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The Passion of the Western Mind

/ Beth Jacobs Bowen / 1 Comment

When we seek to explore classical, Christian, and contemporary concepts surrounding the soul, especially with regard to the presence or absence of a structured afterlife, it is easy to see similarities between the three and realize that the classical understandings have served as the foundation upon which more spiritual connotations surrounding the soul have been devised. However, as our understanding of the universe expands and grows, so does our conscious theory on meaning and purpose. From pre-Socratic notions surrounding mind, body, and soul, borne from limited scope and understanding of our physical universe, to the focused religiosity within the Christian translation to the more contemporary, existentialist perspective adopted by many in today’s society, the meaning of life, the purpose we serve on this earth, and the exploration of both in a future, post-death tense, has transformed throughout human history, in adaptation to human thought and societal influence.

Hellenistic Views of the Classical Age

The earliest forms of philosophical thought, developed and recorded by ancient scholars during the Classical Era of 1400BC-500AD, offered the first, and arguably the most salient, musings on what would become the formative Western exploration of the human condition. Richard Tarnas, in his work The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas Which Have Shaped Our World View, refers to this study, this inquiry into purpose and meaning, this “…intellectual task as a romantic quest of universal significance”, finding that “knowledge of the world’s underlying structure and meaning entails the exercise of a plurality of human cognitive faculties– rational, empirical, intuitive, aesthetic, imaginative, mnemonic, and moral” (19). Human nature is a varied and subjective topic, but there are enough consistencies and inherent commonalities amongst humans that we can collectively recognize and theorize what it entails and how it serves to promote, explain, or affect, the meaning and purpose of life.

The classical concept of the soul, as explained thoroughly by early philosopher Socrates, in various works written by philosopher and writer Plato, was borne of this new query into existence and purpose, both of the human form and the universe. In one of Plato’s early works Apology, he demonstrates how unreceptive those who held great power over the people within society were of this new philosophy, these abstract ideas of Socrates which challenged all that Romans had known of the existence of gods, and their own notions of wisdom and understanding. In Apology, Socrates explains, ”If I say that this even happens to be a very great good for a human being—to make speeches every day about virtue and the other things about which you hear me conversing and examining both myself and others—and that the unexamined life is not worth living for a human being, you will be persuaded by me less when I say these things” (14). Socrates’ death, and the philosophy for which he was put to death over, prompted Plato to delve into a life of detailed and recorded introspective query.

In Plato’s second period of literary achievement, his work Phaedo, among others, began to explore the human condition, its purpose and meaning, and questioned its alignment with the universe at large. In Phaedo, Socrates, nearing his demise, speaks on the three qualities of man which serve to function congruently to materialize the soul: the mind, and its ability to reason, the emotions, and their influence over the mind, and our animal instincts, and their innate effect on our actions and thoughts. Socrates proposed that these three qualities, in their intangible yet essential state, collectively formed the soul, known in the Classical Era as the psyche, and that the cultivation of reason above both instinct and emotion was the only way to “foster true success and excellence in human life” (19). In this ancient understanding, Socrates presented the soul as a scientifically provable substance, akin to the odorless, colorless, formless oxygen we breathe. He stated that “the soul is evidently immortal”, and therefore should be the primary focus in one’s life, as all pleasures and privileges of the body will cease upon death, while the soul—the mind, emotion, and instinct—will continue on (14).

Plato continued to explore this three-pronged concept throughout his adult life, giving voice to his ideas, and those of others, through the various speakers he employed in his writings. In Timaeus, the titular named character, engrossed in conversation with Socrates, explains the basis for this trifecta of human existence, stating that “two things cannot rightly be put together without a third”, that “there must be some bond of union between them” (16). We see this pattern of threes developed in Phaedo, then explore it again with the three-part description of the soul in Timaeus, with the triangular union, and subsequent fusion, of the mind, body, and psyche, and again, in the Republic, Book IV, when Plato correlates the ordering of the three-part soul with the ordering of the three classes of society.

Just as subsequent eras and periods of philosophical thought were prompted by new understandings of the universe, and our place within it, the Classical Era focused on the astronomical knowledge of the cosmos at that time. Evidence of this is presented in the creation story within the Timaeus. Unburdened by religiosity or spirituality, this understanding was borne of the “Demiurge”, a word meaning worker, but used as creator by Plato. In order to best answer the most pressing questions Plato had concerning the cosmos, and their order and intelligent, divine design, which sought to “explain mathematically the erratic movements of the planets”, he wrote the Timaeus (19). In this work, he explained that the Demiurge was responsible for forming the world “from a chaos of primordial matter”, and that it “had created the heavens as a moving image of eternity, revolving precisely according to perfect mathematical ideas” (19). This perfection, this cosmic structural integrity, was to be repeated in man’s life, as a guideline for divine ordering of the mind, body, and soul. Plato took this concept a step further by offering a set of Laws for mankind, so that they would have a clear understanding of “that which tends most to the improvement of mind and body” and have a guide for the ordering of their soul (13).

Embracing this concept of triangular structure in human order and existence, classical philosopher Marcus Aurelius, in his work Meditations, addressed life as a drama, a play of sorts, writing that “… in life three acts are the whole drama” (3). In Aurelius’ understanding, human life is designed as a three-part growing process by which we ultimately learn to accept reason and develop the ability to recognize ourselves as a part of a whole, a mere subset of nature, which seeks to return to its primal state of existence in a predesigned, yet volatile, universe. Through a plentitude of references to Plato and other great philosophers who pondered our purpose and existence as humans on earth, within Meditations, Aurelius lays out a numbered plan for life, a set of rules for living the best possible earthly existence, so that the soul, the unifying link to nature and life, is best prepared for death. He insists these meditations on life are necessary because we are born into this earthly world as mostly helpless beings who cannot provide for themselves, much less have the grounded sense of reason and intelligence which is salient to passing life “in an equable flow of happiness” (3). Instead, we must learn to calm and control our instincts and innate desires and order ourselves through reason and enhanced understanding. Only then can we rectify our souls, and only then are we living righteously.

Unlike contemporary concepts surrounding death and the soul, where focus is placed on the spiritual debate surrounding Heaven, Hell, and the complete absence of either, the soul in classical conversation was centered on the mind-sciences of philosophy and psychology. Strengthening the soul through contemplative reasoning and inquiry and using one’s time on Earth to question our purpose, our existence, and our psyche, was deemed the supreme approach to life. Death, and its forced separation of the body and soul, was not to be feared, but instead welcomed, as it frees us of our bodily restraints, allowing us to live in a blissful state of expanded consciousness.

Both Aurelius and Plato found that our propensity towards fear and anger, especially when faced with death and disorder, and our learned ability to control such impulses and actions is what largely what contributes to our calming down and ordering. When we grow in mind and reason, through age, influence, and enhanced understanding, we better learn how to maintain a sense of order which is conducive to a good life, one which allows us to leave this world for the better. Through meditation and focused introspection, we evolve past the opening act of infancy, and learn to navigate as thoughtful, reasonable human beings throughout the middle act, to best prepare ourselves for the culminating third act of death and afterlife.

