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Rights And Obligations Of Belief
( Originally Published 1915 )
THE discovery that all the greater beliefs enter as factors into the very "substance of the Self " Ś that is, help to form the constitution and to set the conditions for the successful development of the personal life, Ś has given us a valuable clue to the answer of the practical question: What should I believe? But it has by no means furnished a completely available answer to that question. We already know that we must have faith in the reality, efficiency, and value of our own selves, and in the authority and value of our powers of knowledge, when rightly employed in finding out the existence and nature of the objects of knowledge, other selves and things. But we do not yet know the more definite causes and limitations of this faith, Ś as to what we really are, as well as that we really are; and as to the particular spheres and conditions of our efficiency in action, or how we shall by cultivation attain it in higher degrees. Even less does this bare belief give us the answer to the question, What can I know? or, How definitely shall I apply this general belief in my capacity for some knowledge of what is real and true, to the enlargement of that capacity; and, finally, to the attainment of the utmost possible of the most valuable knowledge. The will to live compels the so-called will to believe that I am an active cognitive Self; but it does not furnish me with the reasons for trusting, or the rules for regulating, this belief.
The insufficiency of the general answer afforded by the discovery that certain beliefs, which constitute, define and consecrate the moral and religious nature of man, are indispensable to personal life, is even more apparent. For, as has already been pointed out, the attitude of the will to believe, toward all such beliefs, is somewhat conspicuously different from that which characterizes our "intellectual beliefs." In order to be moral (the word "moral" is here used in its widest signification, so as to include every species and degree of bad as well as good conduct), Ś in order to have moral being at all, one must more or less consciously will to believe in moral distinctions and moral values. This is, however, a kind of faith which does not appear to be forced in the same way as the belief that two and two are four; that the three angles of a triangle are equal in sum to two right angles; or that every effect must have a definite and adequate cause, Ś as the popular statement of a much misapprehended principle of reasoning in matters of physical relations is apt to run. But in order to be truly moral or truly religious, Ś not to say, truly good and sincerely devout, Ś it would seem necessary that one should hold certain beliefs in a "will-full" and definite way. The faiths of morals and religion have a character which implies more of a grip on the will by the way of conscious choice. Even this kind of will to believe, with the precious comforts and rewards of the faiths which invite the will, does not of itself sufficiently inform the inquiring mind just what it should believe. The belief that all conduct has moral value, and that this value is great, or even incomparable, and lays an unconditioned mandate upon the will, does not by any means suffice to tell the inquirer just what he ought to do. In similar manner: The belief in the existence of invisible personal agencies, with which man holds relations that have something to do with determining man's weal or woe, if we consider this the minimum to which the so-called religious consciousness can be reduced, is far enough from justifying such a faith in God as shall satisfy a rational inquiring human mind.
We see, then, that not even all the greater beliefs can dispense with other claims upon the will to believe than just this, that they belong to the constitution of a personal life, if they are going to assert their rights, or place us under a moral obligation to accept them. That a man must have some sort of moral and quasi-religious, as well as intellectual beliefs, follows from the fact that he is a man. With-out these beliefs, he would not be a man at all, in the fullest meaning of the conception of a man. But what sort? What quality of such beliefs and faiths is it that enforces their claims to acceptance in something better than a vague and practically inefficient way; and that, therefore, constitutes and enforces the obligations they impose upon us? And what shall be the test, if any satisfactory test there may be assumed to be, of the right sort? Only the right sort of faiths have the right to command, or even to solicit, the will to believe. Only this sort can properly be supposed to put a personal being under obligations.
Now, the answer to such questions as those which have just been raised, springs with a fine and impressive spontaneity to our lips. To have such rights, and to impose such obligations, the beliefs and faiths of a person endowed with reason and moral freedom, must appear as reasonable. Virtually, this demand to be "reasonable" is precious, and must be regarded so, in the estimate of all men alike. The opponents of "Rationalism," technically so-called, whether from the standpoint of theological dogmatism, agnostic scepticism, Bergsonian intuitionism, or Pragmatic emotionalism, are all alike averse to being called "irrational," or suspected of a lack, in any respect, of the most perfect reasonableness. For, indeed, in the last resort, all human opinions, beliefs, and hopes, as well as all scientific conclusions and common-sense maxims, must be tested by their rationality. But "being reasonable" is by no means always the equivalent of being conscious of reasons that, without any admixture of be-lief., make demonstrably clear to the intellect the grounds on which belief itself is founded.
Indeed, in this sense there are no altogether reasonable attitudes of mind, whether classified as beliefs or as "knowledge-judgments."
If complete acquaintance with all the reasons were necessary in order to be "reasonable," there could be neither knowledge nor faith entitled to the compliment of the term. Science and religion would both become "irrational."
On this point I have elsewhere said ("Philosophy of Religion," vol. I, pp. 305 f.) chiefly with regard to the religious nature: "The conception of man's rationality is comprehensive and varied, not to say vague and uncertain, in large measure because its content is so profound, manifold, and in some respects mysterious. Man has never yet succeeded in fully understanding his own rational nature." And again: "If analysis should succeed in disclosing all the secrets of man's rational life, in the stricter meaning of the word `rational,' we should not in this way be put into possession of the entire account of his religious experience. For the non-rational which is by no means the same thing as the contrary to reason has its part to play in shaping this experience. But there is also very much in the higher forms of religious experience" (and, for that matter, of all degrees and kinds of experience): "which defies or baffles the effort to interpret it i this way. This remark applies to the beliefs, the sentiments, and the practices of religion. In all these spheres of religious experience we come at last on certain unanalyzable and inexplicable facts." "Everywhere the principle of the dynamic unity of the soul in its various forms of functioning must be maintained. The action and reaction of the lower impulses and of the rational functions takes place in the unity of experience. Fear, hope, the desire for communion, and the sense of various needs, excite and direct the intellect and the imagination; and these faculties in turn create and modify the object of the various religious impulses and emotions. The higher ethical and µsthetical sentiments respond to those ideals which they have themselves induced the figurate and discursive faculties to create."
What is true of the greater beliefs and faiths of religion is, in substantially the same way, true of all our greater beliefs, scientific, social, moral, and µsthetical. Their reasonableness (if any one object, through historical associations or on account of prejudice, to the word "rationality") is their only conceivable, as it is their nearest approach to an actually final, test. But by this test must not understand their wholly scientific character, or the ease with which they lend themselves to mathematical treatment or to logical demonstration. Even the degree with which they minister to our more strictly intellectual satisfactions is not wholly dependent upon the manner in which we arrive at their proof, Ś whether by the methods of experimental science or of extended observation.
Any search for the marks of that reasonableness in which the rights and obligations of the different contesting or conflicting forms of belief consist, will greatly be helped by recalling in this connection the very important distinction between the causes and the reasons of man's beliefs and faiths. By "causes" we are now to understand the different influences which in fact give more definite shape to the greater beliefs and faiths of the individual. By "reasons" we mean the explanations which satisfy the intellect, and so influence in particular directions the will to believe, and support and de-fend the personal life in the choices which it has made.
Causes, when they are recognized as steady in operation, universal or widely general in distribution, and of value for strengthening the grasp of will, may often very properly be considered as available reasons for according more of intellectual respect and confidence to any particular belief. We have already admitted that this is true even of that unanalyzed and untested confidence which constitutes for many minds the sole. proof of some cherished belief; and which with all minds is of no little con-trolling influence over all their faiths. All men tend, and reasonably, to find a reason for the faith that is in them, in the very intensity of the conviction with which they cling to that same faith. They will to hold on to it as to a thing of value.
If, then, we can get at the causes which have operated to produce any intense and tenacious conviction, we often, perhaps generally, find that they have in them a measure of rational justification for the belief of which we are convicted. For example, one of the most frequent and powerful causes of the prevalent faiths of morals and religion is the early age at which the faiths were implanted. The popular per-version of the shrewd Jewish maxim Ś "Train up a child in the trade or handicraft in which he is destined to go on in life, and when he is old he will not depart from it"Ś gives a sort of reason for abiding on the whole in the path of ancestral, almost we might say, inherited beliefs. It has been wisely as well as wittily said of the vagaries of certain current views of Pragmatism: "New theories are but the maxims of certain individuals; the old maxims represent the sense of centuries." But if venerable ancestry were made the sole, or even the most important test of the reasonableness of human beliefs and faiths, there would never be any progress either in knowledge or in believing.
Another potent cause which our beliefs, for the most part in an unrecognized but extremely seductive way, bring to bear upon the will, is the agreeable or disagreeable quality of the beliefs themselves. Now it is simple psycho-logical fact, that agreeableness to our feelings has a marked influence on determining the seeming truthfulness of any judgment, whether held by the mind as a matter of knowledge or only as a more or less uncertain belief. In a way, it is true of our knowledges, as it is of our beliefs, that the relation they bear to our emotions is inevitably received as an item in their favor or in their disproof. Men whose minds work in an orderly and methodical fashion, and to whom what is not obviously rational is also unlovely, no matter how devoted they may profess themselves to the bare facts, are not at all so apt to believe in a "pluralistic universe," as are minds of a more irregular, imaginative and artistic temperament. To the feelings of the latter type of a mind, too much semblance of unity and rational order has a distinctly disagreeable cast. They have the emotion of Tom Loker in Mrs. Stowe's novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," when he told the demure Quaker lady who kept tucking him up in bed: "If you bottle a fellow up too tight, I shall split."
Another powerful cause of differing beliefs is their harmony with convention, or wide-spreading acceptance. This cause not infrequently combines with the one just mentioned to influence one's beliefs in a doubly forceful way. Most people do not enjoy the disapproval of others in respect of the doubts and beliefs of the political, business, or social circle amidst which they move, or of the religious communion prevailing in their country or neighborhood. Indeed, that effect of custom which Mr. Balfour has so happily characterized as a "psychological climate," is one of the most prevalent and powerful causes of belief.
All these causes, whether operating "below the threshold of consciousness," or in the clearest light as well-recognized motives, have a certain claim to a certain kind of reasonableness. Speaking in a broad historical and philosophical manner, it is distinctly reasonable that mankind at large should regulate their beliefs and faiths in accordance with all three of these, in fact, most powerful influences. These are all causes which have the rights of reason. They are causes which, when recognized by the individual as reasons, put him under a certain amount of moral obligation in his attempt to answer for him-self the practical question, What should I believe?
That the beliefs of olden time, the beliefs effected and consecrated by the experience of long lines of our ancestry should, in general, be assigned a title to a considerable claim to reasonableness, is, as an ethnological and social fact, a reasonable thing for the mind that reflects upon the conditions necessary for the most real and solid development of the race. So, too, is it reasonable that the beliefs which are most consonant with the feelings of the race, especially those most in harmony with the loftier inspirations and purest sentiments of the race, should have the chance of preference largely in their favor, Ś at least, in the long run, as the saying is. But above all, it is very reasonable, and indeed the only condition on which any political or social, not to say more definitively moral and religious solidarity could be effected, that men should be inclined to something like substantial unity of belief under the influence of custom and implicit or express conventions. In evidence of our present contention, let any one ask himself this question: If you had the power to place Reason in control of human society and wished to secure its safe and sound development, how would you dispense with any of these causes and yet secure such a development?
These considerations furnish some maxims of a negative, if not of a strictly positive character, that are helpful toward the answer of our main inquiry. Similar maxims are found in the proverbs of all languages, savage as well as most highly cultured. They amount to the exhortation:
"Hear counsel, and receive instruction,
And when some Elihu offers,
"I will fetch my knowledge from afar,"
some experienced Job replies with biting sarcasm :
"No doubt but ye are the people
In a word, we all appeal to the belief that there is something of value in the conclusions of a long experience. For every individual who would form for himself a system of valuable and safe guides, it is by no means a bad practice to keep up the reminder: Do not despise the beliefs and faiths of your ancestors and of the multitude of your contemporaries, Ś especially those beliefs and faiths that have maintained themselves, substantially unchanged, through untold centuries of the history of the race. Even the persistent mistaken and superstitious beliefs, probably have a "soul of truth "in them. There are, indeed, in every generation current beliefs, and practices founded upon them, which are worthy of rejection as untrue and ethically contemptible; but the individual cannot best evince his own reasonableness by giving to them an unreasoning rejection.
But neither inheritance and early implanting, nor the craving for agreeable and the aversion to disagreeable sensations, nor the unreflecting acceptance of what is current and customary, can render the beliefs of the individual reasonable and morally obligatory. To sup-pose this would render all social progress inexplicable, and all progress of the individual person impossible. Progress for the race has always been quite as dependent upon changes in the character of the beliefs and faiths of the race as upon the advance of the positive sciences. This is, of course, especially true of those beliefs which concern themselves with matters political, social, moral, and religious.
We need, then, further to inquire, What by right should determine our beliefs and faiths? Or, more definitely expressed, and regarded from the somewhat advanced point of view which we have already reached: What are the characteristics of that reasonableness for which we should look in regulating them?
In answering this question we are bound to say, first of all, that the amount of evidence in fact, and in sound inference from fact, which any belief can produce, stands in the first rank of its claims to be our belief. But in saying this two things should be quite clearly kept in mind. One of these is the difference which always maintains itself between a belief and a matter of knowledge. The distinction, as based upon the degrees of evidence, is a vanishing one; but as long as it exists at all from the mind's point of view, it differences the two mental attitudes. From the same distinction it follows that we cannot reasonably expect for our beliefs and faiths the same degree and kind of evidence which we are quite warranted in demanding for our "knowledge-judgments."
