William Blake’s Songs of Innocence Free Essays

Flake’s use of the pastoral in Songs of Innocence and Experience Put simply, Flake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience Juxtapose the innocent pastoral world of childhood against an adult world of corruption and repression. The collection as a whole, by meaner of paired poems in Innocence and Experience (The Lamb, The Tiger; The Echoing Green, The Garden of Love/London; The Nurse’s Song (l and E); Introduction (l and E); The Chimney sweeper (l and E), etc) explores the value and limitations of two different perspectives of the world. The same situation or problem is seen through the eyes or perspective of Innocence first, then Experience. We will write a custom essay sample on William Blake’s Songs of Innocence or any similar topic only for you Order Now Blake stands outside Innocence and Experience, in a distanced position from which he recognizes and attempts to correct the fallacies of both perspectives. He uses the pastoral, in many songs, to attack oppressive and destructive authority (Church, King, parent’s, adult figures), restrictive morality, sexual repression, established religion – the Established Church, social inequality, militarism. The pastoral is a literary style that presents an idealism and artificial picture of rural life, the naturalness and innocence of which is seen in contrast with the corruption and artificiality of city and court. The pastoral is often seen as a nostalgic looking back at a lost paradise, a lost Eden, a lost Golden Age. However, Blake does something different with the pastoral. Firstly, he rejects the nostalgia of the ideal in order to show the real human condition. He does this by opposing pastoral ideal and urban reality both within the single states of Innocence and Experience and between the two states. (For example – ‘Introduction’ of Innocence, ‘The Shepherd’). Secondly, he radically redefines the relation of the pastoral to the city because the Songs as a volume could be said to take place in the city. Blake frames the obviously pastoral scenes within an urban setting in a way that breaks down the conventional city/ country dichotomy – and his criticism is aimed at not merely social problems, but the source of these problems – a limited way of seeing. Within Innocence, Blake takes us into the frame, or confinement of the pastoral space and explores inner tensions, exposing and attacking social problems. For example, in ‘The Little Girl Lost’ of Innocence, the pastoral setting is that of ‘a desert wild’ that becomes ‘a garden mild’. The reference is the biblical image in Isaiah 35 of an ideal mime in which the ‘desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose’. Lacy, the innocent child, lives ‘In the southern clime’/Where the summer’s prime/Never fades away (distinctly pastoral! ). She ‘had wandered oleomargarine the wild birds’ song. Blake brings in a contrast between Local’s trust and her parent’s’ fear (that she is lost and will come to harm). For Lacy, there is no cause for distress, except consideration of her mother’s feelings (if my mother sleeplessly shall not weep’). The other side of the conflict is the parent’s’ fear and concern: As far as they are concerned, there is nowhere safe; (Where can Lacy sleep? . Their concern becomes more and more self- centered, until it becomes emotional blackmail (oho can Lacy sleep,/elf her mother weep? ). A moral prescription is then introduced – Lacy ought to be worried – and we notice that this is Justified only by the mother’s distress, not by any real danger. By meaner of the command, ‘Then let Lacy wake’, Blake shows how fear turns into tyranny. The parent’s’ fear of nature has made them unreasonable – They command their daughter to be unhappy, simply because they are. Stanza 8 resolves the conflict as Local’s surroundings become transformed – the desert is ‘bright’. Local’s positive perception dominates the rest of the poem – The imperative, ‘Let’ in the line, ‘Let thy moon arise’, underlines her opposition to her parent’s. The pivotal word, ‘bright’ stands between Local’s and her parent’s’ attitudes to nature (for the parent’s, it is a dark, unknown world of fear; for Lacy, it is safe and bright. ) The lion licks Local’s bosom and the lioness ‘Loosed her slender dress’. The dress is a symbol of her parent’s’ upbringing, which Local’s perception can cast off. She is naked, so shame is removed (a reference to Adam and Eve’s nakedness in the Garden of Eden). In the ext poem, ‘The Little Girl Found’, the lion’s masculinity, his mane, was what frightened the parent’s (soon his heavy man/Bore them to the ground’). So, the poem conveys the need for sexual freedom, natural energy, sexual energy, feared by Local’s parent’s. (In ‘The Little Girl Found’, the parent’s’ perception of the lion as fearful is transformed -then they followed/Where the vision led’- by meaner of transforming their vision, their perspective, the parent’s’ fear disappears (nor fear the wolfish howl,/Nor the lion’s growl’). Within the pastoral frame of the Garden of Eden, Blake explores inner tensions, exposing and attacking social problems. (In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, which Blake wrote between the two parts of the Songs, he stresses that man’s instincts are not fallen (sinful from the moment of birth) and therefore to follow the instinctive desire for love and pleasure cannot be wrong: The soul of sweet delight can never be defiled. On the contrary, it is the thwarting of desire that leads to corruption and a warping of the personality: Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse enacted desires. The