You don’t need to write them down regularly if you don’t wish to, even though this is recommended.

At least, learn how to translate the intriguing dreams that will make you wonder about their meaning. Usually these are the most important ones.

Many times a single, small dream can reveal so much about you, other people or about the problems that most worry you, that this knowledge is a real salvation. For more details visit to www.joint-venture-guide.com .You’ll know if the person you love really loves you, if you’ll really be successful in your work, if your future plans will come true and if not, what you have to do to make things develop the way that you desire.

You many need to change your mind about someone or something that you desire, after learning the truth you have ignored that seemed to be so good, but in fact is not.

However, the dream warning will save your life and prevent you from getting involved with the wrong person or spend your money, time and energy in the wrong business.

This way your mental health will be preserved, because a person becomes crazy exactly when they cannot posses whom or what they most desire: this is the perfect opportunity for the wild side of their conscience to imprison them in the labyrinth of craziness.

Craziness is threatening you all the time, only because you inherited a wild, evil and violent conscience, the anti-conscience, that wants to destroy your human side and because you live in a crazy world governed by terrorism, violence, immorality and hypocrisy, where everyone is constantly dominated by their anti-conscience.

You need protection, indispensably!

If you are intelligent and you realize how tragic in fact is the reality for the human being, you must care about the information you can have translating your own dreams.

Your dreams are confused and incomprehensible to your eyes because you don’t know how to properly translate their symbolic language. As soon as you start understanding the dream language however, things become simpler and you start collecting the benefits from this occupation. To know more logon to www.jointwebventures.com .I even wrote a special e-book concerning the interpretation of dreams about the person you love, using the examples of the people that have participated in my summer offer up to now (I already have too much material), with the basic dream symbols related to love matters, in order to show you how easy it is to interpret dreams about the person you love, because they are the clearer ones.

This e-book will be available soon. It’s being revised now.

Of course, you may send me your dreams for free professional dream interpretation and psychotherapy, the summer is not over. Your dreams will be part of another e-book, about how dream interpretation helps everyone overcome their mental illness and simpler problems, which I’m still writing, even if your dream is about a love matter.

I wrote this e-book separately, exactly because the dreams concerning the person you love are very simple and you must know that.

The unconscious mind tries to show you the truth in the simplest form, exactly because these dreams are the most important ones for you!

The Many Realms of Trauma

Bob Bornt, LMFT

UCLA conference on Trauma

During the recent “Current Approaches to the Treatment of Trauma” conference held at UCLA, reference was made to a variety of environmental realms of experience and psychophysiological states that can precipitate trauma and may result in PTSD. The body’s neural relationship to the brain received considerable attention – through discussion of the vagal nerve’s function with trauma. Continual reference was also made to the three general parts of the brain: the neo-cortical structures (new brain), the mid-brain functional structures (old mammalian brain), and the forebrain subcortical relay structures together with the brainstem nuclei (brain core or reptilian brain), which provided the framework for making sense of it all.

Ultimately, the perspectives and conclusions of the conference helped me define aspects of trauma’s effects and processes of resolution critical to my work with active duty military and veterans struggling with the experiences of war and long deployment.  Research information regarding the traumatic impact on the brainstem and affect relay structures of the forebrain was particularly illuminating. Consideration of this information may account for the inefficiencies in mental health services for military members.

Military members, as a whole, are resilient and trained to survive under stress. Nonetheless, news accounts and testimony before Congress reveal that a massive number of individuals are struggling to manage the impact war and long deployment. They are not showing up at mental health facilities for support. When they do, they rarely continue.

I have felt a continuing dissonance regarding the conference research information and the presentations of its clinical application. My experience with military clients has formed a perspective that differs somewhat from the clinical interpretations presented at the conference. The behavior of military and veteran clients in response to various approaches to therapy can be one efficient barometer for treatment evaluations.

Schema

The current understanding of brain processes may offer an understanding of this dissonance and potential for an adaptation of clinical perspectives. We know the brain stores information about “objects and concepts” in neural clusters or schemas in the cortex so that recognition and response to new stimulus flows more efficiently. Activities in the brain get increasingly energized when incoming concepts are incongruent with schema already structured in the brain. The unexpected or excessive use of energy involved in making sense of incoming data in relation to existing schema increases the perception of risk.

Thus, automatic survival systems may defend against what is coming if it is too foreign by utilizing adaptive patterns to interpret, design or simply deny new objects or concepts – to avoid increased risk.  These defenses appear to be subtle systems organized by higher brain intellect and function, although they are part of the overall neurological survival mechanism.

Brain Map

While there is no precise map of the brain’s function on its structure, the most recent research, using fMRI scanning, is illuminating the processes of both traumatic impact on the brain’s deepest structures and the potential for healing.  Bessel van der Kolk, Boston University School of Medicine, presented the most dramatic information delineating how extreme trauma induces limitations in the processes of the subcortical and brainstem regions of the brain, specifically a shrinking of the thalamus. This is the area where almost all sensory impulses are relayed for functional processing and interpretation and/or integrated for functioning of the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system (ANS) through the reticular formation.