But the second of the suggestions which are in place here is quite as important. There are various kinds of facts, to which are applicable the various kinds of evidence. Every belief that arises to consciousness in every individual mind is itself a fact; and beliefs that persistently arise and maintain themselves in a great multitude of minds are very important facts. For example, the belief of A. B. that he at the bewitching hour of twelve last night, saw the ghost of his dead friend, is a fact. It needs to be accounted for, either as a dream, a hallucination, or what we Ś as though all facts were not thatŚ call "an actual fact." But no mat-ter of how much importance it may be to A. B., it is not necessarily worth much to the psychologist, as evidence to the trustworthiness of the belief in ghosts. The same thing may be said, though with less confidence, of the testimony of C. D. as to the table-tippings which he has witnessed. But when multitudes of men in all times affirm, "for a fact," that they have seen and talked with ghosts; or, better still, so-called "scientists" themselves affirm their observation of the facts of table-tipping and other allied phenomena; we all quite reason-ably begin "to sit up and take notice." We feel an obligation to adjust our own beliefs, if we can, to the evidence offered by such an array of facts of belief.
The relation of belief to inference is one of the most interesting but complicated of the several psychological problems connected with the entire subject. Its treatment in modern philosophical English may be said to have been opened by Locke's discussion "Of Probability" and "Of the Degrees of Assent," which are the Chapters XV and XVI of the Fourth Book of the "Essay Concerning Human Understanding." His conclusion is that our "Assent" Ś and by this word he intends to indicate the essential mental attitude in all affairs of be-lief and faith Ś "ought to be regulated by the Grounds of Probability." Of these "grounds " he has previously said : " The grounds of Probability are two; Conformity with our own experience, or the Testimony of others' Experience." But in our own experience the prominent fact is just this that we either do believe or do not believe. The statement of Locke, therefore, resolves itself on this point into the very sane conclusion that one of the best ways to establish the reasonableness of any particular belief is derived from the conclusion of a careful reflection on our part over the question: How does this particular fact of belief harmonize with the rest of the facts, Ś and most especially with the most important, clearly manifest, and practically valuable facts, of this same experience? And here we come down again upon the bed-rock of all the rights and obligations belonging to the activities and the interests of the personal life. We have the right, and we are under the obligation, to seek the highest and most worthy harmony in the development of this life. How far this is from being selfish we have made quite clear in another connection. (" What Ought I to Do?" p. 270 f.)
Locke displays his customary, sound commonsense when he couples with the experience of the individual, the experience of others as affording legitimate grounds of belief in our-selves. This is so as a matter of course; and it is so in all matters of knowledge as well as in all matters of belief. Most of what we know, or claim to know, is based upon the testimony of others; in notable cases the only evidence which we have, that can be regarded as trust-worthy, is the testimony of our fellows that such has actually been their experience. In all matters of knowledge, too, we trust most to the authority of those whom we believe to know best; to those who profess to have themselves experienced the facts, or who have been best equipped for making trustworthy inferences from the facts. There could be no science and no education, if this form of credence, which indeed often enough degenerates into credulity, did not enter into all the accumulations of the world's stock of knowledge. Such a procedure of our minds in their attitudes of faith is, in some respects, most reasonable when we are dealing with matters about which those who teach us only claim to have probable evidence. If they could, they would not have us take from them their more or less probable beliefs as though these beliefs were already certified knowledge. Indeed, the wisest and most trust-worthy authorities in the positive (sic) sciences are continually warning us that their most cherished conclusions have Ś not a few of them Ś as yet only attained a higher or lower degree of probability. They are still, that is, inferences which may reasonably claim belief, but which cannot demand the allegiance of perfect confidence, as indubitable knowledge. There is no valid reason why these grounds of probability, and the reasons for faith which they lay and support, should not also be trusted in the most complicated experiences of the moral and religious life and the development of personality. Indeed, in certain important respects, morals and religion are the peculiarly appropriate sphere of so-called authority.
At this point our reflections are brought face to face with two very important problems. These concern the relation of argument to belief, or Ś to use the terms employed by Cardinal Newman Ś of inference to assent; and the place which "authority" may reasonably occupy in recommending or prescribing, not to say dictating, human beliefs. To speak as though faith could really be enforced by authorityŚ" single-handed," so to say Ś would seem to imply a false conception of the real nature of faith.
In considering the first of these two problems, the psychological puzzle is to determine the legitimate, the rational, and really trustworthy relation of inference and assent; of our faiths and the arguments or so-called "proofs" which we advance in their behalf. May belief reason-ably go beyond the degree of evidence that is available as to the truth of that which is believed? That belief does often, and even habitually, go beyond the evidence, is a patent enough fact of history and of daily experience. But is this reasonable? To the question as put somewhat brusquely in this form, and especially for purposes of the control of conduct through putting the will under obligation to believe, we have no hesitation in giving an affirmative answer. Yes : human beliefs and faiths have other rights than those derived from inference and argument; they do, in fact, place us under obligations for which we can often enough give no answer wholly satisfactory in the logic-compelling court of the intellect. This would be true, if for no other reason, as inescapably due to the fact that, in general, the most powerful causes of human beliefs and faiths can with difficulty, if at all, be put by the intellect in the form of reasons. There is, however, a better way of rendering this fact of the superiority of many of our faiths, especially those of the higher order, to the proofs for them, quite reasonable. Let us briefly follow this better way.
In arguing about beliefs, and presenting evidence in their behalf or against them, it is customary to pay little or no attention to the fact of the beliefs themselves. But they are there, somehow posited in human consciousness, and as facts entitled to speak for themselves as all facts are. Now, argument about the truth-fulness of any belief cannot be convincing, even from the point of view of the unprejudiced intellect, without taking the fact of the belief itself into the account. Indeed, the starting-point of the argument "around and about" the fact is, most reasonably, the fact itself. And the conclusion of the argument must be somehow, even if it return a verdict unfavorable to the truthfulness of the belief, such as to show us how the convincing influence of the belief could come to be so strong as it certainly is.
In the arguments pro and con the most important and persistent of human beliefs and faiths, this rendering of justice to the fact of their existence is far too often not attempted at all; or if attempted, is very imperfectly done. For example: We have now before the public an enterprising group of young psychologists who are arguing "round and about" the trust which it is "natural" to repose in the deliverances of self-consciousness, and even over the existence of any such mental activities. This they are doing, in pretty total obliviousness of the universal fact of human belief in the trust-worthiness of self-consciousness; and of the particular fact that they, as well as the rest of us, are actually trusting it implicitly in their conclusive (sic) argument against its trust-worthiness. Of all the greater moral and religious faiths, as well as of those metaphysical beliefs which underly the systems of science and philosophy, the same thing is essentially true. We are, perhaps, eternally arguing "round and about" the belief in God; but all the while the belief in some form is there; and being there, it is by far the most important point in all the argument, whether for or against the belief. For the fact of the belief must be made reasonable, whether we can make the content of the belief reasonable, by way of arguing about it, or not.
On the other hand, we cannot properly con-found the attitude of mind with which any particular conclusion of a course of inference is received, with the process or activity of inference, by which the conclusion has been reached. I may still doubt about ghosts, or the materialization of departed spirits, while accepting the logical nature of much of the argument about ghosts and spirits, by which others reach the firm faith in their actual existence. They start the argument with faith in the alleged facts, or in those who testify to their having been witnesses to the facts. I admit the cogency of most of the argument, as argument; but I have not yet laid the grasp of faith upon either the alleged facts or the witnesses to these facts. No wonder, then, that we so often hear the bitter complaint, not only in philosophy and theology, but even in science:
"Myself when young did eagerly frequent
In dismissing for the present these considerations, it is pertinent to remember what has already been said more than once, Ś namely, that in all belief, as a rule, the reasons for the assent, even where the assent is most unhesitating, cordial, fixed, and unswerving, have been only incompletely recognized. They are, in-deed, still causes which lie hidden in the belief itself, rather than reasons which the intellect has discovered and laid bare to itself. No wonder then that our choicest beliefs and faiths so often seem unreasonable, or only scantily clothed in the white raiments of an unimpeachable logical purity; although under this transparent texture we seem to get glimpses of a tightly fitting coat-of-mail, which renders them quite invincible to attacks by way of inference from totally different classes of facts.
It must be frankly confessed as a task impossible at the present time to discuss the reasonableness of having our beliefs and faiths fixed by authority, without giving offence to every advocate of the two extreme and equally untenable positions. It is, however, distinctly obvious that the unreasonable discrediting of authority is the quite too prevalent extreme at the present time. We may be pardoned for saying, then, that the whole world seems to have gone mad in its protestantism. The grounds for this extremity of protest against "pinning" any kind of faith to any kind of authority are much easier to trace than its reasonableness is to defend. They are largely historical; and to try to follow them in this direction would lead us too far afield from our more simple practical aims and hopes of being helpful. They are also largely on "economic" grounds (if we may be pardoned the somewhat facetious use of this imposing term). It is cheaper not to think out the grounds of belief, and so to stick fast in the old beliefs, or else to turn braggartly agnostic, than it is to tax one's intellectual resources in the effort to afford reasons for the will in making its choice among conflicting beliefs. To this we must add the fact, that much of the regnant philosophy, both theoretical and practical, has operated to make the public intellectually lazy in their attitude toward fundamental beliefs. This pseudo-philosophy has made current the opinion that it does not so much matter whether a reality over which our wills have no control is going to verify our beliefs in the final issue, as whether we can skim along on the surface of life fairly successfully, if we just take them as they seem, at the time, best to serve our temporary ends.
We shall, therefore, limit ourselves to a simple warning against either of the two extremes to which reference was just made. No one can regulate his own mental attitudes wisely and safely, who thinks to escape from the large, and even dominating authority of those who have had most experience, and have given most reflection to this experience, in any realm of human beliefs and faiths. It is distinctly reasonable that it should be so. It is distinctly unreasonable for any individual not to will that in his own case, it shall be so. But on the other hand, no "Self," no being with the reason, moral freedom, and intellectual, moral, and religious equipment for developing a personal life, will unconditionally submit his beliefs and faiths to any human authority.
Another test of the reasonableness of beliefs is the satisfaction they afford to those longings, aspirations, sentiments, and other largely emotional attitudes toward the world and toward the conduct of life, to which we have already referred as entering into the very substance of the personal self. But now we notice how all the best and noblest of these "feeling-attitudes" arise and develop in connection with certain "value-judgments." We do tend to believe in the reality, sometime, somewhere, some-how Ś of that which our higher sentiments and aspirations tell us ought to be real. Here again we must remind ourselves, in a yet more emphatic and conclusive way, that the evidence for the truthfulness of any of the greater beliefs lies forever hidden, or only half-revealed, in the heart of the belief itself.
The ideals which our imaginations and intellects frame so joyously in answer to our sentiments, however often they seem deferred or disappointed by the corresponding realities, are themselves persistent facts. This is especially true of the facts of art, of morality, and of religion. We may say in answer to the question, What should I believe? as we have else-where said in answer to the question, What ought I to do? "Although. it is a question which does not emerge in consciousness, is no question at all, until we recognize the presence of the ideal, it is not a question that deals with thoughts merely or that cuts itself loose from a firm footing in the real and hard facts of human life." Those feelings and judgments which attach themselves to human ideals have a right to exercise a potent influence upon human beliefs and faiths. In fact, they do have a mighty influence; it is reasonable that they should have such an influence. This is true, even of the conceptions of the world which are held as the firm beliefs. of the positive sciences. For as the Abbķ de Broglie has truly said: "The visible world does not contain within itself either the origin, or the end, or the law or the ideal, of human life."
Once more, we may say that the reasonableness of any particular belief or faith is also to be tested by the service it actually renders to the needs of life. Here is the central truth of Pragmatism, with its test of truth by its success in doing "work." But in this tenet as applied to our beliefs and faiths, as when applied to our "knowledge-judgments," we must recognize the fundamental fact that one of the most important of all these needs is the satisfaction which the mind can attain only through confidence in its possession of the truth.
Summing up our conclusions as to the Rights and Obligations of Belief in the form of their most obvious claims to the title of "reasonableness," we may say that the chief tests are the following: The correspondence of belief to the knowledge derived from our own experience or the experience of others, Ś especially of "the men who know"; the satisfaction afforded to the sentiments and value-judgments which attach themselves to the ideals of art, morality and religion; and the assistance rendered to us in the conduct of the practical life. In a word, the relation which any particular belief sustains to the supreme interests and highest values of personal life, must settle, as far as such a problem can be settled, the question, What should I believe?
Be "reasonable" in your beliefs does not mean, then, "Prove them all by argument in the steps of which no possible flaw can be discerned," except, possibly (and very likely) that the argument has neglected the very most important facts from which it starts Ś the facts of belief themselves; but it means the rather, "Choose your beliefs, according to their harmonies with your total experience and with the experiences of the wise of the race; and according to the reasonable satisfaction they afford to your own best Self and to the needs for the safe-conducting of the practical life."
Each one of these three supreme groups of the tests by which to determine the rights and the obligations of one's beliefs and faiths, seems, however, to require some further amplification and defence.