Christian Influence on Philosophy and Liberal Thought

As scientific concepts concerning the cosmos and their order began to evolve, and after a “spiritual crisis” appeared in Hellenistic culture, which left “its members impelled by newly conscious needs for personal significance in the cosmos and personal knowledge of life’s meaning”, Christianity emerged as an answer to their pressing questions, a faith-based solution to their needs (19). Initially considered an “unthinking” belief by scholars of that period, Christian thought presented itself as a salient system of introspection, and “the use of reason to examine and defend articles of faith… and the discipline of logic in particular…rapidly ascended in both educational popularity and theological importance” (19).

In its dominant state, the Christian world view transformed societal understanding of the cosmos, and of the inherent meaning of both the universe and the human soul. Heaven would not only consist of a physical, albeit celestial, location, but it would also serve as the abiding place of the Christian God, therefore establishing itself as the primary aim for a pious and righteous life on Earth. Under this new belief, “God had bestowed to man the ability to determine freely his position in the universe”, equipping him with the ability to, through proper ordering of his spiritual soul, and by living his life in full devotion to God under the principles set forth in The Bible, ascend “…to full union with the supreme God” himself (19).

Around 380 AD, Aurelius Augustine, an educated Roman, growing in his own piety and religiosity, had a conversion experience which led to him becoming a Latin Father of the Church and one of the most prominent Christian thinkers in history (11). Revered for his intelligence, “his writings were so widely read and imitated throughout Latin Christendom that his particular synthesis of Christian, Roman, and Platonic traditions defined the terms for much later tradition and debate” (12). Augustine embraced the intellectual culture within the Christian world view, and ultimately transformed the philosophy surrounding the human condition for thousands of years.

Throughout history, we have experienced and recorded great men and women. We have been exposed to and understood righteousness and goodness through them. Yet, as Augustine surmised, in his work On Christian Doctrine, we have never, and will never, experience something as awe-inspiring, as incredible, as righteous, as God. As humans, even those of developed emotion and reason, we have no basis for real understanding of that which is well beyond our mental and physical reach. He writes, “For when the one supreme God of gods is thought of…their thought takes the form of an endeavor to reach the conception of a nature, than which nothing more excellent or more exalted exists” (2). Augustine speaks of God’s ineffability and gives a rounded perspective of how his unchanging nature lends to an overall truth, while also establishing His existence as the pinnacle of order.

Augustine goes on to assume that it is through this divinely inspired ordering that we beautify our souls for acceptance into the eternal abiding place of God. He writes, in closing On Christian Doctrine with an apology for its length, “… I have in these four books striven to depict…the sort of man he ought to be who desires to labor in sound, that is, in Christian doctrine, not for his own instruction only, but for that of others also” (2). Augustine designed his writing to utilize aspects of the Platonic understanding of order and psyche to support his belief in an omnipotent God, and the necessity of ordering the human soul to promote righteousness and address “the concern with the issue of how to make sense of and live within a world that seemed so adversarial and fraught with danger, a world in which so much of what matters most to us is so easily lost” (11). His extensive reach in society, and his heralded status within the church, saw to it that his instructions were both heard and taken as truth. Through St. Augustine’s writings and philosophy, the Christian Translation of the human condition was accomplished.

By the 1300s, when Dante Alighieri, an Italian soldier, political official, and poet, began to really embrace the “Aristotelian-Ptolemaic cosmology bestowed to Christianity”, ideas surrounding the human condition and soul had taken on new, faith-based understandings which centered around the omnipotent presence of a Christian God (19). As the “world view fully re-entered the Christian psyche”, Dante, in his writing, with special focus on his epic poem The Divine Comedy, “created a vast classical Christian mythology encompassing the whole of creation that would exert a considerable—and complex—influence on the later Christian imagination” (19). Ultimately, through an intensely visual journey into the realms of Earth, Hell, and Heaven, Dante gave imaginative understanding to the very fears and concerns maintained by society surrounding the human condition and experience.

Where Augustine provided medieval society with largely implicit instructions on the ordering of the Christian soul, in an attempt to achieve righteousness on Earth, that one might be dutifully rewarded with admittance to Heaven, Dante designed “the medieval vision”, the understanding of the human condition for a society bound to their faith (19). By exploring salvation through epic poem, Dante Alighieri established a somewhat flexible approach to the query of what happens after we die. Through Virgil and Dante (the character), Dante (the author) creates a mythical world wherein readers might excitedly follow the turmoil and strife of the characters on their personal journey through the inferno, purgatory, and paradise, while dually examining the realms of Heaven and Hell, and exploring their own concerns and questions with the soul’s afterlife. The Divine Comedy, which is centered around mythical concepts of medieval torture and eternal damnation, draws, and even demands at times, great reflection and introspection to the purpose and meaning of living a well-ordered, righteous life, built upon Christian principles. When Dante writes “On the right hand I saw new misery, new torments, and new tormentors…”, he establishes a visual understanding of our greatest fear… eternal damnation in the pits of Hell from leading a less-than righteous life and never gaining salvation (1). In The Divine Comedy, Dante created a quintessential piece of literature, through which people of all faiths and creeds might explore their own thoughts and fears surrounding salvation and life after death, and discover, as he had, that “the heavens were both numinous and humanly meaningful” (19).

In The Divine Comedy, Dante, by some influence of both Christian and Platonic thought, supposes that it is the very order of the universe, in combination with the design of our psyche, which explains our purpose on earth– which is to use our intellect to make reasonable, righteous choices in our thoughts and behavior, to utilize the “governor” we are gifted with at birth, to follow God’s plan and live lives which might lead us to eternal existence in Paradiso, rather than an immortal damnation of our soul in the Inferno. Ultimately, the universe’s meaning, according to the Christian Translation, is to guide people to lives of reason and thoughtful action, in an effort to condition their souls for their eternal position within God’s paradise.

Through philosophical exploration of the human condition, and the universe at large, humans find contemplation which leads to an understanding of what God wants from them. In accomplishing this, humans learn to live in a way which pleases God, which follows his intent for them as free- willed humans who become righteous through purposeful action, faith, and reason-based intellect which centers upon goodness, so that their souls might reside in His celestial realm for eternity.

New Meaning in an Ancient World

By the Renaissance period, scholars had started to process the mathematically provable truths which were supported by that which could been seen in reality. As a result, their general understanding of the universe grew, allowing for the entry of new, verifiable information. This information, in turn, either supported their previously held beliefs, in that it offered calculable knowledge which promoted truth, or it served to challenge those beliefs, by offering irrefutable data which negated or disproved their current understanding. While the medieval period had built its knowledge upon the same cosmologic beliefs first adopted in the ancient period, new information presented in the Scientific Revolution suggested that the universe was designed by heliocentric organization, as delineated by Polish astronomer and mathematician Copernicus. This “Copernican insight… provoked and symbolized the drastic, fundamental break from the ancient and medieval universe” to the modern view of both the universe and the human condition (19).