conventional goodness of Flake’s time, therefore, is Just a passive failure o act out desire and is not something to be admired, unlike evil which is evidence of positive energy:. Good is the passive that obeys reason. Evil is the active springing from energy and Energy is eternal delight. So, in the volume of Songs of Innocence and Experience, the tensions, oppositions or conflicts are within the frames of a song, as well as between the two contrary worlds of Innocence and Experience. The Songs not only Juxtapose pastoral ideal with urban reality (echoing Greenwood’s’; ‘Echoing Green/’The Garden of Love’), but within the single state of Innocence, pastoral images are Juxtaposed with a flawed urban society. The oppositions also exist within the single states of Innocence and Experience. The Songs of Innocence begins with a clearly pastoral ‘Introduction’ followed by ‘The Shepherd’, ‘The Echoing Green’ and, of course, ‘The Lamb'(in Flake’s final order of the Songs). These songs show pastoral harmony between humans and nature. However, we are led out of (or in and out of, depending on the order of Songs), pastoral and into a disturbing world of social difference and injustice through such lyrics as ‘The Little Black Boy, ‘The Chimney Sweeper'(l). Yet even these songs eave a pastoral element. Tom Decree, in ‘The Chimney Sweeper’, is identified with the lamb of pastoral and of innocence through his hair, That curled like a lamb’s back. The black boys mother describes his body as a ‘shady grove’ that enables the soul to bear the beams of love’, identifying the time on earth as a ‘little space’, akin to a pastoral retreat, rather than a time of preparation labor. The pastoral narratives in both poems seek to free the boys from the stigma of their blackness, but ironically that freedom, in the form of a pastoral paradise, is attainable only after death. In ‘The Chimney Sweeper'(l), an angel ‘opened the coffins and set them all free. /Then down a green plain leaping, laughing they run,/And wash in a river and shine in the sun’. In ‘The Little Black Boy, God’s voice will call: ‘Come out from the grove my love and care,] And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice’. Only in death will the white boy be taught to reject his ignorant racist views: ‘And then I’ll stand and stroke his silver hair/And be like him, and he will then love me’. So, Blake uses the pastoral to attack social evils and injustice, but also exposes the limits and inadequacies of the pastoral ideal. He transcends the pastoral to show the limits of pastoral innocence; to criticism the human condition; and to show a new vision. He does this by rejecting the nostalgia of the ideal to show the real condition – by opposing the pastoral ideal with urban reality. The dual presence of town and country, idealization and realism, celebration and regret provides the tension that is fundamental to the pastoral space. The pastoral’s critical function is based upon the writer’s handling of internal tensions between oppositions. Flake’s objective in Songs of Innocence and Experience is to show the wow contrary states of the human soul’. He shows that we create our worlds by meaner of our perception of it. (Milton: ‘A mind is its own place, and in itself/Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven’ Paradise Lost). Our world is ‘Innocent’ – loving, meek and mild, delightful, protected, gentle – if we perceive its creator as loving, caring and protective. But there are limits to this vision; we are vulnerable because we are ignorant of the dangers and threats that exist. The world of Experience is one that is dark, authoritative, oppressive, uncaring and repressive of enjoyment. We see ourselves imprisoned in this despair if we perceive its creator as oppressive, cruel, punitive and Judgmental – and if we perceive ourselves as imprisoned in Original Sin. The two worlds opposed are those of childhood innocence and adult experience. He uses iconic pastoral images (piper and muse, shepherds, rural idyll, innocence of childhood, the Garden of Eden, gardens and greens, lambs, pathetic fallacy) and pastoral states (harmony, Joy, protection, care, love) and opposes these to urban images and states of adult authority and cruelty, state and church repression and authority, dishonest and destructive emotions. Blake sets up oppositions, in the frames of the poems (as artistic creations) between Innocence and Experience and within Innocence and Experience. Blake provides (in Songs of Innocence) pastoral images, but shows the limits of pastoral innocence. In Songs of Experience, he writes in anti-pastoral mode and uses pastoral images to show the destruction of innocence, as well as ways to regain innocence in a vision of a New World. Discussion of ‘putting the complex into the simple’: Approaches – discussion of ‘The Lamb’ and ‘The Tiger’, pages 91 – 101 Songs of Innocence and Experience can be regarded as anti-pastoral: Blake exposes he limitations of a comfortable image of pastoral innocence by 1) redefining the relationship between city and country (Russ in rube – the country in the city); 2) he uses the pastoral as a frame to expose social injustice and human suffering; 3) he uses pastoral images to show true innocence, then subverts these, both in Innocence and Experience, to expose the dark world of adult authority and repression. Blake use pastoral, not to show the contrast between rural and urban, but to expose the injustices of the human condition. Blake was a poet of the city, of London, and his pastoral setting is in the greens, parks and gardens of London. How to cite William Blake’s Songs of Innocence, Papers