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|Sting - ...Nothing Like the Sun
|Music Disc Reviews DTS 5.1 CD
|Written by Jerry Del Colliano
|Tuesday, 10 April 2001
You'll need a 5.1 surround sound processor and 5.1 speakers in your system to fully enjoy the disc, but what good AudioRevolution.com reader doesn't have at least a happening 5.1 surround system at this point?
Nothing Like The Sun is a pleasant mix of upbeat pop hits along with thought-provoking political statements. Compared to Sting's more recent work, much of which has been remastered to 5.1 DTS CDs (read AudioRevolution.com reviews of Sting's Brand New Day and Ten Summoner's Tales, as well as The Police: Every Breath You Take - Greatest Hits in 5.1), Nothing Like The Sun is less personal and more political.
Starting out with "The Lazarus Heart," a tune written with inspiration coming from a vivid nightmare, it highlights a widespread surround mix of a record that I am very familiar with in its stereo version. Guitars, keyboards and subtle cymbals build in intensity all around you as the tune starts, with a singsong melody seemingly coming from a synth. I knew that I would need to listen to the stereo-remastered Mobile Fidelity version of the record a few more times during the course of writing this review, yet I knew it was soon to be up for sale on eBay.com.
I don't remember if "Englishman in New York" was a certified hit at the time of its release, but it is one of tunes that over time has held up best for me. The song was written for a friend of Sting's who had moved to New York from London and joked that he had hoped that he would soon receive his naturalization papers so that he could (actually) commit a crime and not be deported. "Something glamorous, non-violent, with a dash of style," Sting's friend noted. "Crime is so rarely glamorous these days" sarcastically sums up the difference between London and New York culture. The open sound of the tune highlights a call and response relationship between Sting's distinctly English vocals and Branford Marsalis' smooth sax.
"We'll Be Together" was the big radio hit from the record, which will likely sound familiar to you. The 5.1 mix is far more interesting than the stereo version or what you remember about the audio quality from the radio. With that said, it was my least favorite mix in 5.1. I think the more crowded nature of the tune and the compressed drum sound ended up making this cut far more cluttered than most of the other songs on the record. The bass on the 5.1 DTS version is far superior to that of the MFSL remastered CD.
At the time of Nothing Like The Sun, Sting was sometimes criticized for being overly political. Sting reports in the liner notes that tell the stories of most of the songs that, while on the 1986 Amnesty International tour, he had learned of the thousands of people who had at the time "disappeared" in Chile as victims of the police, murder squads and national army. Their survivors eloquently protested the injustice by performing the "Cueca Solo," in which the performers dance with photos affixed to their clothing, giving inspiration for the song "They Dance Along (Cueca Solo)." With a developing bossa nova groove and an optimistic vibe, the tune is a touching illustration of a previously little-known political situation that Sting, with his media clout, brought to public attention.
Sting ventures into treacherous musical waters by taking on a cover of the timeless Jimi Hendrix tune, "Little Wing." With longtime idol Gil Evans and his orchestra, Sting belts out the touching lines of one of rock's greatest ballads. The guitar solo is jazzy and lengthy, not a Jimi rip-off, but also not groundbreaking. The overall sound of the tune has a more jazz-like, synthed-out feel than many of Sting's original songs. Musically, the cover works to this day but the arrangement didn't have the same power for me this time around.
Because a good part of the content of Nothing Like The Sun is inspired by time-specific political and social topics, the record can sound somewhat dated. If you can put that aside, Nothing Like The Sun sounds far better today than it did back in the day. I have listened to this record on each and every good music system that I have ever owned and it has never sounded even close to as good as it does on this DTS disc. Whether you are already set up with DVD-Audio or you just have a 5.1 system that can play a DTS movie or CD in 5.1, this record is a worthwhile investment.

