Reaction Paper on Personality Theory Essay

If you were in this situation, how would you explain this mistake? Many of us might blame the slip on distraction or describe it as a simple accident. However, a psychoanalytic theorist might tell you that this is much more than a random accident. The psychoanalytic view holds that there are inner forces outside of your awareness that are directing your behavior. For example, a psychoanalyst might say that James misspoke due to unresolved feelings for his ex or perhaps because of misgivings about his new relationship. The founder of psychoanalytic theory was Sigmund Freud. While his theories were considered shocking at the time and continue to create debate and controversy, his work had a profound influence on a number of disciplines, including psychology, sociology, anthropology, literature, and art. The term psychoanalysis is used to refer to many aspects of Freud’s work and research, including Freudian therapy and the research methodology he used to develop his theories. Freud relied heavily upon his observations and case studies of his patients when he formed his theory of personality development. Before we can understand Freud’s theory of personality, we must first understand his view of how the mind is organized. According to Freud, the mind can be divided into two main parts: 1. The conscious mind includes everything that we are aware of. This is the aspect of our mental processing that we can think and talk about rationally. A part of this includes our memory, which is not always part of consciousness but can be retrieved easily at any time and brought into our awareness. Freud called this ordinary memory thepreconscious. . The unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that outside of our conscious awareness. Most of the contents of the unconscious are unacceptable or unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict. According to Freud, the unconscious continues to influence our behavior and experience, even though we are unaware of these underlying influences. According to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality, personality is composed of three elements. These three elements of personality–known as the id, the ego and the superego–work together to create complex human behaviors. The Id The id is the only component of personality that is present from birth. This aspect of personality is entirely unconscious and includes of the instinctive and primitive behaviors. According to Freud, the id is the source of all psychic energy, making it the primary component of personality. The id is driven by the pleasure principle, which strives for immediate gratification of all desires, wants, and needs. If these needs are not satisfied immediately, the result is a state anxiety or tension. For example, an increase in hunger or thirst should produce an immediate attempt to eat or drink. The id is very important early in life, because it ensures that an infant’s needs are met. If the infant is hungry or uncomfortable, he or she will cry until the demands of the id are met. However, immediately satisfying these needs is not always realistic or even possible. If we were ruled entirely by the pleasure principle, we might find ourselves grabbing things we want out of other people’s hands to satisfy our own cravings. This sort of behavior would be both disruptive and socially unacceptable. According to Freud, the id tries to resolve the tension created by the pleasure principle through the primary process, which involves forming a mental image of the desired object as a way of satisfying the need. The Ego The ego is the component of personality that is responsible for dealing with reality. According to Freud, the ego develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world. The ego functions in both the conscious,preconscious, and unconscious mind. The ego operates based on the reality principle, which strives to satisfy the id’s desires in realistic and socially appropriate ways. The reality principle weighs the costs and benefits of an action before deciding to act upon or abandon impulses. In many cases, the id’s impulses can be satisfied through a process of delayed gratification–the ego will eventually allow the behavior, but only in the appropriate time and place. The ego also discharges tension created by unmet impulses through the secondary process, in which the ego tries to find an object in the real world that matches the mental image created by the id’s primary process. The Superego The last component of personality to develop is the superego. The superego is the aspect of personality that holds all of our internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both parents and society–our sense of right and wrong. The superego provides guidelines for making judgments. According to Freud, the superego begins to emerge at around age five. There are two parts of the superego: 1. The ego ideal includes the rules and standards for good behaviors. These behaviors include those which are approved of by parental and other authority figures. Obeying these rules leads to feelings of pride, value and accomplishment. 2. The conscience includes information about things that are viewed as bad by parents and society. These behaviors are often forbidden and lead to bad consequences, punishments or feelings of guilt and remorse. The superego acts to perfect and civilize our behavior. It works to suppress all unacceptable urges of the id and struggles to make the ego act upon idealistic standards rather that upon realistic principles. The superego is present in the conscious, preconscious and unconscious. The Interaction of the Id, Ego and Superego With so many competing forces, it is easy to see how conflict might arise between the id, ego and superego. Freud used the term ego strength to refer to the ego’s ability to function despite these dueling forces. A person with good ego strength is able to effectively manage these pressures, while those with too much or too little ego strength can become too unyielding or too disrupting. According to Freud, the key to a healthy personality is a balance between the id, the ego, and the superego.

