The Virgin by Kerima Polotan Tuvera Essay Example

The Virgin by Kerima Polotan Tuvera Essay He went to where Miss Mijares sat, a tall, big man, walking with an economy of movement, graceful and light, a man who knew his body and used it well. He sat in the low chair worn decrepit by countless other interviewers and laid all ten fingerprints carefully on the edge of her desk. She pushed a sheet towards him, rolling a pencil along with it. While he read the question and wrote down his answers, she glanced at her watch and saw that it was ten. I shall be coming back quickly, she said, speaking distinctly in the dialect (you were never sure about these people on their first visit, if they could speak English, or even write at all, the poor were always proud and to use the dialect with them was an act of charity), you will wait for me. As she walked to the cafeteria, Miss Mijares thought how she could easily have said, Please wait for me, or will you wait for me? But years of working for the placement section had dulled the edges of her instinct for courtesy. She spoke now pere mtorily, with an abruptness she knew annoyed the people about her. When she talked with the jobless across her desk, asking them the damning questions that completed their humiliation, watching pale tongues run over dry lips, dirt crusted handkerchiefs flutter in trembling hands, she was filled with an impatience she could not understand. Sign here, she had said thousands of times, pushing the familiar form across, her finger held to a line, feeling the impatience grow at sight of the man or woman tracing a wavering X or laying the impress of a thumb. Invariably, Miss Mijares would turn away to touch the delicate edge of the handkerchief she wore on her breast. We will write a custom essay sample on The Virgin by Kerima Polotan Tuvera specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Virgin by Kerima Polotan Tuvera specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Virgin by Kerima Polotan Tuvera specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Where she sat alone at one of the cafeteria tables, Miss Mijares did not look 34. She was slight, almost bony, but she had learned early how to dress herself to achieve an illusion of hips and bosom. She liked poufs and shirrings and little girlish pastel colors. On her bodice, astride or lengthwise, there sat an inevitable row of thick camouflaging ruffles that made her look almost as though she had a bosom, if she bent her shoulders slightly and inconspicuously drew her neckline open to puff some air into her bodice. Her brow was smooth and clear and she was always pushing off it the hair she kept in tight curls at night. She had thin cheeks, small and angular, falling down to what would have been a nondescript, receding chin, but Natures hand had erred and given her a jaw instead. When displeased, she had a lippy, almost sensual pout, surprising on such a small face. So while not exactly an ugly woman, she was no beauty. She teetered precariously on the border line to which belonged countless others who you found, if they were not working at some job, in the kitchen of some married sisters house shushing a brood of devilish little nephews. And yet Miss Mijares did think of love. Secret, short-lived thoughts flitted through her mind in the jeepneys she took to work when a man pressed down beside her and through her dress she felt the curve of his thigh; when she held a baby in her arms, a married friends baby or a relatives, holding in her hands the tiny, pulsing body, what thoughts did she not think, her eyes straying against her will to the bedroom door and then to her friends laughing, talking face, to think: how did it look now, spread upon a pillow, unmasked of the little wayward coquetries, how went the lines about the mouth and beneath the eyes: (did they close? did they open? in the one final, fatal coquetry of all? to finally, miserably bury her face in the babys hair. And in the movies, to sink into a seat as into an embrace, in the darkness with a hundred shadowy figures about her and high on the screen, a man kissing a womans mouth while her own fingers stole unconsciously to her unbruised lips. When she was younger, there had been other things to do college to finish, a niece to put through school, a mother to care for. She had gone through all these with singular patience, for it had seemed to her that love stood behind her, biding her time, a quiet hand upon her shoulder (I wait. Do not despair) so that if she wished she had but to turn from her mothers bed to see the man and all her timid, pure dreams would burst into glory. But it had taken her parent many years to die. Towards the end, it had become a thankless chore, kneading her mothers loose flesh, hour after hour, struggling to awaken the cold, sluggish blood in her drying body. In the end, she had died her toothless, thin-haired, flabby-fleshed mother and Miss Mijares had pushed against the bed in grief and also in gratitude. But neither love nor glory stood behind her, only the empty shadows, and nine years gone, nine years. In the room for her unburied dead, she had held up her hands to the light, noting the thick, durable fingers, thinking in a mixture of shame and bitterness and guilt that