Conference discussions of this particular area of the brain seemed to excite everyone’s interest. However, clinical presentations of treatment potentials seemed to edit the potential for van der Kolk’s research in order to conform to their own particular schemas where they remained focused on the cognitive/decisive and/or the functional emotion/memory structures of the brain. In particular, there were many references to similarities between subcortical processes and the integration processes which occur during REM sleep. Yet, in presentation, a strong adherence appeared to remain in the schema that secure attachment, efficient affect regulation and integration are mutually dependent. They may well be in certain realms and aspects of trauma recovery, especially relationship based trauma.

However, the process of integrating life experiences during REM sleep, where social engagement functions may be “off-line”, truly excited my interest, especially for working with the impact of war on our young warriors, where sleep deprivation and unintegrated experience are signature PTSD phenomena. This information, combined with my experience with military clients, fortifies my belief that it is possible for efficient affect regulation to be a result of an increase in coherent integration.

The Researchers

Researchers Bessel van der Kolk, Steven Porges, and Allan Schore presented detailed neurobiological information about the regulation of affect and integration of experience, describing how sensory affect from the body moves through the base brain and is relayed on by functional structures in the right-brain hemisphere where it is integrated – bundled with space, time, sound, sight, etc., into the left-brain and cortical regions where it is categorically stored. The most important quality of storage, in relation to trauma recovery, seemed to be autobiographical memory. It is important to note a distinction here. Memory is complex and distributed throughout the cortex. Autobiographical memory appears to be unique regarding the representation of one’s self in history. Qualities of this representation, both stored and attempting integration into storage, are vital aspects of effective integration and the resolution of traumatic experience.

If during an experience, sensory stimulated affect is not regulated within a tolerable range (conducive to survival) at each level of the integrative process, due to interpretations, comparisons, or innate response to threat, regulation capacities are altered or adapted. As the degree of life threat increases, brain neuro-processes inhibit intellectual, then cognitive, then emotional, and then relay capacity leaving the core to shut down and prepare for death. Fortunately, the process can reverse quite rapidly with functionally developed structures returning to homeostasis.

It is also clear that experience becomes traumatic when brain structures fail to fully recover and perform once threat has passed. When they are impacted in ways that persist, they continue to cause adaptations or dysregulation of new and ongoing sensory stimulated affect.  Research is continuing to discover the specifics of stress impact on the body/mind. One important element that seems obvious in military PTSD, especially in light of van der Kolk’s research regarding trauma’s impact on the thalamus and brainstem, is the prolonged and persistent compression to these areas during military duty. Right-brain capacity has long been the focus of relational therapies, but research and treatment must begin to consider what explosions and whiplash do to brain core capacity.

New DSM classification for PTSD

Among other enlightenment, van der Kolk presented his research as co-principal investigator of the DSM V Field Trials for PTSD. The results identified a clear difference between childhood developmental trauma disorders and those associated with experiences in adulthood. Dr. van der Kolk and his collaborative team have presented a proposal to establish a classification for Developmental Traumatic Disorder, separate from the current adult onset trauma diagnosis, in the upcoming DSM V.

His findings have significant meaning for working with a military population, who frequently have both early development and wartime traumas. The additional potential for pre-enlistment trauma of childhood compounds treatment and may very well require extreme sensitivity and flexibility in treatment perspectives.

New Perspective for Military PTSD

Effective treatment may even require new perspectives, which include the impact of an intense single episode, the prolonged exposure to life threat, and the potential for physical compression and injury of the base brain in war.  Treatment can get increasingly complex with the comorbidity of multiple realms of trauma.

In addition, another unique issue regarding functional trauma must be considered. Marines and their families have addressed the importance of this in many interviews with me. They have expressed disdain for their therapeutic experiences and report that therapy is all about the therapist, and simply state that, “Therapy does not work!”  It is extremely important to consider what this means without prejudice.  Military-service induced PTSD, regardless of comorbidity, has a different feel to it when explained from the client’s perspective. And it certainly feels different to me, as a therapist working with active duty and veteran clients.

The realms of cultural difference and training between military, veteran, and civilian clients contribute to treatment barriers, along with the associated stigma of being mentally ill. However, there is also the power of unity and the intricacies of trust. Unity seems to be the least understood realm of military culture for caregivers, and it seems to be the catalyst creating a deepening, traumatic discontent for therapy by those who serve.

The quality of unity in military culture is like that of tribes, clans, and family. Unity knows no border and persists beyond death. At the core of unity is trust. Trust arises out of the capacity to rely on and maintain consistent action. It is a functional process of the brain where efficiency, and thus safety, comes from the brain’s capacity to match incoming data with existing clusters of knowing. A Marine can despise his command, yet he will trust his life to him. A soldier can trust his enemy – when the enemy maintains convention.  It is an innately driven phenomenon, which requires a unique environment. Experience has shown me that military clients will also trust a therapist when their ethos is not violated.

