The Florentine Renaissance Essays

The Florentine Renaissance Essays The Florentine Renaissance Essay The Florentine Renaissance Essay In Florence, and also in the surrounding cities, the Renaissance was a time of awakening and rebirth. A time of examining the present and looking towards a future that would turn out to seem entirely different from the past, but at the same time hold striking similarities. How was this possible? The transformations in Florence began with new attitudes and new priorities in the minds of her citizens. At the beginning of the period that we call the Renaissance, many cities may have seemed very much alike. Most had similar economic structures, architecture, and trades. But some cities in Italy, especially Florence, were different: The towns often had Roman origins, and to a degree survived the social disorder of the barbarian invasions of the earlier middle ages. Not only was physical infrastructure often in place, but also the glue which gave order to civic arrangements, in form of the hardy survival of Roman law. Each town had its myth of origin, which not surprisingly usually fea tured a picture of a Roman, in the case of Florence usually Julius Caesar of the emperor Augustus. (12).Florence had a very strong history that had obvious influence on daily life. Therefore, even while Renaissance ideas and art began to take over, the foundations of the city were never lost or forgotten. Rather, the old was incorporated into the new.Florence was steeped in her Roman origins and her Christianity, both playing to full effect when dressed in the rhetoric of cultural supremacy. (20). Florentines were proud of their roots and their contemporary culture, and they demonstrated this in sometimes chaotic ways. We also know that religion was what made the city turn. Florentines lives were focused around Christianity. Religion saturated Florentine life to an extent that few questioned. (32). This attitude of revolutionizing their culture while at the same time maintaining long-he

India is similar (or not similar) to the Bodley profile of Tribal Essay

India is similar (or not similar) to the Bodley profile of Tribal Culture - Essay Example Yet certain characteristics of them all were common. For example, culture is always based on symbols which people hold in high esteem; a culture of a region is shared by the people living in that particular society; a culture is learned, that is, it is taught to everybody in the society; and lastly, culture is adaptive; in other words, as the world and times change, culture also evolves. When we speak of tribal culture we must remember that it varies greatly from place to place. Certain cultures in the Oceanic Islands (such as Fiji) would be cannibalistic, while tribal regions in India are staunch vegetarians. According to Bodley though, certain features are very much alike; for example, tribal cultures are predominantly agriculture based, with the natives producing their own food and not dependent on outside sources. By definition, a tribe generally consists of a few hundred people living together in settled villages. Their chief mode of gaining sustenance is farming (horticultural or pastorical) and hunting and their economy is simple and uncomplicated. People rely more on barter, gift swapping, and labor in exchange for goods, rather than on cash and credit. Hence comparatively, their monetary status is not as complicated as those living in more industrialized cultures. Neither, in fact, is their way of living. Tribal cultures are usually not as technologically dependent, relying mostly on simple tools for work. Their society is often divided into different lineages and ‘clans’ and most people can trace their descent to common ancestors. Every lineage and clan has a similar status in the tribe, with certain people (probably due to greater riches, or experience) are gifted with the title of ‘elders’ or ‘big men’. They are usually looked up to and have profound influence in most tribal decisions. India is one of the largest countries population-wise, and its growing industrialization is a credit to its present and

What does freedom of the press mean To what extent does it exist in Assignment

What does freedom of the press mean To what extent does it exist in modern Britain - Assignment Example On the corresponding side, we find that many countries have the ‘freedom of information laws’ or the ‘sunshine laws’ that while defining the scope and extent of the so called ‘national security /interest,’ also allows a citizen to take legal recourses, where he can appeal to get access to government protected information at a minimal charge. UK has implemented this freedom of Information Act 2000 s. 36 (The National Archives, Freedom of Information Act 2000), which gives freedom to its people to access certain parts of the protected information. In this article, I will examine the concept of freedom of press, and will study to find its relevance in modern day UK. Discussion The ‘right to express’ falls under the category of basic human rights and civil liberties, where the state is under obligation to provide for these fundamental rights to its citizens, under the International Convention of human rights, and also the European Conve ntion of human rights. ... Freedom of press is generally covered under the provisions freedom of speech or the right to express, where publications by the press receive the same legal protections as are given to any the other forms of publication, and oral speeches. Freedom of press is seen to be the core feature of democracy, while â€Å"censorship and other restrictions on the press are the hallmark of totalitarian and suppressive regimes† (Baldock, Manning and Vickerstaff, 2007, 100). However it is not always necessary that a government be openly suppressive or manipulative, in its control over the press. There are often more subtle and insidious means (as seen in UK) over controlling the press and blocking or limiting the available information, thus making reporting difficult on certain incidents (ibid). In this context we will now examine as to how the press operates in UK, and will explore to see whether it is really as Baldock, Manning and Vickerstaff claim that the UK government cuts down on the freedom of the press in a very subtle manner. The Human Rights Act (HRA) that was passed on 9th November 1998 by the UK government (made effective from 2nd October 2000), was aimed at giving more force to the rights, framed within the European Convention on Human Rights. The HRA, which provides for individual rights in UK, also gives the press freedom to express. Thus, from the government’s point of view, we find that there are indeed provisions made for the freedom of press in UK. However in the last few years it has been seen that the freedom of press has turned into a nightmare of sorts, for many of the celebrities and well known personalities in UK. This has led to speculations, both within the general public and the government, as to