subset: commoncrawl


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Claudio Ranieri takes a bold stand against Catania and drops Wesley Sneijder to the bench, as he fights for his Inter job.
The Nerazzurri are increasingly desperate with seven defeats from their last eight official games, so absolutely must win at 19.45 UK time.
Luc Castaignos continues his three-match ban for spitting at an opponent, while Fredy Guarin, Ricky Alvarez, Andrea Ranocchia and Cristian Chivu are injured.
Ranieri has taken a bold step in dropping Sneijder, whose tactical issues have been partly blamed for the recent crisis.
This means he can play a classic 4-4-2 system without the need to squeeze in a trequartista, but still pulls a surprise by fielding Diego Forlan out wide.
Catania are on fine form, but come to San Siro without Marco Biagianti, Andrea Campagnolo and Alessandro Potenza.
Alejandro Gomez, Gonzalo Bergessio and Pablo Barrientos complete the trident, as the Sicilians have no intention of coming to San Siro in order to defend.
Marco Motta returns to the line-up after his suspension.
Inter: 1 Julio Cesar; 55 Nagatomo, 6 Lucio, 25 Samuel, 4 Zanetti; 37 Faraoni, 17 Palombo, 19 Cambiasso, 9 Forlan; 22 Milito, 7 Pazzini
Inter bench:12 Castellazzi, 2 Cordoba, 10 Sneijder, 18 Poli, 20 Obi, 28 Zarate, 40 Juan Jesus
Catania: 20 Carrizo; 11 Motta, 6 Legrottaglie, 3 Spolli, 12 Marchese; 13 Izco, 10 Lodi, 4 Almiron; 17 Gomez, 18 Bergessio, 28 Barrientos
Catania bench:1 Kosiscki, 8 Seymour, 14 Bellusci, 16 Llama, 19 Ricchiuti, 22 Ebagua, 33 Capuano
See the latest Serie A predictions and betting tips with Eurotips.co.uk [12]


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May 5, 2009
Study: Big fish vanishing from Caribbean
The disappearance of sharks, barracuda and other large predators from Caribbean reefs is related to the growing human population, a Florida researcher says.
Chris Stallings, a post-doctoral researcher at the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory, compared populations of 20 predatory species of fish on the reefs of 22 Caribbean countries. His results were to be published Wednesday in the journal PLoS One.
I found that nations with more people have reefs with far fewer large fish because as the number of people increases, so does demand for seafood,he said.
Fishermen typically go after the biggest fish first, but shift to smaller species once the bigger ones become depleted. In some areas with large human populations, my study revealed that only a few small predatory fish remain.
Stallings said the consequences of the decline in large fish are difficult to predict because of the complexity of the food webs on reefs. He said one likely result is the filling of niches by invaders such as the Pacific lionfish, introduced in the Caribbean through aquarium releases.


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How Amanda Palmer made $11,000 on Twitter in two hours
Yesterday I enjoyed speaking with Amanda Palmer, lead singer of The Dresden Dolls and punk cabaret force of nature about connecting with fans both online and off.
Amanda uses her dynamic personality to connect both in person and on the Web. She has amassed a large online following on her blog, her MySpace page (75,000 friends), Facebook fan page (20,000 fans) and her Twitter feed (40,000 followers).
Here's the video portion of our discussion. As the video is on the long side, please see below for the timings of different things we discussed if you can't watch the entire thing. I've also provided some of the discussion as text below.
- 0:30 - Amanda talks about connecting with her fans and building a fan base.
- 2:30 - Is social networking required for Indie music success today? Amanda surprises me by saying 'not necessarily'.
- 4:00 – Twitter stuff: Learn how Twitter can be used to get hundreds of people to a last minute gig. Connecting with Trent Reznor. And what the hell did we do "BT" (before Twitter)?
- 9:00 – Can social media be used to promote your product if your product sucks?
- 11:00 – Why the changing nature of music business means that "making it" is so different today. If you are a musician, do you want to do the hard work?
- 12:30 – What is the role of record labels today and into the future?
- 17:50 – How Amanda made $11,000 on Twitter in two hours.
- 21:00 - Then she made $6,000 more a few days later by "selling weird stuff" from her apartment.
Some highlights of the discussion
"Being a touring musician means meeting fans," Amanda says. "I go out and meet fans after every gig. It's important to make contact in real life and not just online in social media like Twitter. If you don't meet fans in real life too, then you're a fraud. If you're not comfortable getting into the sweat with them and talking with people at shows, then how can you do it successfully online? I love connecting with fans. Speaking to people at the merchandise table after the show is great. I can stay there forever."
Amanda frequently uses Twitter to bring together groups of fans quickly and spontaneously when she is on the road. She tweeted a secret gig in LA one morning and about 350 fans showed up five hours later at a warehouse space where she played piano.
How Amanda Palmer made $11,000 on Twitter in two hours
When you have a loyal following on Twitter, it becomes an incredibly powerful tool to accomplish your goals. You can use Twitter to spread an idea, to ask people's opinions, to research a problem, or even to make some money. "The great thing about Twitter is that the minute I started using it, I realized the possibilities are endless," Amanda says. She proved it one Friday night.
"I tweeted as a joke that I was all alone, again, on a Friday night at my computer, like a loser," Amanda says. "Other people started chiming in and we were all losers. One of my friends called it a virtual flash mob and all of a sudden there were a thousand people hanging out and following what was going on, the dialog between the fans. And we started a faux organization called The Losers of Friday Night on their Computers. We started making demands of the government like no tax on vodka, government issued sweatpants, free pizza, anything you could possibly need to be a loser on Friday night at your computer. And it was just really funny. It felt like a little piece of loser anarchy on Twitter."
Amanda set up a hastag (a unique code to find tweets on a particular subject) for the Losers - #LOFNOTC - and the thousands of people communicating made the Loser group the number one trending topic on Twitter at that moment.
As people were communicating, someone suggested the group should make a T-shirt. So without any planning, Palmer said "sure let's do it," and used a Sharpie to make a T-shirt design. Someone suggested the slogan DON'T STAND UP FOR WHAT'S RIGHT, STAY IN FOR WHAT'S WRONG. Palmer's Web marketing company was able to create a quickie site (which went live in just half an hour), and offered the T-shirts for sale at $25 each.
The Losers group bought 200 T-shirts that night and several hundred more were sold the next day (after Palmer blogged about it). The total take made on Twitter over just two hours was $11,000.
Not many people can get a thousand people to gather on a Friday night and fewer still can then sell something to the group like Palmer did. But that's not the real point here. There's no doubt that Twitter is an increasingly important way for people to communicate and organizations are using it in very clever ways to benefit their business and themselves.
Concert photo by Martyn Foster via Flickr
There is one catch. You need to have celebrity status to make most of this happen. People have to want to buy the items she is willing to sell from her house. Celebrity is everything. However this case study has zero business value. I posted a few blogs recently on Social Media and ROI and case study-without having a celebrity status. :)
@ Derek "zero business value"? Please.
I write about marketing ideas for all kinds of people. Many of my readers are musicians, artists, authors, and others who can get tremendous value from this post.
I don't completyly agree with Derek either. Yes it is true that having a celebrity status might help but in my opinion is not a must. For example the site www.quekura.com wich is the site of a guy who enjoys doing voice over and does it from home in some lost town in the middle of mexican desert. He now built a huge fan base all over latin america.
Now about "zero business value" well I think the point of this post is not about making money but about the power of social media. Plus lets think about the context Amanda is an artist and I sincerly doubt that she makes music for money. Yes it's nice she can make a living of it but I bet she gets a lot of personal satisfaction too. Finally it also shows that social media gives her the chance to show her fans this dinamic personality and where all the music comes from. Wich makes me think all organizations should have a bit of that, show you what moves them and gives them a reason to exist.
You mentioned on the Permission TV show that you hadn't yet learnt to edit video.
It's much easier to learn the simple stuff - like deleting bits of video you don't want - than you might imagine.
Have a look at Sony Vegas Movie Studio, which pretty easy-to-use editing software.
And Dave Kaminski has a great course - http://www.webvideouniversity.com - which teaches the foundations and beyond.
So all I need to do is become a famous musician, then get a Twitter account, create a T-shirt and sell it?
I guess the Internet is a great get rich quick scheme.
I think the business value of this is very much where Amanda Palmer said it was: i.e., not inherent in social networking in and of itself, but rather in allowing someone who already has something of business value (good music, good movies, whatever) find new ways to connect to and expand their fanbase. If you're just a social networking savant holding a clump of dirt, you get nowhere. But if you've got more worthwhile than a clump of dirt to show, you can use social networking sites to find new fans and energize your existing ones.
This was a very interesting (and entertaining!) interview; good work!
Social Networking is a new medium which allows sellers/talents/preachers reach niche markets at very low cost. By cost here its not only the dollar figure but also the effort etc. As other readers pointed out, your idea/content/product has to be viable to begin with but it is these new mediums that David has been discussing that allows these to catch on and reach the "tipping point". These mediums are meant to complement the existing mediums of which being a celebrity is one of them. Its not an either or, it an either and.
Good discussions here. Thanks you all for jumping in.
Something that I think about a lot is this -- you can learn a lot more about social media by looking at other industries instead of your own. If the Barack Obama campaign had simply copied other politicians (instead of pioneering social media for presidential politics like he did) then he would NOT be president.
I know I learned from Amanda. And I'd like to think that Amanda has learned a few things from me too.
Don't you think that we are better off learning from the best than copying the competition in the same industry? I certainly hope so because that's what I've built my career on!!
Interesting discussion.
I absolutely agree about learning from the best in other industries; I might not be able to use all of it, but every tidbit helps. Even this - I'm not a celebrity (ha!) but I recognize the "create fun and followers" aspect.
My field (kitchen and bath design) is behind on the whole marketing and social media aspect. They're getting there, but I prefer to look at all successful models and create something on my own.
I wrote about this last week as part of an article on artists & twitter. David, your comments about us learning from other industries is spot on. Business & art can learn a lot from each other - mainly teach each other about creativity & discipline.
Arturo, Amanda does make a living making music. The Dresden Dolls are a pretty famous group. While I agree that celebrity status is not a prerequisite to making money on the web, it's far easier to start off with celebrity status than having to create it online, from scratch.
This post is great because it demonstrates the best attributes of Twitter, and of social media as a powerful tool:
1) Real time activity and results
2) If you have passion, people will follow you
3) If your activity online is devoted to other people (unselfish), you will be respected
4) Access to millions...if you have something of quality to share
David, you continue to demonstrate innovative thinking and we all know that innovative thinkers are often misunderstood at first :) And you are not afraid of that...keep up to the good work!
So someone that people listen to ran a temporary online t-shirt store, and sold some stuff. Where's the story?
Sometimes, the more SIMPLE the idea is, the more successful the concept becomes and very doable for the everyday person (albeit) selling a kewl t-shirt by a music artist isn't so uncommon.
All celebrities plss contact me,i will be your twitter consultant and personal secretary for your twitter account? So that we both could make some real money on twitter and help my status to get improveed???
My application i am submitting to all hollywood,bollywood and mollywood stars?
Damn! I am Serious Lol!
I am aware of Amanda Palmer's success as an artist. However, it doesn't mean that I like all the things she do. I don't think the idea of promoting shirts with statement "DON'T STAND UP FOR WHAT'S RIGHT, STAY IN FOR WHAT'S WRONG" isn't a good one. It encourages people to shun good instead of evil.


