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Topic Review
Agency (LDS Church)
Agency (also referred to as free agency or moral agency), in the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), is "the privilege of choice which was introduced by God the Eternal Father to all of his spirit children in the premortal state". Mortal life is viewed as a test of faith, where our choices are central to the plan of salvation in Latter-day Saint teaching. "It was essential for their eternal progression that they be subjected to the influences of both good and evil". LDS Church members believe that Lucifer rebelled against the God's plan, which resulted in a war in heaven, and Lucifer being cast out of heaven and becoming Satan. Church members believe that all individuals have the ability to differentiate between good and evil and that Satan and his followers are not able to tempt people beyond the point where they can resist. This implies that mortals can be held accountable for their actions; mortals will be judged by God based on a combination of one's faith and works (with salvation coming only through the power, mercy, and grace of Jesus Christ).
  • 534
  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Spinning Dancer
The Spinning Dancer, also known as the Silhouette Illusion, is a kinetic, bistable, animated optical illusion GIF image showing a silhouette of a pirouetting female dancer. The illusion, created in 2003 by Japanese web designer Nobuyuki Kayahara, involves the apparent direction of motion of the figure. Some observers initially see the figure as spinning clockwise (viewed from above) and some counterclockwise. Additionally, some may see the figure suddenly spin in the opposite direction. The illusion derives from the lack of visual cues for depth. For instance, as the dancer's arms move from viewer's left to right, it is possible to view her arms passing between her body and the viewer (that is, in the foreground of the picture, in which case she would be circling counterclockwise on her right foot) and it is also possible to view her arms as passing behind the dancer's body (that is, in the background of the picture, in which case she is seen circling clockwise on her left foot). When she is facing to the left or to the right, her breasts and ponytail clearly define the direction she is facing, although there is ambiguity in which leg is which. However, as she moves away from facing to the left (or from facing to the right), the dancer can be seen facing in either of two directions. At first, these two directions are fairly close to each other (both left, say, but one facing slightly forward, the other facing slightly backward) but they become further away from each other until we reach a position where her ponytail and breasts are in line with the viewer (so that neither her breasts nor her ponytail are seen so readily). In this position, she could be facing either away from the viewer or towards the viewer, so that the two possible positions are 180 degrees apart. Another interesting aspect of this illusion can be triggered by placing a mirror vertically, besides the image. The natural expectation would be for the normal image and its reflection to spin in opposite directions. This does not necessarily happen, and provides a paradoxical situation where both mirrored dancers spin in the same direction.
  • 531
  • 23 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Ubasoku
Upāsaka (masculine) or Upāsikā (feminine) are from the Sanskrit and Pāli words for "attendant". This is the title of followers of Buddhism (or, historically, of Gautama Buddha) who are not monks, nuns, or novice monastics in a Buddhist order, and who undertake certain vows. In modern times they have a connotation of dedicated piety that is best suggested by terms such as "lay devotee" or "devout lay follower".
  • 524
  • 28 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Causes of Schizophrenia
The causes of schizophrenia have been the subject of much debate, with various factors proposed and discounted or modified. The language of schizophrenia research under the medical model is scientific. Such studies suggest that genetics, prenatal development, early environment, neurobiology, and psychological and social processes are important contributory factors. Psychiatric research into the development of the disorder is often based on a neurodevelopmental model (proponents of which see schizophrenia as a syndrome.) However, schizophrenia is diagnosed on the basis of symptom profiles. Neural correlates do not provide sufficiently useful criteria. The one thing that researchers can agree on is that schizophrenia is a complicated and variable condition. It is best thought of as a syndrome, a cluster of symptoms that may or may not have related causes, rather than a single disease. It is possible for schizophrenia to develop at any age, but it mostly happens to people within the ages of 16–30 (generally males aged 16–25 years and females 25–30 years); about 75 percent of people living with the illness developed it in these age-ranges. Childhood schizophrenia that develops before the age of 13 is quite rare. There is on average a somewhat earlier onset for men than women, with the possible influence of the female sex hormone estrogen being one hypothesis and socio-cultural influences another. Studies have found that people born during the months of late winter and early spring have a slight risk of developing schizophrenia, a phenomenon known as the seasonality effect. Possible factors implicated include vitamin D deficiency, and prenatal infection.
