On the list of my most memorable life experiences is a rather unexpected entry. I was in high school, and it was a week like any other boring, school-and-TV week, except for one thing: how I felt. I’d just returned from a Christian youth retreat (yes, another retreat) during which I’d spent three days on a spiritual high that resulted in a recommitment to my faith. It was an awesome time with friends, but the best was yet to come: for seven straight days following the event, I was truly at peace. As I moved through my routine, I was quieter, more withdrawn. But in a good way, like my ego was on vacation. I became an observer of my own life. I was just . . . blissed out. It felt a lot like falling in love, but without all the nerves.
It was the best feeling I’d ever had.
Which is why these days, when I look back on my time as a Christian, I don’t question my self-awareness (much). If that had been you–if you felt what I felt when I prayed back then–you may have been a believer, too. I mean, sure, experiences like these may not be evidence of the Divine–just evidence of heightened emotion. But I don’t think so. Even today, I think they are spiritual.
Fast-forward to now. It’s August, twenty-three years later. I’ve completed the first month of my one-year inquiry resolution (which I’m now calling My Byron Katie Detox–like it?). When a week or so ago it came time to question my first spiritual principle, namely, spirituality is good, I thought I already knew the answer. Of course it is, I told myself. At least, it can be. Even religion is good–for a while. It gives us purpose. It gives us hope. And it helps us . . . well, feel good.
And let’s face it: we all want to feel good.
But it wasn’t just the emotional benefits of spirituality that I reflected on before I began my work. There are a ton of practical ones, too.
In the best-seller that laments the loss of human connection in modern society, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Robert Putnam writes that churchgoers are “. . . much more likely than other persons to visit friends, to entertain at home, to attend club meetings, and to belong to sports groups; professional and academic societies; school service groups; youth groups; service clubs; hobby or garden clubs; literary art, discussion and study groups; school fraternities and sororities; farm organizations; political clubs; nationality groups; and other miscellaneous groups.” Many studies show that religion benefits the non-religious, too, by lowering crime- and health-related costs dramatically. People who attend services have stronger immune systems and lower blood pressure. They drink, use and smoke a lot less. They get more education, give more to charity and take less than their share of welfare and unemployment benefits.
In America’s Blessings: How Religion Benefits Everyone, Including Atheists, sociologist Rodney Stark makes similar points, and adds that religious people add significantly to our nation’s GDP. But an even more interesting argument in favor of religion comes from James Hannam, who says that the historical contributions of religion have been vastly underreported and underrated. In The Genesis of Science: How The Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution, he writes, “The Church has never taught that the earth is flat and, in the Middle Ages, no one thought so anyway . . . No one . . . was ever burned at the stake for scientific ideas . . .” On the contrary, “Until the French Revolution, the Catholic Church was the leading sponsor of scientific research.”
There’s more, but suffice it to say that if you were ever ashamed of Christianity’s scientific contributions, don’t be. This and other major world religions have helped us make a lot of intellectual progress.
Which is why when this month I took the belief “spirituality is good” to inquiry, I was a bit surprised by what I found.
A Byron Katie Worksheet
Month Completed: June
The Statement: Spirituality is good.
The Questions:
Is it true? Yes.
Can I absolutely know it is true? No.
How do I feel when I think the thought? I feel justified in my beliefs. Maybe a bit superior. I feel a bit guilty for not spending more time in meditation. And I feel grateful to have spiritual tools to use when I need them.
How would I feel if I were unable to think the thought? I would feel free of my own expectations to continue spiritual practice throughout my life. I would feel that spirituality may be good for me at times and not others, and that spiritual tools are just that: tools. Nothing to feel guilty about not using.
The Turnarounds: Spirituality is not good. Spirituality is bad. Non-belief is good. Spirituality isn’t good or important or healthy for everyone, just for some people, some of the time. I see truth in these statements when I remember my agnostic and atheist friends who get along fine without spirituality, and when I remember the harm that spiritual beliefs often cause.
So again, is it true? No. Not entirely. Religions often fail us, and in pretty major ways. We’re always making stuff up, getting misled.
In short: Spirituality is good? Hmmm. Not so fast.
When it comes to belief, the normal human tendency is to throw blankets on everything. We like simplicity. We love generalizations. And we really, really love being prescriptive. After looking at this belief, what I realized is that for me, spirituality really is good. But there’s a softness to the edge of that statement that wasn’t there before. Sure, I’m a New Agey type, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But I understand that God-philosophizing doesn’t work for everyone.
A final thought this month, before closing out this section: In spite of my healthy realizations and my enjoyment of The Work, a good bit of skepticism has crept in. How can nothing be true? I find myself thinking with some frequency. Maybe in an ultimate sense nothing is true, but subjectively, it has to be, right?
What does this process look like , then, when dealing with more concrete, substantial thoughts? Stuff that’s harder to deny the reality of? Will The Work work on those, too?
Of course, it happened in Southern California. Where else would something like this happen? A wealthy middle-aged woman. A mid-life crisis. Extreme depression. A rehab clinic. Then, an awakening, New Age-style, and a spiritual phenom was born.
The story had all the makings of a movie–a TV special, if nothing else–but this wasn’t a screenplay. This was real.
The year was 1986. On the floor of a halfway house, having lost all hope of happiness, Byron Kathleen Reid woke up–in more ways than one. The details are few and impossible to fully explain, but in that moment, the story goes, Katie lost herself. The sense of who she was when she fell asleep the night before was gone, and all she was aware of was joy.
She laughed. She laughed some more. She no longer knew anything for sure, but she didn’t care.
She was completely happy.
It sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? And of course it must have been. But given the choice, how many of us would willingly sacrifice everything we know about who and what we are just to feel at One with the Divine? I think I would. But I’m not sure. Maybe I’d rather wait till I die.
After all, I’m a mom of three kids. I’m a writer. I’m my husband’s wife. Someone with a wonderful, full life. And according to Byron Katie, and a lot of other great teachers, too, in order to become enlightened, I have to let all that go.
I have to choose to know almost nothing.
I don’t know how long Byron Katie truly knew nothing. A month? Several months? Several years? But little by little, she was taught the way things work again–what it means to own something, for example. Now she straddles both worlds–the known and the unknown–though she’s never forgotten which her real home is.
But back to that floor. Because it was there that Katie suddenly understood the source of all suffering, and conversely, the key to happiness. Suffering comes when we believe our stressful thoughts, she realized–and not a moment before. By questioning all thoughts that cause us pain, we find there’s nothing real to them; they’re just thoughts. As a result of this inquiry, pain goes away.
If you’re familiar with The Work, I regret boring you, but I do feel the need to explain it briefly here.
According to TheWork.com: “The Work is a simple yet powerful process of inquiry that teaches you to identify and question the thoughts that cause all the suffering in the world. It’s a way to understand what’s hurting you, and to address the cause of your problems with clarity. In its most basic form, The Work consists of four questions and the turnarounds.”
I’ve mentioned the questions before, but in the interest of completeness, they are:
Is it true? (Yes or no. If no, move to 3.)
Can you absolutely know that it’s true? (Yes or no.)
How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
Who would you be without the thought?
And the turnarounds are what they sound like: statements that mean the opposite of the stressful thought. The idea is to find several of these and see if there’s some truth to them that you’ve previously missed.
The technique is deceptively simple; there is an art to it, for sure. For instance, when doing the Work on the thought “I feel depressed,” I realized “I am depressed” or “My thinking is depressed” works better. Feelings are feelings, and we can’t really argue with them. It’s the belief behind the feeling (“I have depression” “I am depressed,”) that needs to change. An even better choice: Add “. . . and it means that . . .” to the end of the statement. “I am depressed,” then, becomes “I am depressed, and it means that I’m unable to hold a job.” This is how we get underneath the surface.
Many more specifics in later serial installments (including a Q and A section, a Tips and Tricks section and more), but if you want to jump in right now, watch at least a few YouTube video examples of The Work.
In these videos and in her books, Katie guides people through The Work, and as she does so she gets pretty creative. It’s a skill, for sure, which is why it’s so awesome that TheWork.com coordinates with trained practitioners who are willing to offer their services for free. Please make use of this resource, found on thework.com/en/certified_facilitators. I have, and I will again. Also, do see the full description of the process on thework.com/en/do-work.
Okay, then. Introductory explanations: check. Let’s get back to my personal experience of The Work.
When I was in Junior High School, I had one of my first conscious experiences with what I now call the Divine, and predictably, it happened at a retreat. (Those places. They know what to do.) It was a Christian thing, one of those pray-all-day gatherings at a large conference campground featuring a cabin for every family and clean, hot showers.
Luxury, really. Luxury made to feel rustic.
We were there to hear God, so I shouldn’t’ve been surprised when I did. And yet, I most definitely was.
Prior to my moment of clarity, I’d been finding the experience rather . . . underwhelming. Lots of speeches and long, drawn-out meals with strangers. I distinctly remember participating in a friendly debate the evening of the meeting in question about the rapture. So far, it had been the highlight of the trip.
After dinner we gathered in the main conference room yet again, and about two hours into the service, it happened. I looked over at my mother and in the brief moment that followed I went directly from annoyed boredom to deep emotion–no transition.
It was her face. There was a look. It was sadness–real pain. Church has a way of helping our vulnerabilities rise to the surface–I guess that’s why we like it–and as I watched she started sobbing, then knelt down next to her chair. Immediately, my defenses collapsed; how could they not?
I really, really loved my mother.
I knelt down, too, and reached out for her. We held each other tightly for a long time. I said all the things I should’ve said so much more often: how much I loved her, how sorry I was for the times I’d hurt her. We cried.
Then the night ended, and it was over. And that’s when the interpretations began.
In the Christian circles we moved in at the time, it was popular to create tiers–levels of closeness to God. It was a game we played; after all, we were going to church multiple times a week. All that praying had to be getting us somewhere. For us, it wasn’t enough to say we felt a sudden realization of love; love is great, but anyone can feel that–even nonbelievers. No; what I experienced had to be, must be, religious in nature—something only Christians can experience. My mom even had a term for it, which she told me at breakfast the next morning. It was “the baptism of love.”
“Last night, you received the baptism of love,” she pronounced, but it didn’t make me feel special. There was a look in her eye that said, “You’re different now. I respect you more because you experienced this.”
I really didn’t like that look.
She went on. “This is the true salvation. It’s beyond the simple John 3:16 prayer. You were saved before. Now, you’ve been chosen.”
I nodded, understanding, but I didn’t want to talk about it. I wanted her to forget it ever happened. I wanted to remember the experience my way: an innocent, loving moment without strings.
I just wanted to love my mother.
But I didn’t. I mean, I did–I did love my mother, and I trusted her opinion. I believed her when she told me I was meant to be “used by God,” and so, from that day on, I started my journey to discover what the hell that meant.
It was a very long journey.
I won’t go into the messy consequences of this self-aggrandizing belief. I’ll merely say that through the rest of my school-aged years, I wasn’t the most pleasant person to be around. I had few friends and none that weren’t equally religious. And for good reason: I was a judgmental jerk.
And that’s the way it goes when we recall the experiences that shaped us, isn’t it? Nothing is as straightforward as we’d like. That night at the retreat I felt the most compassion I’d ever felt in my life. And the next day, it turned into pride.
The results of this spiritual experience weren’t all bad, of course. Most of them were pretty positive.
That summer on, through the end of high school, I tried as hard as I could to be a good person. I went to church twice a week. I devoted myself and my future (Christian writer? Missionary?) to the saving of souls. I learned about honesty, failings and forgiveness. Then there was my real talent, one perfectly suited to a spiritual type: when it came to self-improvement, I was relentless.
At the time, if pressed, I would’ve admitted that my faith sometimes made me a poor confidante. But I would’ve also said it made me a better person. Looking back, not much has changed; my brand of belief is different–I’m no longer a Christian–but I still think that spirituality is good.
Mostly.
“Spirituality is good.” It’s the longest-held and most fundamental tenet of my personal faith. But does it stand up to inquiry?
Before I delve into that central question, though, a bit of Byron Katie background seems appropriate.
It’s cognitive therapy with a spiritual twist. That’s how I think of the negativity-purging methods of popular teacher and author Byron Katie. And considering my feelings about both CBT and spirituality, it’s not surprising that I love it. Katie’s approach to challenging unhelpful beliefs has much in common with widely-used evidence-based counseling therapies, giving it credibility, while her unique techniques bring it a dynamic quality that’s a bit hard to describe. During my year of purging my unhelpful thoughts using her method, my growth was significant. Here is that story.
Everyone just leave my boobs alone, Goddamnit! That was the thought I was having several times a day. Of course, when I sat down to confront my problem, Byron Katie-style, I wrote something a bit more restrained.
I hate breastfeeding, I wrote. I’m sick of it. It bugs me. I hate the boredom, the discomfort. The whining for “boo-boo,” “boo-boo.”
It was June, and I’d recently given birth, and my barely-turned two-year-old nursed, too. At the time, breastfeeding was–no exaggeration–a part-time job. More than thirty hours a week I was spending with a person (sometimes people) fully attached, often doing nothing but waiting to be done.
Which is why after discovering The Work it was one of the first thoughts I brought to the method; it seemed like a pretty good test. CBT couldn’t touch it. At least that’s what I believed. And I doubted The Work could, either. But I’d just read another book of Katie’s, my third, I Need Your Love – Is That True?: How to Stop Seeking Love, Approval, and Appreciation and Start Finding Them Instead, and cover to cover, it was super inspiring. So one afternoon I got my pen and paper, and after writing down my negative feelings on the subject, I answered the four requisite questions.
Is it true? Yes. Obviously. Duh.
Can you be absolutely sure it’s true? Uh, I guess not.
How do you feel when you think this thought? Terrible. Trapped. On the verge of a scream.
How would you feel if you couldn’t think the thought? Well, I guess I’d feel … fine?
And then I turned the statement around to the opposite and found examples to confirm.
I love breastfeeding, I wrote. I don’t hate it at all. Look at all the benefits it provides my kids. Not to mention the benefits to me–all those burned calories while just lying on my side, doing nothing. And when the baby cries, it always makes her feel better, which of course makes me feel better, too. Plus, what other activity in my life will I ever do that is this easy and yet this important? It’s, like, the best-ever excuse to be lazy.
Then, as Katie does in several examples in her book, I returned to the first question: Is it true?
Well, no. I mean, not entirely.
Hmmm. That’s interesting.
Later that day, I thought about the exercise and checked in, asking myself if anything felt different. It didn’t, I concluded. I felt just the same. But then something strange happened: nothing.
