held back from the brutal fighting so long had just come blazing forth.Chilling tremors shook the Trojans knees, down to the last man, terrified at the sight the headlong runner coming, gleaming in all his gear, afire like man-destroying Ares (Homer 503, 505). As previously stated, Buddhists lived by the doctrine to fight hate with love. If A ncient Greeks had a concise doctrine about war, it would have been to fight hate with more hate. Ancient Greek civilization centralized approximately their love of carnage. The majority of Ancient Greek myths revolved around war or other forms of fighting.The Iliad is a 537-page myth about one war and it glorifies all aspects of war. The heroes of The Iliad are not monks or The Buddha like in Buddhism. Instead, the heroes of The Iliad are Achilles and Hector, two soldiers magnificent in warfare and bloodthirsty through and through. In addition, Achilles is most illustrious in The Iliad when he is the most sanguinary. Diomedes went whirling into the slaughter now, hacking leftfield and right and hideous groans broke from the drying Thracians slashed by the sword-the ground ran red with blood.Tydeus son went tearing into that Thracian camp until hed butchered twelve. But now the son of Tydeus came upon the king, the thirteenth man, and ripped away his life. Patroclus tore Pronouss c hest left bare by the shield-rim, loosed his knees and the man went crashing down. Then Patroclus stabbed Thestors right jawbone, ramming the spearhead square between his teeth so hard he hooked him by that spearhead over the chariot-rail, hoisted, dragged the Trojan out. Patroclus then gaffed him off his car and flipped him down face first, dead as he fell. near he flung a rock and it struck between Erylauss eyes and the mans whole skull split in his heavy helmet. Patroclus crowded corpse on corpse on the earth. (Homer, 292, 426-427) Even more horrific to the eyes of Buddhists would be the battle scenes in The Iliad that truly show the awe and glory the ancient Greeks apothegm in war. The Iliad was a myth that served more as entertainment than anything else. This shows that Ancient Greeks were amused by this kind of literature. Buddhists believe in not seeking to explain nature. By contrast, Ancient Greeks did precisely this with their myths.A myth is an explanation of somethi ng in nature how, for instance, any and everything in the universe came into existence men, animals, this of that tree or flower, the sun, the moon, the stars, storms, eruptions, earthquakes, all that is and all that happens (Hamilton 12). Ancient Greeks wanted to know how everything happened around them so they could manipulate their environment more easily. This is a central division between Ancient Greeks and Buddhism. Whereas Buddhists believe that time does not exist, Ancient Greeks were engrossed by time.All throughout The Iliad, Homer stresses how long the war has been going on and how it worries and distresses everyone involved. Unlike Buddhists, the Greeks do not disown the belief of time. They stay true to the traditional man-made vision of time instead of throwing out their problems by abandoning the idea of time. The natural philosopher Heraclitus (c. 540-480 B. C. ) was from Ephesus in Asia Minor. He thought that invariable change, or glow, was in fact the most basic c haracteristic of nature. Everything flows, said Heraclitus.Everything is in constant flux and move aroundment, nothing is abiding. Therefore we cannot step twice into the same river. When I step into the river for the second time, neither I nor the river are the same (Gaarder 34). Slowly, Greek culture started to move away from religion and more towards philosophy. It evolved from a unreal mode of thought to one based on experience and reason (Gaarder 27). People could make ideas for themselves and create new beliefs instead of going back to the myths. The world started a shift from relying on religion to analyzing the world with science and philosophy.Surprisingly, this is where similarities between Greek and Buddhist culture were born. At first, the two religions of the ancient Greeks and the Buddhists clashed greatly. However, through the move away from mythical religion the Greek beliefs were brought closer towards the religion of Buddhism. Heraclitus here used the same meta phor for his philosophy as Siddhartha used for his. Although the passages were said in different situations and with different words, both quotes have the same general philosophy that time does not truly exist. A river is usually a sign of separation a river acts as a divider in most cases.However, this river brings two very different cultures together in a very powerful way that is clear to all. Nature is everything outside and inside a man or a woman or a child. Nature is every breath taken, every step forward, every glance made, every wind blown, and every flower planted. The two cultures of Greece and Buddhism showed great contrasts in the beginning but one resounding simile was found in something as simple as a river. India shows a cyclic weather that inspired the thought of rebirth while Greece shows a harsh terrain that inspired animosity between man and nature.As a consequence, Buddhists thought that nature and man are one while Greeks were taught to be above nature and man ipulate it in any way possible. Buddhists lived in ultimate peace while the ancient Greeks lived in love of carnage. The Buddhist outlook on nature is derived from the belief that man is one with nature whereas the original Greek outlook is derived from the thought that man is above nature. Nature is the essence of the world, the aura of everything around people. These two cultures, although vastly different, impacted human belief and intellect forever.