they had never touched a man. When she returned to the bleak replacement office, the man stood by a window, his back to her, half-bending over something he held in his hands. Here, she said, approaching, have you signed this? Yes, he replied, facing her. In his hands, he held her paperweight, an old gift from long ago, a heavy wooden block on which stood, as though poised for flight, an undistinguished, badly done bird. It had come apart recently. The screws beneath the block had loosened so that lately it had stood upon her desk with one wing tilted unevenly, a miniature eagle or swallow? felled by time before it could spread its wings. She had laughed and laughed that day it had fallen on her desk, plop! What happened? What happened? they had asked her, beginning to laugh, and she had said, caught between amusement and sharp despair, Some one shot it, and she had laughed and laughed till faces turned and eyebrows rose and she told herself, whoa, get a hold, a hold, a hold! He had turned it and with a penknife tightened the screws and dusted it. In this mans hands, cupped like that, it looked suddenly like a dove. She took it away from him and put it down on her table. Then she picked up his paper and read it. He was a high school graduate. He was also a carpenter. He was not starved, like the rest. His clothes, though old, were pressed and she could see the cuffs of his shirt buttoned and wrapped about big, strong wrists. I heard about this place, he said, from a friend you got a job at the pier. Seated, he towered over her, Im not starving yet, he said with a quick smile. I still got some money from that last job, but my team broke up after that and you got too many jobs if youre working alone. You know carpentering, he continued, you cant finish a job quickly enough if you got to do the planing and sawing and nailing all by your lone self. You got to be on a team. Perhaps he was not meaning to be impolite? But for a jobseeker, Miss Mijares thought, he talked too much and without call. He was bursting all over with an obtruding insolence that at once disarmed and annoyed her. So then she drew a slip and wrote his name on it. Since you are not starving yet, she said, speaking in English now, wanting to put him in his place, you will not mind working in our woodcraft section, three times a week at two-fifty to four a day, depending on your skill and the foremans discretion, for two or three months after which there might be a call from outside we may hold for you. Thank you, he said. He came on the odd days, Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday. She was often down at the shanty that housed their bureaus woodcraft, talking with Ato, his foreman, going over with him the list of old hands due for release. They hired their men on a rotation basis and three months was the longest one could stay. The new one there, hey, Ato said once. Were breaking him in proper. And he looked across several shirted backs to where he stopped, planing what was to become the side of a bookcase. How much was he going to get? Miss Mijares asked Ato on Wednesday. Three, the old man said, chewing away on a cud. She looked at the list in her hands, quickly running a pencil down. But hes filling a four-peso vacancy, she said. Come now, surprised that she should wheedle so, give him the extra peso. Only a half, the stubborn foreman shook his head, three-fifty. Ato says I have you to thank, he said, stopping Miss Mijares along a pathway in the compound. It was noon, that unhappy hour of the day when she was oldest, tiredest, when it seemed the sun put forth cruel fingers to search out the signs of age on her thin, pinched face. The crows feet showed unmistakably beneath her eyes and she smiled widely to cover th em up and aquinting a little, said, Only a half-peso Ato would have given it to you eventually. Yes, but you spoke for me, he said, his big body heaving before her. Thank you, though I dont need it as badly as the rest, for to look at me, you would knew I have no wife yet. She looked at him sharply, feeling the malice in his voice. Id do it for any one, she said and turned away, angry and also ashamed, as though he had found out suddenly that the ruffles on her dress rested on a flat chest. The following week, something happened to her: she lost her way home. Miss Mijares was quite sure she had boarded the right jeepneys but the driver, hoping to beat traffic, had detoured down a side alley, and then seeing he was low on gas, he took still another shortcut to a filling station. After that, he rode through alien country. The houses were low and dark, the people shadowy, and even the driver, who earlier had been an amiable, talkative fellow, now loomed like a sinister stranger over the wheel. Through it all, she sat tightly, feeling oddly that she had dreamed of this, that some night not very long ago, she had taken a ride in her sleep and lost her way. Again and again, in that dream, she had changed direction, losing her way each time, for something huge and bewildering stood blocking the old, familiar road home. But that evening, she was lost only for a while. The driver stopped at a corner that looked like a little known part of the boulevard she passed each day and she alighted and stood on a street