The following morning when Jack, the two-year-old, woke me while groping for my breast, I didn’t feel the extreme annoyance I usually felt.
In fact, I didn’t feel much at all.
Holy crap. I smiled. Holy crap. I think it worked. I didn’t think it’d really work. But it did.
After this experience, my interest in The Work quickly increased, and soon I found myself substituting my CBT practice with the new method. Every few days or so, I’d jot down the thoughts that came to mind, then select the most troublesome to move with through the process. Here are just some of the feelings and ideas I successfully distanced myself from during that first incredible month:
I’m bloated.
I should go on a diet.
David should have [fill in the blank].
My friend should not have [fill in the blank].
I can’t sleep.
Caring for a baby is too hard.
All parenting is too hard.
To say the least, dealing effectively with these thoughts rather than letting them run amok was an improvement. So it wasn’t very far into July before I started hatching a plan.
That plan: this book. This serial. This story. About doing the Work for a year. Not much more to it than that–no detailed list of rules. Just dedicating myself to the practice and seeing where it takes me. Along the way, I’ll examine my current life philosophy, too, for the purpose of deciding whether or not these deep-down beliefs are helpful for me. I don’t want to only focus on the day-to-day stuff; I want to see big changes, big shifts, major differences in perspective.
I want the Work to be the game-changer I’ve been seeking.
Here are my six basic spiritual beliefs, which I will write about in this serial.
Spirituality is good.
People are holy.
Life is a game. There are no rules.
God is reality.
People have power.
My religion is peace, pain, hard work and appreciation.
I know. Scary, right? This is good stuff here. I like every single one of these. I’ve come to each of them like a child comes to a rock lying on the beach: I pick it up, turn it around in my hand. I notice the color, the uniqueness, even the flaws–but they don’t seem like flaws to me. After a moment of inspection, I might throw it back, but more often than not, I don’t. I put it in my rock bag and refuse to leave it behind, though on the car ride home it already seems out of place.
Beliefs are interesting. They’re important. They stabilize us. They help us relate to other people. We like our rock collections. We really, really like them. We carry them wherever we go. Sometimes, when we find other people whose rocks look a lot like ours, we even meet every Sunday for a while to describe them.
Rock collecting is a wonderful hobby. Spirituality is a noble practice. But do we have to take it quite so seriously?
Do our beliefs have to be so darn firm?
Which brings me to the first Byron Katie quote of the series–one that I’ll probably revisit later on.
“God is everything, God is good … Ultimately, of course, even this isn’t true … All so-called truths eventually fall away. Every truth is a distortion of what is. If we investigate, we lose even the last truth. And that state, beyond all truths, is true intimacy. That is God-realization. And welcome to the reentry. It’s always a beginning.”
The quote is from the second book I read of Katie’s, Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life. It was co-written by her husband, Stephen Mitchell. The sentiment is puzzling, yet it rings true to me, especially since it echoes the Buddhist view of ultimate truth. I start with it this year for several reasons.
The first is that if Byron Katie is known for one thing, she is known for eradicating belief. To her, belief is dangerous. Undesirable. Scary. Belief is the root of all suffering, of every problem we have. Which is why her four questions encourage us to question our thoughts so relentlessly.
If you’re not familiar with this teacher, the above probably sounds a bit strange. Don’t worry. Hang in there. We’ll get to your questions. For now, let’s move on to the second reason.
The second reason the quote is so appropriate here at the starting line is that it makes me wonder what my time with The Work is going to bring. If nothing is true, really and ultimately true, where will that leave me by year’s end? Will inquiry excise my favorite, most comforting beliefs–steal my precious rock collection like a school bully? Or will my spiritual beliefs hold up, at least for now, and continue to help me get through this earthly adventure?
The final reason I chose this quote first is that it’s Katie’s direct answer to the first of my seven beliefs, namely, spirituality (God) is good.
Sure, she says. Sure, you can think that. But ultimately, no–spirituality isn’t good.
Like everything else, spirituality is nothing.
Welcome to the rabbit hole that is Ms. Byron Katie.
All this said, I don’t regret—not for one moment, not for one second—any of the years I spent as true believer.
Kurt
Niziak is a software trainer and data analyst from Massachusetts.
Mollie:
Have you ever significantly reorganized and decluttered your home?
What led to the decision and what did you change?
Kurt: Yes, but not consciously. Instead, it
somehow chose me!
Over a decade ago, my career and financial
situation was vastly different. In fact, my own “personal paper
route” (as I call it) was surprisingly easy. Financially, I was
preparing myself for a life of moderate wealth. The bottom fell out,
however, and I was forced to abide by a lifestyle which would be the
antitheses of what I once thought I had.
In July of 2018, I had a major fire in my once
well-furnished condo. I had stepped out of my home for a mere
thirty-five minutes only to return and witness that almost
all of what I had acquired over the years had vanished. I say the
word almost because, my most important possession (my dog) was
miraculously spared. (Thank God).
After the complete shock of losing almost
everything had slowly worn off, I was surprised to feel an incredible
sense of gratitude. I realized that as terrible as things were, at
least my dog was okay. This horrific event proved to be the genesis
of a priceless awakening. I began to understand that I really didn’t
need many possessions in order to keep on living on a day-to-day
basis. Material things somehow revealed themselves in their most
generic form, serving as nothing more than distractions.
Mollie: What is your lifestyle like now?
Kurt: I suppose that I am a bit more grounded. I
am cognizant about how we are all such insatiable consumers. I try
instead to take better care of the things that I do have, rather than
fantasizing about what I don’t have. Furthermore, before purchasing
or storing anything, I think about whether I really need it.
We all are conditioned to believe that our lives
can only improve via addition—as if we were painting a picture,
adding more and more layers. Unfortunately, this approach seldom gets
us the results we are looking for. Perhaps it’s a sculpture that we
should be creating instead, our goal only arrived at via subtraction.
We discard the pieces that are not necessary.
Mollie: Can you share a few specific tips for
cleaning, organizing and simplifying a home?
Kurt: In his wonderful book 12
Rules of Life: An Antidote to Chaos, Jordan Peterson is
quick to point out an approach towards minimalism which (at first
look) appears rather benign. However, this simple concept has saved
me, time and time again, from the shackles of a personal two- or
three-day funk. Peterson states that one risks feeling depressed,
anxious and powerless should they fail to keep their bedroom clean,
or surroundings in order. Whenever I motivate myself to use this
simple tactic, it has never failed to
make me feel more balanced—more in control.
Cleaning, organizing, etc. are extremely powerful
minimalist tools. They help combat feelings of chaos. If things are
clean and in order, I have a better chance at having a more positive
experience in the outside world. Physical clutter seems to muddle my
brain and often prevents me from having any semblance of harmony. It
is so simple, yet it seems to always have positive results.
Minimalism (to me) is not merely the act of owning
less. It also leads to appreciating things more. It proves itself,
time and time again, as a
powerful life approach. All I know is that when I fail to encompass
minimalism, I am at risk of feeling like nothing more than the
proverbial hole of a doughnut.
I will say however, that my own personal happiness
has neither significantly decreased nor increased over the years. It
is just less complicated. One doesn’t end up wasting time fooling
themselves into thinking that acquiring more will improve one’s
life.
I do what I need to do in order to survive. I often (jokingly) say that I am just as miserable now, as I’ve always been. A bigger house, better car or more stuff will not enhance my life very much. These things might be nice to have but it becomes a fool’s errand to obsessively pursue. It’s just an example of victory through surrender.
A lot of times, when you discover something great, you overestimate its greatness just a bit. Well, okay, sometimes more than a bit.
Sometimes you get way too excited.
Every once in a while, though, your excitement proves justified. And when that happens, you cross the line. Before you were a fan, a follower, an advocate.
Now, you’re a believer.
Granted, when I discovered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, my hopes were high for good reason. According to articles by the National Institute for Mental Health, the National Center for Biotechnology Information and, of course, Wikipedia, CBT is the most-practiced evidence-based therapy for tons of emotional and personality disorders.
More important, when I tried it, it worked.
Unfortunately, I was late to the party; I’ve had depression my whole life, but didn’t learn about CBT till age thirty-eight. Yikes, right? I often wonder what I was thinking, not looking up popular depression therapies sooner. Then I remember exactly what I was thinking.
I was thinking spirituality was the answer.
Ouch.
I mean, spirituality is great. Spirituality works. But sometimes, other stuff works better. And every once in a while, you hit the proverbial jackpot, and you find a regular therapy that’s spiritual, too.
Which is where Byron Katie comes in.
Soon after discovering CBT, I found this teacher, and when I did, the above process repeated itself. Excitement. Enthusiasm. Fandom. Advocacy.
Then, full-on belief.
Here’s how that happened.
***
It was one of Those Moments. You know the kind. They feel normal at first, then later earn an unexpected spot on your greatest-hits playlist. It was evening, and I was depressed—much more so than usual. Worse, earlier that day I’d taken a three-mile walk and even that, my go-to strategy, hadn’t helped. I didn’t get an endorphin high. I didn’t clear my mind.
I felt just as bad after as before.
If you struggle with a mood disorder I don’t have to tell you what a frightening realization this was. Will I have to starting walk more than three miles now? I wondered. Has my body acclimated to this level of exercise? Heavily pregnant, with two other children in tow, I couldn’t imagine putting more time and effort into walking than I already did. And so, after dinner, after my husband had taken our two boys to the mall, I decided to try something different. Desperate, I went to my office to scan the titles on my bookshelf, looking for anything that might help.
I didn’t actually believe I’d find something.
But I did. I found The Feeling Good Handbook by David Burns.
One year prior, I’d bought the Handbook on the advice of my doctor and then, after a brief review, dismissed it. Platitudes, I thought. Nothing new here. Nothing I haven’t heard a million times before. I had no idea it was a psychotherapy classic. (Why hadn’t the doctor told me that? Sheesh.)
That day, though—that greatest-hits day—I sat on the couch and for the first time, gave the method a chance. After reading a few chapters, I took its suggestion and started writing down every negative thought in my head. When I couldn’t think of any more, I stopped writing and counted the pages.
I’d filled seven pieces of paper on both sides.
Okay, I thought. Maybe the book is right. Maybe my depression really is caused by my thoughts.
Prior to that time, I knew negativity played a role in depression. But I had no idea how big that role was. I’m a positive person, I thought. I’m hopeful about the future. It’s a chemical imbalance that’s to blame.
And I still believe that. I’ve been moody my whole life—never lighthearted, even as a kid. But maybe, just maybe, there’s more to the story. Maybe part of the problem is solvable.
Because, it turned out, I wasn’t the optimist I thought I was. I was actually sort of the opposite, but in a different way. The kind of thoughts I wrote down that day had nothing to do with my faith in God or my many dreams of success. They weren’t about my overall health, or my financial or familial satisfaction.
They were about the little annoyances of life.
They were about the way my clothes fit, the kids’ morning moods, the tyranny of my family’s need to eat. Only a few of my troubles even mattered long-term. And yet, when I emptied the contents of my head, these silly little details were what I found. Obviously, my pessimism wasn’t as much about the significance of my negative thoughts as it was about the sheer number of them.
I had accumulated a bunch of mental crap.
And so, that night I began the process of excavation. And I haven’t stopped since.
Even after that first writing session, I noticed a change—a lifting, even a slight high. I felt the way I feel after a thirty-minute jog, or a long talk with a friend, or an especially enjoyable night out.
Holy crap, I realized. It worked.
And it did so when I was at my very worst.
And so, like I said before, after discovering CBT, my hopes were ridiculously high. Somehow, I knew that this was my game-changer, my next major level up.
Somehow, I knew it would be epic.
The cool thing is that I was right. During the month that followed the discovery, I was the most hopeful I’d been in my life regarding my ability to deal effectively with—maybe even overcome—my depression. Then, a shocking twist: I found another strategy, a variation of CBT. And for me, it was even more powerful. You probably already know what that method was. It was Byron Katie’s process of self-inquiry called The Work.
Byron Katie is a spiritual teacher, someone you may have heard of before. I had, too; the previous fall I’d even read her free ebook, The Work of Byron Katie: An Introduction. At that time, though, her ideas didn’t particularly appeal to me.
Truth be told, I wasn’t desperate enough to try it.
But after practicing CBT for a while, her name came up again, and I thought back on what I’d read. Wait a sec, I realized, Now that I think about it, The Work is a lot like CBT.
I decided to look into it again.
More about Byron Katie’s method later, and how it compares with CBT. Suffice it to say here that it’s a way to look objectively at your favorite (or not-so-favorite) thoughts. It gives you four questions to ask yourself that help you realize, deep down, what is true and what is, well, a bit crazy.
And as with CBT, my first experience with The Work didn’t disappoint.
Oh, how I wish this book had room for … well, everything. But especially visual diagrams, images and how-tos. Then again, that’s what we have the internet for, and the internet is really great at stuff like that. Use this brief list as a guideline for further scientific study. If I were you, I’d use this list like a to-do list, checking off items as I went.
For this list, I tacked on science projects and history discussion questions. These are non-essentials, but good ideas.
ESSENTIAL SKILLS: SCIENCE
Interpreting the Periodic Table of the Elements
Drawing a simple diagram of an atom
Drawing simple diagrams of molecules
Drawing simple diagrams of plant and animal cells
Visually identifying parts of the body and body systems
Using a telescope
Using a microscope
Using a map
Calculating time zone differences
Making and testing a hypothesis and using the scientific method
Identifying local plants and animals (daisy, bluebell, iris, crocus, pansy, lilac, rose, marigold, tulip, daffodil, buttercup, lavender, juniper, oak tree, maple tree, ivy, blueberry bush, apple tree, pear tree, palm tree, raspberry bush, blackberry bush, cedar, pine)
Identifying rocks
Classifying animals into major taxonomic groups (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, arthropods, vertebrates, invertebrates, those having live births and those which lay eggs)
Making a sun dial
Identifying important cities, states, countries, and bodies of water on a map
Science Projects
Building science-related structures and models with Lego and/or other media (such as animals, vehicles, etc.)
Block building
Train set building
Playing with magnets
Breaking open and identifying rocks
Building circuits
Taking nighttime walks
Watching astronomical events (such as a lunar eclipse, shooting stars or the Aurora Borealis)
Making homemade environmentally friendly house cleaners (using borax, lemon juice, baking soda, vinegar and more)
Learning computer programming basics
Growing crystals
Making a balloon rocket
Making a volcano using baking soda and vinegar
Making a bottle submarine
Making invisible ink
Hunting for fossils
Making a rainbow
Making a bat house
Making a birdhouse
Making a birdbath
Making a bee house for honeybees
Making a foam-and-cardboard planetarium
Growing coral
Comparing rates of decomposition
Going on tidepooling and nature collecting excursions
Watching sunsets and sunrises
History Discussion Questions
What are some of the important similarities between various historical cultures? What are some of the important differences?