Relational Trust

Military training, especially for Marines, is one of strength and resilience. They are trained to “suck it up and take care of it,” and to only rely on their fellow Marines. Significant attachments are created at the social, emotional, and core survival levels. Trust is embedded and nearly instinctual, even for those discharged in grievance.

Attachments developed during military training and deployments, along with the corresponding trust, can present barriers to efficient treatment. While many are finding help in treatment, they are the tip of the iceberg. The body of the iceberg is not showing up at VA hospitals and clinics. They are going it alone (as a group), bonding in bars, jails, and in underground meetings. Unfortunately, evidence is showing they are not healing the wounds of war.

Decompression

Rest after wartime experience and long deployment is critical for efficient and effective treatment. Rest, neurological rest, happens when there is time and space for the greater neural systems and processes of the body/mind to decompress, to disengage from the job of survival (including the obligation to maintain relationships) and embrace an opportunity to recover and play. Porges delineated the difference between the energetic expressions of play and those of survival. Play invigorates and builds regulatory systems through positive, social interaction, while survival requires limiting and exhausting effort.

My great concern and frustration for military clients is that they do not have time to rest, decompress, sleep, or play. The debriefings after tour are exhausting and family reunions demanding. Individually and as a whole, their complete neurologic structure is stressed to the extreme. They are often deprived of sleep by duty and the realities of operational stress, where normal integration during REM sleep in prohibited. This compounds any injury to brain processes, which have occurred due to concussion and brainstem injury 

Neurobiological research clearly reveals that the stress load of a negative experience elevates the release of stress-related neural chemicals, particularly from the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis (HPA). These chemicals are designed to inhibit natural integrative processes. They especially target limbic system, and affect heart rate variability. Some of the neural chemicals released during stress heighten sensory systems as a means of detecting further threat, others increase the body’s readiness to react/respond, while still others shut down life support systems and prepare for death. One signature of PTSD is that all three may be happening at the same time. No effective treatment can occur while there is a barrage of heightened activity in the neurosystem. That state of mind is loaded with uncertainty and risk.  Decompression is essential.

New Locus of Traumatic Impact

Bessel van der Kolk’s latest research revealed that these stress chemicals also cause havoc in forebrain structures, particularly the thalamus. Extreme stress appears to cause the thalamus to shrink, which in turn inhibits its ability to adequately relay information from the brain stem’s sensory/motor receptor system and between other brain structures. What information it does relay is theoretically disorganized or fractured.

Inconsistent or disregulated information from an impaired thalamus and ­­would most certainly create distortions in the amygdala and hippocampus capacity to process emotions and memory for interpretation and longer-term storage in cortical regions. The limbic system appears to be the heart of trauma’s expression. What van der Kolk’s research is implying is critical because brain structures build and organize experience based upon each other, influenced by the initial quality of the information relayed from their foundation.

The reticular formation’s activating system maintains the cerebral cortex in an alert, conscious state, and filters out repetitive stimuli. The information traveling through its long fibers to the cortex is regulated through the thalamus. Van der Kolk also noted disruptions in space and time qualities of experiences, which he attributed to stress-induced structural inhibitions

Any dysregulation in the structural functions responsible for space and time integration into memory may account for the sense of continuous experience many veterans report – where space and time are not a quality of memory.

Evidence is building to support the concept that aspects of war impact the base brain and subcortical processing structures Van der Kolk describes. The fragmentation or dysregulation of information in the thalamus is a very important new understanding.

However, the brain has been shown to regenerate its capacity, but without decompression these structures have an extreme challenge to regain capacity and efficiently relay affective impulses of experience on towards effective integration. The war will go on in the body/mind 40 years later without the opportunity to regenerate.

Coping Systems

Porges referred to a natural drive to integrate experience.  At best, it is a fluid process of moving a sense of the life experience from potentially threatening in the present to secure awareness that the experience is truly in the past. When this process is compromised, the neurological structures adapt systems to cope with the difficulties.

Intensity of threat seems to dictate the brain structure in charge. Initially, the primitive brain will inhibit higher brain structures. Beyond immediate threat, emotional/cognitive structures will attempt to get back on line, even while utilizing disregulated information. As threat further diminishes, these structures begin to socialize with the executive left-brain intellect. Together, they modulate higher-level social coping skills (surviving in relationship offers greater efficiency) and interact with the environment – within a tolerable window of affect.

When the natural drive continues to promote potentially disorienting, painful, unregulated experiential affective, coping strategies organize to greater complexity.  And, because both client and therapist may migrate (unintentionally) away from this potential, it is worth considering coping systems as affect that can be contacted and attended to.

Complying and Attaching

Trauma clients, as they have learned to do in their world, rely on adaptive strategies to cope with affect stimulated by even subtle perceptions of threat in therapy. The degree threat perceived sets the tone of coping and the brain structure in charge at the moment. The client’s automatic systems may either ramp up their affect – get agitated or mobilized to create distance, shut down their affect – to disengage or fade away (flat line facial expression), or comply and manipulate – doing what it takes to maintain social connections.