As the Renaissance Era flourished, so did profound artistic and scientific revelations which ultimately challenged the Christian Translation of the human condition and threatened the power of the Catholic Church. Reformers, who sought to force change within the Church, through reformation of the strict guidelines established by the Old Testament, and “the Protestant spirit” which “prevailed in half of Europe” proved that “Christianity was no longer exclusively Catholic, nor monolithic, nor a source of cultural unity” (19). With this development came the first ideas of individualism, a concept which would expand into existential philosophy, and offer new meaning for the human condition and the Christian concept of the immortal soul.

The universe, in the time of Galileo Galilei, a scholar of “physics or natural philosophy, astronomy, and the methodology of science” was far more complex than previously understood (10). His ability to conceptualize what that meant, along with his enhanced understanding that we are “thinking beings”, greatly changed his outlook, by challenging his previously held beliefs (10). Yet, rather than allow this new understanding to negate his beliefs, he instead utilized it to support his thoughts on God. As “Roman Catholicism had allowed considerable latitude in intellectual speculation” for “most of the high Middle Ages and Renaissance”, Galileo was able to accept the Copernican revolution’s theories as divinable truth, which he had proven through development and use of his own telescope, with the understanding that “the Church had long been accustomed to sanctioning allegorical interpretations of the Bible whenever the latter appeared to conflict with scientific evidence” (19). In his masterpiece work Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Galileo, through the voice of Sagredo, states that “…a great ineptitude exists on the part of those who would have it that God made the universe more in proportion to the small capacity of their reason than to His immense, His infinite, power” (7). While this largely speaks to the nature of the universe itself, it also offers perspective on Galileo’s own outlook on the human condition and displays his continued support of an omnipotent Christian God as creator.

After the Scientific Revolution, and with the “geocentric illusion” of the universe replaced by the Copernican heliocentric model, Christian and classical concepts surrounding human meaning and “theological dogma and animistic superstition” were abandoned, giving way to the idea that “man was not an absolute, and his cherished values had no foundation outside of himself” (19). Ultimately, man was here alone, an entity only of himself, one borne of haphazard design, and any inference of spiritual meaning or religious divinity was deemed unreasonable. As this philosophy spread, and more people abandoned their plans for lives of righteousness and piety, “many reflective individuals began to turn inward, to an examination of consciousness itself as a potential source of meaning and identity in a world otherwise devoid of stable values” (19).

By the time René Descartes wrote his quintessential essays in Discourse on Method, he was an established mathematician, natural scientist, yet was still a man of faith. In order to link his belief in God with the newly discovered “collective unconscious and its archetypes” he established metaphysics, a contemporary study of the mind-body correlation (19). Through application of metaphysics, Descartes “provided arguments for the existence of God” in attempting to prove that “the essence of matter is extension, and that the essence of mind is thought” (9). This, for a time, quelled the volatile nature of the divided world view, where new meaning negated Classical thought, and the belief in individualism counteracted the spiritualism necessary for a Church-run state, for divinity, for righteousness. In Discourse on Method, Descartes wrote, “…it is possible to achieve knowledge which would be very useful for life…to find a practical philosophy” through which humans could essentially make themselves “the lords and masters of nature” (4). In accomplishing this, Descartes surmises that we effectively anchor our human rationality within the spiritual natural world.

Throughout the eighteenth century, this battle between Christian thought and human reason would lend to a new age of Enlightenment. In this new age, secularization flourished in the absence of credible evidence to support theological beliefs, and “neither human reason nor the empirical world could give any direct or unequivocal indication of a divine reality” (19). During this time, Romanticism led to the production of a plethora of artistic and philosophical works devoted to personal and societal changes in the modern world. Poet William Wordsworth was one of many prominent writers who explored “views on both his craft and his place in the world” in his work, as demonstrated in the following excerpt from the poem “An Evening Walk”:

“A mind, that, in a calm angelic mood

Of happy wisdom, meditating good,

Beholds, of all from her high powers required,

Much done, and much designed, and more desired, – –

Harmonious thoughts, a soul by truth refined,

Entire affection for all human kind” (22).

Wordsworth, like most poets and thinkers of the time, no longer needed an omnipotent God, or a theological association to find connection to the universe, even if he elected to believe in one. Built upon early, Platonic ideas of the proper ordering of the mind, Wordsworth, through use of his honed craft, speaks to the value of the calm, ordered mind, while simultaneously addressing the waning religiosity of modern society. Through this, Wordsworth, other writers and artists of the time, and even “art itself—music, literature, drama, painting—now took on a virtually religious status for the Romantic sensibility” and provided a “unique point of conjunction between the natural and the spiritual” (19). Romantic notions of individuality and natural connection gifted society with a spiritual buffer between the progressive, scientific understanding of the modern world and the concepts of Christian thought.

Much like preceding periods, the Romantic period eventually yielded to ever-growing existential thought, as human and societal development, and enhanced scientific understanding, sufficiently reduced theological philosophy and its involvement in the overall human condition to an elected belief, a chosen system of personal values held unreasonable by laws of nature and science. Beginning with German philosopher Frederic Nietzsche, and “his radical perspectivism, his sovereign critical sensibility, and his powerful …anticipation of the emerging nihilism in Western culture”, the Postmodern mind would approach the human condition, and any concepts surrounding meaning within the cosmic universe, as an “open-ended, indeterminate set of attitudes that has been shaped by a great diversity of intellectual and cultural currents” (19). This indefinite, non-fixed approach to philosophy demanded intense introspection on the part of the individual, while establishing itself as an unending study of the dynamic human condition.

With the understanding that the query into life’s purpose and meaning would be continuous, schools of thought would be dedicated to the study. The great philosophers of the contemporary period would devote their lives to this task, as would the pragmatic, progressive educator John Dewey. In his work School and Society, Dewey speaks to the salience of all persons having the opportunity to explore the human condition, stating, “only by being true to the full growth of all the individuals who make it up, can society by any chance be true to itself” (5). This thinking placed emphasis on experience as the primary factor in shaping and explaining meaning in life and followed suit with the “characteristics of the larger postmodern intellectual situation” (19).

Continuing with this era of self-exploration and empirical thought, Parisian philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre would establish himself as the Father of Existentialism with his infamous lecture “Existentialism is a Humanism”, which displayed the “major tenets of existentialist thought while revealing Sartre’s attempt to broaden its social application in response to his Communist and Catholic critics” (6). In this speech, when Sartre proclaimed that “man makes himself; he is not found ready-made; he makes himself by the choice of his morality, and he cannot but choose a morality, such is the pressure of circumstances upon him”, he set in motion the process of pragmatic exploration for all of mankind (8).

The concepts that we explore, in our current understanding of the human condition, have been designed through a myriad of societal change and development. Therefore, our quest for meaning in life is volatile, subject to everchanging conditions, and dependent upon our ability to experience life from a subjective perspective. Only when a society feels restricted in their growth, their liberation, their ability to explore new, learned avenues of existence and meaning, do they press beyond whatever restraints present themselves. From ancient, Platonic concepts of psyche, and the salient trifecta of ordering, to divine thought, as necessitated by an omnipotent, Christian God to Postmodern ideas of pragmatic exploration of the contemporary human condition, society expands and explores in response to the limitations placed upon it. Therefore, the quest of purpose and meaning in life remains subjective to the will of those in search.