Were there any good civilizations in history? Were there any bad ones?
What part did ethnocentrism play in various historical cultures? What part did racism play?
What are the main reasons nations and states waged war? Why did smaller tribes and peoples wage war?
How was history influenced by various technological discoveries, including farming, the wheel, metalwork, gunpowder, the printing press, the train and many more?
What are some examples of religious wars? To what extent were they motivated by the spread of religious ideas and the quashing of other religious ideas and to what extent were they motivated by other desires or needs?
What are some possible reasons towns and civilizations spring up independently in so many different parts of the world within a few hundred years of each other?
Why did relatively safe, prosperous nations, like Rome, continuously try to grow larger? Was this a wise strategy?
What are some of the historical reasons for poverty?
Practical knowledge is a bit underrated. It took me far too many years to learn how water treatment works, and when I did, I found it pretty interesting. Also, if you drive or plan to drive, it comes in handy to know about basic car systems.
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: TECHNOLOGY
Internal combustion engine: The type of engine that powers most vehicles. It works when the vehicle’s battery powers its spark plugs, which ignite a mixture of air and gasoline, causing small explosions. These explosions produce gases that expand rapidly and push against pistons on cylinders, which go up and down as gases expand and contract. Rods connected to the pistons convert that movement into the power that eventually turns the wheels.
Exhaust system: The system that is part of an internal combustion engine-powered vehicle that carries burned gases from the engine to the muffler, which then cools the gases and reduces their pressure
Catalytic converter: The device in an internal combustion engine-powered vehicle that uses chemicals to reduce exhaust pollution
Power train: The parts of an internal combustion engine-powered vehicle that transmit power from the engine to the wheels, including the transmission, which uses gears to reduce or increase the speed and power of the engine and the drive shaft, which carries the power from the transmission to the axle which connects the wheels
Water treatment facility: A facility that receives and treats water from the sewer system and sends out clean potable water to be distributed. Water treatment begins with the addition of chemicals known as coagulants, which cause small particles and impurities in the water to clump together, forming larger particles called flocs. After coagulation, the water enters a sedimentation basin or tank, where the flocs settle down to the bottom due to gravity and are removed later. The water is then filtered in several layers to remove finer particles, then disinfected with chlorine, ozone, UV light or other disinfectants. The water’s pH level might also be altered and other processes completed before it is sent into the distribution pipes.
Dam: A barrier built across a river that either redirects the water to narrow channels, creating high-pressure water currents, or creates a reservoir from which water is redirected to narrow channels. From there, the water currents power turbines, which power electricity generators.
Turbine: A machine that helps convert mechanical energy, such as from strong winds or diverted water channels, into electrical energy. It does this by rotating its blades when winds or water move over it, which causes the rotor in the generator to also rotate, which then creates electrical current.
Solar panel: Devices that contain solar cells made of silicon that convert sunlight into electricity
Nuclear power: The energy that comes from nuclear fission
Nuclear weapons: Bombs that produce uncontrolled nuclear reactions. Atomic bombs are created through nuclear fission, whereas hydrogen bombs are created through both fission and fusion and are more destructive.
Nuclear reactor: A device used to initiate and control nuclear reactions, specifically nuclear fission, to generate heat. The heat produced is then harnessed to generate electricity.
Radioactivity: The state that occurs when a substance’s atoms release nuclear energy as radiation
Steel: A alloy of iron, carbon and traces of other metals
Crude oil/petroleum: The raw material from which fuels like oil, fuel, gas are obtained. It is a fossil fuel that is often found in rock reservoirs under the seabed.
Plastic: An easily-molded synthetic polymers made from the organic compounds found in crude oil.
Polymer: A substance made of many small molecules joined together to make long chains. Some are synthetic (nylon), while others are natural (hair, rubber, wool, silk, etc.).
In vitro fertilization (IVF): A process by which egg cells are fertilized by sperm outside the womb, in vitro.
Medical imaging: Creating images of the internal organs to help diagnose and treat disease
CT scan: Computed tomography scan. Formerly CAT scan. Uses computer-processed combinations of many X-ray measurements taken from different angles to produce cross-sectional images of internal organs.
MRI scan: Magnetic resonance imaging. Uses magnets and radio waves (not X-rays, as CT scans do) to create images of the internal organs.
Laser surgery: Laser surgery is a type of surgery that uses a laser (in contrast to using a scalpel) to cut tissue.
Laser: Machine that creates a beam of intense pure color of one wavelength and frequency. Its waves are coherent—travel in step with each other and stay in a narrow beam. Lots of energy is transported in a small space.
Gyroscope: A rotating device used for navigation and other purposes that consists of a spinning wheel or disk mounted on an axis within a frame. When the wheel spins rapidly, it resists external forces that might otherwise change its position.
Generator: A device that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy using a turbine driven by steam, water, wind, or another source of kinetic energy. When the rotor rotates within the magnetic field provided by the stator, the changing magnetic flux induces voltage across the coils of the rotor.
Galvanizing: Covering metal with zinc. This is sometimes done to machine parts for additional protection and strength.
Hydrometer: A device used to measure the specific gravity (relative density) of a liquid by its level of flotation
Rocket: An engine that burns fuel to achieve thrust and lift a spacecraft
Astronaut: Someone who goes to space to work. They fly space shuttles, fix parts of the space station or satellites, do scientific experiments on the space station and more. Some of their training is done underwater to simulate space conditions.
Space shuttle: A rocket-powered spacecraft developed by NASA that brought astronauts and supplies to the ISS and other satellites, then returned to Earth as an airplane. Booster rockets and fuel tanks fell off after they were used. The crew compartment, located at the top of the shuttle, held the flight deck and other areas for working and sleeping. The shuttle was replaced with different spacecrafts.
Hubble Space Telescope: A big telescope with a camera that orbits Earth and takes clear photos of deep space from outside our atmosphere. It is powered by solar panels and has orbited Earth since 1990.
Space walk: A trip taken by an astronaut outside the space station or space shuttle, into empty space, to check or repair equipment. A strong spacesuit regulates the astronaut’s temperature and carries air.
International Space Station (ISS): The series of connected rooms, compartments and solar panels in space where astronauts live and work. It is located 230 miles above Earth. On the station, all water (including pee) is recycled. Many scientific experiments are conducted there.
Satellite: Any object in space that orbits a planet or the sun other than planets and moons. These include natural ones, such as asteroids, as well as man-made ones that are used to investigate space and carry radio signals around Earth.
Space probe: A robot that explores other planets and moons. Some space probes even leave our solar system and carry information about Earth, looking for other life forms.
Flight simulator: A replica of the inside of an airplane that allows pilots to practice flying the aircraft
Statistics are for everyone. You might not need to know all of the terms presented here, but conversational fluency on politics, economics, science and much more requires most.
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: STATISTICS
Percentage: A part of one hundred, with one hundred representing the whole
Mean/average: The score that is found when a group of scores are added, then divided by the total number of scores
Median: The score that falls directly in the middle of a group of scores when those scores are presented in numerical order
Mode: The most frequently occurring score in a group
Range: A number that shows how dispersed a group of scores is
Data set: A collection of numbers or values that relate to a particular subject
Sample: A single data point in a data set
Data distribution: A function that shows all possible values for a variable as well as their frequency of occurrence. Data distributions can be used to find probability.
Standard deviation: The average amount of variability in a data set. Standard deviation shows how far any given value lies from the mean.
Normal curve/normal distribution/bell curve: The arrangement of data into a graph that delineates the average in the center, most of the data points within one standard deviation of the center, and fewer data points two, three and four standard deviations from the center. The normal curve is always symmetrical, since it depicts where various data points lie in relation to each other and to the average.
Probability: The likelihood of something happening. Probability can be represented as percentages or other numbers.
Conditional probability: The likelihood of something happening if something else happens first
Statistical significance: The likelihood that a given result occurred due to the independent variables being studied, rather than random chance
Correlation: The degree to which two or more quantities increase or decrease together. Data sets have a positive correlation when they increase together, and a negative correlation when one set increases as the other decreases. High correlation does not indicate causation.
Spurious correlation: An inaccurate or questioned correlation
Type One error/false positive: The statistical error that occurs when a true null hypothesis is rejected
Type Two error/false negative: The statistical error that occurs when a false null hypothesis is retained
Regression testing/statistical regression: A way of mathematically analyzing experimental results that uses past results to predict future results. Regression testing is used to predict college GPAs based on high school SAT scores, for example.
P value: A number that indicates the degree to which a relationship between two variables has significance; in other words, the probability
Validity coefficient: A number between 0 and 1.0 that indicates the validity of a test, with 1.0 indicating perfect validity
Correlation coefficient: A number that indicates the amount of correlation that exists between two variables, with 0 showing no correlation, a positive number showing a positive relationship and a negative number showing a negative relationship
Reliability coefficient: A number that indicates the reliability of a test’s scores from one iteration to the next, with a number greater than 1.0 indicating low reliability
Nominal scale: A binary scale such as yes/no or male/female
Ordinal scale: A scale in which scores are rated or ordered in comparison to each other
Interval scale: A scale that uses intervals, but not as part of a ratio, such as temperature
Ratio scale: A scale in which scores can be quantified in absolute terms; for example, height, length and weight
Derived score: A score that results when a raw score (for example, 67/70 on a test) is converted to a standardized scoring ratio (for example, 3.8 on a GPA scale)
Scatterplot: A set of data points plotted on a grid with horizontal and vertical axes. Scatterplots are used to visually show relationships between data points.
Venn diagram: A diagram that uses circles that sometimes overlap to show relationships between data sets. Overlapping circles represent data sets that are similar to the degree that they overlap, and different to the degree that they do not.
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: RESEARCH
Experiment: A scientific test to determine whether or not a hypothesis is true. A proper experiment includes a control group, an experimental group and variables (including independent, dependent and controlled variables).
The scientific method: The accepted process for “doing science”; that is, the way that scientific theories are tested. The steps include: making an observation; forming a hypothesis; gathering data, which might include conducting one or more experiments; and analyzing the results and drawing conclusions.
Hypothesis: An educated guess which might provide the basis of an experiment or other research. The hypothesis is also sometimes called the alternative hypothesis, since experiments are usually based around a null hypothesis.
Null hypothesis: The statement that contradicts the research hypothesis, saying that no effect of statistical significance exists. Experiments are often built around a null hypothesis since it is easier to disprove a null hypothesis than to prove a hypothesis directly.
Independent variable: A variable that is not affected by another variable
Dependent variable: A variable that may be affected by an independent variable
Experimental group/treatment group: The group of subjects in an experiment that is exposed to the dependent variable being studied
Control group: The group of subjects in an experiment that is not exposed to the dependent variable being studied. Control groups might include placebo groups, treatment as usual groups or even groups that are not acted on within the experiment in any meaningful way.
Random assignment: The practice of assigning subjects to treatment groups and control groups randomly
Random sampling: Choosing subjects by pure chance, from the whole known population
Probability sampling: Choosing subjects from within a particular population in a randomized manner, rather than purely at random
Nonprobability sampling: Choosing subjects from within a particular population in a non-randomized manner. Subjects might be selected due to their unique characteristics or due to their willingness to participate, for example. Nonprobability sampling is not used to show the probability of a variable, only to study the variable in other ways.
Saturation: The practice of administering a test to subjects over and over again until no new data refute findings of previous data
Validity: The extent to which a test measures what it says it measures
Internal validity: The extent to which a test measures what it says it measures, based on the structure of the test itself
External validity: The extent to which a test’s results can be generalized to other contexts
Face validity: The extent to which a test seems valid at first glance
Content validity: The extent to which a test’s content relates to the subject at hand
Construct validity: The extent to which a test’s construction increasing the test’s validity
Concurrent validity/convergent validity: The extent to which a test’s results overlap with other tests that measure the same phenomenon
Threats to validity: Participant effects; researcher effects; environmental effects; time-related effects; testing modality effects; drop-out effects; maturation effects; placebo effects; participant selection and more
The placebo effect: The effect on subjects not exposed to treatment that occurs when they believe they have received treatment
Reliability: The extent to which a test’s results are consistent, recurring in different iterations. Valid tests are by definition reliable; however, reliable results aren’t always valid since results can be reliably wrong.
Inter-scorer/inter-rater reliability: Degree of consistency of ratings between two or more raters observing the same behavior (like two judges of a contest)
Test-retest reliability: The consistency of the scores of the same test taker across multiple instances of the same test
Sensitivity: The extent to which a test is accurately identifies the presence of a phenomenon
Specificity: The extent to which a test accurately identifies the absence of a phenomenon
Power: The likelihood of detecting a significant relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable, which is due to an experiment’s design
Internal consistency: Measures how consistent the test taker’s answers were to show they were honest and consistent, taking the test correctly
Descriptive research: Research questions that merely explore data in a non-experimental way. These include case studies, observational studies, statistical reports and more.
Relational research: Research that explores correlation
Causal research: Research that seeks to prove or disprove that X phenomenon causes Y phenomenon
Case study: A nonexperimental research study that presents data on a single individual or a single group of individuals experiencing the phenomenon of interest
Blind study: A study in which participants don’t know whether they are in the control group or the experiment group
Double blind study: A study in which both the researchers and the participants don’t know which group participants are in (the control group or the experiment group)
Naturalistic/observational study: A nonexperimental research study in which participants are observed, usually in their natural environment, but not directly experimented on. Interviews might also be used.
Statistical report: A nonexperimental research study consisting of a report that provides a variety of statistical data on a given topic. Two examples are reports on crime statistics in a particular city and a company annual report.
Action study: A nonexperimental study conducted for the purpose of program evaluation and improvement. An example is a needs assessment for a school free lunch program that presents relevant data, conclusions and action steps.
Quantitative research: Experimental research that presents all data in the form of numbers
Qualitative research: Experimental research that presents at least some of its data in the form of words, pictures, video and/or artifacts
Mixed-method research: Research that presents both quantitative and qualitative data
Pilot study: A less extensive preliminary experimental study for the purpose of determining whether or not a full-scale study is warranted. It is designed as an experiment, but is not a true experiment.
Comparative research design: A research design for investigating group differences for a particular variable. Simplistic; doesn’t show causation.
Longitudinal research design: A research design in which the same subject (either the same individuals or samples from the same cohort) is examined and re-examined over the course of time. Answers the research question, “What were the effects on this group over time?”