The Effect of Pollution on Mount Everest Essay Example

The Effect of Pollution on Mount Everest Paper Nepal is the small, one of the poorest country of the world. Yet it is very rich in natural resources and scenic beauty including highest ranges of Himalayas. Nepal is the home of the eight highest mountains out of ten in the world. Mountaineers, trekkers and skilled professionals regularly visit to scale the Mountains in Nepal, which has increased the number of tourist in Nepal. In the last decade, people’s attraction toward the mountaineering has increased a lot, by which number of climbers visiting Mount Everest has also been increased. Due to the increasing number of climbers in the Everest, pollution n and around the Everest has increased and it needs a special attention to prevent from the pollution. Everest attracts people of all around the world. In the past only few climbers who know well about the mountains used to come but today most of the interested people who have enough economic sources visit Himalayas to climb the mountain. According to Nor Sharpe, a mountain tourist guide, people come to climb Everest as they want to be famous scaling the tallest mountain in the world (Everywhere). In the early asses the number of tourist arriving to Nepal was around 400,000 but in last woo years people flowing to Nepal has increased rapidly reaching around 900,000 nearly triple of starting asses as per the statistics given by the Nepal Tourism Statistics in 2012 (Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation As the numbers of climbers has increased, pollution in the highest portion of the peaks has been increased. We will write a custom essay sample on The Effect of Pollution on Mount Everest specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Effect of Pollution on Mount Everest specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Effect of Pollution on Mount Everest specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Pollution in the Everest includes foods, plastics, cans, gas tanks, papers, climber’s equipment, human excreta, and also dead bodies of climbers. According to Nor Sharpe in the article, â€Å"A Conversation with: Mountain Guide Nor Sharpe†, if the flow of the climbers is frequent, ore and more waste is created (Everywhere). The article â€Å"Everest Maxed Out† published on June 2013 in National Geographic Magazine by Mark Jean skins provides information about his climbing on Everest and the flow of climbers he saw near camp Ill and pollution in the Everest. Jenkins says, â€Å"The two standard routes, the Northeast Ridge and the Southeast Ridge, are not only dangerously crowded but also disgustingly polluted, with garbage leaking out of the glaciers and pyramids of human excrement befouling the high camps. And then there are the deaths. Pollution due to death of climbers happens especially due to certain change in weather and climbers who is less experienced or trained. Despite of being polluted, Everest fascinates and attracts the climbers toward it every year. As the increasing numbers of trekkers and climbers in the Everest has led to the pollution, government should try to clean up all the wastes in the Everest utilizing the revenue they had earned from the tourism industry. Nor says, the government earnings through tourism has not been utilize in mountains nor for benefit of Sharper (Everywhere). Government would make strict rules and laws to punish the people who makes pollution in the Everest. If the Climbers did not bring back their all used equipment’s and the trash from Everest they should lose their deposit money and Sharper should be rewarded if they brought wastes to the lower base of Everest. And also government, mountaineering agencies should limit the number of people climbing the mountain in every season or month which will not only helps to control pollution but also maintains the traffic jams in Everest. All the climbers, guides and Sharper should be provided trainings to handle the ever weather condition in mountain so that deaths in the mountains decrease. Decreasing the number of deaths and limiting the number of climbers on Everest pollution will be controlled and also government needs to be aware about the pollution on Everest and utilize their revenue for reducing pollution in mountains. Everest is one of the main factor that world recognizes Nepal, so every concerned individual as well as government and agencies should control pollution. Controlling pollution it will not only preserve the beauty of Everest but also more people can have the glory to scale the Everest in future.