A civilian client whose father used loving kindness to perpetuate incest may have a cultural schema for trusting their male “doctor” and not experience the fear usually stimulated by empathetic (loving) gestures from other adult men. However, the potential for highly refined coping systems to utilize compliance for managing the experience is substantial.

Military clients, on the other hand, appear to be highly alert to stimulus that could activate any change in affect. They (very generally stated here) do not seem to tolerate emotional influence, being especially resistant to the impulse to comply. They have been trained to survive duty through codes of emotional ethics, including training to reject psychic invasion (other than the hierarchy of command).

Military Clients

My experience with military clients suggests there is a significant relationship between a lack of trust and a disdain for therapy created by therapeutic interventions that activate coping/compliance, emoting, or innate systems unexpectedly.  Duty requires a specific state of mind in constantly changing environments.  The offer of a cup of tea or a “thanks for service” comment requires effort to comply (respond).  A simple request to “Take a moment, go inside and notice…” may generally be met with “What the #@& you talking about?” A trained state of mind requires the development of trust. Without trust, there can be no introspection of critical information.

Trust and the capacity to self-discover and self-regulate seems to rank high, along with learning intrapersonal skills they can utilize on their own – back in action (military or civilian). Generally, there is a strong sense of community and hyper-vigilance for agendas and directives, with little tolerance non-military needs.

The VA acknowledges that current war veterans are challenging, as they tend to discontinue care once their percentage disability is confirmed and benefits established. Active duty personnel discharge from care as fast as possible to get back to their units. The majority of our military returning from duty become deeply aware of the reality of their options – complain and a career is thwarted or over.  Suck it up, take care of it within, and survive.

Trust Happens

Trust does seem to be established quite quickly by training military clients to notice affect from their own observing state of mind.  The mind they can relate to as “the part that watches you doing, but doesn’t do anything about it.”  From this place, they can experience a consistent state during introspection and avoid coping or impulsive stimulation.

This process keeps the locus of control within the client, builds trust, often stabilizes regulation, and invites neural clusters representing past experience to process in the present.  Past experience seems to automatically integrate, resulting in a subsequent reduction in affective tone. Panel discussions at the conference suggested that this is the same process of integration that happens in REM sleep.

I have the privilege of inviting warriors into a peaceful garden setting designed to help them decompress.  The setting itself invites their body/brains to relax some of the vigilance that has been their daily state for so long.  Building on this trustworthy environment, they are invited to notice their own state of body and affect.

For example, a Marine veteran, seemingly overwhelmed from experiences in Iraq pre-911, said he drank to cope with a persistent, overwhelming guilt he felt for shooting and burning unknown civilians in a rage after his buddy’s brains were blown into his mouth. His shame and rage filled the therapeutic space. We were instantly stuck in circular affective expressions – coping systems. Any sense I had of connecting through empathy and loving presence (words or no words) was instantly challenged and attacked as invasive: “What are you doing?”

The veteran’s emotions and intellect were all over the place.  However, I noticed a consistent spatial positioning between us, and his left eye seemed to be tracking me. I said, “Painful, huh! I’m wondering if a part of you is aware of your left eye? It seems to be watching me.” Besides appearing baffled, he replied with, “I’m watching you, Bob! I said, “Oh! You see it’s me.” “Yah, I’m wondering what you want.” After a moment I softly suggested, “If, you can trust me!”

He struggled in silence for a while, then began to share that he was flashing back to his childhood and molestation while in foster care. He seemed both enraged and relieved, as the abuse became central in the session. It was important to turn his attention to the “watching eye” because it was an affective expression 1) out of his awareness, 2) potentially requiring enormous energy, which we can think of as distracting noise in his neural system, and 3) appearing to be instinctual or at least survival based.

Later he described his process. The watching was to see if he could trust me. Could he trust me to not invade, seduce, take advantage or manipulate? Could he trust me to be who I appeared to be?  Turning his attention to what he was doing with his eye brought trust into his awareness. When he heard me say, “You see me,” he said he relaxed. And then wham! The foster care memories came flooding in. He told me that what astonished him was that unlike past experiences in therapy, this time he felt like sharing the memories with me.

My sense of it was that first he had to internally calm down in order to integrate the experience of being with me.   Then he felt more trusting, further stabilizing regulation. Thus, the past found an opportunity to integrate, perhaps not fully, yet to a recognizable degree when the defensive systems were quieter.

Triaging Trauma

Military and veterans are often only available for short periods of time in my non-clinical garden/workshop outdoor environment.  The therapeutic work often requires triage – tending to the most critical issue.  In triage, there is a mentoring of efficient affective regulation.  However, the focus is on developing the observing mind and training the client to turn attention to their internal affective expressions.