Single-subject research design: A research design for studying the effect of an experiment on a single subject or group without comparing it with another group
Time lag research design/cohort sequential research design: A research design that duplicates the experiment on a second cohort shortly after the first experiment is conducted; similar to cross-sectional but sequential
Cross-sectional research design: A research design for studying several groups at the same time. The groups might be different from each other in some way, such as children in different grades.
Correlational research design: A research design for studying the relationship between two variables. This design, however, does not show whether the variables directly affect each other.
Ex post facto/causal-comparative research design: No true randomization but otherwise, does show causation
Split-plot research design: A research design in which an experiment is first done on a large plot, then the plot is split into smaller sections and various aspects of the treatment are given to the subplots. This helps show which aspect of the treatment had the most impact on the results.
Norm-referenced assessment: An assessment or test in which each individual’s score is compared to the average score of the entire test-taking group, such as the SAT
Criterion-referenced assessment: An assessment or test in which each individual’s score is compared to the criteria, such as a skills test
Next to China, Japan stands as one of the oldest continuous civilizations in the world. Settled early–some estimate by 30,000 BCE–it soon unified politically and culturally and began to develop some of the hallmarks we identify with early Japan: its pottery and writing systems, for example. Its separate geographical location aided in this process, and today, we appreciate Japan’s unique cultural place in the world.
Japan’s much-celebrated classical period period lasted from about 300 BCE to about 800 CE, with its Golden Age taking place during the 700s. Following this, the Fujiwara Dynasty took power and held it till about 1150. Then, dynastic Japan ended and was replaced by a feudal system run by military dictators with ceremonial emperors. During this period, colonists attempted to gain control of the area but were mostly unsuccessful until the 1850s, when the U.S. forced Japan to open trade. Rapid modernization followed, as well as some mostly failed attempts at territorial expansion. After its World War II defeat and atomic bombing, Japan rebuilt as the capitalist, democratic nation we see today. They improved their education system, started holding democratic elections, built factories, incorporated modern technology and modernized their infrastructure. Eventually, Japan became a technological giant, with its people among the best educated in the world. This helped spread modernization to South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: HISTORY OF JAPAN
Ancient Times (3500 BCE to 500 CE)
The Jomon period: The period of Japanese history that took place from about 14,000 BCE to about 300 BCE. It is known for the development of a distinctive Japanese culture, including the creation of pottery, hunting and gathering and the use of natural materials for construction.
The Kofun period: The period of Japanese history that took place from about 300 CE to about 700 CE. It is known for its technological advancements such as the use of bronze and iron; the introduction of rice and barley from neighboring countries; greater cultural unity; the development of Shintoism; and the beginning of the process of unification.
Princess Himiko: A tribal queen who, during the 200s CE, used her religious influence to unite up to thirty smaller Japanese tribes, creating the first united Japanese state. She is known for sending ambassadors to China to learn about their culture and adopting some Chinese ways, as well as for encouraging a female-centered social system. While some scholars question her historicity, she remains an important mythological figure.
The Middle Ages (500 CE to 1500 CE)
The Nara Period: The Japanese era that took place during the 700s CE during which Nara became the capital city. It is known for its significant artistic and literary achievements, including the development of calligraphy; for the prominence of both Shinto and Buddhism; and for the rise in political power of the officials and monks, with the emperor gradually becoming a ceremonial figure.
Fujiwara Dynasty: The dynasty that ruled Japan from about 800 CE to about 1200 CE. It is known for the leadership of regents, who gained more political power than the emperors over time, partly by marrying their daughters to the emperors; for the flourishing of art and literature during this time; and for the infighting which eventually led to civil war and the dynasty’s downfall. Some people consider the time period of this dynasty the classical period.
Shogun Japan: The feudal system that ruled Japan from about 1200 CE to the late 1800s (when the Meiji Restoration occurred). It is known for the leadership of the shoguns, who held most of the political power while the emperors served largely as figureheads, as well as for the system’s strict social hierarchy that included the ruling class (emperors, shoguns, and daimyos), the warrior class (samurai), and the commoners (peasants, artisans and merchants).
Shoguns: The military dictators who led Shogun Japan in a succession of shogunates (reigns), some of which were known for their ruthlessness
Daimyos: The feudal lords of Shogun Japan. Appointed by the shoguns and serving under the emperors, they held vast estates and commanded their own armies, and were in turn served by the samurai and the commoners.
Samurai: Specially trained and highly respected warriors who fought on behalf of their daimyos, especially during the first half of the Shogun era. This class developed as a response to the jostling for power that occurred between the shoguns, daimyos and emperors during Shogun Japan. In addition to fighting techniques, they studied religion, arts, and more. They followed a code of honor and many detailed rituals. Many became Zen Buddhists.
Hara-kiri: The honorable, highly ritualized act of suicide by a samurai after they had been dishonored, defeated in battle, or faced with a situation that could not be resolved in any other way
Minamoto no Yoritomo: The first shogun of Japan. He is known for establishing the Kamakura shogunate; introducing the feudal system; and stabilizing and centralizing the military and political power of Japan, which had been experiencing a time of clan warfare.
Early Modern Times (1500 CE to 1900 CE)
Oda Nobunaga: A daimyo who, in the late 1500s, overcame other daimyos and began the reunification of Japan after a long period of instability and fragmentation. He was aided by his use of Western style guns, which were first introduced to Japan by the Portuguese in the mid-1500s, an event which threatened the samurai traditions.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi: Nobunaga’s general and advisor who became the regent of Japan after Nobunaga’s death. He is known for his expansionist plans and his invasion of Korea; his belief in a strong central government; his furthering of the unification of Japan; his ban on foreigners, Christianity and overseas travel; and his policies that encouraged economic growth.
The Edo period: The era of Japanese history that took place during the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s, which was led by the Tokugawa dynasty of shoguns. It is known for being the final era to feature traditional Japanese government, culture and society; for its isolationist policies; for its turn from feudalism to a trading economy; for its strong central government and increased stability and prosperity; for its population expansion; for its improvements in education and hygiene; for its reduced military conflict; for its persecution of Christians; for its moving of the capital city of to Edo (Tokyo); for the reduced relevance of the once-respected daimyos and samurai and the increased importance of merchants and business; and for the increase in public works projects that occurred during this time.
Tokugawa Ieyasu: The first Tokugawa shogun, who is known for unifying Japan, establishing the relatively stable Tokugawa shogunate, moving the capital to Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and encouraging trade and commerce
Nijo castle: The palace built during the Tokugawa shogun era which was originally intended to be a residence for the shogun when he visited Kyoto, the old imperial capital of Japan. It is known for its unique features, such as the “nightingale floors,” which were designed to squeak when stepped on, in order to alert guards to intruders.
Millard Fillmore: The U.S. president who sent four warships to Japan in the 1850s in order to intimidate the country into opening trade. The effort succeeded and was followed by additional trade agreements with foreigners, ending Japan’s isolationism.
Matthew Perry: The commander of the warships sent by the U.S. to Japan to force trade
The Meiji Restoration: A series of events that resulted in the toppling of the Tokugawa shogunate in the late 1800s, which ended the Edo period and brought Japan into the modern era
The Meiji Era: The Japanese historical period that followed the Meiji Restoration and lasted until the early 1900s. It is known for the establishment of a new constitution; the modernization of the military and educational systems; the restoration of imperial rule under an emperor; the adoption of Western technologies; the emergence of a new middle class; the growth of cities and industry; and the expansion of Japanese influence abroad.
The Modern Era (1900 CE to the Present)
The First Sino-Japanese War: A war initiated by Japan against China in the late 1800s over control of Korea. With its victory, Japan gained control of Korea and Taiwan and became a powerful rival to China.
The Russo-Japanese War: A war initiated by Japan against Russia in the early 1900s. With its victory, Japan gained some Russian territory and became the first non-Western country to defeat a European power in modern times.
The Second Sino-Japanese War: A war initiated by Japan against China in the 1930s over control of mainland China. It started with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, in which a dispute between Chinese and Japanese troops near Beijing led to a full-scale Japanese invasion. It lasted for eight years and was marked by brutal atrocities committed by the Japanese, including the Rape of Nanking. Though China had been fighting a civil war when the invasion began, they united to fight the Japanese until the end of the war in 1945, when Japan surrendered and withdrew from China.
Rape of Nanking: The invasion of Nanking, China by Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which they tortured, raped and killed hundreds of thousands of Chinese
Hirohito Showa: The emperor of Japan from the 1920s to the 1980s. He is known for initiating expansionist endeavors including The Second Sino-Japanese War; for leading Japan during World War II and eventually surrendering to the Allies; for publicly renouncing his divine status after the war and becoming a figurehead; and for being longest-reigning emperor in Japanese history. After the war, the country transitioned to a democratic constitutional monarchy that was accompanied by rapid modernization.
Pearl Harbor: The U.S. military base that Japan bombed on December 7, 1941, which led to the U.S. joining World War II the next day. 2400 soldiers were killed in the attack. Japan had joined the Axis Powers in 1940 with the hopes of gaining territory in Southeast Asia and the U.S. was pressuring them to stop their attacks. This led to the bombing of this U.S. base.
Kamikaze attacks: Japanese suicide bomber plane attacks, most of which were used against Allied ships during the Battle of Okinawa. The term comes from the Japanese word meaning “divine wind”–a word also used to describe two typhoons that struck Japan in the 13th century, which were believed to have saved the country from invasion by the Mongol Empire.
Battle of Midway: A World War II naval battle fought between the U.S. and Japan near the Midway Atoll, which ended Japan’s naval superiority in the Pacific
Atomic bomb attacks: The 1945 attacks wherein the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They occurred after the U.S. secured Okinawa and Iwo Jima and was faced with the decision of whether or not to invade mainland Japan. They were followed by Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II. Hundreds of thousands died, and many Japanese cities were destroyed. The United States dropped the first bomb, code-named “Little Boy,” on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The second bomb, code-named “Fat Man,” was dropped on Nagasaki three days later, on August 9, 1945.
Enola Gay: The plane that dropped Little Boy
Little Boy: The code name for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, which killed approximately 130,000 people and more later from fallout
Fat Man: The nickname for the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, which killed approximately 75,000 people and more later from fallout
Not long after the first civilizations sprang up in the Middle East and China, India’s Indus Valley similarly developed. Gradually, the people united politically until, after the fall of the Gupta Dynasty in the Middle Ages, India became divided again. Parts of the empire fell to Hun invaders for a time. Other parts were led by various other dynasties, some of which were Hindi and some of which were Islamic. The invasion of the Turks and, later, the Mongols further hampered Indian unity. During this time, Indian culture further blended with Muslim and Persian culture.
Then, during 1500s to the mid-1900s, the colonial period occurred. During this time, European countries colonized India. This began with the arrival of the Portuguese and continued as British, Dutch and French companies competed for trading rights and governmental control. The British were most successful, and by the mid-1800s, they were the de facto rulers of all of India.
India gained her independence in the mid-1900s, though, and a democratic form of government took Britain’s place. In the 1990s, the new system instituted a series of economic reforms that led to rapid economic growth. These included reduced government intervention, reduced trade barriers and increased foreign investment. During this time the country also improved their education, healthcare and infrastructure systems. However, poverty, corruption and environmental concerns continued to the present day.
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: HISTORY OF INDIA
Ancient Times (3000 BCE to 500 CE)
The Indus Valley civilization/Harappan civilization: One of the world’s first civilizations, and the first known civilization in modern-day India, which lasted from about 2600 BCE to about 1900 BCE. It is named for the fertile region in which it was established, the Indus Valley, and for one of its major cities, Harappa. It is known for its sophisticated architecture and drainage systems; its advanced agricultural and trade practices; its animal husbandry; its carts pulled by water buffaloes; its pottery, copper, bronze and spun cotton crafts; and its trade with the Middle East. It was larger than either of its close contemporaries in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Mohenjo Daro: One of the two most well-known ancient Indus Valley cities, located in modern-day Pakistan. It is known for its citadel; its public bath; its granary; its assembly halls; its effective drainage system; its system of standard weights and measures; its writing system; and its population of around 40,000.
Harappa: One of the two most well-known ancient Indus Valley cities, located in modern-day Pakistan. It is known for its well-planned grid layout; its complex drainage system; and its pottery, jewelry, and textiles.
The Vedic age: The period of Indian history lasting from about 1500 BCE to about 500 BCE during which the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism, were composed. It is known for the introduction and spread of Hinduism; the start of Indian literature; the dominance of the Aryans; and the rise of the caste system.
The Aryans: A group of Indo-European peoples who migrated into northern India around 1500 BCE. They spoke related languages and had shared cultural traditions. They are known for establishing the Vedic civilization in India; writing the Vedas; and possibly introducing the caste system to India.
The Indian caste system: A hierarchical social structure that determined one’s position and occupation in society based on birth. At the top were the Brahmins (priests and scholars), followed by the Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers), then the Vaishyas (merchants and farmers), and finally the Shudras (laborers and artisans). Below them were the Dalits (untouchables) who performed the lowest and most undesirable jobs. The caste system was rigid and prohibited social mobility between castes.
The Mauryan Empire: The first unified Indian empire, which lasted from the 300s BCE to the 100s BCE and was established by Emperor Chandragupta Maurya. It is known for its strong central government; its greatly increased trade routes and wealth; its advancements in art and architecture; and its role in the spread of Buddhism.
Ashoka: The greatest Mauryan ruler, who in the 200s BCE expanded the empire through conquest then converted to Buddhism, helped spread this religion, and advocated for peace
The Gupta Dynasty: The dynasty that ruled during the Golden Age of Indian history from the 300s CE to the 500s CE. It is known for reuniting India after a time of decline; for increasing trade with China; and for making significant advances in literature, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy and medicine.
The Middle Ages (500 CE to 1500 CE)
The Bhakti movement: A religious tradition that emerged during Medieval India that promoted the worship of a personal god through devotion (bhakti) rather than through ritual or sacrifice. It greatly contributed to Indian culture, creating a new form of poetry and literature.
Early Modern Times (1500 CE through 1900 CE)
The Mughal Empire: One of the greatest empires in Indian history, which was led by Muslim rulers and which lasted from the early 1500s to the mid-1800s. It is known for reuniting of India under a single ruler; for making significant advancements in infrastructure, administration and the arts; and for constructing many well-known monuments, including the Taj Mahal. However, by the mid-1800s, the power of the Mughals had declined significantly due to colonialism, and much of India was under the control of the British.
