The End (our attitudes toward life death, and our earthly souls.)

For the final set I wanted to expand more on the ideas I was able to bring up in class regarding our western foundations being built by Christianity. If we compare ourselves not only to other countries based on similar values we will see similar ideas regarding organ donation and life extensions. However, when comparing our values with countries based on more diverse and different religious backgrounds we will see this reflection in their attitudes regarding medical care. As we have learned throughout this quarter the idea of medicine, health, and even our own essence as human beings remains as diverse as the places we live in. Therefore, though we try to separate ourselves the bases of our cultural attitudes and views will be based on the religion of our predecessors.
For the examination of how religion is evident Christianity based cultures, we should note that Lock points out the resemblances of the Christian’s savior Jesus and our modern attitudes toward health care. For instance she tells of the “rising of Lazarus” (Lock 292) who was a man who was raised from the dead by Jesus. Lock states that this was “the first great event of the Christian triumph over death” (Lock 292). This is something I agree with Lock on. It was this first idea that one could defy death by raising someone from the dead. This is reflected by our use of tools such as the “defibrillator”, a device that shocks a non beating heart into reanimation, thus raising one from the dead. In addition to this we should look at the idea that is presented by the idea of communion amongst the catholic faith. This act is meant to symbolize the taking in of the savior through eating his flesh and drinking his blood and being healed of one’s sin. While the act of communion is meant to symbolize one’s oneness with God, it also instills the idea deeper of healing oneself by taking in others. This is why we can see in our culture especially progressive ideas regarding blood and organ donation. Christianity is largely a religion of the flesh accusing the flesh of being our earthly vessel and the spirit being something fragile, and unexplainable. This emphasis on the flesh is really evident in the way we treat, the body in our society trying to preserve it at all costs. Cross culturally speaking as we have seen in past articles such as the discovery of the sexes; all of the Judeo-Christian based societies held a strong emphasis on bodily functions and their relation to diseases. This emphasis on body and it’s relation to illness is shown in the practice of leeching or letting bad blood out of the body.
The Judeo-Christian view of illness in the body starkly contrasts to the ideas presented by Buddhism and Confucianism that prevailed in the east. In Food Medicine and the Quest for Good Health Chen points out: “These forms of traditional medicine share several distinguishing elements: secularization of medical knowledge from spiritual forms of healing… Diseases, ailments, and plagues were considered to be deeply enmeshed with a person’s social and political milieu. Body and self were intimately tied to environmental elements such as air, water, heat, cold and dampness.”(Chen 19) So we can see that a Chinese style of medicine is based on the balancing of several aspects of environment and one’s nature rather than the body. Buddhism emphasis strength and foundation in the spirit, and reincarnation of those spirits meaning, that one will experience the earth multiple times over a lifetime. Therefore, in Buddhist based cultures, this is reflected in their attitudes towards medicine, as people are treated for imbalances in the spirit rather than a bodily malfunction.
In comparing cultures based in different religions we can see that they differ when comparing the ideas of spirit/ soul. As Lock points out in her piece, we based in the western society have always viewed our spirit or soul as being located in some portion of our body. With notions of emotion and passion based in various organs from the penile glands to the liver. With a western idea of the souls being tied inexplicably to our bodies, there is an explanation for the general acceptance and belief of the phenomenon of “brain dead” individuals. Western ideology places the spirit and consciousness into the brain, as we can see in our unit on selfing. All of the pieces in the selfing united described a situation where in contemporary western medicine that our personalities are merely due to imperfections in our brain’s anatomy. By altering the chemistry of our brains we are then able to alter ourselves. So by this western logic if an individual’s brain is irreversibly altered, they or the aspects of personality we have known them to be have “died”.
However, when examining cultures not based on the western Judeo Christian values, we can see a difference not only in the use of self altering drugs but in the relationship of the soul and body. For example cultures that are based in Buddhism. In these cultures the central idea of Karma, which is the belief in pre ordained paths for one to reach enlightenment over their many lives. Karma creates a society that values ones predetermined role in earthly life and therefore, one’s karma ties one to the body completely. One can never be dead while their body is alive and one has no need to prolong their life, as when death comes their Karma has been fulfilled, and they will return to resume it. Instead we see a greater emphasis in post mortem care. As showcased in “The Tibetan book of the Day” the deceased Buddhists, is prayed for and cared for in the afterlife for 49 days. Similarly in the Japanese culture when a family member dies, the family is expected to notify all close relatives and friends of the death and “mourn the spirit during” o shougatsu (new years). Consequently they are expected to nourish the deceased spirits by placing food offerings periodically through the spirits next life. While this care for spirits could be viewed as excessive, it is merely (like our care of the dying) a product of their cultural values institutionalized by Buddhism.
Work Cited
Nancy Chen. Food Medicine and the Quest for Good Health. 2009
Lock Margaret. Twice Dead.2002. University of California Press.
Laqueur Thomas. Making Sex. 1990 Harvard University Press.
Picture citations
http://www.whatif.cisforcool.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/tcm.gif