Operations Management in Stickley Furniture Company Essay

Operations Management in Stickley Furniture Company - Essay Example I think that the production process being shown by Stickley Furniture Company includes batch, job shop and repetitive processes. The Company does not have a continuous because of the type of products they produce. In case of continuous process, it needs an automated system where raw materials are continuously placed or fed to the packing stage. The best mode of production I would propose to be used by Stickley furniture is batch because crafts and machines used to manufacture different parts of the products are distinct. The top is made separately, artisans, sanders and painters play their parts during production. To a lesser extent, I may propose that a continuous production process of furniture be used. This is shown at the sawing stage a stage where a computerized sawing machine is applied. Meanwhile, a manual identification of knots is done by workers. Tracking job status of employees is very significant in the inventory control and customer service. In order to keep track of job status in the company, I think that the management has set up automated and manual processes which can be used as a means of tracking job status of furniture in the production line. As a means of identifying product location, there is product stamping for dates such as drawers and cabinet doors so that manufacturing dates can be easily obtained by interested people. Based on my thinking, I think that the best way to manage the company operation is to first comprehend the market needs to be followed by making available all required financial and human resources to ensure that production cycle is well managed. The Company has adopted a system of the relating size of production lots with the immediate market requirements or demands which I think is the best system to avoid dead stocks. Suppose the company has received such a big order, there are certain spec ific plans, schedules and process which must be set up as a direction to manufacturing quality oak dining tables on time.