Kamkhya Temple Essay

The Kalika Purana, an ancient work in Sanskrit describes Kamakhya as the yielder of all desires, the young bride of Shiva, and the giver of salvation. Shakti is known as Kamakhya. The Kamakhya Temple, which is situated high up on a hill called Neelachal Parbat or Kamagiri in the city of Guwahati, is one of its several religious landmarks, which speaks volumes about the rich historical treasure over which the state of Assam is settled. This sacred temple in the heart of the capital city of Assam holds more than it meets the eye of the spectator. The Kamakhya Temple had been built in admiration to Goddess Kamakhya or Sati, who was one of the numerous incarnations of Goddess Durga or Goddess Shakti. History The temple is situated a few kilometers away from the Guwahati Railway Station, and is open for visitors throughout the year. The exact date of the original temple is not known. It is believed that, the temple is an ancient temple. The Temple was rebuilt in 1665, after being destroyed by Muslim invaders. It was probably an ancient Khasi sacrificial site, sacrifices are still very much part of worship here. Group of devotees arrive each morning with goats to offer to Shakti. Although little is known about the early history of the temple, the first reference to the place has been traced back to the Allahabad inscriptions of Emperor Samudragupta. There is a legend attached to the history of the temple, which goes way back to the mythological age. According to the legend, Sati the wife of Lord Shiva (one of the holy Trinities in Hindu mythology) took her life at a `Yagna` ceremony that had been organized by her father Daksha, because she could not bear the insults hurled at her husband by her father. On hearing the news of his wife`s death, Shiva, the destroyer of all that was evil flew into a rage and punished Daksha by replacing his head with that of a goat. Torn between misery and blind fury, Shiva picked up the corpse of his beloved wife Sati and performed a dance of destruction called the `Tandava`. The intensity of the destroyer`s fury was so overwhelming that it took several Gods to pacify his anger. In the midst of this struggle, Sati`s corpse accidentally got cut into 51 parts by the disc in the hands of Lord Vishnu (also one of the Trinities in Hindu mythology), and her female genitalia or `Yoni` fell on the spot where the Kamakhya temple stands today, forming one of the many Shakti `Peethas` adorning the rest of her body parts. But the place where her uterus fell was not known till the god of love, Kamadeva, searched it out to rid himself of a certain curse of Brahma`s. Kama regains his body here. The place came to be known as `Kamarup` and the presiding deity as `Kamakhya` or one worshipped by Kama. Another legend says that the demon Narakasura fell in love with Goddess Kamakhya once and he wanted to marry her. But as a goddess cannot marry a demon or asura, Goddess Kamakhya played a trick to save herself. She laid a condition that she would marry him only if he builds a temple for her within one night. Narakasura agreed to it and almost finished building the temple overnight. This scared Goddess Kamakhya and before the final steps of the temple were completed, a cock was sent to cry cock-a-doodle-do to announce the arrival of the morning, before it was actually dawn. This made Narakasura very angry and he killed the cock on that spot. But according to the condition Narakasura couldn`t marry Goddess Kamakhya after that. It is said that the present Kamakhya temple is the same that Narakasura had made for the Goddess. Still another Legend says that Shakti, the mother Goddess, challenged the supreme creative power of Bhrahma and that Brahma could thereafter create, only with the blessings of the Yoni, as the sole creative principle. After much penance, Bhrahma brought down a luminous body of light from heaven and placed it within the Yoni circle, which was created by the Goddess and placed at Kamarupa Kamakhya in Guwahati. Site & Architecture King Nara Narayana of Cooch Behar rebuilt the temple in 1665 after it had suffered destruction at the hands of foreign invaders. The temple consists of seven oval spires, each topped by three golden pitchers, and the entrance spirals down to a curvy path of some distance, which specially links the main road to the temple. Some of the sculptured panels of the temple carry depictions of Gods and Goddesses of Hindu pantheon carved in a delightful pattern. Tortoises, monkeys, and large number of pigeons have made the temple their home, and loiter around the premise, being fed by the temple authorities and the visitors. The cryptic, as well as the peaceful ambience of the temple combine together to soothe the nerves of visitors, and take their minds to flights of inner salvation, and this is the very reason that people come here for. Images of gods and goddesses of Hindu religion are carved on the walls. The image of the Goddess along with other deities is kept on a th rone. The current temple structure was constructed in1565 by Chilarai of the Koch dynasty in the style of medieval temples. The form of the earlier structure, destroyed by the Kala Pahar, is unknown. The temple consists of three major chambers. The western chamber is large and rectangular and is not used by the general pilgrims for worship. The middle chamber is a square, with a small idol of the Goddess, a later addition. The walls of this chamber contain sculpted images of Naranarayana, related inscriptions and other gods. The middle chamber leads to the Sanctum sanctorum of the temple in the form of a cave, which consists of no image but a natural underground spring. The spring emanates from a fissure in a large rock that symbolizes a Yoni. In summertime the water runs red with iron oxide resembling menstrual fluid, an occasion for the Ambubasi festival. Though the temple is aligned facing east like most Hindu temples, the worship of the yoni is performed facing north. The Kamakhya Temple has a beehive like shikhara. Some of the sculptured section seen here are of interest. There are images of Ganesha, Chamundeswari, dancing features etc. The temple is a natural cave with a spring. Down a flight of steps to the bowel of earth, is located a dark, mysterious chamber. Here, draped with a silk sari and covered with flowers, is kept the â€Å"matra yoni†. There is no image of Shakti here. Within a corner of a cave in the temple, there is a sculptured image of the Yoni of the Goddess, which is the object of reverence. A natural spring keeps the stone moist. Other temples on the Neelachala hill include those of Tara, Bhairavi, Bhuvaneswari and Ghantakarna With all its enigmatic splendor and picturesque locale, the Kamakhya Temple is one of the most astounding structures, not only in Assam, but also in the whole of India. Durga Puja is celebrated here annually during Navaratri in the month of September- October. It is a three-day festival attracting several visitors. A unique festival observed here is the Ambuvaci (Ameti) fertility festival wherein it is believed that the Goddess (mother Earth) undergoes her menstrual period.