  • 515
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Saving the Appearances: A Study in Idolatry
Saving the Appearances: A Study in Idolatry, a book by British philosopher Owen Barfield, is concerned with physics, the evolution of consciousness, pre-history, ancient Greece, ancient Israel, the medieval period, the scientific revolution, Christianity, Romanticism, and much else. The book was Barfield's favorite of those he authored, and the one that he most wanted to continue to be read. It was first published in England in 1957, and it was first issued in paperback in the United States in 1965. According to Barfield, the book enjoyed a far greater reception by the public in the United States, where Barfield often accepted invitations to lecture, than it did in England. The book explores approximately three thousand years of history — particularly the history of human consciousness in relation to that which precedes or underlies the world of perception or phenomena. Given the vast field considered by the book, it is concise and brief, about two hundred pages. Barfield describes the growth of human consciousness as an interaction with nature, leading the reader to a fresh understanding of man's history, circumstances, and destiny. Saving the Appearances has in common with some thoughts of Teilhard de Chardin the understanding of idols as appearances having nothing within. "[A] representation, which is collectively mistaken for an ultimate – ought not to be called a representation. It is an idol. Thus the phenomena themselves are idols, when they are imagined as enjoying that independence of human perception which can in fact only pertain to the unrepresented."
  • 511
  • 25 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Tutor
A tutor, formally also called an academic tutor, is a person who provides assistance or tutelage to one or more people on certain subject areas or skills. The tutor spends a few hours on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis to transfer their expertise on the topic or skill to the student. Tutoring can take place in different settings,
  • 510
  • 23 Nov 2022
Topic Review
East Mountain Teaching
East Mountain Teaching (traditional Chinese: 東山法門; ; pinyin: Dōngshān Fǎmén; "East Mountain Dharma Gate") denotes the teachings of the Fourth Ancestor Dayi Daoxin, his student and heir the Fifth Ancestor Daman Hongren, and their students and lineage of Chan Buddhism. East Mountain Teaching gets its name from the East Mountain Temple on the "Twin Peaks" (Chinese: 雙峰) of Huangmei (modern Hubei). The East Mountain Temple was on the easternmost peak of the two. Its modern name is Wuzu Temple (Chinese: 五祖寺). The two most famous disciples of Hongren, Huineng and Yuquan Shenxiu, both continued the East Mountain teaching.
  • 502
  • 27 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Traditional Craft Training and Demonstration in Museums
Crafts that are transmitted as Cultural Heritage (CH) are called Traditional Crafts (TCs) and exhibit tangible and intangible dimensions. Traditional Crafts are presented in ethnographic museums and collections around the world, and have recently received the attention of the scientific community and the public. 
  • 496
  • 22 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Validation in the Clinical Theory of Psychoanalysis
Validation in the Clinical Theory of Psychoanalysis: A Study in the Philosophy of Psychoanalysis is a 1993 book about psychoanalysis, and related topics such as the nature and effectiveness of the placebo and its role in psychiatry and medicine, by the philosopher Adolf Grünbaum. The book, in part a sequel to Grünbaum's earlier The Foundations of Psychoanalysis (1984) and a response to analytic critics of that work, received both positive reviews and more mixed assessments. Reviewers found it an important work about both psychoanalysis and the concept of the placebo, but noted that Grünbaum's writing style made it difficult to read.
  • 492
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Relations
Relations are ways in which things, the relata, stand to each other. Relations are in many ways similar to properties in that both characterize the things they apply to. Properties are sometimes treated as a special case of relations involving only one relatum. In philosophy (especially metaphysics), theories of relations are typically introduced to account for repetitions of how several things stand to each other.
  • 492
  • 22 Nov 2022
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