Major Temple: A Short Story

Marisol is a young, assimilated hispanic woman in 1990’s New York who works a white collar job in Manhattan and lives in the Bronx. She doesn’t have family or loved ones living close to her except her friend and colleague, June. One night she has an unfortunate

The Aztecs had many beliefs that were based on the end of the world and nature. The Aztec religion focused on keeping a balance in nature. They believed that one mistake could lead to a natural disaster or could cause the sun to stop rotating. Among the many hundreds of gods that the Aztecs adored, there was a particularly interesting god that stood out from the rest. This god was Quetzalcoatl, otherwise knows as the “Feathered Serpent”. According to legend Quetzalcoatl created all humans with his own blood. The Aztecs believed that they needed to repay Quetzalcoatl and all the gods for their sacrifice by performing rituals. In

In the historical documentary of the film “Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples’ temple”. It featured the footage of the group named peoples’ temple. They were lead by a preacher named Jim Jones. He led a group of 900 members and had a mass suicide of the peoples’ temple. When watching the film they will be interviews with former temple members . Being the Jonestown survivors and people who knew Jones. The preacher Jim Jones had a vision of changing their world. He would tell them about the promise land, and the members all of them wanted to go. For them they truly thought there was a potential, something big, powerful and great within what Jim Jones was preaching to the people.

The panic in the eyes of the Aztec emperor’s victim escalated hastily, making nothing comprehensible and fearing what the life ahead of him has in store. Taking advantage of each element of the human body, the most important reason for sacrificing humans was donating the blood of the victim to one of the gods. The Aztecs utilized every resource and every part of the resource available to them to make them a proficient and accomplished civilization. The Aztec civilization adapted their way of life in Mesoamerica to become a notorious culture; from their advanced rituals and authority they continue their legacy to today.

First off, the people of the Mesoamerican world practiced polytheism or the worship of many gods. William H. Prescott clarifies that the Aztecs believed in a supreme Creator whom they prayed to but to help better understand their world, they created thirteen principal deities with another two-hundred minor deities each with their own festival and holiday. Where at the center stood Huitzilopotchli, the war-god was the patron of the nation. This example introduces beginning of how important religion was to the everyday mesoamerican. Furthermore, the people would be honoured to be offered up to their gods as a sacrifice. Prescott explains that in honour of Tezcatlipoca, a handsome young man ( a captive) was chosen to represent him on earth, and this man then became venerated as the deity himself even where women who were chosen could share his bed with him. The festival would come to an end when the priests would take up to the temple and they would proceed by holding him down on the altar and take a itztli (obsidian blade) and cut open his chest, which was followed by the priest ripping the beating heart out of the man offering it to the deity. The aforementioned example is to illustrate the importance of human sacrifices in the culture and how these religious acts were done to appease or implore the

The first omen was a sort of fiery signal or shape that shone in the night sky and appeared to have sparks of fire that fell dripped from it like blood or rain. This fire-like phenomena that appeared at midnight at disappeared at sunrise was wide at the base and narrow at the top like a pyramid. The second omen was that the temple of Huitzilopochtli caught fire without any apparent reason, and when the Mexicanos ran to put it out with water, the flames only rose higher until the temple was completely reduced to ash. The third omen was that the straw temple of Xiuhtecuhtli was struck by lightening and burned down despite there not being but a light rain fall. The fourth omen was a series of comets that flew across the sky from the west to the

In the PBS film, “Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples’ Temple”, it illustrates an extreme example of one radical religious leader's control over hundreds of people to the extent of convincing them to voluntarily commit a "revolutionary suicide" in their attempted utopian settlement in Guyana. In the 1970's various changes were being made and through social and cultural movements, including political and religious, people wanted something to believe in. They wanted to fight for a cause that would change the world. Jim Jones preyed on the members of the Peoples' Temple and gained his ultimate control through promoting activism, managing all the finances of each member while providing them with benefits, and through creating a sense of