Managing Creativity for Marketing and Advertising Essay

Managing Creativity for Marketing and Advertising - Essay Example Beem (2010) reckons that if carefully prepared and properly executed, co-branding is one of the best strategies that can be used to penetrate markets, survive financial down times and even grow. Taking the strongest elements of one brand and combining these with the best complementary brands to create a new product can in fact lead to the potential worth of the new product being greater than that of the sum of the two products (synergy). Gap Clothing and Apple I-pod The two brands chosen for co-branding in this case are GAP - a popular brand from the apparel industry, and Apple - one of the most popular brands in the music/technology industry. To make the new product, GAP’s hoodies and Apple’s iPod will be combined to create clothing from GAP that encompasses Apple’s slogan and promotes the values that Apple stands for. The new product is to take advantage of the position of the two in their specific markets and further strengthen their image of being trendy and cool. Visual of the New Product: The Techno Hoodie The form of presentation of the co-branded product will be a techno hoodie. A hoodie is a sweatshirt characteristic of a hood and is regarded as the most important cultural product of the Western world in the 20th Century. McCartney (2008) contends that hoodies are the only commodity the current generation will be remembered with, and given the popularity of the hoodie; it is difficult to argue against this. It is urban apparel, often made of cotton or poly-blend and is usually in the form of a zipper-front or pullover (Kayne 2011). Hoodies are regarded as unique urban clothes, forming the fashion statements of many people. The new product will be a representative of a one-of–a-kind style and will bear screen-printed designs on its back as are popular with many people. The techno hoodie will come in two types: 1. A pullover hoodie, which will have one single, large pocket in the front 2. A zipped hoodie: which will have a zip per dividing the front and the pocket into two Instead of the usual material or poly-blend material strings, the drawstrings of the hoodies are going to be high-quality iPod headphones, a design that will be unique and trendy. The pockets will be designed to be holding the iPods among other things. The hoodies will be designed in different colors to match with the range of colors the iPod comes in. The designs on the hoodies will include the two logos; GAP and Apple written either as graffiti or just plain, alongside decorations regarded as cool including elements of anime and pop culture. Creation of a Brand Image Techno hoodies are the next-best-thing in the apparel market with a promise to be fashionable into the future. A combination of the high level of comfort, capacity to hold the iPod and an image of being cool and trendy and subscribing to pop culture results in a scenario in which techno hoodies are going to be massively popular into the future. â€Å"The market for this item should be huge as anyone who likes taking walks, working out, or most young adults will love these† (TEP 2011). Such reviews indicate that techno hoodies are not only a hit now but also what can be termed as â€Å"futuristic clothing†. Therefore the two brands will collaborate to make clothing that accommodates the vast music collection of the youth. GAP will provide the trendiest, top-notch