island, the passing headlights playing on her, a tired, shaken woman, the ruffles on her skirt crumpled, the hemline of her skirt awry. The new hand was absent for a week. Miss Mijares waited on that Tuesday he first failed to report for some word from him sent to Ato and then to her. That was regulation. Briefly though they were held, the bureau jobs were not ones to take chances with. When a man was absent and he sent no word, it upset the system. In the absence of a definite notice, someone else who needed a job badly was kept away from it. I went to the province, maam, he said, on his return. You could have sent someone to tell us, she said. It was an emergency, maam, he said. My son died. How so? A slow bitter anger began to form inside her. But you said you were not married! No, maam, he said gesturing. Are you married? she asked loudly. No, maam. But you have you had a son! she said. I am not married to his mother, he said, grinning stupidly, and for the first time she noticed his two front teeth were set widely apart. A flush had climbed to his face, suffusing it, and two large throbbing veins crawled along his temples. She looked away, sick all at once. You should told us everything, she said and she put forth hands to restrain her anger but it slipped away she stood shaking despite herself. I did not think, he said. Your lives are our business here, she shouted. It rained that afternoon in one of the citys fierce, unexpected thunder-storms. Without warning, it seemed to shine outside Miss Mijares window a gray, unhappy look. It was past six when Miss Mijares, ventured outside the office. Night had come swiftly and from the dark sky the thick, black, rainy curtain continued to fall. She stood on the curb, telling herself she must not lose her way tonight. When she flagged a jeepney and got in, somebody jumped in after her. She looked up into the carpenters faintly smiling eyes. She nodded her head once in recognition and then turned away. The cold tight fear of the old dream was upon her. Before she had time to think, the driver had swerved his vehicle and swung into a side street. Perhaps it was a different alley this time. But it wound itself in the same tortuous manner as before, now by the banks of overflowing esteros, again behind faintly familiar buildings. She bent her tiny, distraught face, conjuring in her heart the lonely safety of the street island she had stood on for an hour that night of her confusion. Only this far, folks, the driver spoke, stopping his vehicle. Main streets a block straight ahead. But its raining, someone protested. Sorry. But if I got into a traffic, I wont come out of it in a year. Sorry. One by one the passengers got off, walking swiftly, disappearing in the night. Miss Mijares stepped down to a sidewalk in front of a boarded store. The wind had begun again and she could hear it whipping in the eaves above her head. Maam, the mans voice sounded at her shoulders, I am sorry if you thought I lied. She gestured, bestowing pardon. Up and down the empty, rain-beaten street she looked. It was as though all at once everyone else had died and they were alone in the world, in the dark. In her secret heart, Miss Mijares young dreams fluttered faintly to life, seeming monstrous in the rain, near this man seeming monstrous but sweet overwhelming. I must get away, she thought wildly, but he had moved and brushed against her, and where his touch had fallen, her flesh leaped, and she recalled how his hands had looked that first day, lain tenderly on the edge of her desk and about the wooden bird (that had looked like a moving, shining dove) and she turned to him with her ruffles wet and wilted, in the dark she turned to him. from: http://pinoylit. blogspot. com/2005/03/virgin-by-kerima-polotan-tuvera. html

Free Essays on Foreign Policy And Violece

Most of the United States problems are now self induced due to its over involvement in foreign policy. Often the method of â€Å"keeping the peace† in an ally country is the use of military force. This excessive use of the military directly draws extra money from the tax payers pocket and puts our soldiers at risk just to make America look like the good guy. The United States (U.S) should become more neutral in world matters and only act when necessary because it will save the American people money, save American lives and The United States will not seem like an unfriendly giant always using its force to snuff others out. The United States spends about one billion dollars a day on the military. That adds up to a total of 365 billion dollars a year of tax payers’ money and the U.S has not been involved in a major war since the early nineties. So why is all of this money being spent on the military? It’s because The United States involves itself in the small skirmishes of its allies. For example, large amounts of artillery and thousands of troops each year attempt to keep peace between Iraq and Iran. Even though this is not a massive amount of U.S military force, the money being budgeted to pay the men and women who are there and the money spent on the weapons they use could be used to solve New Hampshire’s crisis of funding education. Although how tax payers’ money is spent it is not as important as the lives of the men and women