Selection and Decision Making in Recruitment Essay Example for Free

Selection and Decision Making in Recruitment Essay For this assignment I am required to produce an information leaflet, for a newly appointed manager, which will describe how to plan for effective selection interviews in order to appoint the perfect individual/s for the job. My chosen organisation is Tesco who conduct different selection processes for different jobs; I will be concentrating on the floor manager of a Tesco store. Newly appointed floor managers for my chosen organisation Tesco will have to plan ahead, communicate effectively and make discuss selection and decision making. One of the main things the manager has to do before the selection process even starts is prior planning, below is what the manager has to do before the interview takes place: The manager of Tesco has to plan prior to the interview; he/she has to select the interview panel. The manager of Tesco can select a supervisor and executive manager for the panel as these people are already working within the store and the manager doesnt have to go and get other human resources from headquarters which waste valuable time. Having a interview panel is effective as it makes sure discrimination against the applicant/s doesnt happen and also the panel can check if the level of techniques such as communicational skills are used throughout all the interviews, it makes sure standards dont slip. Types of interview: The manager has to decide what sort of interview he/she will have to under take, considering in this case the manager is a Tescofloor manager he/she should only consider group interviews if employing staff on a large scale such as floor staff, (shelf stackers, costumer service assistance etc) this will save time as larger number of applicants are interviews quicker, however, having group interview means not all skills of an individual may be known to the manager but this does not matter as much as these applicants are only floor staff. Also one-to-one interviews should be considered because these interviews discover a lot about the applicant as it is only one person and not a group, a one-to-one interview is suitable for a higher ranking job such as assistant manager as more skills are required compared to a shelf stacker. Tescos do not need to  conduct any other types of interviews such as telephone interviews because it is not suitable for the job they advertise. The amount of stages in the interview has to be considered, for Tesco the manager has a choice between singular staged or multiple staged interviews, it is suitable to have a multiple staged interview which Tesco currently do than a one staged interview, more stages means the applicant goes through intense testing and interviews meaning he/she is more likely to be suitable for the job. Doing a singular staged interview doesnt find out all the skills of a person and the wrong person may be selected for the job and also that person may perform bad on that one interview, whereas, having more than one stage means the performance can be averaged which is more fair. However, the more stages in interviews the more time, so, the manager has to consider time as it will take more time for multiple staged interviews. Other selection methods will have to be considered, Tesco currently undertake Psychometric Tests which measure the sensitivity or memory or intelligence or aptitude or personality of the applicant, this should be undertaken by the floor manager of Tescos as most of the staff will need good personality, memory etc for their job as they will be working with costumers. There are also multiple choice questions which are a series of question and usually four possible answers where one answer is correct, this usually finds out the technical knowledge of the applicant of the job. Finally, the manager must consider during the planning equal opportunities, he/she will have to undertake measures to make sure each applicant is treated equally and not discriminated; having an interview panel solves this problem as there is more than one person conducting the interview and less chance of discriminations. Also, a tape recorder can be used so if the applicant protests to the way he/she was treated, the tape can be used as evidence. Communicational Skills The manager has to consider his/hers/interviewers communicational skills; this is a vital role in an interview as it can make the applicant reject the  job due to inappropriate language used. Firstly, the manager has to decide whether to use effective, ineffective or a combination of both questions because asking too many ineffective questions may bore the applicant, whereas, having too many effective questions may make the applicant feel uncomfortable, so, I would recommend to use a combination of both effective and ineffective question so the applicant is neither bored or uncomfortable throughout the interview. As the floor manager will be looking for certain skills from his potential employees, asking various types questions would be ideal to find out the skills, this is an indirect way of knowing the applicants skills and is another way to check the applicant is not lying about his/her skills, a direct way of finding out about the skills is to look at the applicants CV, ask previous employer and/or ask direct questions to the applicant. I would recommend the manager to use various types of questions, below is what the manager should use or tell the interviewer to use during the interview itself: Open questions These are questions without a particular answer and makes the applicant feel less under pressure as its an indirect question, an example of an open question is Why do you want the job? or How do you handle stress?, the advantage of using these types of questions is that it lets the interviewer know the creative side of the applicant and is a way not making the applicant uncomfortable. Closed questions These are basically yes or no questions. They are very direct and I wouldnt recommend the manager to make use of these very much as they make the applicant feel uncomfortable, however, they do find out the relevant information and an example of a closed question is Do you have a criminal record? or Can you work in a group?. Hypothetical/ Situational These are similar types of questions, these are used to see if you would do the right thing during a situations e.g. the interviewer may ask what would you do if you saw someone stealing? this would be an ideal question as this person would be working in Tescos were stealing is quite common and the applicants answer should be something like I would inform security instead of saying something like I would ignore it which would send the wrong message out to the interviewer. The manager has to consider how personal information such as criminal records could be checked; he/she could either directly ask the applicant during the interview, check the applicants CV before the interview and/or check with the criminal records bureau to confirm any spent convictions. The manager of Tescos will also have to make sure the interviewer or himself make use of good body language, this means using the right tone of voice and not being rude, this makes the applicant feel welcomed and feel he/she is an ideal environment rather than in an environment where he/she is under pressure. At the same time the manager has to make sure that the interviewer listens to the applicant, it is always important to ask the applicant if he/she has anything to say rather than ending the interview with a goodbye. Furthermore, the interview is about the applicant not the interviewer, so, the applicant should be speaking more than the interviewer, and about 80% of the interview should be the applicant speaking. Analysis and summarisation of information gathered in the interview is vital as it is needed during short listing candidates, there are several ways in which the interviewer can gather information, firstly via a tape recorder, and this does not waste the interviewers time as he/she doesnt have to write much down. Secondly, the interviewer her/himself can simply use a pen and paper to gather information during the interview, however, this is time consuming and all information may not be accurate and finally, there could be two interviewers, on asking questions and the other gathering and analysing information, this is a good idea as this system also makes sure discrimination doesnt take place.