Case analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Case analysis - Essay Example As there will be no entry for the wage expense in the current period, so there will also be no recording of wage payable liability in the current period. The whole transaction will be unrecorded and no accounting entry in the current year will be made. However, in next year when wage is paid, following entry will be recorded If the original way is adopted, then there will be lesser net income in current period and more liabilities as wage expense will reduce the net income of the current period and wage payable will increase the liability for the current period. However if alternative way is adopted then income in current period will be overstated as wage expense is not being recorded in current period to which they belong. Similarly liabilities will be understated due to no recording of wage payable liability. If in next period origination reverts back to original method, then expense in the next period will be overstated due to recording of previous year expenses in current year. This will result in lower net income in next year. Dilemma for Tom, the manager, is that he has increased amount of debt to pay due to a sick family member and part of his earning, bonus, depends upon the net income during the year. He will only be paid bonus if the net income of the year exceeds the budgeted income for the year. However in the current year, the net income is lagging behind the budgeted income. This means that he will not be paid bonus this year. If he receives no bonus in current year, then his financial position will be very week as he has incurred large amount of debt in current year. So there is clear motive for him to window dress expenses and income in current year so that net income exceeds the budgeted income so that he is paid bonus in the current year. Accountant has been working under the current manager for five years and is very appreciative

Children with Parents Suffering from AIDS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Children with Parents Suffering from AIDS - Essay Example If the victim is a single parent mostly in females and there is no father around to help her things get even worse. If the drugs used by the mother are reason for her family to reject her than her relatives might not be willing to take the responsibility of her children. Moreover, the shame of the disease may cause families to keep the reason for the death of a parent as a secret and the children are isolated due to the disgrace. If they know the cause of the death they feel better not telling it to anyone even to their best friends and keeping it as a secret. The silence takes over them and as they are immature due to their age they might behave abnormally. When they find no way of taking out their anger or displaying grief they often start causing trouble in the school. Boys specially may start doing criminal activities. Some children or teenagers start to discriminate sex and drugs as though they are challenging the disease for what it did to their parents. This all can happen with children who have a parent that is dying due to aids or a parent who died because of aids. Children lose their confidence in themselves; the most inflicting thing on the brain of a child is facing such a harsh fact when he or she is in an age of adolescence. The children struggle to keep up with all their class fellows, they might start lacking behind in studies.