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Dewpoint Contour - -12 hr
Note: This survey is hosted on Survey Monkey servers. Clicking the survey link above will direct you outside our network to the Unisys-approved survey page on the Survey Monkey website. We respect your privacy in accordance with our Privacy Notice.
Contour plot of the dewpoint temperature (F) for the contiguous US. The dewpoint temperature indicates the amount of moisture (or humidity) in the atmosphere. The amount of moisture in the atmosphere can affect how you feel and is used in the heat index computation (see above). Dewpoints above 65 reflect humid conditions. Summer dewpoints can reach the low 80s. Dewpoints above 50 mean that there is enough moisture in the atmosphere to generate thunderstorms. The higher the dewpoint, the easier storms form and the more potent they can become. An additional factor of low level wind convergence is also needed to help storms form (see below). Intense storms can form at dewpoints of 55 if the right conditions are in place including high convergence values.


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Kilmarnock, Scotland News
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41 Smoking Hot Celeb Women Who Wear Glasses
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15 Great Actors Who Costarred With Animals
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33 Awkward Celebrity Couples Who Broke Up - But Still Had To Work Together
People Are Freaking Out Over How These 29 Stars Raise Their Kids
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Updated: Wed Feb 28, 2018 11:19 pm
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Pleasing Cheese Potatoes Recipe
My family can't get enough of this melt-in-your-mouth casserole, which won a third-place prize in a contest sponsored by our local newspaper.—Rena Crane, Kenosha, Wisconsin
Recommended: Ham and Cheese Recipes
VERIFIED BY Taste of Home Test Kitchen
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- 1 package (32 ounces) frozen Tater Tots
- 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 cans (10-3/4 ounces each) condensed cream of potato soup, undiluted
- 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
- 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- Arrange Tater Tots in a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. In a bowl, combine the eggs, soup, sour cream, green pepper and onion until blended. Stir in the cheese. Pour over Tater tots. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Yield: 8-10 servings.
Originally published as Pleasing Cheese Potatoes in Casserole Cookbook 2001, p240
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Dr Angélique du Toit is senior lecturer in the Department of Management at Sheffield Business School. She is course leader for the Part-Time MSc in Coaching and Mentoring.
A new date has been confirmed for Friday 4 April 2014, Sheffield Business School is hosting a half-day training event for coaches and mentors on The Role of Mindfulness and Coaching. In this blog, Dr Du Toit explores the topic of mindfulness and its relevance and usefulness in the workplace today.
According to The Telegraph, mindfulness training has "been embraced by organisations as diverse as Google, Transport for London, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Home Office" as "an antidote to the relentless pressure and information overload common in many workplaces."
Mindfulness is a hot topic in the business environment today, and has gained popularity in recent years as a way for business and leadership coaches to help people learn new skills and approach a better life/work balance. But what is it? Is it useful? And will it have longevity or be consigned to the 'fad' scrapheap?
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness can mean different things to different people. Put simply, mindfulness is meditation that has been given a "sexy" title. It involves focusing on the present, such as your breathing, your heartbeat or other sensations in your body, and helps you to shut out distractions and be grounded in whatever activity you're doing. You can do it in a few seconds, and it has real practical value for everyday life.
Coaches and mentors use mindfulness techniques to help their clients concentrate and gain increased awareness of themselves to focus on achieving their goals.
Why should business leaders practice mindfulness and encourage it at work?
The significant health benefits associated with mindfulness practice include improvements in a range of conditions such as anxiety, depression, stress disorders, chronic pain, high blood pressure, and even Alzheimer's and dementia.
Healthy employees are both happier and more productive. But in addition to the many general health benefits, mindfulness also facilitates high performance. If you're fully present in activity, you'll be more focused and deliver better outcomes at work. And giving your employees the edge through mindfulness training is also a way of positioning yourself as an innovative employer. As mental health and leadership writer for Forbes, Todd Essig, points out, "instruction in mindfulness, in being able to reflect rather react, is a genius perk to provide."
When it was launched last year, Google's new "Search Inside Yourself" course quickly became the most popular among the hundreds of free courses the company offers its employees. Developed by Google engineer Chade-Meng Tan with the help of nine mindfulness experts, the class has three steps: attention training, self-knowledge and self-mastery, and the creation of useful mental habits.
"I'm definitely much more resilient as a leader," said executive development director and trained psychologist, Richard Fernandez, after taking the course.
So is mindfulness just a fad?
One of my concerns is that the recent explosion in the popularity of mindfulness at work may just be a fad. However, we need to remember that mindfulness is essentially just a new term for the practice of meditation, which has been around for thousands of years.
The term 'meditation' is less palatable to modern business leaders, as it seen by some as rather 'new age' and suggestive of a process that is reclusive and associated with religious enlightenment.
In fact, meditation can be done anywhere in just a few minutes. It is practical rather than just spiritual. It involves creating a space between you and the many distractions of modern life, so you can take time to focus on the here and now. The heightened sense of awareness you gain as a result makes you much more able to deal with day-to-day issues that arise in the business or workplace environment. This will always be relevant.
What work is Sheffield Business School doing in this area?
Lynda Hinxman, assistant dean of employer engagement at the school, explained in a recent blog why it is important that middle managers have the skills to develop future leaders.
I've just designed a distance learning programme focused around learning and development for leaders and line managers who want to develop coaching skills. Intelligence quotient (EQ) is part of the distance learning module. EQ has an excellent diagnostic and is a great starting point for coaching. Regular blog readers will know that the school has recently brought EQ specialist Dr Martin Newman on board. More on Dr Martin Newman's work with the school here.
We also go into organisations to carry out research and evaluate existing training programmes that organisations run internally. We recently did some extensive research for an NHS trust on its coaching programme, for the benefit of patients.
Interested in finding out more?
Those in a coaching and mentoring role might like to attend the first of our quarterly CPD training events next year on 14 January. More information and booking details for The Role of Mindfulness and Coaching. The next CPD event after that (date TBC) will be led by David Megginson, co-author of the recently published Beyond Goals: Effective Strategies for Coaching and Mentoring (compiled with David Clutterbuck and Dr Susan David).
Four times per year, we host a coaching and mentoring research day. The event, aimed at anyone interested in these topics, is run on an open space approach: the agenda is set by the delegates at the start of the day, and we match experts in that area with each group, to explore topics in more detail. We held one on 13 December – do look out for follow up blogs.
Other courses include both full time and part time MSc in Coaching and Mentoring, post-graduate diploma, and many shorter courses and CPD modules. A new distance learning option will soon be available too. The next intake day is on Monday 20 January 2014.
If you want to find out more about mindfulness, I would recommend Mindfulness: finding peace in a frantic world by Mark Williams and Danny Penman (a practical book that is both easy to read and offers scientific support for the health benefits of mindfulness) and Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn (one of the founders of the modern mindfulness approach, Jon runs a well known clinic in the states. This book examines the long term and significant impact of mindfulness on health and wellbeing.)
Do you believe mindfulness has a role in coaching and mentoring, and in the workplace?
Have you employed some of the techniques of mindfulness? Did you or your employees see any benefits?
Do please share your comments below