http://www.btc-bci.com/~jneiman/images/Lazarus.gif

Your self

Is there such a thing as natural self? If there is, is there a way to remain one’s natural self? I think that one of the main aspects of this class has been to identify what has been our evolution of self over the years. As we have moved from traditional values and views, to more contemporary ones we have seen how we as a people have changed. As our values and customs of our societies have grown, evolved, and sometiFor instance, in Talbolt’s “Brain Gain” she goes into issues regarding the commercial use of nuero enhancers. She describes in particular a Harvard student “Alex”, whose self-identity was a young man and a student. His explanation of his commercial drug use was “ it seemed important to appreciate my own youth.”(Talbot). Alex later goes on to says: “One of the most impressive features of being a student is how aware you are of a 24 hour work schedule cycle. mes have When you conceive of what you have to do for school, it’s not in terms of nine to five but in terms of what you can physically do in a week while still achieving a variety of goals in a variety of realms…”(Talbot) These quotes are significant because it showcases Alex’s view of himself through the social constructed roles that have been assigned to him. Alex sees himself as young man and therefore, feels obligated to fulfill these aspects of himself. Alex tries to do this through partying and venturing into various social relationships however; he also recognizes his identity as a student. By recognizing himself as a student, Alex sees the need to keep pace with his high demands of class. For Alex, working has taken on more than the “nine –five” timeline as he describes, by saying what you physically can do in a week. So we can see here that if Alex is to fulfill both of his socially constructed roles, enhancing his state of mind is the been lost, this has of course had an affect on our senses of self.
only way to do so.
The natural self, itself is simply an ideology enforced by our individual societies. This blank canvas is represented by the mannequins below. In our contemporary American society the natural self has come to represent the ideal and normal human being. We have idealized the natural self by constantly framing the idea that while others are natural beings we personally are not. Beliefs that one individual is born perfectly while others are not, is simply incorrect. The idea of a natural person is appealing because, of biology’s heavy influence in our society; if one can believe that some individuals merely genetically perfect, this justifies segregation among our societies and thus creates social higher arches. In Better then Well Elliott says:
“We take the pills, but we brood about it. We try and hide the tablets from our friends. We worry that taking them is a sign of weakness. We try and convince ourselves that our friends take them too. We fret that if we don’t take them, others will outshine us.” (Elliott 297).
This really captures the American experience when it comes to taking pills. Taking the pills is seen as something to be secretive and cautious about. As we can see back in Talbot when she describes that Alex had his name changed for the interview as to not make employers aware of his prescription use. Admitting to ourselves that our natural self doesn’t live up to the idealized version is hard, but admitting it to others is impossible. But the fact is in our increasingly competitive society we are seeing more and more that most people believe that their “natural self” it is simply not good enough.