Deliberative and civil society models of democracy Coursework

Deliberative and civil society models of democracy - Coursework Example According to the research there are two central view of democracy. In the republican model of democracy, there is solidarity between disparate groups of people. The different groups who comprise society recognize that they are all unified, and that there is a common good that must be sought after. In this kind of democracy, therefore, there is a societal consensus of norms, so that there is a centralized core of democratic principles which underpin the political process. In the liberal model of democracy, however, there are disparate groups, and these disparate groups do not try to unify with society as a whole. Rather, they compete with one another for political power and resources, and the people vote on whose interests prevail. Therefore, society does not have a centralized core and is in danger of disintegrating. The liberal society is marked by societal preferences, whereas the republic society is marked by societal values. Because of this, some critics, including Habermas and B oesche, believe that liberal societies have a problem with legitimacy of laws, as these laws are not based upon societal norms, but, rather, are based on something less, and these laws are subjected to being dismantled by lawmakers on a seeming whim. The international stage is a macrocosm of these problems, according to Dryzek, as the international relations are marked by competition between disparate groups who do not necessarily agree upon becoming a unified whole. Deliberative democracy may help to overcome the problems which are inherent in a liberal democracy. Deliberative democracy introduces reasoned discourse into the political process, therefore it provides more of a substantial underpinning to the moral arguments which mark liberal societies. The way that deliberative democracy benefits liberal societies is that deliberation provides an educative function, as well as a way of bringing disparate communities together in realizing that they might have common ground. It also i s beneficial in that it introduces an element of reason into procedures which determine the common good, which makes these procedures more legitimate. The outcomes are also based upon rationality, which makes the outcomes more legitimate as well. More than this, however, deliberative democracy recognizes that there are certain fundamental truths which should govern all reasoned discourse, these fundamental truths being such aphorisms as respect for others. In this way, deliberative democracy may benefit both state liberal societies and the international stage, which retains many of the elements of a liberal society. Discussion In order to determine the essential question of how deliberative and civil society models of democracy overcome the problems of the liberal democracy, liberal democracy must be compared and contrasted with republican democracy. According to Habermas (1994), these are the two received views of democratic politics. The liberal democratic process, according to Ha bermas, programs the government in line with societal interest. In this way, the government is an apparatus or tool to achieve the ends of society, and society itself it a connection between individuals. The individuals in this view band together to push government in a way that meets their collective goals. In the liberal democratic process, Habermas states that the government is a mediating process. The republic process, on the other hand, requires solidarity between the disparate groups of people. With the republican view, the different groups of society realize that they are all unified, and there is a recognition that society must be oriented towards the common good. In the democratic process, social integration is achieved through the hierarchical regulations of the state and the decentralized regulations of the market. The orientation towards the common good is the third way that social integration is achieved in the republic view of democracy. It is this horizontal method of social integration

Has New Labour introduced radical changes to health and health care Essay

Has New Labour introduced radical changes to health and health care policy since it came into office - Essay Example This pledge to divert major sums of governmental funds into the health care system was political fodder for Conservatives and was a principle part of the Labour Party’s addition of ‘new’, an act primarily designed to pronounce a new philosophy and proclaim its eagerness to distance the party from past conceptions of socialist leanings. In many cases, the radical changes to the NHS espoused by new Labour followed Conservative concepts. These new policies have proven to be more of a massive evolution rather than a revolution. Still, what had been the most radical change to the organisation of the NHS since its 1948 inception; the 1991 reforms instituted into the NHS Act were eclipsed by the 1997 Act. This was especially true when considering the abolition of the internal market and the creation of Primary Care Trusts (PCT) which, when taken together, embodied an even more radical change than the earlier reform. This discussion examines the similarities and differenc es of New Labour as opposed to Conservative approaches to health care and the changes brought by the NHS Act of 1997. The distinction of ideologies between Conservative and Labour (right and left wing) continues its relevance concerning key philosophical divides and policy making matters in today’s political arena. A description that encompasses the principle divergence between the right and left political ideals is their respective stance regarding the perception of fairness. The right has historically leaned toward favoring policies promoting inequality while the left have a tendency to favor social equality in its policies. New Labour initially promoted itself during the 1997 election as the party for radical change, referring to its movement as the ‘third way’ uniting viewpoints of neo-liberalism and social equality (Mouffe, 2000, p.

Moral Relativism and Plato’s Euthyphro Essay

Moral Relativism and Plato’s Euthyphro - Essay Example The area of application for the relative truth is completely a matter of individual belief and may not apply to anything else further. It can be one’s perception or a view of a general significance to a general situation. The idea of relative truth is also subjected to a myriad criticism. The first great critic of relativism was Plato himself. He criticized the views of â€Å"Sophist Protagoras† in his book ‘Thaetetus’. Relativism largely destroys distinction between the truth and the belief. With relative truth, the problem of negation also arises; if everyone differs with their respective belief then no one comes to any common solution or agreement. Under these circumstances, learning becomes vague and one moves away from truth. According to Hilary Putnam, relativism makes it almost impossible to accept that one is wrong or one can commit an error. If there is an absence of complete truth beyond the belief of an individual, then an individual would not be able to able to uphold their own beliefs into an error, false or mistake. Perceptional difference is essential but in some places acceptance of negation is equally demanding. This is the area which is completely nullified when it comes to relative truth and there lies the greatest limitation of the theory. Moral relativism is an umbrella term that encompasses various views and arguments possessed by people from different cultures. Moral relativism is again of several kinds namely: Descriptive Relativism, Meta-ethical Relativism and Normative Relativism. Moral relativism sometimes describes the positive or descriptive positioning of the existence of right course of deed under the circumstance when the fact gathered, and the similar consequence probably seems to arise. This concept of Moral Relativism falls under the category of Descriptive Relativism. The next contention about the idea is the ‘semantic’ and the ‘epistemic’, positioning that all moral