The purpose is to support their experience of maintaining physio/psychological control while supporting natural drives for the integration of experiences, temporarily disoriented and inhibited by the impact of military duty.  To be efficient, attention must be attuned to affect in the moment with a willingness to turn the client’s attention towards it – in relation to the moment. It might be the specific way a client takes a hammer or stands to the side while walking through a tomato patch.

All expression is considered affect, but clinically it is the core affect that defines what may be organizing the client’s experience. Triage happens as close to the core as possible. The challenge is to track the precise locus/loci of affect. The quality of attention must account for possibility that affect is arising out of innate, emotional or intellectual structures. The client may notice attention as invasive. This usually happens when contact, verbal or radiant, triggers coping systems or automatic impulses.

To triage, the job is to get the distracting neural noise of disregulated affect quieted down by whatever non-violent method is available. Once things quiet down, focus on affect will invite what is driving it into their awareness. This takes faith and trust in the natural impulses of living things to reorganize towards integration and safety.

Think REM sleep!

More information regarding:

The Triage Method see link at www.OperationRecovery.com

The proposed farm www.CGOF.org

Facebook search Bob Bornt – see the “Cause”

Bob Bornt, MFT

310-625-3366

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Language Cosmology

From Anti-Method to Ideolinguistics

Zainurrahman

This short discourse will discuss the very basic principle of language and reality from the philosophy point of view. There are some discourses have discussed about the philosophy of language. In this chance, I will discuss it again but we should try to get the understanding from other point of view. Habitually, philosophy of language is started from how people receive and produce a meaningful language by basing on some philosophy sects such as logical positivism, atomism and so on. Here, I try to find out how language is seen from a pioneer of anti-method thought and relate it with my Ideolinguistics principles. The discourse will be “The Language Cosmology” that discusses about how language and reality fits each other.

Positivism assumes that language is the reflection of reality or picture theory. Feyerabend rejects this positivism assumption. Feyerabend believes that realities are actually depended on the theories. Reality is reflected by a theory. For the example, all things fall down; this reality is understood by theory of gravitation. In other words, there is theory that mediates the understanding of reality. Meanwhile, experience and understanding occur through language. In Ideolinguistics, experience and understanding in daily life will construct idea. It refers to the definition of idea as derivation from eidos (Greek) that mean what is seen or what is recognized (further reading: The Original of Ideolinguistics) and language and idea is an unbreakable couple. Meaning that in language the experience and understanding of reality is occurred.

However, Feyerabend states that language is always limited. Language cannot reflect the totality of experience. People never understand reality purely by utilizing language. Of course, Ideolinguistics believes that here mind plays important role to reconstruct the objective reality to be a subjective reality (imaginary reality). In connection with this, Feyerabend then stated that “No experience which is pure, all is interpreted.”

Feyerabend assumes that there is an absolute mutual relationship between language and human reaction poles. Further, language is not only tooled to recognize facts or reality, but language also sharpening facts, reality or events. In this case, Feyerabend agrees with Benyamin L. Worff that language has certain cosmology that is a comprehensible outlook of world, situation that affects human mind, behavior and perception. In line with this, both Feyerabend and Worff agree with Determinism that human even think through language, human interpret reality through language.

Understanding of reality is relatively affected by culture and theories that basing it. Meanwhile human also percept, interpret and understand reality through language. It is important to keep in mind that theories are constructed in a certain space and time and it can be accepted or rejected in other space and time. Simply, it is very relative and contextual-cultural bound.

A construction of concept (concept of a reality), according to Worff, is closely related to certain culture and world view. Therefore, reality cannot be understood without understanding the language cosmology. It can be said that culture and world view help human to understand reality, however it must be a contextual understanding, not a universal understanding; there are contextual elements that basically affect object interpretation or reality. However, as human language, it must be universal. Reality must be universal for all. Here we should understand first of what the cosmology is.

Cosmology is the philosophical thought of the nature of the universe. Cosmological principle is the uniformity of universe; in any point and any direction, observers should look universe is homogeneous. It means that reality should be seen similarly from one observer to another. In connection with language, as Ideolinguistics believes that human language is universal as their idea. What produced or received by human are words, language is in human idea.

Every people have same idea about fire. They also have same perception about ice. However, when fire and ice is reinterpreted or reconstructed, here the culture plays its role. Fire for some cultures is holy and even sacral. In Islamic paradigm, fire is symbol of hell, and so forth. When fire is reflected by language, it will be defined in words such as fire is hot, etc. Here, words deal with difficulty to give a comprehensive understanding of fire, because some people may have different understanding of fire. Not all reality can be spoken or written by using words. However, human experienced it purely and there is idea about fire in their mind and that is language in Ideolinguistics principle; and every people have the same idea of fire. There are some exceptions, if someone cannot feel or experience fire because he or she has certain disease of skin or something, his idea about fire must be different. However, in this line, we are talking about experienced reality that constructs idea. Thus, inexperienced thing cannot be an idea; and this is out of Ideolinguistics context. Ideolinguistics principle that the primary language is what is seen (picture or gesture) or what is recognizable. Human recognize fire in the same way; touching or seeing it. What is produced to reflect the idea or object interpretation is words and not language.