text:
Managing a Narcissist
Neurosis, paranoia
and narcissism
How to recognize
a narcissist
Behind the mask
of the narcissist
Narcissism, abuse
and control
Narcissism in the
behavior at work
Narcissism and
its causes
How to manage
a narcissist
What are the traits
of a narcissist?
Narcissistic men
and women
Narcissist test: free
personality tests
Narcissism: Behind the Mask
Kindle, iBook, Kobo etc.
20 Shades of Narcissism
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© Winning-Teams.com
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How do you manage a narcissist?
You have a senior management team with the right balance of personality characteristics and a leader who is growth orientated. But you have a narcissist in the team whose increasing negative influence is preventing the organization from achieving its full potential (see case study, "Is she a narcissist?"). So how do you deal with the narcissist?
Narcissistic personality disorder and paranoia are closely linked, as is pathological envy.1 The paranoia that the narcissist suffers leads to a fear of failure, resulting in impairment of his or her development. As David Bell stated:2
"It is a peculiarity of the paranoid universe, a grim face full of terrifying figures which paralyses all development..."
This fear of failure, paranoia and pathological envy felt by the narcissist will ultimately result in him becoming a burden to the senior management team. Eventually the narcissist's well documented negative consequences for co-workers will take its toll.3
Narcissists are highly motivated, energetic, assertive and competitive. These characteristics relate closely to the 'Belbin' team role of Shaper, which is a leadership team role. However, the potential benefits of the narcissist's leadership characteristic are lost through his narcissism. As Dr Roy Lubit explained, "At the same time that [narcissistic] personality traits may help managers rise within an organisation, these same traits impair their ability to lead effectively."4 and as Dr Belbin stated, "The only option is the effective leader."5
It seems that it is almost inevitable these days that there will be some personality disorders in a senior management team.6 Unfortunately, in the case of narcissism there is little that the leader or other senior management team members can do for the narcissist as the likelihood of change in his personality disorder is slim. As Ronningstam and Gunderson put it, "For clinicians, the assiduous and sustained resistance to change common in patients with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) has been especially noticeable and trying."7
A common sense approach to the problems caused by the narcissist would be to challenge him by pointing out his behavioural problems and the negative influence they are having on the organisation, but this would certainly invoke their immediate denial, followed by distortion of facts. The narcissist would simply rewrite history, as Theodore Millon put it, "...to freely transform failures into successes, and to construct lengthy and intricate rationalizations that inflate their self-worth or justify what they believe is their right..."8 Theodore Millon and Roger Davis pointed out that narcissists, "...remember the past as they would have wanted it to occur, not as it actually happened."9
According to Millon, if a narcissist is challenged for attempting to rewrite history, he may lash out and blame others:
So if denial and distortion fail, the next step for the narcissist is projection. Perhaps the only solution for an organisation faced with a destructive narcissist is to force him into a narcissistic breakdown. As Kernberg noted, narcissistic patients persistently deny they have any problems or limitations and consequently lack any motivation for treatment, until faced with a major failure (narcissistic breakdown).10, 11However, James McDonald Jr (a lawyer) pointed out, "When the narcissist ultimately fails, the fall will be long and hard. Litigation is likely to result, so it is essential that the narcissist's performance problems, disruptive conduct, and abuse of others be thoroughly documented as they occur."12
If you want to know more about how to manage a narcissistic team member, read Narcissism: Behind the Mask.1 E.g. Travers, A. (1989), Shelf-Life Zero: A Classic Postmodernist Paper, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Vol. 19, Issue 3.
2 Bell, D. (2002), Ideas in psychoanalysis: Paranoia, Icon Books, UK, p. 57.
3 Campbell, W.K., Goodie, A.S. and Foster, J.D. (2004), Narcissism, Confidence, and Risk Attitude, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, Vol. 17, pp. 297-311.
4 Lubit, R (2002), The long-term organizational impact of destructively marcissistic managers, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 127-138.
5 Belbin, R.M. (1981), Management Teams: Why They Succeed or Fail, Heinemann, London.
6 Kets de Vries, M. (2003), The dark side of leadership, Business Strategy Review, Autumn 2003, Vol. 14, Iss. 3. p. 26.
7 Ronningstam, E. and Gunderson, J (1996), Narcissistic Personality: A Stable Disorder or a State of Mind?, Psychiatric Times, Vol. XII, Iss. 2.
8 Millon, T. (1998), 'DSM Narcissistic Personality Disorder' in Disorders of Narcissism: Diagnostic, Clinical, and Empirical Implications, American Psychiatric Press, Washington (DC), Ed. Elsa F. Ronningstam, p. 75.
9 Millon, T. and Davis, R. (2000), Personality Disorders in Modern Life, Wiley, New York, p. 294.
10 Kernberg, O. (1985), Internal World and External Reality, Jason Aronson, New York.
11 Kernberg, O. (1992), Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism, Jason Aronson, New York.
12 McDonald, J. J. (2005), The Narcissistic Plaintiff, Employee Relations Law Journal, Vol. 30, No. 4, p. 97.
Book: 'Narcissism: Behind the Mask'
Available to download:
Kindle: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.au, Amazon.de, Amazon.nl, Amazon.it, Amazon.es, Amazon.in.
Apple: Apple - iBooks
More information about Narcissism: Behind the Mask


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Chalet Eugenia
Klosters, Switzerland (sleeps 12 plus 3 children)
If you are looking for the ultimate in wraparound luxury and the best ski experience that money can buy, then this is it. This magnificent chalet, built by Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza, is everything a chalet should be: charming panelled rooms, creaking oak floors and exquisitely furnished with traditional local pieces and family heirlooms. The centrepiece is the delicious drawing room which has a grand piano and glorious views over the valley and mountains. There are six elegant yet cosy bedrooms, the master suite takes up the entire top floor and has log fires in the bedroom and bathroom. Jo Malone bath products, flowers and an early morning "tea tray" are very indulgent.
Five minutes' drive to the village centre and Gotschna gondola. There is a nursery slope close by.
Food and drink
Breakfast is an array of freshly squeezed fruit juices and smoothies; there are fluffy pancakes and eggs any way you want them and all the chalet's yogurt, milk and butter comes from the organic Kesslerhof Farm down the road. A proper afternoon tea is laid out every day in front of a log fire and in the evening, dinner is along the lines of venison carpaccio, lobster gnocchi with pea and pancetta foam, orange and ginger crème brûlée, rounded off with local cheeses and quince jelly. Local wines are served but if these don't suit the chalet also has its own cellar; there's homemade cherry schnapps and Perrier-Jouët champagne in a snow-filled ice bucket is always at the ready.
Descent's nannies are available at around £18 an hour. Nursery food is provided for children and there's a snug TV room-cum-playroom.
The chalet has a sauna, steam room and outside hot tub. There's yoga before breakfast and hot stone massage after skiing. Two chauffeured 4x4s are on constant standby and an excellent in-house ski service is provided by Bardill Sport.
We like
The old-fashioned service and the dedicated staff. We also loved the snow-carved animals outside the chalet; the torchlit champagne reception under a starry sky; and the magical sleigh ride, which took us to a snowy glade where hot canapés and glühwein awaited us by a blazing brazier.
Not so keen
On leaving.
What it costs
From £2,106 per person, per week, in March and from £1,164 in late April; additional children are charged at £300 each. A six-day Davos/Klosters ski pass costs £176 adults; £70 children.
Getting there
British Airways (0844 4930787; www.britishairways.com) flies to Zurich from around £101 return in mid-March.
Book with Descent (020 7384 3854; www.descent.co.uk), which also has chalets in St Foy, Les Gets, Val d'Isère, Méribel, Courchevel, Verbier, Zermatt, St Moritz and Davos. Descent is currently offering complimentary transfers and free ski passes (for entire chalet party) in Aurore and Boréale ski lodges in Méribel (saving £974 per person) and in Chalet Pierre Avoi in Verbier (saving £1,383 per person). For private lessons and guiding, Descent works with Nici Stolz at Stolz Ski (www.stolzski.ch).
Deals online
The top end of the luxury chalet market is still selling well despite the current climate: properties used by all four companies mentioned here are 75 per cent booked for the rest of the season. However, check company websites for some excellent special offers, unpublished rates and late availability.