Environmental economic--sustainable development Essay

Environmental economic--sustainable development - Essay Example It is in this context that this research is aimed at critically examining ANS within the empirical context of human survival that is anchored only on genuine sustainable development. Experts of development worldwide made a framework that seriously consider environment, as source of needed resources. WB focused on the relation of environment and sustainability as amongst the indicators of macro-economy (WB, 1997). Authorities perceived that ANS is a ‘green national account’ founded on the precept that generations of people are reliant on countrys asset base. This indicator covers natural resources, its utilization and the human resources. All these factors relate to a nation’s capacity to sustain growth over time (WB, 1997). Economist viewed ANS as a percentage of Gross National Income (GNI) (WB, 1997). The standard ANS is derivative of the standard national accounting measure of gross saving using four factors as adjustments (WB, 1997 & Bartelmus and Seifert, 2003). These are (a) consumption of fixed capital deducted to obtain net national saving; (b) current public expenditure on education as investment for human capital; (c) an accounting of the depleted natural resources deducted to reflect the utilization and maximization of asset in value due to extraction and depletion; (d) deductions due to pollutions and damages caused by carbon dioxide and emissions. This formula is showed, thus (WB, 1997 & Bartelmus and Seifert, 2003), Education cost means operating expenses in education, which include wages of teachers, expenses for enhancement of capacity but this does not include expenditures for infrastructures, facilities and materials necessary to education (WB, 1997& 2011). GS refer to are the differentiation between gross national income and public and private consumption with added net current transfers. Consumption of fixed capital symbolizes the alternate value of capital used up in the progression of production. Net savings means gross

The path of blood Essay Example for Free

The path of blood Essay The path blood take from the right femoral vein to lower lobe of the right lung via the pulmonary artery is as follows; we start in the right femoral vein which is located in the thigh and travel to the right external iliac vein. Blood from the femoral vein emptiness in the inferior vena cava but first must travel through the external iliac. The iliac vein joins with the inferior vena cava. The inferior vena cava takes deoxygenated blood form the lower limbs of the body to the right atrium (Thibodeau, Patton, 2008. ). Following the inferior vena cava we travel in to the right atrium of the heart. The purpose of right atrium of the heart is to receive deoxygenated blood from the body through the inferior vena cava and pump it into the right ventricle (MedicineNet.com, 2012). Once we are ready to leave the right atrium we go into the right AV valve (AV is atrioventricular or cuspid, (Thibodeau, Patton, 2008.).The AV valve stops blood from flowing backwards and every time the heart beats the valve opens and closes. The AV valve allows blood to flow into the right ventricle. But before blood goes into the right ventricle it has to travel through the tricuspid valve. The tricuspid valve along with AV and SL are all structures that prevent blood from flowing backwards (Thibodeau, Patton, 2008.). So we now know that the right ventricle receives deoxygenated blood from the right atrium, but what we don’t already know is that the right ventricle sends the [continues]