Works Cited and Consulted

1. Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. Vintage Books, New York. 1932. Print.

2. Augustine. On Christian Doctrine. Beloved Publishing, 2014. Print.

3. Aurelius, Marcus, translated by George Long. Meditations. Mineola, N.Y: Dover Publications, 1997. Print.

4. Descartes, René. Discourse on Method. New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1956. Print.

5. Dewey, John. “The School and Social Progress.” Chapter 1 in The School and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1907): 19-44.

6. Flynn, Thomas, “Jean-Paul Sartre”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2013 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://www.plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2013/entries/sartre/>.

7. Galilei, Galileo, Stillman Drake, Dava Sobel, and Albert Einstein. Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican. London: Folio Society, 2013. Print.

8. Guillaume, Vincent, Soline. Dorlodot, and Jean-Paul Sartre. “Existentialism Is a Humanism” by Jean-Paul Sartre., 2016. Internet resource.

9. Hatfield, Gary, “René Descartes”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.),

10. Machamer, Peter, “Galileo Galilei”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://www.plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/galileo/>.

11. Mendelson, Michael, “Saint Augustine”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://www.plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/augustine/>.

12. O’Donnell, James. “St. Augustine”. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2018. Web. http://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Augustine

13. Plato, Benjamin Jowett, and Plato. The Dialogues of Plato. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc, 1990. Print.

14. Plato, and G M. A. Grube. Five Dialogues. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Pub. Co, 2002. Print.

15. Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett. Republic. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2004. Print.

16. Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett. Timaeus. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1949. Print.

17. Rabin, Sheila, “Nicolaus Copernicus”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2015 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://www.plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2015/entries/copernicus/>.

18. Ruzicka, Stephen. “Passion of the Western Mind”. UNCG. Lecture Series. Web.

19. Tarnas, Richard. The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View. New York: Ballantine Books, 2011. Print.

20. Wetherbee, Winthrop and Aleksander, Jason, “Dante Alighieri”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://www.plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/dante/>.

21. “William Wordsworth”. Academy of American Poets. New York, New York. Web. http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/william-wordsworth

22. Wordsworth, William. The Complete Poetical Works. London: Macmillan and Co., 1888; Bartleby.com, 1999. http://www.bartleby.com/145/.

Top Ten Dos and Don’ts for Turning 40

/ Beth Jacobs Bowen / 2 Comments

By Beth Jacobs Bowen
January 5, 2018

If you’re on social media, you’ve undoubtedly come across an article, or 20, which attempts to dictate what you should or should not be doing by the time you hit some milestone age. You know, the “Going to be 30 this year? Time to stop wearing dark eyeliner” … and the… “Is the Big 4-0 knockin’ at your door? No more jeans with holes for you!” type of unsolicited, unwarranted, advice-based articles. As someone who has lived through their 20s and 30s, and is heading into that seemingly barren wasteland of anti-aging products and Botox, I decided to devise my own list of dos and don’ts for turning 40:

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1. Don’t seek life advice on Social Media

Whether it’s Quizlet telling you that you should move to Istanbul, based solely on your preference of 1980s pop music, that “friend” from college, who majored in business, diagnosing you with a psychological disorder based on your Facebook statuses, or some stupid list compiled by a bored, and possibly disillusioned, writer, who’s just trying to make some money… don’t listen.

Sure, quizzes and listicles are great ways to pass time, and some friends might actually have sage advice to offer, but the reality is that social media is designed to be a chipboard in the hallway of the gymnasium of life. It provides a social cubicle for the masses, giving them their own special place to advertise and elicit response to their daily lives. It is not, however, designed to support, or even identify, truth or accuracy. Actually, it serves to do quite the opposite, and has become a cesspool of misinformation, mistruths, and misguided advice.

Consider this: I have 9 Facebook friends who are certified psychologists or psychiatrists, and in the 5 years I’ve been using the platform, not a single one has ever attempted to counsel or analyze someone publicly. However, I have at least 30 friends, who are stay-at-home moms/dads, teachers, salespeople, you name it, who attempt to diagnose others with clinical disorders nearly daily.

Don’t let anyone, anything, any list or quiz, tell you what you should or should not do with your life. Ninety percent of the people you encounter on social media are completely unqualified to offer life advice, and one hundred percent of the quizzes you take are utter nonsense… so enjoy them for what they are, just don’t make life decisions based on them.

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2. Do what makes you truly happy

I don’t care if it’s singing at the top of your lungs while driving to work each morning, dancing around the kitchen naked with a glass of wine, or napping until dinner time, then going back to bed… if it makes you happy, and you aren’t hurting anyone in the process, then go for it.

This, obviously, includes eating, wearing, and liking, whatever brings you joy. If you like ripped skinny jeans, paired with your favorite Led Zeppelin t-shirt, then rock that outfit like you earned the right to do so. If you have been fortunate enough to discover that fleece-lined yoga pants are like a warm, fuzzy blanket hugging you all day (and night), and that’s the kind of comfort you’re seeking in life right now, then who cares if they’re covered in cat hair, or aren’t technically supposed to be worn to dinner?

Don’t let someone else tell you what to enjoy in this life, the whole point of growing old is figuring those things out for ourselves.

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3. Don’t let others diminish your glory

Life is hard, and living it in a way that makes you proud is damn near impossible. So, if you find yourself among the few who make an effort to improve themselves, or those around them, then by all means make it known. Spread that pride, post those accomplishments… it’s contagious, you know?

When you realize your dreams, and you share your successes with others, you make them seem possible. In addition to providing a sense of completion and achievement for yourself, such triumphs serve as inspiration to others, even if some seem off-put by the display.

There will always be someone out there who will be envious of your determination, your drive, and your successes, just as there will always be someone who is inspired by such. At this point in your life, it’s past time to learn to ignore those who ridicule you or try to extinguish your light, and be proud of who you are, and what you’ve accomplished in this life.

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4. Do make a bucket list

Although the term has become somewhat cliché, having a list of things you want to accomplish, places you want to see, people you want to meet, and ideas you want to explore, not only helps to fine-tune your focus to your true desires, but at this stage in life, provides you with a refined list of dreams which can finally be realized. Have you always wanted to see the Grand Canyon, the Eiffel Tower, Italy? How about skydive or go deep sea fishing? Well, now’s the time to book those trips, and make those commitments.

In your 20s, you’re lucky to be moving on from Ramen noodles and Pop-Tarts as meals, and by your 30s, you’re busy chasing toddlers and driving to and from soccer practice. Or, if you don’t have kids, you’re busy going to grad school, working 80-hour weeks, or fully committed to other time-consuming interests. Your 40s and 50s are your decades to really shine. You’ve settled into a life pace, and your finances should begin to even out, so make that list, and really put your heart into completing it.

Don’t view this list as a means to an end, or as being one step closer to death, rather, look at it as an opportunity to put adult financial backing behind your childhood dreams. Make that list, and start checking things off.

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5. Don’t let aging consume your life

This is a hard one, no matter who you are. All the money and beauty products in the world can’t stop us from growing old, even if they can shift the focus from certain body parts. Yes, the aging process has really sunk its teeth in by the time you turn 40, and it seems the more you’ve enjoyed life the more it shows.