As I have stated before I believe that the natural self, and our views of ourselves in general is a socially constructed idea. Therefore we can see differences in the experience of self between cultures. For instance, as we saw in class with the two videos presented we saw just how Japan and America’s elderly view themselves. While it can be noted in both films the elderly interviewed tended to view themselves as burdens on their families, differences can be noted in their views their new purposes of life. For instance, the Japanese elderly viewed themselves mainly as those needing to rediscover the purposes of their lives. Kido san, is the perfect example of this as she explained that she was in the bath house in hopes of healing to return home to help her family. Similarly in cultures where little literature is present, such as the Amerindian tribes of the Amazon, elderly see themselves as teachers of cultural values and traditions. While the American elderly depicted in the film all identified as burdens on those around them. The differences in these views are striking, as those who viewed a purpose in their existence showed an identity that was working towards yet another goal. In contrast the American’s depicted, saw themselves as inseparable from the care, and medicines they received.
The elderly Americans sense of self was to be this dying person, because there are no other niches for the elderly to fill in our society. Unlike Alex who has a role to be the productive and fun loving student, there is no longer a niche for the elderly in our society. Our literacy prevents the need for the passing of tradition through storytelling and teaching, and our households generally do not require the help of extended family to run it. Therefore, they are forced to fill the role society has allotted to them, which is to become a sick person or burden. As the old woman said in her video “ I want to be a burden to my family”.
The idea of ones self is largely based on societal expectations of ourselves. But as we can see through our experiences, remaining natural is elusive if not impossible. As Eliot points out “ Enhancement technologies, like cosmetics and hair coloring, have become a way for consumers to shape an identity” (Elliott 102). The temptation of fitting more perfectly into our desired models is often too much. While we want to appear natural we will continue to go through unnatural means (surgery, pills, make ups, perfumes) to do so. Because underlying everything we want to keep the social structures that have been effect for so long standing.

Works Cited

Elliot Carl. Better than Well. W.W. Norton and Company. New York. 2003
The Shaman’s apprentice.Miranda Productions inc. copyright 1195-2007.

Talbolt Margaret. Brain Gain. The New Yorker essays. 2007.

Picture credits.
boy and Ritalin
http://defencedebates.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/ritalin.jpg

Female Mannequins
http://www.global-b2b-network.com/direct/dbimage/50247239/Fashion_Female_Mannequins.jpg

Forget Venus and Mars. We're on Earth!

The idea that women are from Venus and men are from Mars is the fundamentally based idea that in fact we as men and women are separate. That while in fact we as men think speak, think, and see the world completely differently then or female counterparts. This idea is still well and thriving, haven’t we all heard “it’s a guy thing” or “it’s a girl thing” one time in our lives? And do we not all have “girlfriends” or “boys” that in fact understand us better than those of the opposite gender? Because of this fact it is undeniable that there is a comfort to be said when we are able to relate to the world around us with those that are the same gender. However when we speak of gender do we truly believe there are only two genders possible for an individual? Is this a feasible way to at the world around us, or in fact is it only a convenient way to see the world? Through this article I intend to give evidence that in fact gender like issues of sex and race, should be measured on a continuum. I will do this by examining the world views of gender, and the
Early theories of anatomy as presented by Laqueur emphasized a strong urge for the ideology that in fact we were all one sex. The difference being that, female structures were placed internally and male structures externally. The idea of this was in fact so evident that early theorists named female structures as feminized masculine structures. It was Bartholin who first noted “We must not, think with Galen…and others that these female genital parts differ from those of Men only in Situation.”(Laqueur 92) Bartholin acknowledges here that females are in fact a distinct and separate entity and do in fact deserve to be thought so as rather than “an imperfect man”. This was an important step in assigning freedom and status for both sexes, however. With the discovery, and acceptance of the idea of the individual sexes, the relationship binding sex and gender was also created. subjectivity of masculinity and femininity in a culture. This is the same rigid lines we experience in our modern day American culture. Seeing that along with there being two sexes (male and female), there must be two genders as well (male and female), and the two must be congruent.
While we in the American culture have traditionally seen this notion of sex and gender saturating our everyday lives. Other cultures have seen the idea of gender as a continuum of masculine and feminine. For example the two spirits found in many Native American cultures, these individuals embodied both male and feminine qualities. Individuals embodying these qualities would often perform a multitude of tasks, both masculine and feminine in nature. Two spirits were also used to communicate between both men and women as they had the unique perspective of both. Two spirited individuals were not strictly scene as male or female, but rather something in between, their own unique gender.
Similar to the Native American two-spirit, we see in Indian culture by existence of the Hijra and the Urdu. The Hijra and Urdu are groups that act as yet another gender in the Indian culture that are neither male nor female. Individuals identifying as Hijra or Urdu, are known to overly emphasis and mock masculinity and femininity by wearing makeup and dressing as the opposing sex. Unlike Native American culture however, Hijra are viewed as a lower part of society, however this is not due to their gender. In fact, the Hijra are looked down upon because of the professions most common among their gender such as, prostitution, thievery and other undesirable professions. However, what Native American and Indian culture have in common is the fact that they in fact view and acknowledge gender as being tied to a person rather than one’s biological sex. Additionally these cultures were very progressive in viewing gender as a continuum of masculinity and femininity.
As our culture continues to grow and develop we too are beginning to recognize and redefine what it means to be masculine and feminine. Comparing our notions of the perfect housewife, and mother to today’s modern working mom is indeed a great example of this. Before World War II this would have been seen as unthinkable and inapplicable to the female gender role. However after the war, and with the empowerment of women, the modern concept of femininity has little to nothing to do with staying home. Additionally the rise of the “metro-sexual” has help redefined masculinity, and it’s role in the male gender. The old notion of women being pampered and prim has been slowly taking hold in the male gender as well giving rise to rigorous male grooming and personal hygiene habits. While these are improvements to the gender role, making masculinity and femininity more fluid, we as a society are still rigid in the idea that there are two and only two genders.
The idea that Men are in fact from Mars, and Women are from Venus is flawed. However we as a people help enforce this idea in our children, in our society and in ourselves out of fear. The idea of gender and position in society not being predetermined is a frightening concept. Therefore, we as a society have implemented and decided to continue to implement our imposed notion of gender, while broadening the idea of what it means to be masculine and feminine. Eventually we like other cultures may realize that in fact Men and Women are both from Earth, and therefore not as different as we’d like to think.