who make up America’s armed forces and the civilians that they protect. Each year soldiers die away from American soil trying to aid its allies, usually for some type of self-benefit. Yes, these deaths are horrible, but they can be reconciled by saying that these men and women die honorably in the line of duty, fighting for his or her country. What wounds can never be healed are those of saying to a wife or husband that his or her spouse burned to death on the eightieth floor due to a terrorist act ... Free Essays on Foreign Policy And Violece Free Essays on Foreign Policy And Violece Most of the United States problems are now self induced due to its over involvement in foreign policy. Often the method of â€Å"keeping the peace† in an ally country is the use of military force. This excessive use of the military directly draws extra money from the tax payers pocket and puts our soldiers at risk just to make America look like the good guy. The United States (U.S) should become more neutral in world matters and only act when necessary because it will save the American people money, save American lives and The United States will not seem like an unfriendly giant always using its force to snuff others out. The United States spends about one billion dollars a day on the military. That adds up to a total of 365 billion dollars a year of tax payers’ money and the U.S has not been involved in a major war since the early nineties. So why is all of this money being spent on the military? It’s because The United States involves itself in the small skirmishes of its allies. For example, large amounts of artillery and thousands of troops each year attempt to keep peace between Iraq and Iran. Even though this is not a massive amount of U.S military force, the money being budgeted to pay the men and women who are there and the money spent on the weapons they use could be used to solve New Hampshire’s crisis of funding education. Although how tax payers’ money is spent it is not as important as the lives of the men and women who make up America’s armed forces and the civilians that they protect. Each year soldiers die away from American soil trying to aid its allies, usually for some type of self-benefit. Yes, these deaths are horrible, but they can be reconciled by saying that these men and women die honorably in the line of duty, fighting for his or her country. What wounds can never be healed are those of saying to a wife or husband that his or her spouse burned to death on the eightieth floor due to a terrorist act ...

Top 5 Best Pieces of Advice from Elon Musk

Top 5 Best Pieces of Advice from Elon Musk Elon Musk is a man of the future. Born in South Africa, he’s an inventor, entrepreneur, investor, and visionary- now a hugely successful businessman and leader. You’d hardly think to look at him that he was bullied in school, a product of divorce, and raised thousands of miles away from centers of global commerce. His computer skills and interests, however, took him to college in Canada, and then towards the founding of a software company called Zip2 with his brother Kimbal. Musk used the profits from that sale to co-found X.com, which, together with Confinity, would later become PayPal.Since then, he’s founded SpaceX to advance rocket technology for future space travel. This company has only grown while NASA has been stymied with budget cuts. In 2008, he took over leadership of Tesla Motors, which is now a leading automotive innovator. He also is responsible for Solar City, in an effort to combat global warming by reducing emissions through solar energy innovati on.He’s worth over $12.5 billion and still isn’t done. Remember, this is the guy who taught himself to code in only three days. What can you learn from him for your own career inspiration?1. Have a goal.Don’t just make your goal to â€Å"make a lot of money† or â€Å"get promoted to X.† Have a goal that’s both compelling and meaningful. Figure out how to make things better, or to do something significant. If the company or product doesn’t exist yet, be on the forefront of making it real.2. Seek criticism.Don’t be delusional and think you and your ideas are infallible. Get as much feedback as you possibly can from people you trust. Make sure you keep examining yourself to make sure you truly believe in your ideals and aren’t just after some unrealistic dream for the wrong reasons. Be gracious when someone tells you to rethink one aspect of your plans.3. Don’t spread yourself too thin.Don’t try to run multipl e empires or companies. Concentrate on doing one thing, or building one company at a time, and giving that project your all. On the other hand, you should be working harder and longer than everybody else. That’s how you get more done in less time, and how you get ahead.4. Don’t fear failure.Failure is a normal part of the innovation process. Make friends with this. If you think something is probably going to end up in failure, but it’s important enough to try, make sure you go for it. Failure is generative. Failure is a necessary component of innovation.5. Choose to be extraordinary.According to Musk, â€Å"people can choose to be ordinary.† Choose the opposite. Challenge and question norms. Do the unexpected. Strive always for greater goals and deeds.

English Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 17

English - Essay Example In any war, the soldiers get paranoid; they are dispossessed of the sense of justice and morality, once they are part of the war. The solider will never be the same individual again.War is a terrible evil exercise for humanity. The victor is also a loser! Political leaders plan the war, but the soldiers fight it at the ground level. When one soldier is killed, the immediate family members suffer and the well-wishers go through an agonizing experience. The soldiers have no personal enmity and yet they are compelled to plan to eliminate each other. The only mantra for a soldier is, kill or get killed! Each day is a tough survival option for the soldier and no one at home is able to understand their predicaments. Tim illustrates a story of a soldier who brings his girlfriend to Vietnam. When she arrives, she is fresh and exuberant about the country that she is going to visit. But soon, the jungle life fascinates her; she loses attachment to her old city life. She disappears into the jungle. Tim explains this incident thus: "Tone? I didnt know it was all that complicated. The girl joined the zoo. One more animal--end of story." (O’Brien, p.107)Tim recalls a moment, how he killed a soldier who was walking down a trial. Tim threw a hand grenade at him and his face exploded†¦. He also narrates about the image of a young girl dancing outside her destroyed village, as American soldiers take the dead family away. ---One cries when one is sad; one doesn’t, when mad! Many such stories circulate. But, "Its safe to say that in a true war story nothing is ever absolutely tr ue." (O’Brien, p. 82) In Louise Erdrichs short story, "The Red Convertible," she communicates the emotional disturbances, war creates for a soldier and his relationships through symbolism of car between two brothers, Henry and Lyman. Their great attachment to the joint property, the symbol of their mutual affection during the pre-war days has vanished. Henry realizes that his

Bacterial Cell Surface Tension Attachment and Implications for Article - 1

Bacterial Cell Surface Tension Attachment and Implications for Bioremediation - Article Example There was no significant relationship between the culturing of the bacteria with their attachment to the different material that was being tested. The environments under which the bacterial species were cultured had the significant influence on the level of attachment of different bacterial species to various surfaces. These results present essentially in seeking to establish the variance of species adherence to hexadecane. The attachment of microbial cells to solids and hydrophobic liquids is an important prerequisite in the degradation of chemicals that are recalcitrant because of extremely low solubility. Bacterial adsorption at interfaces is a physical and chemical process that, for the majority of micro-organisms, does not involve the expenditure of metabolic energy. The attachment process involves non-specific interactions between the cell surface, the solid or hydrophobic liquid and the bulk liquid phase(Abbasnezhad et al. 2011). Many factors influence bacterial attachment at solid/liquid and liquid/liquid interfaces. Environmental factors such as pH, temperature and the presence of cations, anions and organic molecules in the bulk liquid phase all directly affect the attachment process, as does the nature of the solid or the hydrophobic liquid(Mceldowney & Fletcher 1986). Microbial factors are equally important in determining the extent of bacterial attachment to surfaces, and the characterist ics of the cell surface have a considerable impact on attachment. Microbial cell surfaces are complex and consist of a variety of macromolecules, which vary with the microbial type. The macromolecular composition of bacterial cell surfaces, also, differs with growth substrate, growth phase, and growth rate. Such variations alter the charge and hydrophobic characteristics of bacterial surfaces (Rosenberg et al. 1980).  Ã‚  

Buddhist Doctrine Of Karma Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Buddhist doctrine of karma ("deeds", "actions"), and the closely related doctrine of rebirth, are perhaps the best known, and often the least understood, of Buddhist doctrines. The matter is complicated by the fact that the other Indian religious traditions of Hinduism and Jainism have their own theories of Karma and Reincarnation. It is in fact the Hindu versions that are better known in the West. The Buddhist theory of karma and rebirth are quite distinct from their other Indian counterparts. In Buddhism the law of karma is the moral law of causation - good actions give good results and vice versa. It is the quality of an act, which determines its consequences. But what determines the karmic quality of a deed? In Hinduism it is the correct performance of a person's "duty", especially his caste duties that counts. Early Buddhism, which recognized no caste distinctions, evaluates the karmic quality of an act in terms of moral and ethical criteria. In particular it is the mental factors, which accompany the commission of deed that determines its consequences or "fruits" (vipà ¢ka). All negative karma (i.e. those leading to bad consequences) arise from the three roots of unwholesomeness. These are greed (lobha), aversion (dosa), and delusion (moha). Accordingly good karmic results follow from deeds that spring from generosity (caga), loving-kindness (mettà ¢) and wisdom (vijjà ¢). The Buddha emphasized that it is the mental factors involved rather than the deeds themselves that determine future consequences. Thus the same deed committed with different mental factors will have different consequences. Likewise purely accidental deeds may have neutral