Most likely, your hair has either thinned, begun to turn grey, or has altogether fallen out. You probably have wrinkles forming, even if they are laugh lines and you’ve enjoyed making every one of them, and you now have unidentifiable spots and marks that you swear weren’t there yesterday.

Well, guess what? Some ninety-five percent of your peers are going through the same thing. Sure, you might not be able to keep up with the 20-year-olds’ #nofilter selfies, but the good news is you don’t care about that anymore. You no longer feel the need to compare yourself to people half your age, because you are finally at a place in life where you’ve learned to accept what you’ve been given, and made peace with who you are.

Instead of becoming obsessed with taking years off your face, become enamored with living your life. Don’t waste your money on products and services to make you look younger, use it to travel and explore, to continue your education, to become more charitable, an act that brings great joy.

6

6. Do

That’s it, just do. Don’t let society trick you into believing that you’re past your prime. The skills you’ve been building, the experiences that you’ve had, and the knowledge that you’ve gained, over the past 40 years, are finally coming together, making you an unstoppable, educated, experienced, phenom. The last thing you need to do is to throw it all away because someone else thinks you’re too old to accomplish new goals.

Whether you decide to take up martial arts, painting, hiking, photography, or any other activity or hobby, don’t let age hinder your reach. I just recently obtained a degree alongside a 93-year-old gentlemen, and have hiked miles of strenuous trails with people nearly twice my age. Age is not a limiting factor unless you allow it to be.

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7. Don’t become a gossip

Join a book club, volunteer at the local soup kitchen, find an adult sports league, do whatever, but don’t waste your time putting down and discussing others. American clergyman Lawrence G. Lovasik once said “Only the ignorant and narrow-minded gossip, for they speak of persons instead of things.”

Rather than be someone who engages in mindless slander, why not be an idea spreader? Instead of discussing the lives of others, present ideas which serve to broaden the minds of those they reach. With so much to learn, see, and experience, there truly isn’t a more wasteful way to approach life.

By age 40, you should be bored with gossip and appalled by its inherent bullying nature. The Center for Disease Control reports that the second leading cause of death among 10-14-year-olds is suicide. Let that sink in, and then consider how we, as parents, educators, guardians, and leaders, serve to impact our youth. We are living in a bullying and abusive culture, and it’s up to us, as the responsible adults, to teach children compassion and empathy through action.

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8. Do start planning for retirement

The best way to enjoy the next 10-20 years of life is by preparing for your golden years now. Bet on yourself and your health, then design and implement a plan for the future. We know that daily exercise helps promote healthy aging, and the same is true of our financial health. Daily work towards an established goal helps to focus our efforts on building a stable future, both for ourselves and our families.

Now is also a good time to start looking into Life Insurance, if you haven’t done so already. Wills should also be drawn to ensure that your wants and plans are seen through in the event of untimely death.

Yes, this aspect is a bit morbid, but when you have a plan for the future, you are better able to devote your focus and attention towards living in the present. Make smart financial and longevity decisions now to ensure continued comfort later in life.

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9. Don’t believe the (sex) hype

Contrary to popular fiction, belief, myth, and folklore, sex in your 40s does exist. And it’s fantastic.

Ignore all those articles about impending night sweats, hot flashes, and diminished sex drives, affecting your sex life. Much like everything else mentioned in this list, good sex isn’t age-dependent.

In fact, by the time you reach 40, you know exactly what you do and don’t like in the bedroom (or anywhere else), and have grown past any nervous apprehension you may have harbored through your 20s and 30s.

You know exactly what makes you and your partner tick, and the inhibitions of the past – your experience, your body image, your self-esteem—no longer serve to influence your sex life.

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10. Do look forward to this new chapter in life

While we can’t all sashay into our 40s looking or living like Jennifer Aniston, we can embrace self-love, and make peace with who we are. A little pampering and self-care go a long way in making us feel fulfilled.

Turning 40 used to mean black balloons and tombstone party favors, but today 40 isn’t even considered middle-aged. So, stop waiting for that AARP card to arrive, and start making plans for the weekend.

Wear what you like, do what you like, and be who you like… this life is a final act, don’t let anyone else direct yours.

Beth Jacobs Bowen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In addition to writing, the author enjoys many
of the activities mentioned in the listicle
(including taking random quizzes on Facebook).

On any given Sunday, she can be found reading,
listening to her vinyl collection,
or spending time photographing nature with her family.

The Divine Intervention of the Self: An exploration into the effects of Conservative Protestant Christianity on the modern sense of identity.

/ Beth Jacobs Bowen

Many religions refute the psychological sense of self in their attempt to eradicate secular conditioning and discourage individuality. This is especially true within Conservative Protestant Christianity, where modern ideals of selfhood seek to serve the individual rather than God. Both biological and sociological factors serve to influence ideals of self-identity within Conservative Protestant Christianity and modern psychological theory, yet there is evidence of reduced feelings of self-worth associated with Conservative Protestant Christianity’s influence over an individual’s sense of personal mastery and self-esteem, as dictated by Divine Intervention.

Through exploration of the factors that help shape an individual’s identity, and by applying methods of modern psychological and Conservative Protestant Christian thought, this research aims to establish support for the concept that Divine Intervention, especially in association with ideals of Fundamentalist Christianity, promotes loss of the personal sense of identity and lends to a reduced level of happiness amongst some Conservative Protestant Christians.

To understand the impact that Divine Intervention has on the ideal of self amongst Conservative Protestant Christians, consideration must be given to an individual’s “relations with a divine being, as well as their perceptions of the power and influence of an omnipotent deity”, as the relationship that they maintain with that deity directly dictates the stronghold that it possesses over their sense of identity and self-concept (Schieman et al. 165). Compiled research on this subject has yielded support for the concept that “higher levels of perceived divine control”, especially within Conservative Protestant Christian thought, “may correspond to the sense that events and outcomes are beyond one’s own personal control”, and therefore are not representative of any individual influence (Schieman et al. 170).

In exploring the science behind religious thought, research compiled by Dominiek Coates reports that “…some individuals are not reflexively guided by a personal self, but continue to acquire and maintain self-stability by anchoring themselves to stable others, such as institutions, traditions, or social groups” (Coates 794). Religious groups, like those founded in Conservative Protestant Christianity, which maintain fundamentalist views that hold fast to ideals of Divine Intervention and the self in the image of God, serve as these anchors. By connecting oneself to a community, or rather congregation, that supports the idea of surrendering all concepts of self-identity and self-will to God, the individual is relieved of existential anxiety through the concept that God is in control.