Works Cited

Andrew Calimach, World History of Male Love, "Homosexual Traditions", The Two-Spirit Traditon, 2000

Charles Havilland BBC correspondent, Auruvani- A day in the sun. Villupuram, south India, April 27, 2003.

Thomas Laquer. " Making Sex Body From the greeks to Frued" Harvard University Press. 1990.

Picture Citations:
Two spirits
http://www.transpiritual.com/images/crow-two-spirits.jpg

Hijras
http://www.transpiritual.com/images/hijra2.jpg

Cartoon:
http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/hsc1036l.jpg

Sexual oreintation and society

Why is sexuality such a big deal? In class today (7/8/09) this question was raised in terms of why is it that one’s sexuality is such a necessary and intricate part of ourselves? This is because culturally and scientifically sexuality is the most dominate feature of how we interact with the world around us. Sex, lust, and love, are the things that separate us from our infantile and pre-pubescent counterparts. Furthermore it is the idea of being in control of these feelings, and selective about our encounters that gives us superiority to animals. Therefore sexuality plays a huge role in our day to day lives, and larger one in our society as whole. Through this article, I intend to prove that sexuality is our link to adulthood, and our sense of rigid sexuality is lingering remains of a system used to create social order in European society.

Sexual potency is the underlying factor that asserts our independence and rights in all societies. Facial hair, menstruation, muscles, and breast s are all markers of our sexuality to the outside world. Puberty itself is known as a “rite of passage” meaning that we gain rights, in our society after going through the passage of puberty. The amount of prestige and weight attached to mature sex organs is unmatched; Lacquer describes the discovery of the sperm and egg by early scientist as being able to restore “male dignity”( 171). This was the stem of idea that men, real, grown, men form sperm, and therefore women eggs. This emphasis on gamete production has come to represent responsibility and grandeur in the community as it finally created solid evidence for the institutionally set sexual discrimination in place. Thus the seemingly vigorus sperm came to represent man and the seemingly passive egg women. This idea of two genders, and the implications that went with their gametes, was so important that even in cataloging of “lesser beings” it was applied. For example “hence it seems rational to denote these apices by a more noble name and attribute to them the importance of masculine sexual organs…” (Lacquer 172). Notice here the care and emphasis of the speaker to denote the organs of the flower with “a more noble name” in order to confer the importance of the gender and sex that the organs portrayed. This is an important concept to understand as we try to understand the notions of gender and sexuality in our American culture. The two traditionally have been classically intertwined, by notions of questionable science and naturalism.