Akbar the Great: The greatest Mughal emperor, who ruled over much of India from the mid-1500s to about 1600. He is known for establishing a centralized government; creating a new system for revenue collection; promoting Persian and Hindu culture; instituting other social reforms; and promoting religious tolerance.
Shah Jahan: One of the last Mughal emperors, who is most famous for building the Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal: A mausoleum located in Agra, India, which was built built in the 1600s by emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his wife after her death. It took 22 years to complete.
The British East Indian Company: The organization created by England in the 1600s to conduct trade with India. It operated in Calcutta, Bombay and elsewhere and eventually became the dominant political power in the country.
Bombay: The English name for Mumbai, an important trading center of the British East Indian Company that eventually became a major administrative center for the British Raj
The British Raj: The British empire in India that lasted from the mid-1800s to 1947. It is also called the British Indian Empire. It is known for its economic exploitation and cultural and political oppression of the Indian people through legal, bureaucratic and police force means as it actively prevented independence movements from forming. It is also known for instituting several helpful reforms, such as the introduction of modern education and legal systems and the building of railroads and other infrastructure. For a time, Queen Victoria served as the Empress of India, and the title was held by subsequent British monarchs until India gained independence.
The Modern Era (1900 CE to the Present)
The Indian industrial revolution: The widespread increase in manufacturing that gained momentum in India the 1930s, particularly in the production of steel, textiles, and chemicals and increased further after independence
Mahatma Gandhi: The Indian nationalist leader who led the long fight for Indian independence from World War I on. He was a lawyer who lived in South Africa for a time and served as a leader of Indians living there. After returning to India, he launched a movement of non-cooperation with the British which included boycotts of British goods and schools. He advocated for non-violence, though others involved in the movement did not follow this recommendation. He also advocated for Hindu-Muslim unity and religious tolerance. He went to prison multiple times during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He was assassinated in 1948, a year after India won independence.
Indian constitution: The constitution created after India gained independence from Britain in 1947. It provided for a strong central government along with smaller state governments, democratic processes and civil rights.
Jawaharlal Nehru: The first prime minister of India. He played a key role in the Indian independence movement, working alongside Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders to fight for India’s freedom from British rule. He is known for helping modernize, industrialize and democratize India; helping to create the Indian constitution; helping to reduce poverty and improve the status of women and minorities; and helping to boost agricultural production. However, despite these efforts, poverty and illiteracy remained widespread, particularly in rural areas.
Indira Gandhi: The prime minister of India during parts of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. During her leadership, the country experienced inflation and a recession due in part to rapidly rising oil prices. It also experienced political instability leading to a temporary emergency rule during which civil liberties were curtailed. She is known for her reforms aimed at reducing poverty. She was assassinated in the 1980s and succeeded by her son.
Bollywood: The Hindi film industry, which experienced a resurgence in the 1990s with the emergence of new stars and a new style of filmmaking
It’s hard to imagine having a proper debate without knowledge of logical fallacies. For one thing, they’re just so common. If you want to argue better, or be better able to discriminate between sides of an argument, you’re in the right place. Just remember to flavor your powers of logic with tact.
Here’s how to analyze an argument for soundness: First, notice whether or not the form of the argument makes sense. Does the conclusion follow from the premises? If not, you likely have a formal fallacy on your hands. As a beginning logician, don’t spend too much time figuring out the name of the fallacy; instead, point out the problem and say something like, “The conclusion doesn’t follow the premises.” Step two is to notice whether or not the statements made in the argument are true; if not, there is an informal fallacy. You should be able to identify all ad hominem fallacies and name them as such. You should also be able to call out these fallacies by name: the fallacy of equivocation; the slippery slope fallacy; the poisoning the well fallacy; the straw man fallacy; the appeals to emotion, fear, pity, ridicule and the like; and the appeals to tradition, authority, and popularity. Other fallacies can simply be identified as a logical fallacy, and often, this is enough.
Important note: Many logical fallacies are known by more than one name. I’ve attempted to use the most common in my list, but if you rely too much on memorization, you won’t always recognize other people’s terms. More important, you’ll miss the point.
Finally, a quote to consider by Gongsun Long, a Chinese logician of ancient times: “One and one cannot become two, since neither becomes two.”
I think that pretty much says it all.
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: LOGIC AND RHETORIC
Logic: The set of rules for forming valid arguments; the study of rational argumentation. The word comes from the Greek word logos, originally meaning “the word,” “thought” or “reason.”
Rhetoric: The art of persuasion through the use of language
Semantics: The study of word meanings and usages, which can be complicated by cultural and linguistic factors
Argument: A set of statements that supports an opinion or position. A logical argument attempts to demonstrate the factual accuracy of a position and is usually expressed as two or more premises that lead to a conclusion. An example is: “All A’s are B’s and all B’s are C’s; therefore, all A’s are C’s.” A rhetorical argument attempts to persuade someone of a position, whether or not the position is factually accurate.
Valid: Containing a conclusion that logically follows from the premises. An example is: “All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal.”
True: Accurate and corresponding with reality
Rational: Both logically valid and factually accurate; sound. An example is: “All zebras are mammals and all mammals have fur; therefore, all zebras have fur.”
Premise: A statement that forms the basis of an argument and leads to a conclusion. When it is false, the conclusion might also be false. In the argument “All A’s are B’s and all B’s are C’s; therefore, all A’s are C’s,” the two premises are “All A’s are B’s” and “All B’s are C’s.”
Antecedent: The part of an argument that comes before the “if.” In the premise “If A, then B,” A is the antecedent.
Consequent: The part of an argument that comes after the “then.” In the premise “If A, then B,” B is the consequent.
Deductive reasoning: Drawing a specific conclusion based on a general principle. An example is: “All zebras are mammals, and all mammals have fur; therefore, zebras have fur.”
Inductive reasoning: Arriving at a general principle based on specific facts or observations. An example is: “All apples I have ever eaten are sweet; therefore, all animals are sweet.”
Analysis: Pulling apart an argument to describe its individual elements
Synthesis: Putting the parts of an argument together to find its overall meaning
A priori: Known to be valid or true by reason alone. It means “from the earlier” in Latin.
A posteriori: Known to be valid or true through observation and experience, not reason. It means “from the latter” in Latin.
Logical fallacy: A weakness in an argument, often hidden, that leads to an invalid conclusion
Formal logical fallacy: A fallacy in the structure of the argument that causes the argument to be invalid or illogical, regardless of the factual accuracy of its conclusion. There are many types of these, and they often take the form of either affirming or denying the antecedent or the consequent. An example is the denying the consequent fallacy, which follows the form, “If A, then B; not B, therefore not A,” as in, “If Fred killed Todd, then he hated him. Fred didn’t hate Todd. Therefore, he didn’t kill him.”
Informal logical fallacy: A fallacy in the content of the argument that causes the argument to be invalid or illogical, regardless of the factual accuracy of its conclusion. There are many types of these, and many of these are simple distractions from the actual argument.
Ad hominem fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer points to someone’s character, background or other characteristics, rather than to the relevant facts. The name comes from the Latin phrase meaning “against the person.” An example is: “Jane has a felony record so she won’t be a good student.”
Appeal to authority fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer points to someone’s knowledge, training or other credentials, rather than to the relevant facts. An example is: “My professor told me this, so it must be true.”
Equivocation fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer uses multiple definitions of the same word, misleading the audience. An example is: “I have a right to bear arms. Therefore, it is right for me to bear arms.”
Straw man fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer misrepresents the opponent’s position as being weaker than it really is. An example is: “The opponent is saying that they want extremely high taxes for everyone, even people who cannot afford it.”
Slippery slope fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer claims that a relatively small first step leads necessarily to a chain of related events, which it might or might not do. An example is: “If gay marriage becomes legal, people will soon start marrying animals.”
Poisoning the well fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer presents adverse information about an opponent with the intention of discrediting everything the opponent says. An example is: “The candidate is a liar and a cheat.”
Appeal to emotion fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer attempts to manipulate an audience’s emotions. This is a general category that includes the appeal to threat fallacy, the appeal to fear fallacy, the appeal to flattery fallacy, the appeal to pity fallacy, the appeal to ridicule fallacy and more. An example is: “If you change careers, it will disappoint your family.”
False dilemma fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer presents a limited number of options (usually two), implying these are the only options possible, when in reality there are more. An example is: “Either you like apples or you don’t. If you like them, you should eat them every day, and if you don’t, you should never eat them.”
Begging the question fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer states the conclusion as part of the premise in order to make the argument appear logical. An example is: “God exists because the Bible says so, and the Bible is the word of God.”
Ad nauseam fallacy: A fallacy in which an arguer relies on mere repetition. The name comes from the Latin phrase meaning “to the point of nausea.”
Ad infinitum fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer doesn’t directly lead to a conclusion and instead, merely adds additional facts and information. The name comes from the Latin phrase meaning “to infinity.”
Non sequitur fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer draws a conclusion that does not logically follow from the premises or evidence presented. The name comes from the Latin phrase meaning “it does not follow.” An example is: “All dogs are animals. My cat is not a dog. Therefore, my cat is not an animal.”
Appeal to tradition fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer relies on long-held truths rather than the relevant facts. An example is: “We have always gone to church on Sundays. Therefore, Sunday is the best day to go to church.”
Appeal to the people/bandwagon fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer claims a position to be true or good solely because a majority or many people believe it to be so. An example is: “This is the top brand of toothpaste. Therefore, it must be good.”
Guilt by association fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer assumes that something related to something bad is also bad. An example is: “Tom is friends with Sarah, and Sarah spent time in jail. Therefore, Tom can’t be trusted.”
Honor by association fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer assumes that something related to something good is also good. An example is: “Tom is friends with Sarah, and Sarah is an engineer. Therefore, Tom knows about engineering and her opinion can be trusted.”
Red herring fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer attempts to distract an audience by deviating from the topic at hand by introducing a separate argument the speaker believes is easier to speak to. An example is: “We shouldn’t invest in education. We should focus on reducing crime instead.”
Cherry picking fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer selects individual cases or data points that seem to confirm their position, while ignoring other, contradictory cases or data points. An example is: “We have many positive reviews of our product, so it must be good.”
Appeal to consequences fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer describes the consequences of a position, rather than whether or not the position is true. An example is: “If they pass the law, people will get more divorces. Therefore, we shouldn’t pass the law.”
Appeal to motive fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer attacks the motives of the opponent. An example is: “Sarah works for the company that she is advocating for. Therefore, she can’t be trusted.”
Tu quoque fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer points out the hypocrisy of the opponent. The name comes from the Latin phrase meaning “you too.” An example is: “You drive a car, so your opinion about carbon emission reduction isn’t reliable.”
Etymological fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer uses the historical, disused meaning of a word or phrase as a way to support an argument. An example is: “I am gay, so that must mean I’m happy.”
Moving the goal posts/raising the bar fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer dismisses the opponent’s evidence and demands additional, harder-to-find evidence. An example is: “I won’t believe the results unless I can see ten more DNA test results.”
Survivorship bias fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer points to a small number of successes while ignoring a large number of failures. An example is: “I am great at choosing stock because of the three times I chose correctly.”
False analogy fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer presents an analogy that does not suit the situation or conclusion. An example is: “Running the economy is like running a small business and the same strategies apply to both.”
Hasty generalization: A fallacy in which the arguer draws a broad conclusion based on a small sample or on an example that might not represent the whole. An example is: “This cat scratched me, so all cats must be bad-tempered.”
Oversimplification fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer assumes that there is one, simple cause of an outcome when in reality there might have been more than one. An example is: “Poverty can be solved if people just worked harder.”
Appeal to ignorance: A fallacy in which the arguer assumes that a claim is true because it has not been or cannot be proven false, or vice versa. An example is: “Aliens must exist because we have no evidence that they don’t.”
Pooh-pooh fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer deems the opponent’s position as unworthy of serious consideration. An example is: “The idea that global warming affects ocean temperature is ridiculous. Therefore, it can’t be true.”
Moralistic fallacy: A fallacy in which the arguer assumes that what ought to be true, is in fact true. An example is: “Lying is always wrong, so this lie is also unjustifiable.”
There’s a unique pleasure that comes when creating something beautiful. But don’t just delve in without any background knowledge. Learning a few basic art principles can help you create more successful pieces and learning art history can help you understand and appreciate its influences.
Another tip I once heard: When attending an art gallery or museum, choose your favorite piece and try to explain to someone else why you feel that way. By forcing a choice, you learn how to think critically about what you’re seeing and you become a more participatory viewer. (Kids can do this, too!)
One final tip: students with an interest in architecture, or an interest in geography, might want to learn about some important world architectural landmarks, including: The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey; the Eiffel Tower in Paris; the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy; the White House in Washington, D.C.; Buckingham Palace in London; Big Ben in London; Westminster Abbey in London; the Empire State Building in New York City; St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow; the Space Needle in Seattle; the Guggenheim in New York City; the Dancing House in Prague; the Louvre Museum in Paris; the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco; the Sydney Opera House in Australia; the Geghard Monastery in Armenia; La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona; Burj Khalifa in Dubai; Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur; Casa Batlló in Barcelona; Angkor Wat in Cambodia; the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem; Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: ART
Composition: The placement of a work’s various elements and the ways these elements work together. The work’s elements include visual tools–line, shape, color, value, form, texture and space–as well as lighting, values, proportions, silhouettes, gradient, contrast, shading and detail. A successful piece of visual art includes technical skill; emotive power; movement; pattern; and a balance of contrast and emphasis, unity and variety, and proportion.
Balance: The relative proportion of a work’s various elements
Emphasis: Visual dominance
Movement: The way a work encourages the viewer’s eye to take it in, area by area, which can be achieved through the use of diagonal lines, curvy lines, negative space and/or repetition
Pattern: A repetition of a work’s element or elements
Rhythm: A type of movement resulting from repetition and variety within a work
Unity/harmony: A sense of relatedness of the parts of a work
Symmetry: A mirror-image visual effect, with similar elements on opposite sides of the piece
Asymmetry: A non-mirror-image visual effect, with contrasting elements on opposite sides of the piece
Radial symmetry: A visual effect resulting from elements being equally spaced around a central point (as the spokes in a hub)
Dominant: Larger and more eye-catching than other elements in the piece. An example is found in magazines, newspapers and websites, which often use a single photo as the centerpiece of each page.