Income Disparities in Obesity Trends Among Califor Essays (856 words)

Income Disparities in Obesity Trends Among Califor Essays (856 words) Income Disparities in Obesity Trends Among California Adolescents Hiral Patel PSY 101-600 Professor Elizabeth Lavertu 2/20/11 Obesity is a common problem in our society. A few researchers decided to study this matter further and compare obesity rates among low-income families and high-income families. In "Income Disparities in Obesity Trends Among California Adolescents," four authors: Susan H. Babey, Theresa A. Hastert, Joelle Wolstein, and Allsion L. Diamant, describe the entire process of the study: The researchers wanted to prove that income levels affect obesity in adolescents. Adolescents who come from low-income families are more likely to be obese than adolescents who come from high-income families. This study also included gender to see if males or females were more apt to become obese as a factor of income. The variables that were involved with the experiment were: weight, income level, gender and race. The research looked at the income levels as well as the weight/Body Mass Index (BMI) of the participants. Among the participants in the study, weight and income level changed. Therefore, weight and income level are known as independent variables. The dependent variables were gender, race, and obesity. Obesity amongst females in the low-income groups was not different from the females of the high-income group. Obesity rates were based on the charts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Also, poverty and family income levels were judged based on the federal poverty rate. Three samples were used throughout this research. The first part of the sample was finding the participants. The second part of the sample was finding the people that would be interviewed. The third and last part of the sample was stating the facts about the study. The study was done in five languages and took place over four years. There was one sample group that was made from a sample population. Since the study was random, researchers were able to get a sample fraction of the participants of the study. The methods employed in the study would be the steps on how the researchers selected the participants. Logistic regression was used in this study, and income level had changed. A survey is a method in which researchers ask participants questions. When they put the answers together, they can see the trends. In this case, the California Health Interview Survey asked numerous health questions of a certain number of people between specific ages. The researchers in charge of this project were able to find out how many teenagers or young adults were obese. They were also capable of seeing where the teenagers or young adults resided, as well as the income levels of the families of the teenagers or young adults. Some types of information were requested, whereas other types of information were reported. For instance, if the survey asked about the race of each participant, the researcher was able to tell if more African-American, white, or Hispanic teenagers were obese. On page 3 of the docume nt, it shows that the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) was a telephone survey of homes around the state. It was designed to represent all kinds of people. CHIS interviews were done in several languages. Teenagers were asked specific information that the reader is able to find in the documented article. That information was used to decide if the teenager was obese by standards set up by an institution. The study had numerous results. The demographic information stated who exactly was studied, including how long the survey took place, the average age of participants, gender and races. Also, there was a small increase in the obesity rates in California in the years during the study. For instance, the obesity rate for the low-income group between 2001 and 2007 almost doubled. Males were more likely to be obese than females. Asian adolescents were the least likely to be obese. The connection with males and lower-income levels was significant. In conclusion, the hypothesis was proven. The article proves that obesity is related to economic status. However, there could have been more correlations between gender and income levels. The research was done in California. Thus, to make the study more inclusive, the research could have been conducted in diverse places. The study could have been improved if the researchers had