Prospero’s Loss in Shakespeares The Tempest Essay -- Tempest essays

Prospero’s Loss in The Tempest       Shakespeare’s The Tempest is a play about loss - more specifically, Prospero’s loss. Prospero is a tragic hero, in a sense, because he makes the transition from having everything to having nothing. He loses his daughter. He brings his enemies under his power only to eventually lose control and release them. In the end, he gives up his influence on the world – including his incredible power over nature itself. The Tempest can be seen as a tragic play because of a few elements – Prospero is a dominant figure who must have revenge in return for the wrongs inflicted upon him, and, in his fury, he manages to destroy his enemies as well as his own humanity and his daughter’s future.    Prospero is shown to be somewhat of a dictator in The Tempest. He doesn’t speak to the other characters, instead he dictates â€Å"at† them. Rather than converse with his daughter Miranda, Prince Ferdinand, and Ariel, he tells them his thoughts with no intention of receiving a response. At the end of Act IV Prospero is caught up in the ecstasy of punishing and determining the fate of ... ... William Shakespeare. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1958. xlii. Palmer, D. J. (Editor) The Tempest - A Selection of Critical Essays London: MacMillan Press Ltd., 1977. Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans, et. al. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974. Solomon, Andrew. "A Reading of the Tempest." In Shakespeare's Late Plays. Ed. Richard C. Tobias and Paul G. Zolbrod. Athens: Ohio UP, 1974. 232. John Wilders' lecture on The Tempest given at Oxford University - Worcester College - August 4th, 1999. Prospero’s Loss in Shakespeare's The Tempest Essay -- Tempest essays Prospero’s Loss in The Tempest       Shakespeare’s The Tempest is a play about loss - more specifically, Prospero’s loss. Prospero is a tragic hero, in a sense, because he makes the transition from having everything to having nothing. He loses his daughter. He brings his enemies under his power only to eventually lose control and release them. In the end, he gives up his influence on the world – including his incredible power over nature itself. The Tempest can be seen as a tragic play because of a few elements – Prospero is a dominant figure who must have revenge in return for the wrongs inflicted upon him, and, in his fury, he manages to destroy his enemies as well as his own humanity and his daughter’s future.    Prospero is shown to be somewhat of a dictator in The Tempest. He doesn’t speak to the other characters, instead he dictates â€Å"at† them. Rather than converse with his daughter Miranda, Prince Ferdinand, and Ariel, he tells them his thoughts with no intention of receiving a response. At the end of Act IV Prospero is caught up in the ecstasy of punishing and determining the fate of ... ... William Shakespeare. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1958. xlii. Palmer, D. J. (Editor) The Tempest - A Selection of Critical Essays London: MacMillan Press Ltd., 1977. Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans, et. al. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974. Solomon, Andrew. "A Reading of the Tempest." In Shakespeare's Late Plays. Ed. Richard C. Tobias and Paul G. Zolbrod. Athens: Ohio UP, 1974. 232. John Wilders' lecture on The Tempest given at Oxford University - Worcester College - August 4th, 1999.