In direct opposition of ideals of Divine Intervention in the concept of selfhood stand modern psychological theories that establish criteria for self-identity based on biological, rather than theological, factors. Joseph LeDoux, from the Center for Neural Science at NYU, states that “In modern psychology the notion of the self is closely tied in with consciousness, in the sense of being self-aware, possessing agency or conscious control, having self-knowledge, a self-concept and self-esteem, of being self-critical, of feeling self-important, and striving towards self-actualization” (LeDoux 296). This idea is further supported in Jerome Kagan’s essay, The Emergence of Self, where he explains that “The speculation that self-awareness is a consequence of a cumulative…history of material experiences and objects and people…owes…to the fact that most Western scholars have been reluctant to posit discrete endogenous mechanisms…which might be responsible for the emergence of new behaviors” (Kagan 378). He goes on to suppose that this is due to the fact that “physiologists and psychologists have wanted to believe that external events, potentially quantifiable, are the primary causes of action”, as this supports the concept that the brain synapses that occur, and serve to create memories, are “more in accord with an epistemology of mechanism and a philosophy of logical positivism than with a presupposition that awards potency to invisible entities that seem to have direction and structure from the beginning”, as in the case of the omnipotent God that Conservative Protestant Christianity is founded upon (Kagan 378).

Upon acceptance of God as the fixed, eternal being that serves as both creator and regulator of life, the sense of self-identity that one possesses, from a psychological standpoint, is effectively replaced with the assumed image of God. As read in Genesis, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” …So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him…” (New International Version, Gen. 1.26-27). This very statement serves as the backbone for structuring identity within the fundamentalist confines of Conservative Protestant Christianity. In creating man in his own likeness, God established total dominance over him, and effectively removed all concept of selfhood. In addition to surrendered personal identity, Divine Intervention seeks to eradicate all notions of self-importance and existential concern amongst Conservative Protestant Christians.

This ideal is further explored in The Sense of Divine Control and the Self-Concept, which provides detailed findings on the effects of perceived Divine Intervention on the individual sense of self. In this research, it was reported that, for some, “…viewing God as in control of events and experiences in one’s life may be the equivalent of ceding personal control to Him”, which supported the hypothesis that “…higher levels of divine control are associated with lower levels of self-esteem” (Schieman et al. 188). When an individual feels as though they have little personal effect on their own life, and on the state of society as a whole, there is a correlated sense of reduced self-worth and limited personal mastery.

If, indeed, it is in our ability to conceive our own “agency and conscious control” that signifies our identity, as suggested by LeDoux, then the concept that the continued experiences that arise from our state of conscious control consistently impact and influence our sense of self is supported (LeDoux 296). While Conservative Protestant Christianity seeks to eradicate the secular conditioning that supports notions of individuality in defiance of its truth, that man is made in the image of God and therefore has no separate self, the theories surrounding selfhood in modern psychology function to bolster self-identity, by providing scientific evidence that details the biological processes that stimulate brain synapses and record experiences which directly shape an individual’s sense of self.

When it comes to ideals surrounding identity and selfhood in modern science, there is widespread support for psychological reasoning that suggests that the self is “an active agent in the control of mental states and behavior” (LeDoux 296). Broken down even further, the self essentially exists as a system of monitoring and facilitating the biological processes involved in the formation of memories. It is through study of this mechanism that scientists and researchers are able to “understand how the self is established and maintained in the brain” (LeDoux 298).

If Divine Intervention and the idea that Conservative Protestant Christians have no perceptions of self-identity serve “as a crutch, especially when they yearn for relief from miserable conditions”, then the effects of resigning one’s identity and personal mastery that result, hypothesized as “relinquished control” in The Sense of Divine Control and the Self-Concept, “expose[s] individuals to more frequent feelings of guilt, shame, and self-doubt” and “has the potential to diminish self-esteem” (Schieman et al. 171).

Dominiek Coates supports this concept in his study, The Effect of New Religious Movement Affiliation and Disaffiliation on Reflexivity and Sense of Self, by providing detailed testimonies from individuals who had surrendered their identities to the fundamentalist ideals founded in Conservative Protestant Christianity, only to leave such organizations and find themselves left with “an “unbearable identity void” and “an intense sense of insecurity and anxiety” (Coates 798). Without Divine Intervention, the choices an individual must face and make prove daunting to the newly isolated person, as they lack the established understanding of personal mastery and self-control necessary “for managing today’s unstable social environments” (Coates 794).

This lack of understanding and ability serves to further foster feelings of unworthiness, guilt, and embarrassment, amongst some Conservative Protestant Christians. In a study published in the Journal of Mental Health Counseling, it was reported by one of the women interviewed that, “If you don’t fit the church’s mold of the perfect person…they don’t want to have anything to do with you” (Wagner and Rehfuss 177). The feelings of guilt that correlated with her sense of unworthiness, as dictated by her strict, conservative Christian upbringing, had a profound effect on the interviewee’s ideals of self-worth and overall happiness.

In modern psychological theory, societal norms serve as the moral guidelines for measuring self-control, and help to establish the parameters associated with self-awareness and the perception of individual influence on society. Jerome Kagan further explores the impact of societal norms in his essay The Emergence of the Self, finding that at “Around 17 to 20 months of age, children display an obvious concern with a special class of events and actions whose attributes deviate from what adults regard as normative” (Das and Nairn 365). This observed behavior supports the idea that our self-identity is measured by pre-established, societal norms that are present at birth.

In addition to accepted ideals of normalcy in society, one’s position within the social strata, as result of economic and environmental influence, also functions to establish an individual’s sense of self. In consideration of economic status, and its ability or inability to support opportunities in education and moral development, much weight must be placed on its effective involvement in the establishment of identity. When the basic needs of an individual are met, and their status in society is deemed elevated enough to validate feelings of self-worth, there is little need for relief by Divine Intervention. Further support for this is established in The Sense of Divine Control and the Self-Concept, as it reports that “Scholars of religion have long asserted that socially and economically disadvantaged members of society benefit the most from religious beliefs and practices” finding that “religiosity offsets the psychological impact of social and economic disadvantages” (Schieman et al. 174).

As is typical of most social and cultural groups, differentiations in race and gender notably add to and influence the impact that Conservative Protestant Christianity might have on an individual’s sense of self. Research reported in The Sense of Divine Control and the Self-Concept concludes that, “Specifically, there is a negative association between perceived divine control and mastery among White respondents and a slightly positive association among Blacks”, which is reduced further to remark that “the association between perceived divine control and self-esteem is negative among White men only” (Schieman et al. 180, 185).

Although “higher levels of perceived divine control are associated with lower levels of self-esteem among White men—the most advantaged population subgroup…”, as result of relinquished control that yields “diminished self-worth”, by contrast, increased Divine Intervention led to “higher levels of self-esteem among black women—the least advantaged group”, due to the “self-validation and affirmation” of the “social and economic disadvantages” associated with Black women (Schieman et al. 188-189). As members of a habitually disparaged and oppressed community, research finds that “Blacks may experience the sense of divine control differently than Whites because they tend to perceive God’s support and guidance as an indispensable part of empowerment” (Schieman et al. 189). Due to this divergent perception of intervention, the levels of self-esteem and personal mastery within Black Conservative Protestant Christians are less negatively affected.