Once this girl started with the drugs, she could not stop. As soon as she tried the first drug, it lead to all of the other drugs and things that she did. Her first time doing the drug was an accident, and she did not know, but she made the wrong choice in continuing to do them. She said it gave her a feeling of belonging and love that she had never felt before. If her parents or her close friends had paid more attention to her, then some of the events that happened would not have happened. Her heavy drug use lead to her runaway from home to the streets, involvement in crime, her prostitution, and her visit to the insane asylum. She found a "best friend" (Chris) - one that would give her drugs - and they decided to runaway and leave their family and friends to start their own shop in San Francisco. They thought they could not handle their parents telling them what is right and what is wrong, but that is what they needed to hear. They were naive in thinking they could live their lives alone without any rules or any authority.

The Temple and the Tabernacle is a chronological exploration through the Scriptures concerning how God dwells among his people and creates a relational presence with them. This colorful resource connects these structures in their historical and biblical context to the overall biblical story, resulting in a greater depth to the faith of Christians today.

For The Principles of Composition paper I chose two pieces of art that I thought dramatized one specific principle of art. I decided to chose “Temple I in the great plaza,” constructed by the Mayan Indians on page 276 and “Untitled” by Donald Judd on page 441. I thought both of these pieces of art were unique and displayed balance.

This week I picked Topic 2. The building I decided to do is The Temple of the Inscriptions.

Hinduism goes back as far as fifteen hundred B.C., there are currently over nine hundred million practicing Hinduists in the world today. I had never been to a Hindu temple before and it was a new and exciting experience. I did not know about the Hindu religion going to this project. During my time here in Dayton I have been to Lebanese festival and interacted with many people of Arabic descent. Hinduism as religion is very broad. Choosing to interview someone of the Hindu faith was an easy choice to make because I had always been interested in Hinduism. Some of my favorite movies had implied Hindu concepts in them such as karma. I decided to attend the Hindu Temple of Dayton for the interview. The temple was established in nineteen eighty-six by two priests and currently has over six hundred patron families that visit weekly. As I entered the temple there was a sign to take off your shoes. People were supposed to take off their shoes as they entered the temple, it is a form of respect to the deities. As I was observing the service, a priest stood in front of a particular shrine and chanted while ringing a bell. After he was finished chanting he handed everyone banana. I found out later on the deity he chanted about was named Vishnu and the banana he offered everyone afterwards a symbol of self-sacrifice or a pledge of righteous to the deity (Pradeepa, "Offering the Fruits to Hindu Gods"). The man I spoke with is a priest named Ramesh Rajamani. He had worked at the Hindu

Before the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, Jewish practices had their own meaning. In The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia it states,

- Within the Hindu religion there are many holidays that are celebrated, but they two that Sanjay mentioned were, Deepawali (Diwali) and Krishna Janamashtmi (Birth of Shri Krishna). He did not tell us in depth about these holidays. Nor did he tell us about the traditions that associated with the holidays or how they celebrated them. But Sanjay said that that Birthday of Shri Krishna was one of his favorite holidays. He explained how everyone was given gifts and they spent time together as a family.

The Golden Temple, Harmandir Sahib is special because it is the only temple that builds in the middle of square tanks and there is water all around the temple. Besides that, it is famous for its architectures and the glittering combination of pure gold domes and pure white marble. In addition, the exterior of the temple is covered with gold and it is looks amazingly beautiful compared with other temple. The dome of temples is gilded with 750 kg of pure gold. After that, there are 100kg of gold were applied and decorative marble was added to the inverted Lotus shaped dome. The interior of the temple also decorated with gold. Next, the Golden Temple has four different directions entrances which symbolizes people from four directions of the earth are welcome to enter the temple. Lastly, the architecture of the Golden Temple draws and paints on both Hindu and Muslim artistic styles. It represents a unique co-evolution of the two styles. Last but not least, most of the temples have statues inside or outside of the temple, but Golden temple do not have any statues of any demi-gods or goddesses (Tejwant Singh, 2014). Most of the decorations are fresh flowers.