Language cosmology

Language cosmology is the nature of language movement in fitting with human idea to give meaning to reality. In very early time, human use picture and gesture to communicate or to transfer an interpretation each other. However, they realize reality and interpret it by seeing, observing, and involving the reality in their mind and soul. For example when Abraham saw sun and moon and then he thought that it was God, but then he rejected by said it was not God. It does not really matter how Abraham produced words or in what language Abraham spoke was. The matter is how did Abraham analyze and conclude his observation? Just come back to the background that underlain the history. Abraham was faced with some paganism beliefs that God was the fetish they created. Abraham’s idea about god was from natural and supernatural experience that inspired him to look for the God who creates him. Naturally, he did not see that the fetishes are doing universe or even a mosquito. Supernaturally he felt that there was a calling from his heart. All these are accumulation of experience and reality and these inspire Abraham to find out the truth. His curiosity to find out the truth (at least for himself) made him had to “re-collect” the information from the reality, experience and common sense. Here we can see that Abraham created a dialog between him and himself. He tried to correlate one idea to other, relate one reality to other and one experience to other. Finally he should to explain the correlation, in order to get a conclusion. In his great job he was done, of course, language in his mind would not stop working. He needed to utilize language to correlate all those mentioned above. This is the example how language fits into experience, reality and common sense. Ratio is directed by language, idea and language is a couple; that is the point. In other words, without language (inner language) human cannot correlate idea, experience and reality. Words (outer language or produced language) are also help human to develop and to manage idea beside it function to share or communicate idea. It is obviously seen that there are words in everything in the world, because the things are named by human.

Language Macro-Cosmos

Nowadays, language is associated with words, phrases, sentences, and so forth. Language is also divided into two kinds; spoken language and written language. Based on the function, language is divided into some functions such as imperative, expressive, directive, persuasive, preventive, impressive and so on. The point function that is focused in Ideolinguistics is language direct human to construct and to sharp idea. Ideolinguistics never ignore the absolute relationship between language and idea.

Language forms such as words, phrases, sentences are the macro-cosmos of the language itself. Here, language is associated with the reference. Every form of language has certain association, but language macro-cosmos is more appropriate to be associated with the outer language.

When Abraham saw moon and he said that “This is God”, the word “God” here was associated with “moon”, something out of Abraham self. The phrase or sentence uttered by Abraham above is directly referred to something shining in the sky. The meaning of the utterance is clearly understandable by syntactical analysis and without ignoring the semantics environment when the sentence was uttered. Physical context is also considered to gather the meaning of the sentence. Those are the macro-cosmos of the language.

Language Micro-Cosmos

When Abraham stated or uttered the utterance above, language was working in his mind to correlate one thing to another, his idea was “speaking” to direct him to gather a conclusion. That is what I call language micro-cosmos. If macro-cosmos is the objective universe or objective reality that has been named in words and can be represented by words, language micro-cosmos is the imaginary universe or imaginary reality that is explained by inner language. Someone who is thinking is actually speaking without producing words. Some other one is thinking by speaking to himself by producing words. However, it should be distinguished which one is the macro language and which one is the micro language?

Let us make it easier, look at the example:

Mr. John tells his son to move the table “Michael, please move that table” he points the table. The utterance has direct reference and the utterance is produced. The words “table” refers to the thing pointed by Mr. John. The table of course more exists as the objective reality than imaginary. In this case, Michael tries to analyze the utterance and as an adult he can easily understand it, because he is in the same room with his father. This condition causes the language become “macro” or in other words we can associated the term “macro” with “verbal”. Michael can understand the utterance easily, even without analyzing it. The utterance stated by his father is referred to certain things and it reflects what his father wants to do. I hope it is clear, now we come to the next example.

Mr. Franklin is reading a book, after that he thinks how possible it was flying without wings. He says to himself “I really do not understand how he can fly without wings”. Here, Mr. Franklin is thinking and trying to find out the answer by correlating one idea to another idea. However, the reference (inference) of each inner language in his mind does not have real object. It is more imaginary reality than objective. In this condition the micro-cosmos of language is taking place. From those examples, language can be divided into two cosmoses; they are macro-cosmos (macro-language) and micro-cosmos (micro-language). Micro-language is associated with these aspects: mental, psychological, and idea. Macro-language is associated with these aspects: social environment, real object and verbalism. Furthermore, meaning can be divided into two types; macro-language meaning which is determined by the utterances or outer language, and the micro-language meaning which is determined by idea. It is important to know that although every sign has meaning, but the meaning is never embedded with the sign. Macro-language meaning is conventional and the micro-language meaning is intentional. You can compare this with the theory of langue and parole.

GET YOUR EMAILS OPENED AND READ

The subject line of an email is always the last thing people think about.  It should be the first.

