Strength and Weakness
Everyone has strengths and weaknesses but as a child, it's hard to deal with your weaknesses. It's not until you grow up and realize that you have to use your strengths to overcome your weaknesses. Combining logic with technology can be a useful tool. For me it was the way to overcome my disability. Early on in my education I encountered learning disabilities. These learning disabilities included reading, spelling, grammar, and difficulty in time writing reports. These learning disabilities have frustrated me. I wondered " Why couldn't I do this?" I knew that I had the intelligence, but I just could not finish the assignments. I would then become angry. My anger sometimes led me to break pencils and throw them across my room. The basis of my learning disabilities, I discovered, was in transferring my thoughts and ideas from my head to paper. Reading was also a challenge for me in the early grades. I never had trouble understanding stories themselves; but when I had to answer questions about what I had read, I often had difficulty formulating an answer. Another major issue I had was the slow pace of my work. In elementary school I usually didn't finish my homework until 10 o'clock at night. Other students in my grade were finished by 7 o'clock. Although this was difficult for me to deal with, I did not let it stop me from completing my homework. Originally I felt sorry for myself. I believed that I would never overcome these problems. This led me to complain how unfair it was. Perhaps, I thought, someone did not want me to succeed. Word processing was a huge benefit to me in overcoming my learning disabilities. Before I had a desktop computer I had great difficulty writing reports. This was due to the fact that I had to type up my reports using a typewriter. After every sentence, my mother had to check my spelling. Due to this my progress was at a snail's pace. Also, throughout elementary school, and into the beginning of high school, I had illegible notes. Then, at the beginning of junior year, I purchased a notebook computer. This aided me greatly. I could now actually take notes since I could type far faster than I could write.
A cult is defined as a small group of people that do not adhere to the larger widely accepted belief system, instead they are often regarded to have extreme or dangerous beliefs (Cult). Cult leaders engage in many different methods and actions to gain their followers. Some cults last for a long period, others end shortly after creation. Cults nevertheless hold a stigma that brings terror and confusion to many outsiders looking in. The public questions why people could become so consumed in someone else that they could bring themselves to take their own lives. Not all cults are the evils the public makes them out to be; they are not necessarily spotless institutions however. When one thinks of a cult, they imagine death, brainwashing, and simple human robots following the reincarnation of the devil. Not all cults end in mass suicide, violence, or terror; many religions once started as cults and have thrived since. However, some cults end in the expected display of death, confusion, and regret. Heaven’s Gate, led by Marshall Applegate, is one such example. Marshall Applegate invoked various methods of persuasion to gain followers, who in the end would commit suicide in attempts to reach their idea of heaven.
A cult may be defined as a group of people centred about one person’s religious, social or political ideology (Martin, 2003). It is a movement that venerates a specific person, and uses manipulative techniques to recruit members and raise funds. Cults demand complete obedience from the members and use them to work, provide money and provide sexual favours for the benefit of the leaders. Most cults engage in criminal activities such as child marriages, sexual abuse, kidnapping, assault, arson and even murder (Snow, 2003). Over the years, there has been a brisk rise in the number of people starting up cults and those joining them. Individuals are in a bid to discover their significance through passionate and spiritual experiences, which are provided by cults. Reasons why people turn to cults include loneliness, lack of personal identity and alienation (Martin, 2003). There have been many cults in the course of American history. One of the most infamous cults is the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). This paper will give a brief history of the cult, its methods of action, the toxic effects of its beliefs and the methods of treatment used for survivors.
Augustine’s contention that man cannot possibly come into truth by reason in his temporal life constitutes his initial departure from the ancients, and results in the need for an entirely new structuring of the relationship between man and the good. In differentiating between the nature of God and man, Augustine argues that man’s nature—unlike God’s—is corruptible, and is thus “deprived of the light of eternal truth” (XI, 22) . This stands the thought of Plato on its head, since now no amount of contemplation and argument will be capable of getting man closer to a truth that exists on a plane that “surpasses the reach of the human mind” (XXI, 5). If reason is an instrument as flawed as man himself, how, then, is man to know the supreme good if he is forced to grope blindly for it in a state of sin without any assistance from the powers of his own mind? It is this question which serves as the premise for Augustine’s division of existence into the City of Man and the City of God and articulation of a system of vice and struggle against vice that keeps man anchored to the City of Man and prevents him from entering the City of God in temporal life.