consequences, however if the accident occurred because insufficient mindfulness was exercised it could have adverse results for the person responsible for it. The theory of karma presupposes that individuals have "free will". Everything that happens to an individual is not the fruit of some past karma. In fact the experiences that involve an individual may be of three kinds: some are the result of past action, some are deliberately committed free acts; and the remainder could be due to chance factors operating in the environment. The doctrine of karma is not a theory of predestination of any kind. One common misunderstanding is not to distinguish between the action an... ...vana is a representation of someone becoming enlightened in this life. It seems as though Christians tend to emphasize too greatly the importance of acceptance into the Kingdom of Heaven. Buddhists believe it is not the deeds themselves, but the mental factors involved in making those decisions that determine later consequences. We, as Catholics, should at least try to follow that example. Because it seems that all too often Christians over look the fact that they should not overlook the fact that they only have a certain amount of time to do things right in this lifetime, because heaven is never ending. In order to live better lives; Christians should learn as much as possible about religions that are alien to them. They should adopt ideals that make sense to them in their daily lives. And finally, they should be proud that they share similar ideals as many of the worlds other great religions. Bibliography Berchol, Samuel The Buddha and his Teachings. New York: Barnes and Noble books, 1997 Gurasekara, Victor A. Basic Buddhism. London: Buddhist Monk Press, 1997 Kaufman, Walter Religions, in Four Dimensions .New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1976

Philosophy of Benedict Spinoza Essay

If one were to make a list of iconoclastic and radical thinkers, Benedict Spinoza would rank high. His great and enduring work, Ethics, continues to have renewed impact, currently among environmentalists and ecologically minded thinkers. Spinoza wrote numerous philosophical, political, and religious criticism works. His efforts consistently express a mind set in favor of religious tolerance and in opposition to traditional religious orthodoxy. In his two major works, Tractatus Thologico-Politicus and Ethics present interpretations of spiritual concepts that continue to offend some religious believers and provide an avenue of belief for those who aver traditional religion. Born in Amsterdam on November 24, 1632 in a jewish community and died in The Hague on February 20, 1677 at the age of 44. Latinized his given name Baruch(blessed) using the form Benedictus. Spinoza lived an outwardly simple life as a lens grinder, turning down rewards and honors throughout his life, including prestigious teaching positions. The family inheritance he gave to his sister. On 27 July 1656, the Talmud Torah congregation of Amsterdam issued a writ of cherem (Jew)/Herem(Hebrew), a kind of ban, shunning, ostracism, expulsion, or excommunication against the 23 year old Spinoza. Amsterdam and Rotterdam operated as important cosmopolitan centers where merchant ships from many parts of the world brought people of various customs and beliefs. Some possibility of free thought and shelter from the crushing hand of ecclesiastical authority. Most significantly, he came into contact with so-called ‘free-thinking’ Protestants – dissenters from the dominant Calvinism – who maintained a lively interest in a wide range of theological issues, as well as in the latest developments in philosophy and science. In order to discuss their interests, these free-thinkers organized themselves into small groups, they called colleges, which met on a regular basis. Spinoza may have attended such meetings as early as the first half of the 1650? s, and it is most likely here that he received his first exposure to Cartesian thought. His intellectual horizons were expanding and he was experiencing a restlessness that drove him to look further afield. It was at this time that he placed himself under the tutelage of an ex-Jesuit, Latinist,a medical doctor, Franciscus Van den Enden, who was notorious for his allegedly irreligious cast of mind, a passionate advocate of democratic political ideals. Spinoza’s increasingly unorthodox views and, perhaps, laxity in his observance of the Jewish law strained his relations with the community. Tensions became so great that resulted in his excommunication . Most Important works a) Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrate (simply, Ethics) b)Tractatus Theologico-politicus c)Brief Treatise on God, Man and His Happiness d)Tractaus de intellectus emendation e)Cogitata metaphysica Philosophy A . Against dualism â€Å"God is the infinite, necessarily existing (that is, uncaused), unique substance of the universe. There is only one substance in the universe; it is God; and everything else that is, is in God. † Spinoza believed God exists and contends that â€Å"Deus sive Natura† (â€Å"God or Nature†) is a being of infinitely many attributes, is abstract and impersonal. As a youth he first subscribed to Descartes’s dualistic belief that body and mind are two separate substances, but later changed his view and asserted that they were not separate, the universal substance consists of both body and mind, that it is a single identity there being no difference between these aspects. He contended that everything that exists in Nature (i. e. , everything in the Universe) is one Reality (substance) and there is only one set of rules governing the whole of the reality which surrounds us and of which we are part. Spinoza believes that: 1)a God that does not rule over the universe by providence, but a God which itself is the deterministic system of which everything in nature is a part. 2)God would be the natural world and have no personality. 