When your email pops up in your recipient’s in box, that person has just a few seconds to decide whether or not to read your message.  Their decision is based entirely on the effectiveness of your subject line.  A few hastily chosen words in the subject line will result in sales unnecessarily lost, potential customers missed and brand recognition wasted.

Here are 12 simple tips to greatly enhance the chance your emails will be opened and read.

1.Short is best:  Three to four words is ideal, never use more than 10 words or 50 characters.

2. Avoid Spam Alerts:  Never put an exclamation point in your subject line.  The exclamation point is very common in spam emails, and the search engines will interpret your email as spam if an exclamation point is in your subject line.  Other words that are interpreted as spam are:  “exclusive,” “free,” “hurry,” “limited time.”  Use a spam filter to check out how your subject line rates to minimize inadvertently including spam type words in your subject line

.

 3. WIIFM:  Always keep in mind the needs of your readers…the “What’s In It for me?” mentality.  Your subject line must briefly describe the message of your email in a way that answers the reader’s question:  “Will this message help me meet my needs, solve a problem, or make my life easier?”

4. Urgency:  Your subject line should contain a sense of urgency.  This will motivate the reader to act now instead of later.  Incorporating a time element into the subject line creates a sense of urgency.  For example:  “Orders received by this Friday receive a 25% discount.”

5. Unique:   Make your subject line unique.  This approach presents your message as containing something new and different.  For example, “Discover why Scandinavian vitamins make you feel five years younger, “as opposed to “Scandinavian vitamins enhance your energy.”

6. Specific:  Be very specific in a way that will make your readers think “now what does THAT mean?”  You could have fun with this approach.  Here is an example:  “Best time of day to ask for a raise,” or “5 things not to put in your baby’s diaper bag.”

7.  Precise:  Provide precise information.  If you’re inviting someone to a meeting, say:  “Invitation:  End-of-Year Conference, New York, Dec. 1” instead of a bland “End of Year Conference.”

8. Detail:  Provide details that let the reader know what you’re talking about immediately.  If your message requires a reader’s response, say so…within the first one to two words.  For example, “Response needed for project approval.”

 9. Tease:  A cleverly worded subject line is sure to get a reader’s attention and pique their curiosity.  If you’re selling eye glasses, for example, your subject line could say “You won’t believe your eyes!”

 10. Test:  Test your email on a small segment of your market to evaluate the effectiveness of your subject line prior to sending out a mass email campaign.  This will give you the opportunity to adjust your subject line copy if necessary.  Many companies test the effectiveness of their emails this way:  Three days before they launch an email campaign, they’ll send up to five of their best subject lines to a small segment of their mailing list.  Twenty four hours later, review the open rates and conversation rates to determine which subject lines were the most effective  

11.  Name recognition:  People are more inclined to open an email from someone they know and are familiar with.  For example, if a reader subscribed to your Ezine entitled “5 Ways to Train Your Dog,” your subject line might include the words “Dog Training Tips.”  This will remind the reader that they did sign up for your Ezine and make them more inclined to open it instead of deleting it.

12. From Line: Incorporate name recognition into the “From” line.  Let’s use the “5 Ways to Train Your Dog” example above.  Your “From” line may read:  “http:www.5waystotrainyourdog.com.”  This frees up your subject line to highlight a specific tip in your email copy.

In addition to the 12 tips listed above, here are five additional ways to write effective subject lines. Bob Bly, one of the most successful copywriters out there today, suggests these five tips to boost the success of your subject line:

1.       Put a number in your subject line.  When readers see a number, it arouses their curiosity and they’re more apt to open your email.  For example:  “7 Ways to Do X”.

2.      Be mysterious, arouse curiosity, hint at what you’re offering in your email but withhold the answer.  The recipient has to open the email to find out exactly what you’re talking about.  Mr. Bly gives this example, which generated 392 orders for an eBook he wrote:  “The Easiest Product To Sell Online”

3.      Make a big promise that gets the recipient’s attention.  Putting a question mark after the promise can help address the reader’s inherent skepticism.  For example:  “Get paid $22,500 to write a letter?”

4.      As a question that the reader wants to answer.  For example:  “Is There a Book inside You?”

5.        Offer to reveal some secrets.  Secrets are powerful word in a headline and lost secrets are even more intriguing.  For example, “3 Lost Secrets of a Winning USP”.   Also putting quotes around text in headline or subject line increases readership.

In conclusion, the best way to ensure that your emails will be opened is to provide precise, concise, thought provoking subject lines support by a message that offers a quality product, valuable information and good pricing.

–Emily Foshee

November 2008

Emily Foshee is a freelance copywriter with more than 20 years of marketing communications experience.  She has worked for numerous Fortune 500 corporations including Centex, Pizza Hut and Sprint.

These debates basically revolve around few basis presumptions. The fundamental presumption is that the Tribunal is not a Court. Hence the powers of the Courts are not available to the Tribunal. Since it is not a Court, it has no inherent powers. The Tribunal is a mere fact finding body, it cannot order anything apart from what has been stated in the statute. It cannot order anything in the name of doing complete justice. The Tribunal cannot enforce its orders like a Court, which can enforce its decrees. Tribunal is a creature of a statute and hence it cannot go beyond the words of the statute.