A Message Of Peace And Reconciliation Mercy Religion Essay

A Message Of Peace And Reconciliation Mercy Religion Essay 1. Approximately fourteen hundred years ago, Prophet Muhammad, the last in the line of the prophets of Islam, received revelation from God known as the Quran, which is the Final Testament. He came with a message of peace and reconciliation, mercy and compassion. Yet, ever since the beginning of the call of Islam, its image and that of Muslims has been subject to distortion, misconceptions, and misinterpretations. This chapter aims at establishing the link between Quran and the distortions in its interpretation which has manifested itself in the form of jihad or the holy-war. Quran and Sanction of Violence 2. The Quran permits violence as an act of defence waged to protect the Shariat in an Islamic community. The Shariat can be explained as a system of ordinances outlined in the Quran and Hadis  [1]  through which God lays down for mankind the rules of conduct  [2]  . The Shariat is the guidance for all walks of life individual and social, material and moral, economic and political, legal and cultural, national and international  [3]  . 3. Muslims are advised to closely follow the Shariat to acquire the well being that God has envisioned for the Islamic community. Preservation of the Shariat is an obligation of every able-bodied individual  [4]  . Oppression, despotism, injustice and criminal abuse of power  [5]   of the Shariat by Muslims or non-Muslims  [6]  , must be punished. Quran and Jihad 4. The Quran identifies three main kinds of Jihad that can be used for the punishment of oppression and injustice. These are: internal  [7]  , external  [8]  and inter-communal  [9]  . The Quran permits the use of violence as an optional method for all three forms of Jihad but it limits the use of violence in internal  [10]   and external Jihad. It expands on its doctrine of Jihad and violence, mainly in the context of inter-communal conflicts. In these cases, Muslims can individually determine the nature and extent of Jihad based on the freedom of interpretations, and the geopolitical conditions in which the conflict arises. However the most essential prerequisite in the Qurans discourse on violence is that, force should be used only when the Shariat has been violated and needs to be persevered as the very work of God Himself  [11]  . 5. In Inter communal Jihad, Martial Jihad  [12]  should be used to protect and to promote the integrity of Islam and to defend the umma [community] against hostile unbelievers whether they are invading armies or un-Islamic internal despots  [13]  . The use of forces in all other instances is forbidden by God  [14]  . Once cause for violent Jihad has been established on the basis of geopolitical circumstances and religious understandings of the same, the Quran advises Muslims to:- Fight for the sake of God those that fight against you but do not attack them first. God does not love aggressors. Slay them wherever you find them  [15]  . It encourages violent Jihadis to muster all the men and cavalry at your disposalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ [and]à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies  [16]  until Gods religion  [17]  reigns supreme  [18]  . Jihadis should use violence to ward of external aggression, maintain internal orde and establish absolute justice for all citizens  [19]  . Jihadis should employ all means and media for the establishment of all that is right and the elimination of all that is wrong  [20]  . If they do so then they will dwell amidst garden and fountains and shall receive what their Lord will give themà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦for they have done good works  [21]  . 6. Thus as seen above, through its affirmative discourse on the use of violence and its association with the Divine and martyrdom, the Quran encourages the popularity of violent Jihad as a legitimate tool for Muslims to overpower their adversaries. Through this association the Quran also projects the use of violence as a religious duty that demonstrates the utmost submission to God and deserves the highest rewards. This becomes more compelling because the Quran permits violence, in any instance where the Shariat has been violated. 7. A Muslim who foresees this violation as important is allowed by the Quran to adopt violent Jihad. The manner in which this process applies to each Muslim depends on individual interpretations of the Quran which extend themselves to the social realm as well. If adopted on the basis of individual will and sense of religious duty, then violent Jihad can be considered as an act of great patriotism in Islam. Conversely an act of violence that is not directed towards preserving the Shariat and the will of God is categorized as terrorism in Islam. Such acts are a deviation from the path of God and the Quran states that those that deny Gods revelations shall be sternly punished; God is mighty and capable of revenge. Nothing on earth or in heaven is hidden from God  [22]  . The Quran is extremely categorical in outlining the premise and course for Islamic violence so that it can deter nonreligious violence from occurring. 8. Quran implies that Muslims can apply their Quranic understandings to geopolitical conditions and present religious premise for violent Jihad. Once this is done, the intent and act of violence meets Quranic requirements consequently making violent Jihad a legitimate religious reaction. Most often, acts categorized as terrorism in the non-Muslim world represent religious rather than non-religious violence executed within the Qurans discourse on violence. This is because the non-Muslim worlds categorization of violence is not related to the Quran. In the non-Muslim world, the use of legitimate violence is defined as a state-oriented concept which must find just cause in domestic or international precepts.  [23]  However, in the Islamic world the Quran itself determines political, economic and social perceptions. 