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The false notion usually carried today is that a degree is a must to get a good job and get settled in life. We know that the world is behind success and money. Ever since one's childhood, peer pressure and the social structure compels the idea of having a job only after attaining a degree to one's mind. Education is important to shape one's character and to bring out the best in him, but it should not be the criteria to decide his ability to do a job. Today, there are numerous job opportunities that do not require a degree, but can be helpful to earn handsomely.
Table of Page Contents
- 10. Surgical technologists
- 9. Mechanical insulators
- 8. Computer user support specialist
- 7. Machine tool programmers
- 6. Industrial machinery Mechanic
- 5. Aircraft Assembler
- 4. Plumbers
- 3. Service sales representative
- 2. Electrical power line installer
- 1. Commercial Pilot
Here is a rundown of the Top 10 Highest Paid Jobs In The World Without A College Degree
10. Surgical technologists
Number 10 on this list is a job with a fancy name. Never the less, it is a high paying job with individual annually earning an average of 44000 dollars per year. They are also called as operating room technicians. They work hand in hand with surgeons and nurses. They are every bit important just as a surgeon as they have to know which operating procedure the surgeon is conducting and also his next move with regard to an operation. They have to know hundreds of instruments and surgical procedures. Their work and expertise vary according to the region. They see to that the surgeon can conduct his or her surgery with ease and maximize patient safety. The best part is that very little educational qualification is needed.
9. Mechanical insulators
Number 9 on this list is mechanical insulators. Insulation is the covering of pipes and mechanical equipment for safety. The ones who do this are called as mechanical insulators. They work in commercial as well as residential buildings. Their job varies from insulating piping to HVAC systems. They work in many industries like mills, pharmaceuticals, and also food and waste processing plants. They are not involved in a high risk area but negligence can cause severe consequences.
8. Computer user support specialist
Number 8 on this list of professions which do not require a college degree is computer user technical specialist. As the name suggests, their job is to provide assistance and support to computer users. They have to be well versed in software and hardware related queries. Not only that, they have to be able to help customers by phone or in person. Most of the IT companies require full time specialists to help them ease their work.
7. Machine tool programmers
Another job which is in demand is machine tool programming. As the world is improving in technology each and every day, this job is one of the most sought after. They basically develop programs which control machines used for processing of metal, plastics. They also work under various classes of industries such as aerospace, architecture, bolt manufacturing and the list goes on. Their annual salary is around 49000 dollars, featuring at the 7th position in this list.
6. Industrial machinery Mechanic
At the 6th position of highest paying jobs without a degree is Industrial machinery mechanic. They are skilled workers whose job is to maintain and repair industrial machinery and factory equipment. They take care of the maintenance of machines like assembly line conveyor, hydraulics, robotic arms and many more. They clean, run machinery at regular intervals. Not only that, they also perform periodic checks to see if the machine is efficient. They diagnose and fix minor problems with these machines before a major damage occurs. These mechanics are at a slight risk as they can get damaged, fall, and also work in congested places. Therefore they have to wear safety gear at all times. A mechanic has an average annual salary of 49150 dollars. This is one amongst the Top 10 Highest Paid Jobs In The World Without A College Degree 2017.
5. Aircraft Assembler
Number 5 on this list is a job which many people are fascinated about. It's the Jon of an aircraft assembler. Even though technology has improved immensely, not everything can be done by them. That's where these assemblers come in to play. They install the parts, equipment and also various components of an aircraft, rocket and missiles. They have to perform this task with great precision using the blue prints. They also set up the assemblies and make sure that all the equipment is working perfectly.
4. Plumbers
Plumbing features at the 4th position in this list. Although it is not such a high paying job in some countries, it is in great demand in countries like the USA. They specialize in laying down pipes, wires, etc. Not only that, they also help with systems which carry gases, acids and other harmful chemicals. Plumbing involves skills of handling turbulence and hydraulic pressures. These professionals earn an average annual salary of 51000 dollars.
3. Service sales representative
Number 3 on this list is that of service sales representatives. They sell services and goods to customers and other clients. They sometimes work in an office but also take part in field work. They have to be confident and must have good communication skills in order to please their clients. A good position in this job can earn you 51,970 dollars annually.
2. Electrical power line installer
Number 2nd on this list is not for the faint hearted. It is the job of electrical power line installer. It is a good paying job but also a very risky job. They are in charge of laying and repairing power lines for commercial as well as residential buildings and also check and examine high tension cables. They take care to see that in case of any accidents, the safety of the people is not compromised. This high risk job has a good annual average pay of 66000 dollars.
1. Commercial Pilot
With an average annual salary of 75,000 dollars, number one on this list is commercial pilots. Commercial pilots fly for emergency missions like rescue operations, crop dusting, aerial photography, etc. They need to have a private pilot license which can be got by taking training classes. In this job itself, there are a lot of variations depending on the type of aircraft, etc. Fitness is a must for this job.
Therefore here is the list of the top ten highest paying jobs 2017 which do not require a degree to work. There are a lot of jobs other than ones mentioned above which also pay handsomely and it's up to an individual to choose based on his or her interests, strengths and weaknesses . A job is very much essential to earn one's living wages and in today's world, entrepreneurship has gained wider scope and the youth can actually get huge success in it.


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Your property in safe hands
Being a landlord can be a rewarding experience, but with ever-changing legislation and the evolving property market, the help of an experienced and successful local agent can make it even more profitable for you.
Regardless of whether you are a buy-to-let investor or a first-time landlord letting your home, our highly motivated, professional lettings team will give you advice on how to present your property to achieve the maximum rental.
Below are just some of the benefits of being a County Property Management landlord.
Unrivalled property marketing
From high-quality brochures and local print media advertising to the latest email and mobile technology, direct communications with the local corporate market and comprehensive internet advertising, we ensure that your property reaches the right people at the right time and is shown in the best light, ensuring that quality tenants or purchasers are found and the highest rent or sale price achieved.
Vigorous tenant referencing
All prospective tenants sourced by County Property Management are required to meet strict referencing criteria for the protection of our landlords, including a full credit check, employment references and minimum income criteria, previous landlord references, right to reside and any further proof of income we deem necessary.
Professional documentation
Our tenancy agreements are comprehensive and constantly updated in line with industry changes and our inventory and schedule of condition reports produced prior to the commencement of every tenancy by our fully trained in-house clerks are of the highest standard for your protection.
Legal & compliance
Our expert team are here to ensure that you are guided safely through the maze of ever-changing lettings legislation. We can assist you with everything from Energy Performance Certificates and tenancy deposit protection through to gas and fire safety, health and safety and landlord insurance obligations, plus much more.
Dedicated property manager
As a landlord of County Property Management you will be allocated a dedicated property manager to oversee your property or portfolio. They are based in our prominent Woking office meaning they are on hand for both you and your tenant. You can rest assured that throughout the tenancy they will be available to advise and supervise routine and emergency property maintenance promptly, efficiently and economically. Most importantly, we will act in your best interest at all times.
Need to login in to your landlord account? Click here
"My partner and I can honestly say that without the work and support from CPM (in particular James) the purchase of our house would never have happened. We had a variety of problems during the purchase, and James' calm and professional guidance and his dialogue with both the Vendor and us made it all possible. Many thanks!"
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text: Last Thursday, the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee approved a funding bill for FY2017, which includes a $2 billion budget increase for the National Institute of Health. The NIH's $34 billion FY2017 budget includes funding for the Precision Medicine Initiative, Alzheimer's research, and the BRAIN Initiative to map the human brain among several other projects. The budget also increases funds to every Institute and Center at NIH. Read more about this bill and the latest developments on the Senate Appropriations Committee Website News here.


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Car seat help please :)
Poll Results
Question: which would you get for your 10 month old?
Forward facing car seat
Rear facing car seat
It's your personal choice.
Total Votes: 25
Question: which would you get for your 10 month old?
Total Votes: 25
Heya ladies, I had posted this in another group. just to let ya know. Anyways, my 10 month old son out grew his first car seat. Now I'm not sure which kind to get. FF or RF. So please take the poll and tell me why you said which one you'd chose.
I'm a belly dancing and sword fighting mama of 2. I'm married to my high school sweet heart. I plan on enlisting to the army very soon, and having more kids :)
At 10 months the baby should still be rear facing, My 19 month old is still rearfacing and she's at the 90% tile for height and weight.
A 10 month old HAS to be rear facing. The law says they must be at least 1 yr old AND 20lbs. However the recommendation is now 2 yrs old and 30 lbs or as long as your child is under your carseats limits for rear facing. I have a 3 1/2 yr old who is still rear facing because she is so small. There are tons of convertible carseats that can be both rear facing and forward facing though, so you can buy one to use rear facing for now and when your child is ready can turn it forward facing.
How much does he weigh, and what size onesies does he wear? We might be able to help you pick out a good one.
My daughter is off the charts in height, and 90th percentile in weight, and is riding rearfacing at 13 months.
At 10 months old it is not only unsafe, but it is illegal for him to forward face if you live in the US. Every state has a proper usage/appropriate restraint clause, and every seat in the US states that to forward face you must be BOTH 20lbs and 1 year of age to use them.
To back that up, it is 500% safer for toddlers/preschoolers under 4 to rear face, and the AAP recommends a minimum of 2 years AND 30lbs, preferably the highest weight/height limit of a CONVERTIBLE car seat (which faces both rear and forward)
from my blog: http://apbandme.blogspot.com/2012/04/car-seats.html
Is rearfacing when rear ended still safer? Yes it is!
For one thing, only 4% of accidents are rear or rear-offset, two, the head is still further from any point of impact and three, most rear end accidents happen at much lower speeds.
(the above link is one of my favorites for doubters and those who think getting rear ended is a huge risk to rearfacing children)
Babies should be rear facing until 1 year at the minimum, it's safer, and illegal to have them forward facing at that age. Even after the minimum one year, it's still safer to have them rear facing as long as you can.
Get a convertable car seat.