Carl Jung Theory Essay

Jung’s theory divides the psyche into three parts. The first is the ego, which Jung identifies with the conscious mind. Closely related is the personal unconscious, which includes anything that is not presently conscious, but can be. The personal unconscious is like most people’s understanding of the unconscious in that it includes both memories that are easily brought to mind and those that have been suppressed for some reason. But it does not include the instincts that Freud would have it include. But then Jung adds the part of the psyche that makes his theory stand out from all others: the collective unconscious. You could call it your â€Å"psychic inheritance. † It is the reservoir of our experiences as a species, a kind of knowledge we are all born with. And yet we can never be directly conscious of it. It influences all of our experiences and behaviors, most especially the emotional ones, but we only know about it indirectly, by looking at those influences. There are some experiences that show the effects of the collective unconscious more clearly than others: The experiences of love at first sight, of deja vu (the feeling that you’ve been here before), and the immediate recognition of certain symbols and the meanings of certain myths, could all be understood as the sudden conjunction of our outer reality and the inner reality of the collective unconscious. Grander examples are the creative experiences shared by artists and musicians all over the world and in all times, or the spiritual experiences of mystics of all religions, or the parallels in dreams, fantasies, mythologies, fairy tales, and literature. A nice example that has been greatly discussed recently is the near-death experience. It seems that many people, of many different cultural backgrounds, find that they have very similar recollections when they are brought back from a close encounter with death. They speak of leaving their bodies, seeing their bodies and the events surrounding them clearly, of being pulled through a long tunnel towards a bright light, of seeing deceased relatives or religious figures waiting for them, and of their disappointment at having to leave this happy scene to return to their bodies. Perhaps we are all â€Å"built† to experience death in this fashion. Archetypes The contents of the collective unconscious are called archetypes. Jung also called them dominants, imagos, mythological or primordial images, and a few other names, but archetypes seem to have won out over these. An archetype is an unlearned tendency to experience things in a certain way. The archetype has no form of its own, but it acts as an â€Å"organizing principle† on the things we see or do. It works the way that instincts work in Freud’s theory: At first, the baby just wants something to eat, without knowing what it wants. It has a rather indefinite yearning, which, nevertheless, can be satisfied by some things and not by others. Later, with experience, the child begins to yearn for something more specific when it is hungry — a bottle, a cookie, a broiled lobster, a slice of New York style pizza. The archetype is like a black hole in space: You only know its there by how it draws matter and light to itself. The mother archetype The mother archetype is a particularly good example. All of our ancestors had mothers. We have evolved in an environment that included a mother or mother-substitute. We would never have survived without our connection with a nurturing-one during our times as helpless infants. It stands to reason that we are â€Å"built† in a way that reflects that evolutionary environment: We come into this world ready to want mother, to seek her, to recognize her, to deal with her. So the mother archetype is our built-in ability to recognize a certain relationship, that of â€Å"mothering. † Jung says that this is rather abstract, and we are likely to project the archetype out into the world and onto a particular person, usually our own mothers. Even when an archetype doesn’t have a particular real person available, we tend to personify the archetype, that is, turn it into a mythological â€Å"story-book† character. This character symbolizes the archetype. The mother archetype is symbolized by the primordial mother or â€Å"earth mother† of mythology, by Eve and Mary in western traditions, and by less personal symbols such as the church, the nation, a forest, or the ocean. According to Jung, someone whose own mother failed to satisfy the demands of the archetype may well be one that spends his or her life seeking comfort in the church, or in identification with â€Å"the motherland,† or in meditating upon the figure of Mary, or in a life at sea. Mana You must understand that these archetypes are not really biological things, like Freud’s instincts. They are more spiritual demands. For example, if you dreamt about long things, Freud might suggest these things represent the phallus and ultimately sex. But Jung might have a very different interpretation. Even dreaming quite specifically about a penis might not have much to do with some unfulfilled need for sex. It is curious that in primitive societies, phallic symbols do not usually refer to sex at all. They usually symbolize mana, or spiritual power. These symbols would be displayed on occasions when the spirits are being called upon to increase the yield of corn, or fish, or to heal someone. The connection between the penis and strength, between semen and seed, between fertilization and fertility are understood by most cultures. The shadow Sex and the life instincts in general are, of course, represented somewhere in Jung’s system. They are a part of an archetype called the shadow. It derives from our prehuman, animal past, when our concerns were limited to survival and reproduction, and when we weren’t self-conscious. It is the â€Å"dark side† of the ego, and the evil that we are capable of is often stored there. Actually, the shadow is amoral — neither good nor bad, just like animals. An animal is capable of tender care for its young and vicious killing for food, but it doesn’t choose to do either. It just does what it does. It is â€Å"innocent. † But from our human perspective, the animal world looks rather brutal, inhuman, so the shadow becomes something of a garbage can for the parts of ourselves that we can’t quite admit to. Symbols of the shadow include the snake (as in the garden of Eden), the dragon, monsters, and demons. It often guards the entrance to a cave or a pool of water, which is the collective unconscious. Next time you dream about wrestling with the devil, it may only be yourself you are wrestling with! The persona The persona represents your public image. The word is, obviously, related to the word person and personality, and comes from a Latin word for mask. So the persona is the mask you put on before you show yourself to the outside world. Although it begins as an archetype, by the time we are finished realizing it, it is the part of us most distant from the collective unconscious. At its best, it is