When To Use or Omit Subject Pronouns in Spanish

When To Use or Omit Subject Pronouns in Spanish Subject pronouns in Spanish are a lot like medicine - theyre often essential, but their use should be avoided when theyre not necessary. Overuse of subject pronouns - the equivalent of words such as he, she and they - is common among English speakers learning Spanish. Its important to remember that in Spanish the verb forms often make subject pronouns unnecessary, and when thats the case the pronouns shouldnt be used unless theres a reason to. When To Not Use Subject Pronouns Here is a sampling of sentences where pronouns are unnecessary. In all these examples, the context or verb forms make clear who is performing the action of the verb. Voy al supermercado. I am going to the supermarket. (The verb voy can refer only to the person speaking.) ¿Adà ³nde vas? Where are you going? (The verb vas necessarily refers to the person being spoken to.)Roberto no est en casa.  ¿Fue al supermercado? Roberto isnt at home. Did he go to the supermarket? (Standing alone, the second sentence might be unclear about who the subject is. But in context, it is obvious that Roberto is being referred to.)Nieva. It is snowing. (Nevar, the verb for to snow, is used only  in the third-person singular form and doesnt need an accompanying subject.) What Are the Subject Pronouns? Of course, not all sentences will be as clear as those are without explicit reference to the subject. Here are the subject pronouns in Spanish with their English equivalents: yo - Ità º - you (informal or familiar singular)usted - you (formal singular)à ©l, ella - he, shenosotros, nosotras - we (the first form refers to a group of males or males and females, while the second form refers to females only)vosotros, vosotras - you (informal or familiar plural; the first form refers to a group of males or males and females, while the second form refers to females only; this pronoun is seldom used in most parts of Latin America)ustedes - you (formal plural)ellos, ellas - they (the first form refers to a group of males or males and females, while the second form refers to females only) See the lesson on tà º and usted for distinguishing which form of you should be used. Note that there is no pronoun listed for it as a subject; in sentences where wed use the subject it in English, the use of the third-person verb nearly always makes a pronoun unnecessary. When To Use Subject Pronouns To avoid ambiguity: Context doesnt always make clear who the subject is, and some verb forms are ambiguous. Yo tenà ­a un coche. (I had a car. Out of context, tenà ­a could mean I had, you had, he had or she had. If the context makes the subjects clear, the pronouns normally wouldnt be used.) Juan y Marà ­a son alumnos. Él estudia mucho.  (John and Mary are students. He studies a lot. Without the pronoun, it is impossible to tell whom the second sentence refers to.) For emphasis: In English, unlike Spanish, we often use verbal stress to emphasize a pronoun. For example, if a strong emphasis is placed on the I in I am going to the supermarket, the understood meaning of the sentence might be I (and not somebody else) am going to the supermarket or possibly I am going to the supermarket (and Im proud of myself). In Spanish, one could similarly add an emphasis by using the grammatically unnecessary pronoun: Yo voy al supermercado. Similarly, haz tà º lo que tà º quieres could be understood as you do what you want (and see if I care). Change of subject: When contrasting two subjects, the pronouns are frequently used. Yo estudio y à ©l escucha el està ©reo. Im studying and hes listening to the stereo. Nosotros somos pobres, pero à ©l es rico. (Were poor, but hes rich.) Note that in English you might use intonation - putting stress on were and hes - to add emphasis. But such stress in Spanish would be unnecessary, as using the pronouns takes care of adding the emphasis. Usted and ustedes: Even where not strictly necessary, usted and ustedes are sometimes included and can add a degree of politeness.  ¿Cà ³mo est (usted)? How are you? Espero que (ustedes) vayan al cine. I hope you are going to the movies.

Homework for Eco Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Homework for Eco - Essay Example It is only through capital investment and not capital consumption that growth can be experienced in the economy (Callum). In the Chinese and Middle East context, Faber notes that the Chinese economy is a growing economy due to its investment and increased production rather than consumption. Additionally, China exports to the developing and emerging economies totally by passing the old world order. However, its overdependence on the raw materials such as oils from the Middle East could be an undoing in the future. Middle East is known for its instability and therefore the overdependence on their oil for production could greatly affect the economy (Callum). The approach reduces the moral hazard by ensuring that the creditors do not experience losses. This is due to the fact that losses on the creditors’ side have more detrimental effect on the institution than the loss of Equity by the institution. Creditors impact more on the company than the equity holders. The Creditors can easily cause more losses in case they themselves incur losses. It is ideal than a rescue that protects both creditors and equity holders (Mark). This approach eliminates the problem completely due to the fact the owner who has all the liberty to invest on behalf of the creditor and who has access to more information acts responsibly. This is due to the fact the owner incurs charges and possible losses in case of poor investment options. Senator Lincoln proposed that the commercial banks be forbidden to trade derivative securities in 2010. This is with the intent of preventing the banks from using the cheap deposits to subsidize risky derivative businesses. The proposal also prevents banks from using emergency banking facilities. This proposal encourages financial intermediaries to divest their derivatives by forbidding the government from giving these banks assistants such as tax breaks (Yves). Despite the fact the