While Divine Intervention may be cause for decreased feelings of self-worth among white men, one study, which explores the impacts that conservative Christianity has on the rearing of children, finds that many white women also experience resigned regulation over their lives and reduced self-esteem as result of their religiosity. Findings from this study state, “…the women perceived that their Christian upbringing was connected to past feelings of unworthiness”, and all three women reported that they “…felt that religion was overemphasized and that the overall atmosphere was unhealthy” (Wagner and Rehfuss 176-177). In accordance with the finding that “Traditionally conservative denominations may stress the implications of sin and divine retaliation”, Joseph LeDoux asserts that “If a significant proportion of the early emotional experiences one has are due to activation of the fear system rather than positive systems, then the characteristic personality that begins to build…is one drenched in negativity and hopelessness rather than in affection and optimism” (Schieman et al. 171, LeDoux 302). In such a manner, Conservative Protestant Christianity serves to negatively impact the self-esteem, and overall happiness levels, of many of its followers, despite gender differences.

In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, where the founding concepts of life structure in Christianity are drawn, it is stated that man is created in the image of God, a concept that directly employs God as both the identity and master controller of man. Further clarification on this matter, as detailed in 1 Corinthians, explains that while man “is the image and glory of God”, “the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man” (New International Version, 1 Cor. 11:7-9). With consideration of this, in congruence with research that links higher levels of Divine Intervention with lower levels of self-esteem in white men only, the correlation between religiosity and the “relinquished and diminished self-worth hypotheses” explored in The Sense of Divine Control and the Self-Concept serves to support ideals of a decreased sense of self among both white men and women, with or without the presence of Divine Intervention or consideration of the self as made in the image of God (Schieman et al. 175).

In addition to the impacts that race and gender maintain over the sense of self in Conservative Protestant Christian thought, evidence suggests that limited opportunities of education and employment, especially among women, also influences selfhood and identity. Aniruddha Das and Stephanie Nairn report, from their research on Conservative Christianity, Partnership, Hormones, and Sex in Late Life, that “married evangelical women reported significantly less current employment, relative to both women in other religions and to their male counterparts” and found that “among married evangelicals…women were strikingly less likely than men to have had any college education” (Das and Nairn 8). This lack of employment and education facilitates a sense of alienation from society, and creates a dependency on others for understanding.

In addition to a lack of higher education amongst Conservative Protestant Christian women, negative, and oftentimes absent, sexual education fosters a “naivete” that causes “personal confusion and anxiety about…sexuality” (Wagner and Rehfuss 178). When confronted with sexuality in adulthood, many conservative Christians reported feelings of embarrassment and shame. This was due to an inherent lack of knowledge and understanding, and to harboring a conditioned negative response to sex. In summary, reduced sexual education among some Conservative Protestant Christians effects the same decrease in self-worth and personal mastery as the concept of Divine Intervention does, by cultivating feelings of guilt and embarrassment.

There is substantial evidence that supports the ideal that by maintaining fundamentalist views of selfhood, some Conservative Protestant Christians experience reduced levels of self-worth and personal mastery. Divine Intervention, and the general ceding of control and self-interest to God, in combination with an array of biological and sociological factors, effectively results in lower levels of self-esteem and happiness among many Conservative Protestant Christians.

Works Cited

Barker, Kenneth L., and Donald W. Burdick. The NIV Study Bible. 10th ed., Grand Rapids, Mi,   Zondervan Publishing House, 1995. Print.

Brinkman, Klaus. “Consciousness, Self-Consciousness, and the Modern Self.” History of the Human Sciences, vol. 18, no. 4, 2005, pp. 27-48. Print.

Coates, Dominiek. “The Effect of New Religious Movement Affiliation and Disaffiliation on Reflexivity and Sense of Self.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 52, no. 4, 2013, pp. 793-809. Print.

Das, Aniruddha, and Stephanie Nairn. “Conservative Christianity, Partnership, Hormones, and Sex in Late Life.” Archives of Sexual Behavior, vol. 43, no. 7, 2014, pp. 1403-15. Print.

Kagan, Jerome. “The Emergence of Self.” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, vol. 23, no. 4, 1982, pp. 363-381. Print.

LeDoux, Joseph. “The Self: Clues from the Brain.” Annals of the New York Academy of  Sciences, vol. 1001, no. 1, 2003, pp. 295-304. Print.

Schieman, Scott, Tetyana Pudrovska, and Melissa Milkie. “The Sense of Divine Control and the Self-Concept.” Research on Aging, vol. 27, no. 2, 2005, pp. 165-196. Print.

Wagner, Joyce, and Mark Rehfuss. “Self-injury, Sexual Self-Concept, and a Conservative Christian Upbringing: An Exploratory Study of Three Young Women’s Perspectives.”          Journal of Mental Health Counseling, vol. 30, no. 2, 2008. Print.

Refugees and Rebels: An analysis of women in war-torn Syria

/ Beth Jacobs Bowen

Since the rise of the Arab Spring in 2011-2012, over 250,000 Syrians have died, and another 11 million have been forced out of their homes, into deplorable conditions of poverty and famine. Of the 4.5 million Syrians who have fled the country in search of refuge, the majority have been women and children. The civil war, spawned by anti-government protests, of which many women originally participated in, has greatly escalated. As a result, many Syrian men have died, leaving the state in the hands of their displaced wives, now deemed heads of household. Hillary Margolis writes, “Many women have become de facto household heads, both inside Syria and in refugee settings, when male family members have been killed, detained, forcibly disappeared, injured, disabled, or unable to find steady employment” (Margolis). This shift in gender majority has strengthened the ever-present female oppression found within Arab society, yet alternately has afforded opportunities of mobility for some women.

In a patriarchal world, all women face various forms of oppression. In the United States, it’s glass ceilings and boys clubs, in Africa, it’s genital mutilation and forced prostitution, but in Syria, the civil unrest, combined with invasions by the Islamic State forces, has allowed for an evolution of female oppression. Still subject to a male-dominant system, and left stranded by the loss of their husbands and fathers to war, even educated and financially secure women are no longer safe. Val Morgan, from Sciaf, an aid partner establishing sexual violence support systems within Syria, stated “Many Syrian women and young girls now fleeing the war are alone, isolated and more vulnerable to attack than ever” (Huffington Post. “Syria’s Women, Many Raped in Refugee Centres, Long to Return Home”).

Of the women left behind, those who protest and decry the government are detained, then are subjected to rape and torture at the hands of the Syrian police, often as punishment, but also in exchange for survival, as recalled by Maisa, a 30-year-old nurse who was often searched and held for her activism in supporting women’s rights. She stated that “To get food or make phone calls, some women would have sex with the policemen” (Margolis). The less educated women, mothers who remain in their homes, left to care for, protect, and provide for their children, are left exposed to police, ISIL forces, and rebel fighters, and are often raped, tortured, and killed, solely as victims of sexual violence in a male-dominated, war-torn society.

Within refugee camps, women still face great danger, not only from the rebel forces in control, but from civilian men within the camps. One aid worker found that within the 500,000 refugees living in Jordan, “many Syrian girls are forced into {marriage} so their family no longer has to be responsible for them” (Huffington Post. “Syria’s Women, Many Raped in Refugee Centres, Long to Return Home”). Even those whose husbands are alive face threats of increased domestic abuse due to the shift in domestic and labor trends within the camps. Najila Chanda, director of Caritas Lebanon Migrant Centre, finds that “Men are more stressed, frustrated and becoming more violent with the women” (Huffington Post. “Syria’s Women, Many Raped in Refugee Centres, Long to Return Home”). The systematic gender stipulations within Syria have not been eradicated, or even lessened, by the shift in gender majority, but rather have increased and worsened.