just the â€Å"good impression† we all wish to present as we fill the roles society requires of us. But, of course, it can also be the â€Å"false impression† we use to manipulate people’s opinions and behaviors. And, at its worst, it can be mistaken, even by ourselves, for our true nature: Sometimes we believe we really are what we pretend to be! Anima and animus A part of our persona is the role of male or female we must play. For most people that role is determined by their physical gender. But Jung, like Freud and Adler and others, felt that we are all really bisexual in nature. When we begin our lives as fetuses, we have undifferentiated sex organs that only gradually, under the influence of hormones, become male or female. Likewise, when we begin our social lives as infants, we are neither male nor female in the social sense. Almost immediately — as soon as those pink or blue booties go on — we come under the influence of society, which gradually molds us into men and women. In all societies, the expectations placed on men and women differ, usually based on our different roles in reproduction, but often involving many details that are purely traditional. In our society today, we still have many remnants of these traditional expectations. Women are still expected to be more nurturant and less aggressive; men are still expected to be strong and to ignore the emotional side of life. But Jung felt these expectations meant that we had developed only half of our potential. The anima is the female aspect present in the collective unconscious of men, and the animus is the male aspect present in the collective unconscious of women. Together, they are referred to as syzygy. The anima may be personified as a young girl, very spontaneous and intuitive, or as a witch, or as the earth mother. It is likely to be associated with deep emotionality and the force of life itself. The animus may be personified as a wise old man, a sorcerer, or often a number of males, and tends to be logical, often rationalistic, and even argumentative. The anima or animus is the archetype through which you communicate with the collective unconscious generally, and it is important to get into touch with it. It is also the archetype that is responsible for much of our love life: We are, as an ancient Greek myth suggests, always looking for our other  half, the half that the Gods took from us, in members of the opposite sex. When we fall in love at first sight, then we have found someone that â€Å"fills† our anima or animus archetype particularly well! Other archetypes Jung said that there is no fixed number of archetypes that we could simply list and memorize. They overlap and easily melt into each other as needed, and their logic is not the usual kind. But here are some he mentions: Besides mother, their are other family archetypes. Obviously, there is father, who is often symbolized by a guide or an authority figure. There is also the archetype family, which represents the idea of blood relationship and ties that run deeper than those based on conscious reasons. There is also the child, represented in mythology and art by children, infants most especially, as well as other small creatures. The Christ child celebrated at Christmas is a manifestation of the child archetype, and represents the future, becoming, rebirth, and salvation. Curiously, Christmas falls during the winter solstice, which in northern primitive cultures also represents the future and rebirth. People used to light bonfires and perform ceremonies to encourage the sun’s return to them. The child archetype often blends with other archetypes to form the child-god, or the child-hero. Many archetypes are story characters. The hero is one of the main ones. He is the mana personality and the defeater of evil dragons. Basically, he represents the ego — we do tend to identify with the hero of the story — and is often engaged in fighting the shadow, in the form of dragons and other monsters. The hero is, however, often dumb as a post. He is, after all, ignorant of the ways of the collective unconscious. Luke Skywalker, in the Star Wars films, is the perfect example of a hero. The hero is often out to rescue the maiden. She represents purity, innocence, and, in all likelihood, naivete. In the beginning of the Star Wars story, Princess Leia is the maiden. But, as the story progresses, she becomes the anima, discovering the powers of the force — the collective unconscious — and becoming an equal partner with Luke, who turns out to be her brother. The wise old man guides the hero. He is a form of the animus, and reveals to the hero the nature of the collective unconscious. In Star Wars, he is played by Obi Wan Kenobi and, later, Yoda. Notice that they teach Luke about the force and, as Luke matures, they die and become a part of him. You might be curious as to the archetype represented by Darth Vader, the â€Å"dark father. † He is the shadow and the master of the dark side of the force. He also turns out to be Luke and Leia’s father. When he dies, he becomes one of the wise old men. There is also an animal archetype, representing humanity’s relationships with the animal world. The hero’s faithful horse would be an example. Snakes are often symbolic of the animal archetype, and are thought to be particularly wise. Animals, after all, are more in touch with their natures than we are. Perhaps loyal little robots and reliable old spaceships — the Falcon– are also symbols of animal. And there is the trickster, often represented by a clown or a magician. The trickster’s role is to hamper the hero’s progress and to generally make trouble. In Norse mythology, many of the gods’ adventures originate in some trick or another played on their majesties by the half-god Loki. There are other archetypes that are a little more difficult to talk about. One is the original man, represented in western religion by Adam. Another is the God archetype, representing our need to comprehend the universe, to give a meaning to all that happens, to see it all as having some purpose and direction. The hermaphrodite, both male and female, represents the union of opposites, an important idea in Jung’s theory. In some religious art, Jesus is presented as a rather feminine man. Likewise, in China, the character Kuan Yin began as a male saint (the bodhisattva Avalokiteshwara), but was portrayed in such a feminine manner that he is more often thought of as the female goddess of compassion! The most important archetype of all is the self. The self is the ultimate unity of the personality and is symbolized by the circle, the cross, and the mandala figures that Jung was fond of painting. A mandala is a drawing that is used in meditation because it tends to draw your focus back to the center, and it can be as simple as a geometric figure or as complicated as a stained glass window. The personifications that best represent self are Christ and Buddha, two people who many believe achieved perfection. But Jung felt that perfection of the personality is only truly achieved in death.