The use of science as a way of naturalizing the world , has been the classical model in which early Aristocrats were able to able to maintain their optimal social structure. By comparing the sexual feelings and patterns of women to that of beasts Rousseau, is able to simultaneously communicate two important facts. The first is that unlike the beasts, women are on a higher plane because they can control their sexual desires and have no periods of latency when it comes to love. However the language Rousseau uses, “ love is never seasonal” describes a scene that places it so women have no right to refuse love. In this way a woman’s scientifically validated sexuality describes her expected social obligations. Rousseau argued this point to refute the idea of a man dominated society based on physical size rather than, spiritual or more intellectually stimulating reason. Rousseau argues that his point proves that because men have no need to compete over mates, it is in fact the natural and correct order of a woman to consent. By doing so men are able to use their other superior qualities to help construct the world around them.

These classic ideas of gender and sexuality have lead to the rigid gender roles we see in early European society. To summarize what has been said thus far we see that men due to their vigorous and active gametes, are expected to lead. Women with their passive, and consenting nature are expected to follow. This then forms the idea of the two having a natural attraction for one another, the leader wants to lead and the follower to follow. With this idea in mind we can see why it was advantageous for the population to lean toward a hetero sexual positive lifestyle, to maintain the patriarchy. So with this in mind we can see why even today sexuality remains such an important part of the patriarchy. If males are willing to consent to other males, or females unwilling to consent at all, it threatens the stability of the patriarchy. Terry points out the idea that Krafft- Ebrigs holds the notion that “true inverts” (those who do not follow typical gender behavior) cannot be corrected. However those who: “have an unseemly habit of homosexuality as a result of ‘unfavorable’ conditions but who were manly men or womanly women were redeemable.” (Terry 48) This supports the idea that in fact the homosexuality is not the problem, but rather the atypical gender behavior is what the true problem is. Therefore, to protect the stability of the patriarchy, and actively seek to discredit the “habitual homosexuals” one needed to medicalize homosexuality into an illness.

However what are the benefits of medicalizing homosexuality? By medicalizing homosexuality and gender deviances, the group was able to turn normal variances in population into an illness. Like with other classical epidemics, such as leprosy , those afflicted were then to be discredited, pitied, and ultimately shunned. Prominent men and women were spurned for their homosexuality, like Karl Heinrich Ulrichs who was barred from his law career after being caught practicing homosexuality. Furthermore, they were able to use the illness to once again to legitimize their societal views, describing homosexuals as less evolved individuals. This idea of homosexuality as being a sign of regression in humans was then a good tool later when coming into contact with the Native American population and their Two-spirit individuals who exhibited atypical gender behavior. The scars we have from the use of early science to justify societal prejudices is still completely evident in our culture. We may never recover but we can acknowledge there presence and work around them.

Works Cited

Thomas Laqueur."Making Sex Body and gender from the greeks to Frued". Harvard University Press. 1990.

Jennifer Terry."American obsession Science medicine and homosexuality in Modern Society". The university of Chicago Press. 1999.

Pictures Citations:
50's ads.
http://www.wowowow.com/post/number-women-set-surpass-men-recession-workforce-gender-role-reversal-coming-198695