Stock Markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Stock Markets - Essay Example Hypothesis being the Greek word for "assumption", the Efficient Markets Hypothesis therefore assumes that capital markets, of which the stock or equity market is one, is efficient. And what we mean when we say that a market is efficient is that buyers and sellers of stocks have all the relevant information they need to make an intelligent decision to either buy or sell stocks in companies at a certain price that reflects all available information. The first to propose the hypothesis is Eugene Fama of the University of Chicago in a paper (1970) where he presented a method of testing the efficiency of the New York Stock Exchange. Since then, hundreds of studies have been conducted to either prove or disprove the hypothesis. Since we know that in science, a scientific hypothesis that survives experimental testing becomes a scientific theory, the fact that the efficiency of markets remains a hypothesis begs the question: why Do test results thus far show that capital markets are inefficient because scientific investigation has not proven otherwise Or, if capital markets are efficient, and stock prices reflect all available information, then why is the trade on mere pieces of paper (called stocks) growing Is it a case of altruistic holders of stocks, seeing the potential for future earnings, selling these stocks to others in order to share the wealth Or are all sellers of stocks just looking for another fool to unload a worthless piece of paper And why do people still make (and lose) money in the stock market And if capital markets are efficient, are all investing decisions intelligent and based on complete information As we will show, capital market efficiency does not necessarily mean an increase in the intelligence quotient of all investors. Power of Information in Capital Markets Today Capital markets have the advantage of getting buyers and sellers to agree on a deal without the use of financial intermediaries like banks and insurance companies who direct the flow of resources from savers to borrowers. Capital market transactions are therefore deemed more efficient in the absence of intermediaries except for brokers who put buyers and sellers together and get a small commission for the effort, making the deal almost frictionless. This is one factor that leads to our hypothesis: the low transaction costs of capital markets enhance its efficiency. With transaction costs negligible, the only real factor that determines the current price of a stock should be the net present value of its future cash flows in the form of dividends and, assuming the company lasts long enough, capital gains when the stock is sold at a future date. After all, a stock is nothing else but a claim to a company's future cash flows. A company's cash flow is affected by several factors, among which are its business prospects, management quality and strategic plans, the economy's over-all performance, and the company's standing within the economy. If all these pieces of information are known, making a study of free

Religious Cults - A Threat to Society? Essay -- essays papers

Religious Cults - A Threat to Society? On November 18, 1978, in a cleared-out patch of the Guyanese jungle, Reverend Jim Jones ordered the 911 members of his flock to kill themselves by drinking a cyanide potion, and they did. It seems cultists were brainwashed by this megalomaniac Jones, who had named their jungle village after himself and held them as virtual slaves, if not living zombies. Jones himself was found dead. He'd shot himself in the head, or someone else had shot him. Is it plausible that more than nine hundred people took their own lives willingly, simply because he told them to? This paper will examine aspects of certain religious groups around the world that have shocked us with similar types of behavior. Most of these groups have been categorized into what we refer to as cults. While most of these new religious groups are extremely passive in their methodology, it is my objective to look at those that have gone outside the boundaries of our norms and done such things as mass suicide and acts of terrorism. I will try to understand how the leaders of these groups are able to persuade members to give up all of their possessions and in some cases their lives. What causes people to remove themselves from their jobs, and families? A cult is any group of people who surround themselves around a strong authority figure. Cults, like many other groups, attempt to expand their influence for the purposes of power or money. However, to achieve these ends, destructive cults employ a potent mixture of influence and deception over members and new recruits. Using methods such as brainwashing, thought reform, and mind control. A successful conversion into a destructive cult removes a person's former identity and replaces it with a new one. This is where the new member accepts all of the beliefs of his new group and a new identity is created. However once a member of the group, any deviation from the cult leader's teachings is strictly forbidden. Individuality is suppressed, and subject to fear and suspicion of everyone around in the group. What could cause people to join such groups when it is common knowledge that these groups are known to go against the norms of our society? Many of those who study these groups say that people tend to be more susceptible to manipulation in times of major change and crisis. During the 1960s there was an explos... ... is often which is defined as direct contact with the divine, generating a sense of belonging to something profound and of being a somebody. The modern cult may be viewed as a group that gives its members an identity and a sense of meaning in a world that has somehow failed to provide them these things. With over 3000 destructive cults in the U.S. claiming over 4 million members, it seems that there may only be more trouble to come with these new religious organizations popping up almost out of nowhere. Their leaders seem to pray on the vulnerable and lonely. Perhaps causing them to behave in a manner that would not be in their normal behavior. I am not suggesting that all of these religious groups are threat to our society. In fact I believe that these self-help groups are an asset to the people that they help. However trouble arises when the leaders of these groups lose control, demanding complete and total obedience. It is quite evident that one person's cult may be another person's religion, and history has proven that yesterday's fringe group may be tomorrow’s mainstream religion. All of our popular religious groups once started as out as a cult at one time or another.