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The birth of Aslan has been the priority around here. He is wonderfully healthy, nursing, and gaining a pound a day. He has been discovering all that his long legs can do. When I watch him, I sing the zoom-zoom-zoom jingle. I LOVE watching him. Sitting in the paddock and watching. And smiling.
Thacher Park didn't happen on 6/2 due to rain, which was fine with me because I had a new cria. Some insane part of me thought that I could still bring llamas the next day, rain date 6/3. That thought lasted ten minutes, I just couldn't.
So this weekend…we're scheduled to bring llamas to Delmar Farmer's Market on 6/9. And then, we have our annual Open Barn on 6/10 from 1-5 (which is a go no matter what).
But….I still sorta-kinda-maybe-think there might be another cria coming….it's past the due date…and of course, I could be wrong – my specialty – as most of you know. I asked Jewel to have it today, if she was. She ignored me. Then I told her to have it tomorrow or Monday after my truck inspection, or not at all.
So….I'm just going with the flow.


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If you consider yourself at all interested in food or the foodie world, you've probably heard of every healthy buzzword or trend, from organic to local to farm to table—and it's confusing to figure out how each is similar yet different. We talked to farmer Lee Jones of the family-owned, sustainable farm The Chef's Garden in Huron, OH, and The Culinary Vegetable Institute, to clarify some common misconceptions about the least-known of the bunch: farm to table.
SHAPE: How do you define the term "farm to table?"
Farmer Lee Jones (FLJ): I think in the last 50 years there's been such a disconnect about where our food comes from and how it's grown. New advancements have allowed us to mass-produce for quantity, not quality, and not in ways that are necessarily safe. At The Chef's Garden, we're just trying to become as good as the farmers were 100 years ago. I really define farm to table as a direct relationship with like-minded people. It's not about distance, though my dad always says that the shortest distance between two points is the back door of the farmer to the front door of the consumer.
RELATED: The Best Farmers' Markets in the U.S.
SHAPE: Is farm-to-table food always organic?
FLJ: Definitely not. "Organic" is such a hot buzzword. The thing about it is: Unless it's labeled "certified organic," something organic can still come from a developing country, or it could still really be GMO. Organic simply means an eliminination of things from the equation. The Chef's Garden isn't certified organic, but I consider us a sustainable operation. We're always trying to find new and sustainable ways to grow quality produce in cost-effective ways.
SHAPE: "Eating locally" is another hot buzzword. Is eating farm-to-table fare the same thing as eating locally?
FLJ: I think the trend of eating locally started out with good intentions, but I think the term is an oversimplification. My advice would be not to get wrapped up in the distance or the miles and instead just try to build a relationship with the people you know.
Thomas Keller once told me a story: He buys his butter from this woman in Vermont and has it shipped to his restaurants like Per Se and The French Laundry. Keller purchases it because of the quality—he believes her butter is the best. Is that local? No, not really. But local doesn't define quality. The woman owns 10 cows. She's a small operation, and without people like Keller buying her butter, she's not sustainable. A lot of smaller, family-owned farms are similar. I'd ask you to think of the farmer: If we limit ourselves to only doing business within a 100- or 200-mile radius, we're not economically viable. We wouldn't be able to pay our workers a living wage—and good workers are extremely important!
RELATED: What Is That?! Photos of the Plants Your Favorite Foods Grow On
SHAPE: What are your tips for people who want to become more involved with the food they're eating and learn more about it, especially for those who live in bigger cities and may not know how to get started?
FLJ: Seek out people who feel the same way you do. If there's a farmers' market near you, head there. People pay more for entertainment than they do food, so get your family or your kids together and make it a social outing. Talk to the farmers there who are willing and excited to talk about how they're growing things. Ask questions. If they're not willing to talk about their stuff, move to the next booth and find someone who is. This movement is all about rebuilding relationships between farmers and consumers. It's a great thing.


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Review: '40 Days and 40 Nights' -- of idiocy
A sex comedy without comedy
CNN Reviewer
(CNN) -- Michael Lehmann's "40 Days and 40 Nights" is described in Miramax's press kit as being "America's first sex comedy without sex," but it comes dangerously close to being America's first sex comedy without comedy.
If you don't think an attractive young man vowing abstinence during Lent is a side-splitting concept, you're out of luck. Lack of sexual release is the only "joke" in the movie unless you count Josh Hartnett, whose performance suggests a scientifically engineered crossbreeding of Richard Gere and wood paneling.
Hartnett's facial expressions run the gamut from "squinting" to "squinting with mouth hanging open," not that stronger acting chops would make any difference. This is a teen comedy posing as adult satire, with outrageously gorgeous cast members repeatedly flashing their undies and having bogus conversations about modern sexuality.
Screenwriter Robert Perez obviously thinks that repeating a silly premise 60 times in a row is the same thing as writing a story. But so may a lot of teen-agers, so, technically speaking, he may be right.
Unbelievable situations
Hartnett plays Matt, an adorable San Francisco-based Web designer who's reeling from a bad breakup with his hot girlfriend, Nicole (Vinessa Shaw). Even though Matt and his horny roommate, Ryan (Paul Costanzo), can score with seriously attractive women without so much as breaking a sweat, all is not well.
Matt really cared about Nicole -- God knows why; the character is thoroughly despicable -- and he badly needs to pull himself together. He's even having performance problems when he beds new conquests.
Matt, whose brother also happens to be a priest, finally decides that he'll cure his problem by giving up sex of any sort during Lent. That means no intercourse, no rubbing against anyone and no masturbation. Just ignore the fact that having had rabbit-like premarital relations with anything that moves places him well beyond the teachings of the church. When some filmmakers need a reason to have young actresses prancing around half-naked (or, in some cases, completely naked) any strategy will suffice.
The gang at the Internet company for which Matt works can't believe he's swearing off all that taut flesh. They eagerly place bets on whether he can last 40 days, and design a Web site on which they track his progress. After a while, several female co-workers start enticing him, just to see if they can break his fast.
This is an office in which all the women are built like exotic dancers and wear thigh-high leather boots and miniskirts. Even Matt's boss (Griffin Dunne) is a sex-obsessed nincompoop.
Pure drivel
Eventually, in order to make this seem like a romantic comedy, Matt falls in love with Erica (Shannyn Sossamon), a sweet young woman he meets at a laundromat. Rather than explain to Erica that he's taking a temporary break from hanky-panky, he turns and runs when she wants to kiss him.
Unfortunately Erica -- get this -- works for a company that locates pornographic Web sites and blocks them for concerned parents. She quickly discovers what Matt is up to, and acts offended for several scenes. Then she's not offended and everything's okay. Sossamon, as you may have guessed, is drop-dead gorgeous. But it's clear that Lisa Bonet didn't bother to trademark her pouty listlessness.
"40 Days and 40 Nights" isn't aggressively offensive. It's not like you're wallowing in mean-spirited drivel, as in "Bait" (2000) or "Tomcats" (2001). But it's drivel nonetheless, and hardly a step in the right direction. Unless you're at that awkward age at which you tape posters of people like Hartnett above your bed, you should just ignore it. You'll get another chance to see him run around in his underwear in due time.
There's a surprising amount of nudity in "40 Days and 40 Nights" and a lot of blunt language. Some filmgoers may also take offense at some of the priest-oriented gags.
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Review of Biblical Literature Blog
Jeroboam's Royal DramaBodner, KeithNew York: Oxford University Press, 2012 pp. x + 167. $27.95Series InformationBiblical Refigurations
Description: Among the most challenging biblical figures to understand is Jeroboam son of Nebat, the first monarch of northern Israel whose story is told in 1 Kings 11-14. This book explores the characterization of Jeroboam in the Hebrew text, and traces his rags to riches career trajectory. What are the circumstances whereby this widow's son is elevated to the position of king, with a conditional promise for a lasting dynasty? A close reading of the narrative reveals a literary achievement of great subtlety and complexity. Even though he becomes the negative standard for the rest of Israel's royal history, Jeroboam's portrait is far more nuanced than is often realized and yields a host of surprises for the engaged reader. Numerous issues are raised in the 1 Kings 11-14 material, including questions of power, leadership, and the role of the prophetic office in national affairs. Against the grain of conventional interpretation that tends to idealize or vilify biblical characters, Keith Bodner's study locates the arrival of Jeroboam's kingship as a direct response to scandalous activity within the Solomonic empire.
Subjects: Bible, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Historical Books, 1-2 Kings, Literature
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