One aspect of this control is intimidation and threats. Cults will threaten members and their families to make sure they remain in control and make their leaders seem larger than life. A new recruit to the Church of Wells met with her family, after she left to join the group without any warning, and throughout the meeting she would always look to the church leader before saying anything (Smith 86). Cults also use isolation to manipulate members. One family described their daughter’s behavior when she first join the Church of Wells, “She seemed to withdraw from the world, dropping out of choir and quitting her job” (Smith 85). Cults have more control when their new recruits and other members are isolated from the rest of the world. If the members’ only source of information is the cult, they are less likely to question it. One cult that uses these harmful methods is The Children of God. This religious sect grew out of the 60’s counter culture and was founded in 1968 by David Berg (Zuckerman 108). Zuckerman states that “the children were kept very separate from the parents” and used to control the parents (Zuckerman 106). There is also a constant social pressure that comes with being in a cult. An escapee from The Children of God described the pressure, stating “you weren’t allowed to have imperfection. I had a little wart on my thumb, and I remember walking down this hallway-- a
Writing a self-reflective tirade is perhaps one of the most difficult tasks to perform. I have found myself pondering this topic for an unusually long time; no one has ever asked me to write about my culture-- the one thing about myself which I understand the least. This question which is so easy for others to answer often leads me into a series of convoluted explanations, "I was born in the U.S., but lived in Pakistan since I was six. My brothers moved to the US when I was thirteen" I am now nearly twenty, which means I have spent half my life being Pakistani, the other half trying to be American, or is the other way around?
In order for cults to continue to exist they persuade people to join, at any cost. In trying to persuade people, leaders use both physically and emotionally techniques. Margaret Thaler Singer is a clinical psychologist and professor of the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. She has been a cult researcher and teacher for fifty years. According to Dr. Singer’s investigations, members of cults are often subjected to unhealthy persuasion techniques.
A cult society is an organization that basically disguises itself as a religion. In a cult, they normally perform rituals. There are usually many people in these societies. In Jim Jones’s cult, there were at least one thousand people in this community.
Some say that mankind is complex beyond comprehension. I cannot, of course, speak for every other individual on this earth, but I do not believe that I am a very difficult person to understand. My life is based upon two very simple, sweeping philosophies: pragmatism in actions and idealism in thought. Thus, with these two attitudes, I characterize myself.
At this moment when I am sitting down here writing this, I suddenly think of this time last year when I was fresh out of high school, hearing about Berea for the first time. I sent my application to Berea with lots of confidence and hope, and I knew I was not accepted. College to me, as much as to many others, is so important. At the time I heard the news of my being denied, I was disappointed, but soon I realized that my failure was just among the many challenges that anybody has to face during their lifetime. Further more, I happened to know, later on, about the two other Vietnamese who were accepted. Having known that hardly ever more than one student from each country is accepted to Berea, I was so proud to know that the ability of Vietnamese students has been recognized and that, despite of the fact that our country still faces many difficulties, the students have been trying to reach high goals.
The computing industry as a whole becomes more prosperous, exciting and attractive as an employment prospect each day. It spans a wide range of modern applications, as does my interest in the subject. I see computing science as a gateway into new realms of computing, where the highly challenging and demanding work may reap rewards of an equivalent level.
College Admissions: What motivates you to seek a college education Why is Berea College a good choice for you
I have always been interested and intrigued by computers, ever since using a BBC when I was very young. Since then I have become fluent in writing BASIC and more recently I have learnt HTML, the language of the World Wide Web on which I have my own wesite. I use computers for most of my exam coursework such as Solving Equations Using Numerical Methods for Pure Maths 2 and also for recreation.
Throughout our history, cults have become a prevalent part of our society. More and more cults are forming every day. Although not all of them are dangerous, some can perform practices that are toxic to their members. Cults use fear and control to gain more and more members. Once members join a cult, they are forced to perform the practices that the cult leaders require. It is through these practices that cult leaders convince their members to stay in the cult. Through mind control and scare tactics, cults have become a very powerful and dangerous part of our society.
In High School, college seemed to be the scariest thing that I could think of. Whenever I thought about it my stomach would immediately begin to spin in circles. Although I was ready to go off and be by myself and meet new people I was scared to death at the same time. I didn't know much about the "college experience" and what I did know (or thought I knew) scared me. I pictured hard classes that I wouldn't be able to keep up with, people that wouldn't like me, long hikes to get to my classes, and horrible food. I couldn't imagine leaving the security of my own room, my own stuff where I want it, my friends that I've spent practically my whole life with, my family who put up with all my little quirks, and my car!! What was I going to do without my precious car? Some of my friends that had already been to college and had come back to visit seemed so much older and more mature. I felt twelve years old in comparison. I thought that I would never be able to fit in. Everyone else that I talked to didn't however seem to have this problem. They all were thrilled at the thought of being on their own and not having to worry about their parents telling them what to do all the time. And sure, the thought was extremely exciting to me as well, but how would I survive without my family and friends and the things that had taken me eighteen years to get used to. I felt like going to college was pretty much taking everything that I knew and had grown accustomed to and throwing it up in the air. The worst part about it all was that I felt like I was the only one that actually thought about this. I felt so immature and childish for actually being scared to come to college. After I thought I wouldn't be able to take the pressures anymore, I decided to approach my mom about the subject. I told her that I was a little scared and the thought of being on my own made me a little uneasy.