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Noise pollution and causes and effects
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THE VIRTUE OF SILENCE
Of all the virtues that most men and women disregard, it is silence. People go about in their everyday lives not even noticing the beauty of one's "inner silence." Try an experiment: Close your eyes. Tune out the sounds from everything that's surrounding you, and focus on what is going on inside you. Take a deep breath and just listen. How many inner voices did you hear? Most people do not even realize the amount of noise that is carried around in the human body. As you can see, even in the remarkably noisy age we live in, the real noise is on the inside. But even these noises can dissappear if one wishes. All one needs to do is study one of many religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Judaism. Each of these religions have many techniques for meditation, and their reasons for wanting to find "pure silence" are generally the same.
This reason for finding your inner silence is basically the same for every religion, but to go about and reach this perfect sense of serenity can be accomplished in many ways. Each religion has their own set of steps to reach Nirvana, or utter bliss and perfection. Buddhism, for instance, has many different levels of meditation. Each level reached will take you into a deeper silence of meditation until you reach "rightful meditation." Rightful meditation is the "sinking into total silence. Silence of the senses, silence of in...
In the silent era of Brockmeier’s city, individuals grew into a lethargic existence, “The drunks in the bars turned amiable and mild. The jails were unusually tranquil...The great roar of the city had stopped, [the birds in cockfights] becoming as useless as pigeons, virtually impossible to provoke to violence” (Brockmeier 53). Indeed, “The silence was beneficial for us” as suggested by modern science, but people began to remember what they lost: “the fire, the vigor, that came with a lack of ease” (Brockmeier 61). To be more concise, this fire and vigor came with the difficulty and the thrill of the chase, “Our lives seemed no less purposeful than they had during the silence, but it was as if that purpose were waiting several corners away from us now, rather than hovering in front of our eyes” (Brockmeier 62). Of course, while Brockmeier is merely describing these traits as a benefit or asset of silence or noise respectively, it could be applied with relevancy to the state of the individual. Meditation is only gaining popularity while “low-noise” becomes a commodity sought after; however, perhaps in the hunt of silence, individuals often neglect to learn the ability to thrive in dissonance. While Brockmeier reminds us of the
The book is titled "When God is Silent" by Barbara Brown Taylor. This book has three main points titled famine, silence, and restraint. On the first chapter she starts out by asking, "How shall I break the silence?"(pg.3). This first chapter focuses on "famine" which is the scarcity of food, but what she really means is the hunger that we have for God these days, how we try to find him and seems like we can't because God is silent. She states that according to a survey of people’s greatest fears, fear of public speaking rates much higher than fear of sickness or death (pg. 5). The person who is giving the sermon must listen as well as talk performing an act that is more complicated than solitary creation (pgs.5-6). Language can be porous and not solid even our best most carefully chosen words are not sturdy enough to bear the real truth. (pgs.6-7). She also states that nowadays language has taken a terrible hit, but what does she mean by that? First of all the assault of consumerism which forces words to make promises they cannot keep (pg. 9). Places and things such as on billboards, newspaper ads, television and the telephone. In her message she feels people have lost their connection and therefore the language cannot be trusted. She states that the moral is that there is no sense in getting attached to the news, or not the realities a reporter's words represent, just don't ask, and just let go (pg. 11). Another assault on the nobility of language is the sheer proliferation; the democratization of language has had effect of making good grammar sound fussy and the use of any word over three syllables a sure sign of the elite (pgs. 12-13). There is so much noise around us that we don't stop and be silent, and the saddest and unfor...
...eathing room, practice breathing a little bit every morning with your children, and practicing walking meditation every evening. By following all of these teachings the world can transform into a more peaceful place.
Without practicing meditation, we do not reflect on or pay attention to our everyday actions, mostly acting on habit. The world is full of defilements and everyday we are infatuated by them, sensual desires, and delusion, although we often do not know it. Meditation weakens these unwholesome temptations and desires by making us aware that they are arising, and by revealing that they are truly unwholesome. The temptation only ceases when the concentration we obtain from meditation results in greater happiness than sensual pleasures can ever provide. While the satisfaction gained from sensual pleasures is fleeting, the clarified, focused state of mind of the meditator accumulates into a constant tranquil state. Only when we have stilled the mind’s incessant wandering and momentarily abandon the attraction to sensory experiences can we become truly aware of our hidden motivations and unconscious feelings that shape our thoughts and behavior. It is also necessary for changing our views of the world and ourselves. Through confronting these delusions, desires, and feelings we are able to renounce them. “During meditation we learn to drop from the mind what we don’t want to keep. We only want to keep in mind the meditation subject. As we get more and more skilled at it, we start to use the same faculty in our daily lives to help us drop thoughts that are
Over twenty-five hundred years ago, Buddha Guatama practiced meditation and came to what is known as “The Four Noble Truth,” an important principle in Buddhism (Elder, 2010). This principle informs the reader of what suffering is and how affect is. This is a great example of how valuable meditation is- on the very first session ever recorded, the awareness that came from it would later be the foundation of a new religion. This proves how powerful meditation can be. Furthermore, some form of meditation can be found in various religions. Although the styles, techniques, and ideology behind the meditation can vary per religion, personal transformation is the key goal (Modi, Singh, 2012). Today, in Western society, mindful meditation (a form of meditation) has grown in popularity, used for relaxation and to help treat those who suffer from mental illness’ and mood disorders. Viewed as alternative medicine for the mind and soul, it is beneficial for our emotional and mental
Visual illusions are images that are perceived different thanfrom the reality of the image. What the eye sees does not match the measurement of the stimulus source. These illusions demonstrate the difference between perception and reality. Visual illusions are known to be tricks the brain because you know exactly how an object is setup yet you still see it how it was perceived instead of how it actually is. LikewiseLikewise, with the magic tricks the card tricks, pulling the coin out of the ear, you eventually learn to decipher the difference in these visual misconceptions but at some point in timetime, they were perceived as expected.