9. Violence in Islamic nations almost always has an essential religious rather than a purely political bias. The Quran states that any Muslim can be a warrior of God rather than the state based on his religious interpretations. The extent to which violence can be used in Islam for this purpose remains unstipulated by the Quran. It simply states that Jihadis should engage all means required to ensure that the enemy is defeated or accepts defeat. Thus even though violent Jihad can create aggression that amounts to terrorism in the non-Muslim world, in Islam this is not perceived as such as long as it occurs within the guidelines on the use of violence, stipulated in the Quran. Contrary perceptions of violent Jihad persist in the non-Muslim world mainly because of the divergent perspectives from which the use of violence is defined. 10. Bin-Laden and some other extremists in the Islamic world contend that the 11 September 2001 attacks were a reaction to the hegemonic status that the United States (US) has established in the Middle-East, especially after the Afghan-Soviet War. This had political and economic implications that often violate the Shariat on governance and trade. These Muslims oppose power-politics played by the US in countries such as Iraq, Iran and Libya. They contend that these politics mainly further US economic interests in the Middle-East. The Quran states that Islamic resources should be used mainly for Islamic benefits and can be exchanged with non-Muslims through negotiations and agreements. However, it strongly condemns unsolicited involvement of non-Muslims in Muslim affairs. Thus, some Muslims also emphasize US oil-trade in the Middle East from this perspective. They also condemn power hungry leaders in the Islamic world who facilitate such economics and politics and prevent the downward filtration effects of these engagements, as recommended by the Quran. Thus, Bin-Laden and these Muslims believe that, despite their intensity, the 11 September 2001 attacks were a legitimate Quranic reaction to preserve the sanctity of Islamic values in the Middle East. 11. Extreme interpretations of the Qurans discourse on violence would legitimize this belief. Contrarily, perceptions of state oriented violence and war in the non-Muslim world would reject it. However, it is important to remember that in Islam, extreme as they maybe, acts of violence are legitimized by the Quran, as long as they are enacted to reserve the Shariat and executed within its discourse on violence. Role of Quranic Interpretations in Justifying and Integrating Terrorism 12. Even though the various terrorists groups intone various ideologies of the Islamic religion, there are no set universal agendas for these groups. In the contemporary world the goal for groups like Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Chechen rebels is a nation of their own with tactics reminiscent of the ethnic violence erupting after abandoned colonialism. On the other end of the spectrum are groups like Jemaah Islamiya (JI) and Al-Qaeda with its various offshoots, who indeed are looking to rearrange the global order, instigate the now-infamous clash of civilizations and create a Muslim caliphate that spans continents, all the while bringing the West to its knees. Their goals are vast and global. Somewhere in the middle of all this are groups at risk, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) in Pakistan and the separatist movements in the Philippines and Thailand. These groups are primarily motivated by state-centric goals, but all rest on the cusp of pan-territorial and far more dangerous age ndas. Terrorist groups can largely be conceived as having two working parts: an identity and an ideology. When it comes to Islamic  terrorism, that identity is based in religion, but sometimes the ideology is based in nationalism, while at other times in a more transient, pan-territorial agenda. This difference is most stark between more traditional ethno-terrorist movements and the far more globally oriented groups like Al-Qaeda  [24]  . 13. Since nationalist movements are focused on creating a state or political freedoms for one group, their strategies are focused on the nation-state from which they hope to gain concessions. Their violence is directed at those inside the state. Whether or not Islam provides the identity, their goals are not apocalyptic. In contrast,  religious  terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda engage in almost no domestic targeting. Their goals cross continents. They want to destroy corrupt regimes in the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, purge the Western presence in their lands and change the global power order  [25]  . 14. After having seen how the terrorists interpret the Quran in justifying their actions, we can surmise that the popularity of this kind of radical reaction in the Muslim world can be explained as a  religious  counter reaction to the rapid progress of modernization, which has often included a move away from traditional  religious  beliefs in societies. In some parts of the less-developed world, fundamentalists are counterattacking against the perceived threats to their societies posed by secularism and modernity, and some are blaming their societies failures on the godless West. Political Islam calls for a renewal of Islamic values in the personal and public life of Muslims. Its manifestations include strict  religious  observances, the rapid growth of  religious  publications and readings from the Koran on radio and in television programming, and demands for the implementation of Islamic law. Political Islam often includes growing numbers of Islamic schools, organi zations, and activist movements and expressions of resentment against the Western world for exporting a secular Coca-Cola culture to the Islamic world  [26]  . Throughout the Arab world, Muslim militants and terrorists are often recruited from the legions of unemployed and dispirited young men in both urban and rural settings in seriously underdeveloped countries. In many nations in the Middle East, there is never a shortage of those who are willing to find attractive the idea of launching a holy war against the enemy.