Negative space: Empty space, as opposed to filled positive space
The golden ratio: Approximately 1.618, a number that appears many times in geometry, art, and architecture and that seems to help create an attractive balance in a work
The rule of thirds: The artistic guideline recommending that the central focus and other key elements of a work should be placed 1/3 of the way down, up, right or left in a composition in order to achieve visual balance
The 70/30 rule of drawing: The artistic guideline recommending that 30 percent of the work is made up of its main focus and the rest is made up of filler and background
Color theory: The set of rules that describe how colors relate to each other
Color wheel: A circular representation of the relationships between various colors
Color scheme: A set of colors that provide a theme
Primary colors: The three basic colors from which the secondary colors are created. Traditionally, and in art theory, these are red, blue and yellow, while in printing pigment, these are cyan, magenta and yellow.
Secondary colors: The colors that are made up of exactly two primary colors. When using the traditional primary colors, these are orange, purple and green.
Complementary colors: Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel
Analogous colors: Colors that border each other on the color wheel
Achromatic colors: Black, white and grey
Neutral colors: Achromatic and near-achromatic colors like beige, tan, black, brown and grey
Hue: A specific wavelength of light; a color
Saturation: A color’s intensity
Shade: A hue produced by adding black
Tint: A hue produced by adding white
Tone: A hue produced by adding grey
Value: The lightness or darkness of the color
Pigment: A colored material used for artworks that is mostly or entirely insoluble in water
Dye: A colored material used for artworks that is mostly or entirely water soluble
Prehistoric art: The earliest arts, found on every continent, which predated writing and the Neolithic Revolution and which included cave drawings, pottery, textile weaving, statue making and much more
Ancient Mesopotamian art: The art of ancient Mesopotamia and nearby, which included wood and stone statues; cuneiform and other pictographs; elaborate gardens; and more
Ancient Chinese art: The art of ancient China, which included silk weaving; delicate painted ceramics; bronze ritual vessels; jade and gold statues; intricate calligraphy; gold jewelry; ink handscroll with gold embellishment; the Terracotta Army; the Sanxingdui excavation; and more
Ancient Egyptian art: The art of ancient Egypt, which includes pyramids; sarcophagi (intricately decorated coffins); gold works and more. Many ancient Egyptian tombs were crammed with gold jewelry, statues and much more.
Traditional Tibetan and Indian art: The ancient and medieval art of Tibet and India that often features sacred themes, drawing inspiration from Buddhism, Hinduism and tribal religions and that includes religious icons; Tibetan murals and frescoes on monastery walls; cave paintings; textiles and more. Many works were intended to be used as meditation aids.
Traditional African art: The ancient and medieval art of Africa that includes buffalo hide masks; masks of other mediums; brass and gold sculpture; gold jewelry; elaborate palaces; and more. Many traditional African art forms were created as conduits to the spirit world.
Ancient Japanese art: The ancient art of Japan, which includes pottery, sculpture, ink painting, calligraphy on silk and paper, ceramics, origami and more
Traditional Aboriginal art: The art of native Australians, which includes rock engravings and paintings from 50,000 years ago; the Easter Island statues (larger-than-life human figures built during the Middle Ages); treasure chests; masks; battle shields; paintings; and more
Native American art: The traditional art of North America that includes Zapotec masks; ornate Aztec clothing; stone calendars of the Aztecs; massive Olmec heads; Mayan illuminated manuscripts on tree bark; pottery painting; totem poles; masks; quillwork; beadwork; ceramics; burial mounds; and gold and jade statues
Medieval European art: The art of medieval Europe, which reflected the dominance of the Catholic Church and included illustrated and illuminated manuscripts; paintings with gold leaf; gold leaf on glass; holy vessels; mosaics; religious icons; stained glass; detailed church architecture; and more
Medieval Celtic art: The art of the people who spoke Celtic languages and other culturally similar people and which included decorated shields, swoards and armor; religious vessels; gold jewelry; statues; painted manuscripts; and more
Medieval Anglo-Saxon art: The traditional art of Anglo-Saxon people that includes illuminated manuscripts and Romanesque-style metalwork including metal armor
Medieval Viking/Norse art: The traditional art of the Vikings and Nordic peoples that includes animal heads and plain large stone structures
Medieval Russian art: The art of Russia after the region’s state-led westernization that included Christian icons, religious paintings and Saint Basil’s Cathedral, which features onion-shaped domes in bright colors
Medieval Islamic art: The traditional art of the Islamic-speaking areas, especially the Middle East, that was inspired by Islam and includes painted ceramics; detailed metalwork; ornate textiles; intricate calligraphy; and architectural domes, arches and minarets
Romanesque art: The art movement that arose in Europe in the Middle Ages that was inspired by ancient Rome and that included frescoes; illuminated books; austere yet imposing churches decorated with sculptures; and other monumental stone structures
Renaissance art: The art movement of the 1400s and 1500s that was a response to the magical thinking of medieval times and that focused on scientific principles and realism. Notable examples include Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci; The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli; and David by Michaelangelo.
Romanticism: The art movement of the 1800s that was a response to Renaissance art and that emphasized emotion and subjectivity over realism
The arts and crafts movement: The art movement of the mid-1800s that was a response to mass production and that featured handmade furniture and other items. A notable artist of this movement is John Ruskin.
Art Nouveau: The style of art that arose during the late 1800s in which the work’s elements follow a single curved line or several curved lines to bring unity, balance, emphasis, movement and an organic quality to the piece
Impressionism: The partially abstract style of painting that arose during the late 1800s and that features small, thin strokes and an emphasis on light and movement to create an impression of an image, rather than a realistic depiction of it. Notable artists of this style are Vincent van Gogh (“Starry Night”), Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
Modern art: The art movement that arose during the late 1800s and lasted until the 1950s and that encompassed a variety of non-traditional, anti-authoritarian styles
Art Deco: The style of art that applied modernism to useful items like clothing, furniture and dishes, bringing a modern style to an average home
Expressionism: The style of art that arose during the early 1900s in which a realistic image is distorted in order to reveal the artist’s ideas and feelings about it, and about the world. A notable example is Edvard Munch’s The Scream.
Cubism: The style of abstract modern art that arose during the early 1900s and features fragmentation, geometrical shapes and multiple perspectives of the same subject
Postmodern art: The art movement that arose during the 1960s that emphasized relative rather than absolute knowledge
Contemporary art: Any art style or work of art being created during the current time
Abstract art: Any art style or work of art that depicts its subject in a symbolic, rather than realistic, way
Dadaism: The artistic movement that arose as a response to World War I that rejected realism and rationalism, instead depicting chaos and nonsense
Surrealism: The artistic movement that arose after World War I and combines real and unreal, dreamlike elements, with strange beauty resulting
Pop art: The art movement that emerged during the 1970s that as a response to the traditional hierarchy of artistic culture and taste (and as a response to culture in a larger sense, too) that incorporates objects not normally used in artworks, such as newspaper, soup cans and discarded items
Street art: The style of art that emerged during the 1970s and is featured in public spaces with the intention of taking art out of its typical confined settings such as art galleries. It encompasses a variety of mediums like painting, sculpture, or stained glass and is sometimes made illegally in the form of graffiti.
Manga: A form of modern Japanese cartooning and comic art
Leonardo da Vinci: The Italian Renaissance artist most known for his realist depictions, such as the Mona Lisa, as well as his engineering drawings, such as those of aircraft and automobiles
Michelangelo: The Italian Renaissance artist most known for his statue David as well as his Sistine Chapel paintings
Renoir: The French impressionist artist most known for his use of soft light and broken brushstrokes
Rembrandt: The Dutch Baroque artist most known for the complex moods of his subjects in paintings like The Night Watch and Doctor Nicolaes Tulp’s Demonstration of the Anatomy of the Arm
Claude Monet: The French impressionist artist most known for his landscapes showing changing effects of light
Vincent van Gogh: The Dutch impressionist artist most known for his thick brushstrokes and vibrant colors in paintings like The Starry Night
Edgar Degas: The French impressionist artist most known for his depictions of dancers
Pablo Picasso: The Spanish abstract artist most known for helping found the cubist movement
Salvador Dali: The Spanish surrealist artist most known for his rule-breaking depictions of the subconscious, such as his depiction of a melting clock
Georgia O’Keeffe: The American modernist painter most known for her close-ups of large flowers as well as for her desert landscapes
Jackson Pollock: The American abstract expressionist painter most known for his drip paintings
Andy Warhol: The American pop artist most known for his paintings of soup cans and his commentary on consumerism
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: ARCHITECTURE
Atrium: An interior courtyard-like space
Buttress: A structure that helps to reinforce and strengthen a wall
Gable: The triangular portion between intersecting roof pitches, whose shape allows for easy water drainage and good interior ventilation
Mezzanine: A half floor that usually opens to and overlooks a high-ceilinged space
Pavilion: A structure with a roof and beams but no walls that often serves as a shelter in gardens and parks
Ziggurats: Step pyramids, which were the precursor to the sloped pyramid. They were created in multiple early world civilizations, including Mesopotamia, the Mayan and Egyptian civilizations, separately, and were often meant to bring people closer to heaven.
Megaliths: Large stone building-like structures such as Stonehenge and Newgrange, the purpose of which is often unclear
Ancient Mesopotamian architecture: The architectural style of the ancient Mesopotamians, which included ziggurats, pyramids, monuments, tombs, temples, sphinxes, obelisks, shrines and more
Ancient Greek architecture: The architectural style of the ancient Greeks, which included the first columns, canopies and other novel elements, and which greatly influenced other architectural styles in the West. It includes the Parthenon, whose columns were tilted to account for visual distortion, so that the human eye saw it as if it were perfectly straight.
Ancient Roman architecture: The architectural style that dominated for nearly 1,000 years in Europe and that introduced concrete, domes, arches, triumphal gates, paved roads, aqueducts and more. It includes the Roman aqueducts and the Colosseum.
Byzantine architecture: A glamorous architectural style that came about during the Byzantine Empire after the fall of Rome that featured elevated domes organized into octagons, extensive mosaics and other enhanced Greek and Roman ideas
Ottoman Empire architecture: The architectural style that incorporated both Byzantine and Islamic ideas and that featured detailed ornamentation plus domes and minarets
Romanesque architecture: The architectural style that came about in Europe during the Middle Ages whose style incorporated classical Roman and Byzantine elements like arches and sculpture
Baroque architecture: The highly ornate, dramatic, emotionally expressive architectural style that arose during the 1600s and early 1700s and that took Renaissance architecture to a new level, featuring decorative elements like gargoyles, lion heads, baby angels, horns of abundance and the like.
Neo-classical architecture: The architectural style of the 1700s and 1800s that sought to mimic aspects of Greek and Roman architecture
Colonial architecture: The architectural style of the 1500s through the 1800s that adapted a colonizing culture’s styles to the places they colonized
Modern architecture: The architectural style guided by the idea that form follows function, which is known for minimalist features, lack of ornamentation, simple silhouettes and basic materials such as concrete
Postmodern architecture: A quirky, playful architectural style that came about in the 1960s as a response to the cold, function-focused modern style
Nick D’Urso is a freewheeling AirBnB rental owner. He teaches people how to make their money work for them (rather than the other way around) at NickDurso.com.
Mollie:
Have you ever significantly minimized your possessions and simplified
your life? Tell me the story.
Nick: In July 2019 I left my corporate job back home in Brooklyn, New York. I bought a car in Phoenix, Arizona to drive to Argentina. I pretty much left everything I owned except a few clothes, my laptop, a camera, and a drone. I built a bed in the back of the car and I have been living on the road ever since, camping at some of the most beautiful places in Mexico. I’m about to enter Belize.
My
car is my
home and the world is my
bedroom.
Mollie:
What did you buy along the way? Do you have good camping equipment?
Nick:
I haven’t bought much. I bought a new suspension for the car and two
front
lower control arms. The car is old
and I
was worried about the rust and being stuck in a country with no parts
if something happened. Other than that, I bought a cooler, folding
chairs, and a BBQ. At some point I’ll have to buy winter clothes when
I reach Argentina but I’ll tackle that when I get there. I also
bought a new phone using Google Fi because it works in over 200
countries on their unlimited plan.
Mollie:
How long do you plan to travel and what will you do after that?
Nick:
Everyone
asks me this question. Truthfully I’m planning this trip to find a
place where I can build another AirBNB
property close to the water so I can run scuba diving excursions. I
don’t have a time limit. My goal is to travel around the entire world
and it’s taken me 6 months to do all of Mexico. I promised my mom and
dad I would spend Christmas with them in 2020. But other than that I
don’t have a time limit.
Mollie:
What led to this drastic change?
Nick:
The thing that led me to this decision was being caught up in the
humdrum of everyday corporate life living in New York City. I
personally couldn’t take going to work every day to make money to
spend at a bar on the weekends with friends, over and over again. I
wanted to get more out of life.
Mollie:
What do you want to get out of life?
Nick:
I would like to teach people that money isn’t everything. It’s a
vehicle to get you to where you want to be. We’re all taught that we
need to go to school and get a job that pays well. Everyone wants a
raise and to earn more money. But the truth is that you most likely
make enough money and that money can actually make you more money but
your habits prevent that. People
look at my Instagram and ask me how I do this. I tell them I drive a
‘98 Chevy Blazer with a bed in it. You don’t need a lot of money to
do what I’m doing; you just need to change your habits. And that’s
the mark I want to leave. Money is great, but you don’t need to
exchange time to earn more. Other
than that
I would say I just want to be happy and meet amazing people all
around the world.
Mollie: What are your most prized beliefs
regarding minimalist lifestyle—the ideas you most want to spread?
Nick:
My most prized beliefs behind my minimalist lifestyle change is that
it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks about you. I want to spread that
to everyone around. With social media nowadays, most people seem to
be in competition with people they don’t even know.
Mary Potter Kenyon is a grief counselor and the author of seven books, including Called to Be Creative and Refined By Fire: A Journey of Grief. She lives in Dubuque, Iowa. For more information, see MaryPotterKenyon.com.
Mollie:Have you ever significantly reorganized and decluttered your home? What led to the decision and what did you change?
Mary: In April 2018, I was
offered my dream job an hour from where I lived. I made the decision
to sell the four-bedroom, two-story house where my husband David and
I had raised the last four of our eight children. David had died in
2012 and my seventh child was poised to leave the nest, leaving me
with one daughter and a huge house. Not
only did I need to declutter in order to sell my house, the house I
purchased in my new town was 760 square feet. I had to do some
serious purging, with less than two months to do it.
I began by deciding which
furniture could come with me, and my heart sank when I realized my
four bookshelves, my huge solid oak desk and my
mother’s kitchen table would not fit. The owner of the house I was
buying agreed to leave a folding IKEA table in the kitchen, the only
kind of table that worked. Two living room chairs would need to be
sold. A beautiful closed cabinet that was filled with office supplies
and photo albums. A kitchen shelf. The one thing I knew had to come
with me was a shaker-style cabinet I’d inherited from my mother, but
it would need to be emptied of some of her things to make room for
the single shelf of books I would keep.