Family:
http://pics.hoobly.com/full/T1LW3JR8XNO5JMP4KU.jpg

The universal truth

Chen’s article holds a strong emphasis on our fascinations with Longevity. Chen openly admits that: “ longevity is a particular ideal that can be found across many cultures”. She goes on to explain various ways that the idea of immortality and longevity has been evident in all aspects of human culture. My question and what I hope to explore through this piece is why do we as human beings have such a fascination with longevity? Furthermore, why do we specifically as westerners put more emphasis on the idea of eternal youth rather than immortal life itself.
Chen demonstrates through her article that we as human beings have an attachment to at the very least ourselves or our souls whichever you believe makes us unique. Chen then goes on to state how regardless of race or religion, mankind will go through extreme measures to preserve them. I agree with this analysis and would like to make a further stretch that this may in fact be a universal truth: we as human beings will go through whatever means necessary to believe that our essences will be eternal.
To support this statement I first want to look at the idea of ghosts. Whether benevolent or ambivalent we can see that ghosts, appearing in Western European, Early American, Chinese, Japanese, and Southwestern Asian culture. Regardless of any religious significance, all of the cultures stated above believe that the ghost is the essence of deceased person. This notion is supports the idea of a Cartesian dualism, that the body and mind are in fact separate. By all of this cultures acknowledging this separation and promoting the idea of a possibility of an after life; I would say that man in fact does not fear ghosts but rather embraces the idea of our essence living on past our physical bodies. Classic examples of this occur in religions such as Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, which all emphasis the idea of one’s soul having a role after the expiration of one’s body. In fact it is because of these beliefs, during life many individuals follow the practices religion out of sheer motivation to have their souls continue on after their expiration.
In examining the material world I feel it is very interesting to look at the ultimate goals of the idea of longevity held by individual cultures. As Chen points out in her article the idea of longevity and extended life is the main goal of Chinese culture and diet. Incorporation of herbs associated with long life such as Ginseng and Ginkgo, into everyday foods like teas and broths reflect longevities presence in everyday Chinese culture. This can be directly attributed to the Chinese’s respect and admiration of the elderly in their culture. Confucius himself described old age as a ‘good and pleasant thing’, which caused you to be ‘gently shouldered off the stage, but given a comfortable front stall as spectator’. This is very much frames Chinese societies’ view of the elderly and simultaneously their view of aging and longevity. If one can grow in a culture that doesn’t discredit them for their age, then aging itself is not something to be feared but rather something to be welcomed and celebrated. The Chinese make this evident in some of their popular culture as Chen points out in her article. Chen mentions specifically Sun Simiao, who was referred to as “the god of medicine”. This euphemism gives us an interesting platform to compare Chinese culture to that of early Greek culture.
The Greeks too had intense beliefs in immortality and the idea of respect coming to those who possessed it. Not merely for the fact that they possessed immortality but for the amount of power and knowledge that came with it. In all historic myths of these cultures protagonists would consult with all mighty gods for advice guidance and general help. These stories even term the term “mortals” to refer to mankind. This term is often used with a negative connotation referring to the frailty of the human body, and weakness of their souls. Yet here it is also important to note that here too there was an underworld thus human life continues even after death.
In comparing the early Greek Gods and Goddess, to the idea of Christianity one can sees similarities. Both emphasis the idea of higher beings above us that our far wiser than we can comprehend because their ages, these beings also posses powers, and intervene when necessary. I feel however where Christianity tends to differ is, that Christianity is age bias. For example in Christinaity the idea is expressed that those saved are in fact is a “ children of God” regardless of one’s age, or status. The connotation of the word “child” infers youth and innocence. Therefore these beliefs set the stage for one to retain this form the rest of their life. This comes into contrast with the Easter ideas of reincarnation, and of one seeking their own enlightenment. Christian ideals emphasis the Father-child relationship one should have with God and therefore, individuals in these societies are forced to embrace the idea of “Father knows best”(Father being God). When one’s earthly knowledge and experience taken out of the picture it is then only natural that the elderly be viewed as weak, and non-credible. Hence these ideas are responsible for our western emphasis on extending our youths rather than our lives.
As much of our culture is formed by religious ideals we in America experience an anti-aging society. Our fear of aging goes so deep that, rather than focusing on the lengthening our lives as the Chinese do, we attempt to extend our youths. We can see this idea reappearing consistently through not only our own culture but also in all cultures where Christianity remains a contributing factor to cultural development. Stories like, Peter Pan (a little boy who refuses to grow up), Lolita (a man who becomes obsessed with a young girl), and the modern romanticization of vampires (individuals who continue on after death remaining young and beautiful eternally); all exemplify our youthful obsession.




Picture citations:
After life
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaLoJWFJnac6yNKCuNXPu0KbUzkD9ZA3tA0KNwdkdm0xSWD4vbAUJsj5GlIyiSP6roVvyjQhF_srSmuedLPeGRLXw_fS-7WSVUupuw72RAhmOj-Sjumn2tJMgQVOcK8W1zsCg6hizl7ZFf/s320/afterlife1.jpg
Sim Simao
http://www.itmonline.org/docs/image/sunssumo.jpg
Vampire thetwocentscorp.wordpress.com/.../