The majority of women, especially those in refugee camps, or those who have been otherwise displaced, are experiencing the Syrian Civil War as victims, outsiders impacted by the crossfire between the government and the armed rebellion, attacks from the Islamic State, and the underlying oppression of women in general. The article “Syria: The Story of the Conflict” states that “A UN commission of inquiry has evidence that all parties to the conflict have committed war crimes- including murder, torture, rape and enforced disappearances. They have also been accused of using civilian suffering…as a method of war” (Rodgers, et al.). This information highlights the true victims in this war as the civilians, of which the large majority are women and children. Margolis finds that “These women are not only bearing the burden of conflict but are persevering in spite of it, often at great personal risk” (Margolis).

Many of the women, especially those trained and educated in various fields, actively try to assist other refugees and rebel fighters, only to find opposition and threat from the government. In Margolis’ interviews, she spoke with two women who were detained for supplying medical assistance. One woman, Maisa, spoke of police officers in uniform sexually harassing and torturing female detainees. Another young woman, Bervian, was forced to flee the Yarmouk refugee camp she was helping in, as she was “Wanted by both the armed Islamist groups and by government forces for providing humanitarian assistance in the camp” and had been forced to close her pharmacy down, threatened by ISIS fighters “because she wasn’t wearing a full-length abaya” (Margolis). These situations speak volumes to the continued female oppression that underscores the treatment of civilian women in war-torn Syria.

In addition to sexual and physical abuse at the hands of the police, rebels, civilians, and the Islamic State forces, starvation, filthy living conditions, and the loss of their husbands and children, have added to the toll that the Syrian Civil War has had on women. “Pawel Krzysiek, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, told the Associated Foreign Press news agency that…Mothers were so malnourished they were not producing milk, and there was no way to feed newborns and young babies, he was told” (Rodgers, et al).

There has been little to no humanitarian assistance to refugee camps within Syria since November 2015. As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported in December 2015, “the parties to the conflict continued to entirely or heavily restrict access to besieged areas” (BBC News. “Syria Conflict: Civilians Under Siege”). Beyond the poor living conditions and lack of medical care, Syrian women, and especially those still living in their homes, are subjected to random bombings and attacks from the ISIL and Syrian government. Amal, a 44-year-old mother of 5, tells of losing 4 of her children when a barrel bomb hit her home in Aleppo. Such is the case for many women, having lost their children and homes in bombings, their husbands to opposition efforts, and their past identities in their displacement into refugee camps. Between starvation, abuse, and loss of family, the women of Syria have been doubly impacted by the incredibly harsh and oppressive conditions of war.

Photojournalist Zaina Erhaim finds that “Daily life goes on amidst the ruins”, stating in the title of her piece that “As war continues to rage, women are finding ways to stay connected” (Erhaim). She finds that the lack of communicative ability in Aleppo, one of the most dangerous and affected cities within Syria, “has applied yet another layer of isolation to women, significantly affecting their ability to engage with both the outside world and the community in Syria- effectively keeping them marginalized” (Erhaim). This prohibition of information is designed to suppress the rebellion efforts through lack of communication and by handicapping widespread anti-nationalism, in addition to limiting women’s knowledge of war conditions and keeping them separated from efforts of assistance.

Through satellite internet access, many women in Aleppo are finding their voice in an otherwise muted world. As insiders to areas that have been cut off from all communication, these women provide great insight to the events unfolding within the crisis. In addition to providing an outlet for female perspectives of suffering and displacement in war-torn Syria, Hadia Almansor, a mother of 5 living in Aleppo, tells Erhaim “I am supporting my family financially because of the Internet” (Erhaim). Even among the immense and intensifying oppression many women face in the midst of the Syrian Civil War, there are instances of mobility and female perseverance.

In seeming opposition to the increased despotism that most Syrian women are facing in the Syrian Crisis, some women have assumed the roles of leaders and fighters. In place of their deceased husbands, fathers, and other male family members, many women are finding “their first opportunity for independence and empowerment in the traditionally male-dominated society” (Ashrafi). In particular, a group of Kurdish women, as part of the People’s Protection Movement, have “stayed behind in Northern Syria and taken up arms to rebuild and reclaim their lives (Ashrafi). No longer bound to their homes by duty and religion, these women are educating and empowering themselves in order to effectively fight for their freedom.

Gabriel Gatehouse, writing for BBC News, finds that “Around a third of the Syrian Kurdish force is made up of women. On the front lines they fight alongside the men, taking the same risks and facing the same dangers” (Gatehouse). Only while sacrificing their lives for the freedoms of their people do these women find equality among men. Even still, the mobility and raise in overall status that these women experience is born solely of the shift in gender majority caused by the crisis. These opportunities for equality are limited to the fighting lines, and still provide no true rise in status for women, as a gender.

In regards to the gender implications of the Syrian Civil War, women are more threatened than before, due to displacement, detainment, and the exposure that the shift in gender majority has provided. Conversely, there has been some increase in mobility and equality among Kurdish women fighters in Northern Syria, with many more joining in, and several acquiring positions of leadership. In addition to the Kurdish fighters, many women still living in their decimated cities and suburbs, who have been afforded access to the Internet, have developed a normally-suppressed voice, one that tells of the horrors and crimes going on in this volatile state. Yet, despite these limited cases of gender mobility, the effects of the Syrian Civil War on the overall patriarchal Arab system have been minimal, and have primarily served to support increased gender limitations on women.

Works Cited

Ashrafi, Maryam. “Meet The Brave Women Fighting ISIS in Syria.” Huffington Post. March 9, 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kurdish-women-fighting-isis_us_56e05e98e4b065e2e3d46569. Accessed 9/20/2016.

Erhaim, Zaina. “Inside rebel-held Aleppo: As war continues to rage, women are finding ways to stay connected.” www.medium.com. https://medium.com/not-evenly-distributed/inside-rebel-held-aleppo-as-war-continues-to-rage-women-are-finding-ways-to-stay-connected-4216687ef637#.votcnfr42. Accessed 9/21/2016.

Gatehouse, Gabriel. “The Kurdish female fighters bringing the fight to IS.” BBC News. September 5, 2014. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29085242. Accessed 9/18/2016.

Margolis, Hillary. “Women and the War in Syria.” July 21, 2014. Fpif.org. http://fpif.org/women-war-syria/. Accessed 9/20/2016

Rodgers, Lucy, Gritten, David, Offer, James and Asare, Patrick. “Syria: The story of the conflict.” BBC News. March 11, 2016.  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26116868. Accessed 9/19/2016.

“Syria conflict: Civilians under siege.” BBC News. January 7, 2016. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35250772. Accessed 9/19/2016.

“Syria’s Women, Many Raped in Refugee Centres, Long to Return Home.” Huffington Post. October 26, 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/10/26/syria-women-rape_n_4166185.html. Accessed 9/21/2016.