...distractions. Taking time to observe and analyze the silence can bring something to the surface that could never be confronted in any other way. We need to embrace silence presented throughout life, for we will come out with more definitive, powerful voices.
Buddhism is able to inform its followers on the constant changes of life and how one may take advantage of those changes for the better without telling them how to live their lives. Through the practice of meditation and other basic principles Buddhism allows its followers to take a step back from reality. Meditation allows is users to work on the mind during that drop from reality. One of the main focuses of Buddhism is the promotion of developing the mind into a more positive one. Buddhism often teaches the characteristics of calmness, and awareness of ones surroundings. Furthermore, Buddh...
Meditation is an age-old practice that has renewed itself in many different cultures and times. Despite its age, however, there remains a mystery and some ambiguity as to what it is, or even how one performs it. The practice and tradition of meditation dates back thousands of years having appeared in many eastern traditions. Meditation’s ancient roots cloud its origins from being attributed to a sole inventor or religion, though Bon, Hindu, Shinto, Dao, and later, Buddhism are responsible for its development. Its practice has permeated almost all major world religions, but under different names. It has become a practice without borders, influencing millions with its tranquil and healing effects.
As one can see, meditation is a sacred act that can have endless benefits. As well as being a physical act, activities such as transcendental meditation can also be fulfilling spiritually and mentally. Through deep concentration and relaxation, meditation becomes an altered state of consciousness. This essay has shown many ways as to why this is so. Through the simple acts of letting one’s mind go, there are endless possibilities that can happen. Without meditation and altered states of consciousness, the world as we know it would be completely different.
The Webster dictionary determines perception to be knowledge by the senses and/or life that have an influence on people’s perception (Parker, 2010). The way people perceive things is based on their five senses. The sense of sight was the main sense used in the following experiment, as well as a person’s memory. Eyes tell people what they want to see and want to know. They tell you how to conceive a person and their behaviors as well as their reactions. It essentially judges the world around you. One is able to perceive how a person reacts to certain situations entirely by watching them. Perception applies to the interpretation of what we take in through our senses, in terms of optical illusions. Optical illusions happen because our brains are trying to define what it is that we envision and make sense of the world around us. If perception has no foundation in a person’s experience, a person may literally not perceive it. Perception is a method by which people set up and define their sensory impressions to give significance to their environment. Critical thinking is something we all do, because the regularity may range from person to person.
Meditation is an important psychological practice that protects the brain against aging as well as enhancing an individual’s ability to learn new things. This practice achieves this through sharpening focus, lessening stress, lowering blood pressure, and relieving chronic pain. Generally, it helps a person to experience greater calm, connect with deepest feelings, and challenges tendencies of self-judgment. Consequently, meditation leads to open doors for actual and accessible happiness for an individual. According to Salzberg (2011), meditation is basically training an individual’s attention in order to become more aware of inner workings and external incidents (p.7). After becoming more aware of inner workings and external incidents, a person can choose his/her actions towards things that are visible. While each global religion incorporates some kind of thoughtful exercise, meditation in today’s world is usually practiced separately from any belief system.
Perception at most times is a credible way to assess the world around us. Without perception, we would not know what to do with all the incoming information from our environment. Perception is constructed of our senses and the unconscious interpretations of those sensations. Our senses bring in information from our environment, and our brain interprets what those sensations mean. The five most commonly accepted senses -- taste, smell, hearing, sight, and touch -- all help create the world around us as we know it. One philosophical school of thought called “common sense realism” or direct realism argues that perception is a passive and relatively straightforward process which gives us an accurate picture of reality, and that to deal with practical demands of everyday life, our senses must be generally reliable, or we would probably not have survived as a species (vdL 87). We gain knowledge from our perceptions every moment we are conscious. Whenever I walk outside in the morning, and I feel a chill on my face, I gain the knowledge that it is cold outside. Sometimes I do not even have to walk outside to tell if it is cold or not. Somedays I can look out the window and see
Virtue Ethics Virtue ethics is a theory used to make moral decisions. It does not rely on religion, society or culture; it only depends on the individuals themselves. The main philosopher of Virtue Ethics is Aristotle. The. His theory was originally introduced in ancient Greek.
My favorite part about Buddhism is that it is real life stuff, even if it isn’t necessarily my specific faith, is that it never hurts to meditate on things when you can. The B...