Death and Afterlife Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Death and Afterlife - Essay Example In the Epic of Gilgamesh called Enkidu's Dream written around 2000 BC, the bleak concept of death being an express outcome of sins committed in life, there is a very apt reference to kings' "crowns put away forever" and the ones who stood at any worldly position on Earth "stood now like servants". This depicts how the Mesopotamian had an acute belief that the afterlife was merely suffering and distress to say the least and the dead were both pitied and feared. Furthermore, the references to "vampire foot", "lion's foot" and "eagle's talon" all illustrate the fears that the people of this time had and how they associates all that they feared with the dismal possibility of death and what they figured would happen afterwards. Contrary to this dreary outlook to life after death of the Mesopotamian people, the Greeks were more optimistic about the afterlife. Although they believed that the people who did wrong on Earth will be punished severely by the gods in the afterlife, they also believed that the good doers will have an eternally peaceful life; modern researchers believe that the concept of heaven and hell originated from this era. The Myth of ER which is the concluding part of Plato's dialogue called The Republic, talks of a man called ER who dies in battle but remains un-decomposed even after ten days when his body was recovered. Waking up two days later on his unreal pyre, he tells his people about his passage to the afterlife (probably one of the first recounts of out of body experiences) in which he sees that moral people were rewarded and the immoral were castigated in their afterlives. Many believe that this was the point where the belief that the soul was mere energy and never dies came about and the intervention of a divine being brought about conviction in following religions. Punishment and rewards in the afterlife were considered a direct consequence of one's conduct in life. The Egyptians were another matter altogether. While both the Greeks and Mesopotamians agreed on the fact that there was a life after death which may either be absolutely bleak or have either a reward or a punishment awaiting them, the Egyptians treated their dead as if they were not dead after all. Elaborate preparations went into the ensuring that a person's ka (soul) and ba (personality) were united and the being would once more surface to travel to the heavens - intact and whole. The body was embalmed for preservation and provisions like writing paper, wigs, clothing and even tools were made available that the dead may need in the afterlife. The pyramid texts inscribed inside the pyramids of some pharaohs of the fifth and the sixth dynasties are primarily associated with the transition of the dead pharaoh to its heavenly abode. "He is not of the earth, he is of the sky. . . ." depicts this transition in terms of the passage a dead being takes after the incorporation of the ka and the ba. Journey to the next world is imminent and the work continued as if alive! While both the Mesopotamians and the Greek eloquently believed that death is the end and the after life depicts what we have done in actual life, the Egyptians believed in the re-usage of energy (soul) for the continuation of the same work being done at the time of death. Oddly enough,

How is the UK as a whole doing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

How is the UK as a whole doing - Essay Example Similar to this is the money or cash flow for output services, (Maher and Wise, 2005, p.85). The key economic players are administration, business trade, households, and the wider international globe. Their means of interaction with one another is explained as a transaction The national statistics office offers statistics of the economy that measure the economy of the United Kingdom in various ways. For instance, there are complete United Kingdom national and economic accounts that offer an overall economic view. The accounts sequence follows the laid out accounts if the national account systems of 1993, as well as the European Account systems of 1995. Similarly, short-term economic indicators like GDP, Index of Retail Sales, Production Index and Services Index exists. Additionally, there are some statistics offered on Payments Balance and Products and Services Trade. UK economic performance The performance of economy of UK is evaluated based on attainment of goals and targets the ec onomy. The goals may be long-term like effective development and growth of the economy, or temporary like economic stabilization in following abrupt and unpredictable factors mainly known as economic shocks. To evaluate economic performance against the above goals, economists use various economic indicators. These economic indicators estimate variables of economy, which directly or indirectly allow them to determine whether the performance of economy has enhanced or declined. Tracing such economic indicators is crucial to policy makers to allow them determine whether to intervene or if the intervention activities and plans have been successful or not. According to statistics, the first quarter GDP increase was about 0.3 percent – a yearly growth rate of about 1.2 percent, (Helpman, 2008, p.12). This was 0.6 percent increased from the previous years; these growth rates are low than the set target and 3% than the growth witnessed prior to the financial crisis. The IMF asserts t hat the 2009 advanced economies GDP - that entails the United States, Japan and popular economies of Europe – will be about 3.8% higher than in the 2007 and 2008 cycles. Although, the United Kingdom GDP has not recovered its initial 2008 level, extreme slowdowns have been witnessed in various economic sectors that make up lower than 21% output and approximately 10% of employment opportunities – services of finance, construction and gas or oil, (Steil and Victor, Nelson, 2002, p.56). Apart from the sector of finance, the services activities that the key UK economic pillars are improving, this is the reason behind increased and strong employment. The informal sector accounts for approximately a million United Kingdom’s employments in the last three years. Whereas UK does not have extensive manufacturing based that maintained its economy in both 19th and 20th centuries, it has various global and prominent manufactures – in aerospace, high engineering technol ogy and health care sectors. UK care industry attained in global record export level last year. UK manufacturing is still competitive in knowledge deployment, skills, and technology and has a competitive advantage over reduced wage; labor-intensive sectors of manufacturing that have shifted to developing economies. UK has also strong and competitive business sector services