I went through closets of
clothing. As I pulled things off hangers, I priced those I thought
would sell. I even had a box of my husband’s shirts stashed away,
which my sister Joan agreed to take off my hands and make into
Christmas stockings for my children. I wasn’t just dealing with
stuff, I was dealing with memories, and I
shed tears through the process. I went
through thousands of books. The first two boxes sold for $150 at a
bookstore, alleviating the distress a little. By the time I held my
first garage sale, I’d whittled down my possessions drastically. The
most daunting task, though, was the paper:
a file cabinet and a trunk filled with letters, college papers,
photos, and even scrapbooks from high school. I handed my son a bag
filled with twenty daybooks (daily diaries)
to burn because I couldn’t bear to dispose of them myself.
After two garage sales, several trips to a thrift
store, and even filling my front lawn with items I advertised for
free on a local online giveaway board, I ended up with less than half
my original possessions. By then, it felt freeing to have dealt with
years of accumulated clutter—to have made decisions about which
things meant the most and gave me pleasure and joy when I looked at
them. I would come to regret only the loss of the desk and the
daybooks.
While I no longer have a
separate office, I do have my own space, a back room that spans the
entire width of the house and serves as both bedroom and office.
Everything in it was consciously chosen to survive the Great Purge of
2018. The bedroom portion is sparse: an end table and a twin
bed topped with a mockingbird quilt that matches the curtains.
Outside of a washer and dryer in the opposite far corner, the rest of
the large room is designed around the comfy brown recliner my
children gave me for Christmas. When I sit in it to write or read,
I’m surrounded by things that bring a smile to my face.
There is the Shaker-style cabinet I inherited from
my mother, filled with things I treasure: my collection of
autographed books, a hand-blown glass turtle my son Michael made, a
toy sheep from my childhood, and bricks my daughter Rachel painted to
look like the covers of my books. My grandmother’s trunk is topped
by one of Mom’s quilts and her hand-carved Saint Michael statue,
his sword upraised in regal glory.
Walls are adorned with paintings by my mother and daughter Emily, along with photographs taken by my son Dan, one framed and another on canvas. A rustic wooden rack is attached to one wall, the wire baskets holding stationery and greeting cards. Wooden letters with the cover designs of my six books on another wall spell the word “writer,” handmade by my daughter Elizabeth. Finally, there’s a book-themed lamp atop an end table Katie painted to look like book spines. I love my smaller space.
We love our bodies, don’t we? It’s just so nice to understand what’s going on inside of all of this skin.
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: ANATOMY
The eleven systems of the human body: Skeletal system, respiratory system, muscular system, nervous system, digestive system, reproductive system, circulatory system, endocrine system, lymphatic/immune system, integumentary system, urinary system
Skeletal system: The system of the body that includes the bones and cartilage, that creates a framework for the body and that provides hard surfaces for the muscles to contract on
Bones: The organs that form the structural framework of the body. The four types are flat (such as the ribs), long (such as the femur), irregular (such as the vertebrae), short (such as the phelanges).
Cranium: The skull bones
Mandible: The jawbone
Scapula: The shoulder blade bones
Clavicle: The collar bone
Sternum: The breastbone
Vertebrae: The bones that make up the spine
Pelvis: The set of bones that includes the hip bones, the sacrum and the coccyx
Coccyx: The tailbone
The sacrum: The large, triangular bone located at the base of the spine and between the two hip bones of the pelvis
Humerus: The upper arm bone
Radius: The bone on the thumb side of the lower arm
Ulna: The bone on the pinky side of the lower arm
Femur: The upper leg bone
Tibia: The shin bone on the inside of the lower leg that is larger than the fibula
Fibula: The bone on the outside of the lower leg that is smaller than the fibula
Patella: The kneecap
Metatarsals: The foot bones
Tarsals: The ankle bones
Carpals: The wrist bones
Metacarpals: The bones in the palm of the hand
Phalanges: The finger and toe bones
Joint: The places where bones meet, most of which are movable
Bone marrow: The soft, spongy tissue located in the cavities of many bones that produces blood cells and stores fat
Cartilage: The connective tissue similar to bone that is more flexible than bone but more rigid than muscle. Most baby bones start as cartilage and slowly turn into bone as the baby grows.
Muscular system: The system of the body that includes muscles, tendons and ligaments and enables the body to move
Muscles: Stretchy tissues that connect to bones that contract and relax, allowing for movement and stability. While contracting, muscles become shorter and harder and may bulge.
Voluntary muscles: Muscles that respond to conscious intention (such as the quads)
Involuntary muscles: Muscles that move without conscious intention (such as the heart)
Skeletal muscles: The muscles located on the bones of the skeletal system that can be voluntarily contracted
Cardiac muscles: The heart and related muscles
Visceral muscles: The smooth muscles inside organs (such as the intestines and bladder)
Abdominal muscles: The muscles in the front and sides of the abdominal wall
Biceps: The muscles on the front of the upper arms
Deltoids: The muscles on the top of the shoulders
Gluteus muscles: The buttocks muscles
Hamstrings: The muscles on the back of the thighs
Obliques: The muscles on the sides of the torso
Pectorals: The muscles on the front of the upper chest
Quadriceps: The muscles on the front of the thighs
Triceps: The muscles on the back of the upper arms
Trapezius: The muscles on the upper and mid-back that help with neck stability
Circulatory system: The system of the body that circulates blood via the heart, arteries and veins, delivering oxygen and nutrients to organs and cells and carrying their waste products away. It also regulates body temperature.
The parts of the heart: Four chambers (two atria and two ventricles); valves to keep blood moving the right direction through the heart; and veins and arteries that carry blood to and from the lungs and the rest of the body
Arteries: Thick, muscular blood vessels, most of which move oxygen-rich blood away from the heart to tissues and organs
Veins: Thinner-walled blood vessels, most of which move oxygen-depleted blood from tissues and organs toward the heart. They have valves that keep the blood flowing in the right direction.
Capillaries: The fine branching blood vessels that help move blood around the body
White blood cells: The cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders
Red blood cells: The cells that are made in the bone marrow and make up blood, and that contain hemoglobin, a protein that carries oxygen
Digestive system: The system of the body that includes the mouth, esophagus, stomach, intestines and more and that is responsible for the mechanical and chemical processes that provide nutrients and eliminate waste
Esophagus: The tube that connects the mouth to the stomach
Stomach: The sac that stores and breaks down food before it moves to the intestines and other places in the body
Liver: The body’s largest organ by mass, which processes nutrients, removes toxins from the blood and stores food energy in the form of glycogen
Respiratory system: The system of the body that includes the lungs and the passages that lead to them and that allows for the breathing in of oxygen and breathing out of carbon dioxide
Windpipe/trachea: The tube that connects the pharynx and larynx to the lungs, allowing the passage of air
Primary bronchus: The tubes between the trachea and each lung. After passing through the bronchus, air goes into the lungs. Then oxygen goes into secondary and tertiary bronchi, bronchioles, air sacs and capillaries and from there is distributed throughout the body.
Lungs: The pair of spongy, air-filled organs located in the chest that are responsible for the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the body and the environment during breathing
Diaphragm: The flat sheet of muscle lying under the lungs that moves up and flattens when a person breathes in and moves down when a person breathes out
Voice box/larynx: The organ in the neck located on the top part of the trachea just below the root of the tongue that contains vocal cords, which vibrate to produce sound when air passes through them during exhalation
Vocal cords: Two bands of muscle in the larynx that can tighten as air passes over them to create a vibration and allow for speaking during breathing. Shorter, faster cords, as those of many females, create higher pitched sounds.
Integumentary system: The system of the body that includes skin, hair, nails, sweat and other exocrine glands that is responsible for organ protection, heat regulation and more
Skin: The soft outer tissue covering that contains the epidermis, the dermis and subcutaneous tissues (fat cells)
Melanin: A natural pigment found in most organisms that protects from UV rays
Pores: Tiny openings on the surface of the skin that allow sweat, oil, and other substances to pass through
Keratin: The tough, protective material that the epidermis, hair and nails are made of
Hair follicles: The structures located at the base of hairs in the skin that produce and grow hair. Their shape determines whether the hair is curly, wavy or straight.
Urinary/renal system: The system of the body that includes the kidneys, the bladder and the tubes connected to them that is responsible for regulating the amount of water and electrolytes in the body, filtering blood and excreting waste materials
Bladder: A muscular, balloon-like sac that holds urine before it is excreted
Urethra: The tube that connects the bladder to the urinary meatus for the removal of urine from the body
Kidneys: The two bean-shaped organs located in the back of the abdomen on either side of the spine that filter blood and produce urine
Lymphatic system/immune system: The system of the body that includes lymphatic vessels, nodes, other organs and lymph and that is responsible for preventing infection, filtering waste products, regulating fluid balance and helping with nutrient absorption
Lymph: The fluid that contains white blood cells, waste products and more that circulates throughout the body through vessels, nodes and organs
Lymph nodes: The small, bean-shaped organs located throughout the body that filter lymph and it passes through them
Endocrine system: The system of the body that includes glands and other organs that produce and secrete hormones into the bloodstream
Endocrine glands: Small organs that make hormones
Hormones: Chemicals that are located throughout the body that act as messengers to regulate a large variety of body functions
Pituitary gland: The pea-sized endocrine gland located at the base of the brain that produces and secretes several important hormones, including prolactin and growth hormone
Adrenal glands: The twin endocrine glands that are located on top of each kidney that produce and secrete adrenaline, cortisol, androgens and more
Thyroid gland: The endocrine gland located in the neck in front of the trachea that makes thyroxine and other hormones that control metabolism
The pancreas: The endocrine gland located in the abdomen behind the stomach that produces and secretes insulin and glucagon, which regulate glucose levels in the body. It also releases digestive enzymes into the small intestine.
Adrenaline: A hormone produced by the adrenal glands that prepares the body for “fight or flight” response to stress or danger
Cortisol: A hormone produced by the adrenal glands that helps to regulate various bodily functions, including metabolism, immune response, and stress response
Oxytocin: A hormone produced by the hypothalamus and released by the pituitary gland that plays a role in social bonding, maternal behavior, and sexual reproduction
Pitocin: A synthetic form of the hormone oxytocin that is sometimes used to induce or augment labor during childbirth
Testosterone: A hormone primarily produced by the testicles that plays a key role in the development of male reproductive tissues and secondary sexual characteristics, as well as in maintaining bone density and muscle mass
Estrogen: A group of hormones primarily produced by the ovaries that play a key role in the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sexual characteristics
Progesterone: A hormone primarily produced by the ovaries that plays a key role in regulating the menstrual cycle, preparing the uterus for pregnancy, and maintaining a healthy pregnancy
The nervous system: The system of the body that includes the sensory organs, the brain, the spinal cord and the nerves that is responsible for collecting and processing information from the senses and coordinating body movement
The central nervous system: The brain and spinal cord
Peripheral nervous system: The network of nerves throughout the body that connects the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body
Autonomic nervous system: The part of the nervous system that regulates and controls involuntary bodily functions, including heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestion, and glandular secretion. It includes the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
Sympathetic nervous system: The part of the autonomic nervous system that prepares the body for a “fight or flight” response by increasing heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration, while decreasing digestive activity and blood flow to non-essential organs
Parasympathetic nervous system: The part of the autonomic nervous system that promotes “rest and digest” functions by decreasing heart rate and respiration, while increasing digestive activity and blood flow to non-essential organs
Brain: The central organ of the nervous system, which is located under the skull and made up of billions of neurons and supporting cells that communicate through electrical signaling
Brain stem: The part of the brain that connects the brain to the spinal cord and that controls many automatic functions like heartbeat, breathing and blood pressure regulation
Spinal cord: The thick bundle of nerves located inside a tunnel in the backbone that joins the brain to the rest of the body
Neurons: Nerve cells, which include sensory, association and motor nerve cells
Nerves: Cord-like structures that contain nerve fibers and can be sensory, motor or mixed types
Motor nerves: Nerves that carry signals from the brain to the muscles to move
Nerve impulse: A brief electrical signal that moves through and between neurons
Neurotransmitters: Various chemical messengers such as serotonin and epinephrine that are released by neurons and allow them to communicate with each other
Sensory organs: Organs that send nerve impulses to the brain along nerves
Eyes: The seeing organs of the body, which contain a retina, cornea, pupil and optic nerve. Light enters the pupil through the clear cornea and lens. These bend the light rays so they form an upside down image on the retina and back of the eye. Rods and cones convert the image to nerve impulses which move along the optic nerve to the brain. Then the brain interprets the signal and turns the image right side up.
Stereoscopic vision: The perception of depth and three-dimensional structure, which is obtained through visual information from the eyes
Ears: The hearing organs of the body, which contain outer, middle and inner parts. The ear flap funnels and amplifies sound waves to the ear canal, then to the eardrum. The eardrum vibrates. These vibrations pass through bones and holes to the cochlea, then to fluid chambers. Tiny nerve cells in the fluid convert vibrations into nerve impulses, which go along the auditory nerve to the brain. Ears also help keep you balanced through the vestibular system, which senses the movement of fluid in the ducts and sends that information to the brain, which uses it to determine how the body as a whole is moving.
Chemoreceptors: The small organs in the nose and tongue that detect the chemicals responsible for smells and tastes and send this information to the brain
Nasal cavity: The large air-filled space located above and behind the nose that allows for breathing as well as filtering and humidifying incoming air
Cerebrum: The largest part of the brain, located at the front of the skull and divided into the right and left hemispheres, which is responsible for voluntary physical activity, thinking, sensation and emotion. It contains the frontal lobe, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes as well as the cerebral cortex.