3)To see God or Nature as acting for the sake of ends—to find purpose in Nature—is to misconstrue Nature and â€Å"turn it upside down† by putting the effect (the end result) before the true cause. 4)Nor does God perform miracles, since there are no departures whatsoever from the necessary course of nature. The belief in miracles is due only to ignorance of the true causes of phenomena. If a stone has fallen from a room onto someone’s head and killed him, they will show, in the following way, that the stone fell in order to kill the man. For if it did not fall to that end, God willing it, how could so many circumstances have concurred by chance (for often many circumstances do concur at once)? Perhaps you will answer that it happened because the wind was blowing hard and the man was walking that way. But they will persist: why was the wind blowing hard at that time? why was the man walking that way at that time? If you answer again that the wind arose then because on the preceding day, while the weather was still calm, the sea began to toss, and that the man had been invited by a friend, they will press on—for there is no end to the questions which can be asked: but why was the sea tossing? why was the man invited at just that time? And so they will not stop asking for the causes of causes until you take refuge in the will of God, i.e. , the sanctuary of ignorance. (I, Appendix) B. Humane vision â€Å"Everything must necessarily happen the way that it does. Therefore, humans have no free will. They believe, however, that their will is free† Spinoza was a thoroughgoing determinist who held that absolutely everything that happens occurs through the operation of necessity. For him, even human behaviour is fully determined, with freedom being our capacity to know we are determined and to understand why we act as we do. So freedom is not the possibility to say â€Å"no† to what happens to us but the possibility to say â€Å"yes† and fully understand why things should necessarily happen that way. This illusionary perception of freedom stems from our human consciousness, experience and our indifference to prior natural causes. Humans think they are free but they ? dream with their eyes open?. For Spinoza, our actions are guided entirely by natural impulses. This picture of Spinoza’s determinism is ever more illuminated through reading this famous quote in Ethics: ? the infant believes that it is by free will that it seeks the breast; the angry boy believes that by free will he wishes vengeance; the timid man thinks it is with free will he seeks flight; the drunkard believes that by a free command of his mind he speaks the things which when sober he wishes he had left unsaid. †¦ All believe that they speak by a free command of the mind, whilst, in truth, they have no power to restrain the impulse which they have to speak. † Thus for Spinoza morality and ethical judgment like choice is predicated on an illusion. c. Politcal Philosophy â€Å"Every man may think what he likes,and say what he thinks. The real disturber of peace are those who, in a free state, seek to curtail the liberty of judgement which they are unable to tyrannize over. † Spinoza’s reputation as a political thinker is eclipsed by his reputation as a rationalist metaphysician. Nevertheless, Spinoza was a penetrating political theorist whose writings have enduring significance. In his two political treatises,has it’s main purpose the defense of free expression, Spinoza advances a number of forceful and original arguments in defense of democratic governance, freedom of thought and expression, and the subordination of religion to the state. On the basis of his naturalistic metaphysics, Spinoza also offers trenchant criticisms of ordinary conceptions of right and duty. And his account of civil organization, grounded in psychological realism, stands as an important contribution to the development of constitutionalism and the rule of law. There is also textual evidence for the view that Spinoza does not reject other forms of government in favor of democracy. One of the central aims of A Political Treatise is precisely to demonstrate how different forms of governments can meet the fundamental political value of stability. For example, Spinoza explains that, historically, monarchies have enjoyed the most stability of any form of government (PT: VI:317), and that their potential instability results from the divergent interests between the sovereign and the citizens. In light of this, Spinoza advises the sovereign to act in his or her own interests which is to act in the interests of the citizens. In the case of aristocracy, instability is said to result from inequality of political power among the ruling aristocrats, the remedy for which consists of equalizing such power as far as possible. Spinoza’s considered thoughts on the stability of democracy were interrupted by his untimely death, but while he thought it most consistent with freedom, he nevertheless regarded it as the most unstable of all political forms. Indeed, Spinoza comments that democracies naturally evolve into aristocracies, and aristocracies naturally evolve into monarchies. At least on one understanding of â€Å"natural,† democracies may be interpreted as less natural than aristocracies and monarchies (PT: VIII: 351). To understand ends, sources, and justification of political authority, one does well to begin with the Conatus Principle and the associated psychological axioms employed by Spinoza. The source of problems for Spinoza’s political theory, specifically the moral notions of â€Å"contract,† â€Å"rights,† and â€Å"obligations† can also be traced to his view of human nature.