Cerebral cortex: The outermost layer of the brain that is divided into four lobes (the occipital, parietal, temporal and frontal lobes) and that is responsible for perception/sensing, thinking, and voluntary muscle coordination
Frontal lobe: The part of the cerebrum that includes the prefrontal cortex and other areas and is responsible for decision making, voluntary physical activity, speech and more
Parietal lobe: The part of the cerebrum that is responsible for processing touch and temperature information, spacial awareness and more
Temporal lobe: The part of the cerebrum that includes the hippocampus and amygdala and other areas and is responsible for memory functions, processing auditory information and more
Occipital lobe: The part of the cerebrum that is responsible for processing visual information and more
Hypothalamus: The small but distinct area of the brain located near the amygdala at the base of the brain that controls body temperature, hunger, and thirst
Amygdala: The area of the brain located near the hippocampus at the base of the brain that is primarily associated with emotional processes, such as fear
Cerebellum: The part of the brain located at the back of the skull that is primarily responsible for muscle movement and balance
Corpus callosum: The large bundle of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain and allows them to integrate cognitive, emotional and bodily functions
The limbic system: The various parts of the brain, including the amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus and more, that work together to regulate emotions, stress responses, aggression, social bonding, hunger, sexual desire and other reactions to external stimuli
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep: Sleep that is characterized by rapid movement of the eyes, deep relaxation, and vivid dreams, which happens as part of each 90- to 120-minute sleep cycle
Reproductive system: The system of the body that includes sex organs and that is responsible for the production of offspring
Vagina: The elastic, muscular canal leading to the uterus in which penetrative sex takes place and out of which a baby exits the mother’s body
Vulva: The external genitals of the female, which include the labia, the clitoris, the vaginal opening and more
Clitoris: The small, highly sensitive organ located underneath the labia of females that swells with blood during sexual arousal and is covered by the clitoral hood
Labia: The two folds of skin that are part of the vulva
Cervix: The lower part of the uterus that contracts and opens during childbirth
Ovaries: The pair of endocrine glands located in the reproductive system of females that produce and release estrogen, progesterone and reproductive eggs (ova)
Fallopian tubes: The tubes leading from the ovaries to the uterus
Uterus: The organ in which the fetus grows and lives; the womb
Placenta: The organ that supplies nutrients, oxygen, hormones and more to the fetus and that also supports gas exchange, waste elimination, immune responses and heat regulation
Umbilical cord: The cord-like structure that connects the fetus to the placenta
Penis: The external male reproductive organ that also contains the urethra
Testes/testicles: The pair of oval-shaped endocrine glands located in the scrotum of males that produce testosterone and sperm cells (spermatozoa), which mix with other fluids during ejaculation to form semen
Prostate gland: A small gland located between the bladder and the penis in males that produces some of the fluid that makes up semen
Scrotum: The suspended dual-chambered sack of skin and smooth muscle that holds the two testicles
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: MEDICAL SCIENCE
Infection: The invasion of an organism’s body tissues by disease-causing agents, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agents and the toxins they produce
Immunity: The balanced state that occurs when an organism is able to both resist infection and disease while not overresponding to infectious agents so that autoimmune problems don’t develop
Etiology: The cause or origin of a disorder or disease
Virus: A small pathogen that replicates only inside the living cells of other organisms and can cause illness
Pathogen: A germ, usually a microorganism like a bacteria or virus, that can cause illness
Drug: A natural or synthetic chemical substance other than food and water that, when introduced to the body, causes a temporary physiological change
Vaccine: A medication that usually contains weakened disease pathogens that is introduced to the body via vaccination in order to help stimulate the immune system to develop immunity to those pathogens
Antibiotics: A type of medication that kills or prevents the growth of bacteria in the body. They do not work against viruses.
Tumor: An abnormal and excessive growth of tissue that can form anywhere in the body and that starts as a neoplasm, then forms a mass. Benign tumors are non-cancerous and usually do not spread to other parts of the body. Malignant tumors are cancerous and can invade and damage nearby tissues and organs, as well as spread to other parts of the body through the bloodstream or lymphatic system.
Preventive medicine: Measures taken for disease prevention, as opposed to disease treatment
Conventional medicine: The mainstream medical practices that are widely accepted and used by the medical community, such as pharmaceutical drugs, surgery, and other scientifically-proven treatments. It is also known as Western medicine or allopathic medicine.
Alternative medicine: A wide range of health promoting techniques that are not part of conventional medicine, some of which are backed by research and some of which are not
Nutrients: The carbohydrates and fats that are burned for fuel in the body, as well as the vitamins, minerals and proteins that are used to make body parts, either by facilitating chemical reactions or by being used as actual material
Carbohydrates: Sugars, starches and fibers
Lipids: Fats, which are important for hormone synthesis, insulation, and cellular function
Amino acids: The building blocks of proteins, which are used by the body to build enzymes, hormones and body cells
Vitamin A: A nutrient that helps with vision and more
Vitamin C: A nutrient that helps with immune system functioning and more
Vitamin D: A nutrient that helps the body absorb calcium and more
Vitamin E: A nutrient that helps protect cells from damage and more
Vitamin K: A nutrient that helps with blood clotting and more
Calcium: A mineral that helps with bone and cartilage production and more
Iron: A mineral that helps with red blood cell production and with carrying oxygen throughout the body
Magnesium: A mineral that helps regulate blood pressure and blood sugar levels and more
Zinc: A mineral that helps with wound healing, immune system functioning and more
Potassium: A mineral that helps with fluid balance, muscle and nerve functioning and more
As humans, we experience the effects of chemistry, biology and physics every day, but not always knowingly. For this reason, geology and ecology are to me the most visual–even the most sensual–of the hard sciences, the ones that allows us to better understand our immediate environment.
Geology isn’t theory and microscopes; it’s what we see around us every day.
Sometimes, it’s hard to mentally separate geology and ecology. Here’s the short version: geology is the study of all the stuff on the earth, and ecology is the study of the way living things interact with it.
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: GEOLOGY
Rock: A hard lump of one or more minerals. Some examples are limestone, shale, sandstone, granite, marble, basalt, obsidian, coal, quartz, conglomerate and chalk.
Mineral: An inorganic substance of uniform color, texture, luster and structure
Sedimentary rock: Rock formed when other rocks break down into sediment, then gradually reform into new layers of rock due to pressure and layering. An example is found in the Grand Canyon, whose layers are clearly visible.
Igneous rock: Rock formed from magma that erupted from a volcano, then cooled into layers and chunks
Metamorphic rock: Rock that has undergone significant changes due to heat. An example is marble, which forms after limestone is subjected to high heat and pressure.
Ore: Any natural material that contains a metal and is mined for that metal. An example is iron ore, which is rock that contains iron.
Crystal: A mineral whose molecules are arranged in a highly regular pattern, which results in a characteristic shape. Some examples are table salt, graphite, ice and quartz.
Dirt: A loose mixture of minerals and organic substances that have been broken down through weathering, animal digestion and more
Soil: Dirt that is fit to grow plants in and contains living organisms
Sediment: Dirt and sand that is carried away with water and wind and deposited in other places in layers. These layers separate according to the size and density of the materials and eventually harden into rock under the sea and elsewhere.
Fossil: The remains of organisms after they are buried under layers of sediment and pressed upon for many years. Some are rocks that show imprints of organic material that has eroded away and others are the actual remains of the organism, such as bone, or remains that have slowly become petrified
Petrification: A process by which organic material, such as wood or bone, is gradually replaced by minerals and turned into stone. Little by little, minerals fill the spaces where the material has broken down until the entire material is replaced with mineral but retains the shape of the original material. This process typically occurs over a long period of time, as the organic material is buried under sediment and subjected to high pressure and temperatures.
Clay: A type of dirt that contains very small particles, which allow for a soft, uniform, well-mixed substance. It holds water well and is often good for farming.
The four layers of the earth: The outer crust (oceans and tectonic plates), the mantle (rock), the outer core (extremely hot liquid metal), and the inner core (solid metal)
Weathering: The breakdown of minerals, rocks and organic materials through freezing, thawing, melting, abrasion, wind, acids and more
Erosion: The movement of soil, sand and sediment from one place to another through wind, water, tilling and more. Since topsoil is richest in nutrients, erosion lowers soil quality.
The carbon cycle: The process by which carbon cycles through plants, animals, water bodies, the soil and the atmosphere. It occurs during plant photosynthesis; the intake of carbon from plants by animals for energy; organic decomposition; and the burning of fossil fuels.
The nitrogen cycle: The process by which nitrogen cycles through plants, animals, water, the soil and the atmosphere as it is used by plants, animals and bacteria for creating amino acids and other needed compounds
The water cycle: The process by which water is continuously recycled between the earth, the atmosphere and living things through heat from the sun, evaporation, clouds and precipitation
Evaporation: The process by which a liquid or solid is transformed into a vapor
Condensation: The process by which water vapor from the air collects back into drops on a solid
Tides: The rise and fall of sea levels caused by the gravity of the moon and sun on the ocean and the rotation of the earth
Ocean currents: The large-scale movements of the oceans due to wind, the rotation of the earth and more
Groundwater: The water that resides under the earth’s surface in porous rocks and cracks in soil and sand
The water table: The top of the groundwater zone, the depth of which is affected by rainfall or lack thereof
Air: The gas mixture that animals breathe and that makes up the earth’s atmosphere. It is made up of oxygen (about 21 percent), nitrogen (about 78 percent) and other gases, including carbon dioxide (about 1 percent). It helps plants make food; protects people from UV rays; and helps people obtain oxygen, which is an important component of human blood. Its gases can be separated out by specialized cooling and compression processes in which each gas liquefies at a different temperature and allows for separation.
Air pressure: The force exerted by the weight and movement of air molecules on an area due to the closeness of the particles. High-pressure air naturally and quickly moves toward areas of lower-pressure air due to its energy and momentum. The eardrum in the human ear must have equal pressure on both sides; however, air has to move through a bottleneck and, during quick changes in atmospheric pressure, can move unevenly, resulting in what is known as “ear popping.”
Earth’s atmosphere: All of the air that surrounds the earth, which is held in place by gravity and which has no distinct endpoint. It is divided into layers, with higher, thinner layers that have less oxygen and are unbreathable.
Earthquake: A sudden and rapid shaking of the surface of the earth, usually due to tectonic plate shifts
Seismic activity: The sum of all of the tremors and earthquakes in a region over a specified period of time
Tectonic plates: Large pieces of the earth’s crust that move, whose movement is driven by movements deep in the earth’s molten mantle
Fault line: An area where two tectonic plates meet that are particularly vulnerable to earthquake effects
Subduction zone: An area where two plates have collided, causing one plate to slide below the other
Volcano: Openings in the ground from which magma, ash, gas, and rock fragments surge upward and erupt as lava. This occurs when magma is pushed to the surface due to pressure from within the earth.
Magma: Molten rock (plus some minerals and gases) that is found deep in the earth’s crust and mantle and forms due to intense pressure and heat
Geological time: A way of dividing the history of the earth into periods based on the types of fossils found in the various layers of the earth’s crust
Radiometric dating: A scientific, though inexact, method for determining the age of rock and other materials based on the decay of radioactive isotopes
Carbon dating: A type of radiometric dating that measures the amount of carbon still in organic materials after death and decay
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: ECOLOGY
Ecology: The study of the way living things interact with their environments
Ecosystem: A group of plants and animals that interact with each other and their surroundings
Biome: A community of similar plants, animals, climate and geography
The eleven biomes of Earth: Tropical rainforests, temperate forests, coniferous forests, tundra, grasslands, savannas, deserts, scrublands, alpine, wetlands and marine
Biodiversity: The huge variety of living things in a particular area, which can be lost with selective breeding, deforestation and other human activities
Biodegradable: The ability of a substance to be decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms in its environment
Drought: An extended period without adequate precipitation in a given area
Waterlogged: Oversaturated with water. Water-holding capacity is better for rich soil but poorer for sandy soil.
Aeration: The process of adding air to soil, which increases its oxygen levels and helps plants grow. This can be done by bacteria and other animals in the soil, or by specialized human techniques.
Intensive farming: Farming with the help of chemicals, technology, high-output machinery and the like
Soil management: Maintaining proper balance of soil nutrients, airflow and water in soil
Soil conservation: Measures used to prevent erosion and maintain soil quality, such as crop rotation, reduced tillage and more
Renewable resource: A natural resource that replenishes itself fast enough to keep up with human rates of use, including sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves and geothermal heat
Non-renewable resource: A natural resource that does not renew itself fast enough to keep up with human rates of use, including minerals, metal ores, fossil fuels (coal, petroleum and natural gas) and some groundwater
Fossil fuel: A fuel that forms deep under the earth from the remains of decomposed animals and plants. Some examples are coal, petroleum and natural gas. They are considered non-renewable because it takes millions of years for them to complete one cycle of formation.
The Ozone Layer: The layer of ozone (O3) that exists in the upper atmosphere of the earth and that protects humans from UV rays
The Greenhouse Effect: The natural process whereby gases in the earth’s atmosphere trap heat and keep the planet warm. When there is an overabundance of these gases (due to human production of carbon dioxide and methane, for example), the planet warms too much, creating climate change that then results in the melting of polar ice caps, the rising of ocean levels, the death of coral reefs and other detrimental effects.
Global warming: A slow warming of the earth resulting from the Greenhouse Effect
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: METEOROLOGY
Weather: The atmospheric conditions, including temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind, and other variables, in a given place and time that are caused by changing air pressure and heat from the sun
Climate: The long-term average weather conditions of a particular area
The four basic climate types: Tropical (hot all year); polar (cold all year); temperate (moderate, seasonal change); deserts (dry all year)
Wind: The movement of air that happens when higher pressure air is moving toward lower pressure air. If there is no pressure difference, there is no wind.
Storm: Any disruption in the atmosphere producing severe weather, including strong wind, tornadoes, hail, rain, snow (blizzard), lightning (thunderstorm), clouds of dust or sand carried by wind (a dust or sand storm)
Lightning: The visible and audible flow of electricity that occurs during a thunderstorm. It can occur inside a single cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the ground. It produces an audible booming sound called thunder. Since the speed of light is greater than the speed of sound, we hear thunder after we see lightning.
Tornado: A funnel-shaped column of wind, evaporated water, dust and debris that moves rapidly, sweeping up objects in its path. It is formed when a thunderstorm occurs in areas of both cold and warm air.
Hurricane: A large rotating storm system with a low-pressure center called an eye, formed when multiple oceanic thunderstorms collide. They are sometimes also called typhoons or cyclones.
Tsunami: A series of huge, destructive waves formed during major ocean events like volcanic eruptions, meteorite crashes, landslides and underwater earthquakes. They are sometimes mistakenly called tidal waves, though they are not caused by tides.
Atmospheric particle: Organic and human-made microscopic solid or liquid particles suspended in the atmosphere
Barometer: A tool to measure air pressure
Cumulus clouds: Large, puffy clouds with a flat base and a rounded top that often indicate fair weather
Stratus clouds: Flat clouds that form in layers, often cover the entire sky and often produce light rain
Cirrus clouds: Thin, wispy clouds made up of ice crystals that form at high altitudes
Nimbus clouds: Large, dark-colored clouds that produce precipitation