These are very valid questions. And these questions must have been settled by authorative pronouncements. Unfortunately these issues have not been examined by the higher Judiciary in a holistic manner. Such uncertainty results in contradictory decisions regularly, which undermines the very basis of rule of law. Such contradictions breed contempt in the mind of the citizens against the law. It clearly shows that injustice has been done to at least some persons. The law does not believe a witness, who speaks contradictory things in the witness box, how can it expects the citizens to believe the law enforcing mechanism which speaks contradictory things on issues as basic as powers and jurisdictions of courts and tribunals? We need to seriously ponder over the issue. Moreover the legislatures, which amend the Customs and Central Excise law regularly during budget has never felt the need to clarify the issue. After all, budget is all about money; justice can always wait!

Tribunal and Court:

It is said that Tribunal is not a Court. Let us try to define the term Court. This term has not been defined in any of the statutes, hence we have to rely upon the definition of the term given by the judicial determinations. On the basis of judicial ruling in case of S D Ghatage v. State of Maharashtra [AIR 1977 Bom 384], these are the basic characteristics of a Court,

(a). It is an adjudicating body.

(b). It performs a judicial function of rendering definite judgments having finality.

(c). The judgment binds the parties litigating before it.

(d). They derive their power from the state.

On the basis of these characteristics the tribunal is a court. Why only the tribunal, on the basis of these characteristics even Commissioner (Appeals) or an adjudicating Assistant Commissioner is a Court. And the author is of the view that this is the true interpretation of the term “court”. Thus the word court includes an Income Tax Collector when engaged in hearing objections to an assessment under Income Tax Act [3 SLR 66]. An Election Commissioner is a Court as held in Dr. Shyamakant Verma v. Harishankar Prasad [AIR 1954 Pat. 65]. The Commissioner under Workmen’s Compensation Act is a Court [AIR 1960 Bom 387]. Labour courts and Industrial Tribunals are Courts [AIR 1986 Guj. 209]. A Sales Tax officer is a court [State v. Kantilal Mangallal]. A tehsiladar is a Court [AIR 1966 All. 124]. The Supreme Court held, in Brajnandan Sinha v. Joty Narain [AIR 1956 SC 66],

“Since Officers on special duty perform judicial functions and have been empowered to render definite decisions-decisions which have finality and authoritativeness so as to bind the parties and they derive their authority to dispose off the disputes judicially from the state directly from the statute, such officers are courts.”

This author is aware of another set of many judgments, which decides in a contradictory manner about the same authorities. Therefore this author is of the view that the issue needs to be decided authoritatively by the Supreme Court. However, one thing is clear-the term court cannot be decided on the basis of nomenclature of the authorities, it has to be decided on the basis of substantial functions performed by the authority. When we examine the Tribunal on the basis of functions performed by it, undoubtably it is a court.

Powers of Tribunal:

The often-repeated quotation is that  “the tribunal is a creature of statute and hence it cannot go beyond the statute.” This quotation is very true in the sense that every authority is a creature of statute and cannot go beyond statutes. When we see that even the Constitution is a statute, even high Constitutional authorities are bound by the statutory provisions of the Constitution. It is merely a fundamental feature of the “Rule of Law”. Why only that, even the high Constitutional authorities are bound by ordinary statutory provisions- isn’t the President of India is bound by the provisions of the Customs Act, which has created the Tribunal. Thus the quotation is merely an universal truth and cannot be used to decide the power of the tribunal. Hence this quotation cannot be a reason to give or deny any power to the Tribunal.

Nevertheless, the powers of the Tribunal have to be seen in the Act only, which has created it in the very first place. It is the act only, which confers powers on the tribunal. However we must keep in mind that the tribunal is a judicial body and hence provisions, giving power to the Tribunal, are required to be interpreted in the same manner as any other Act giving power to a judicial body is interpreted.

When we see the wordings of the Section 129B of the Customs Act, 1962 it says that “the Tribunal can pass such order as it deems fit, confirming, modifying or annulling the decision or order appealed against”. Further the Section makes provision for remand of order/decision too. On a narrow interpretation, it appears that the Tribunal is empowered to order only these things, which are specifically mentioned. Further Section 129B(7) says that the Tribunal shall have power of a Civil Court in respect of certain mentioned matter. Interpreting strictly, it means that the Tribunal can pass only such order confirming, modifying, annulling or remanding the order appealed against and the tribunal has only such power with respect of things mentioned in the Section 129B(7). Negatively we can say that the Tribunal cannot pass an order not mentioned in the Section and it doesn’t have power vested in a court with respect of things not mentioned in sub-section (7).

If we interpret the Section liberally, as any statute conferring jurisdiction is interpreted, it is clear that mere mention of certain items does not exclude the power of the Tribunal from other areas. Thus mere mention of four items in the sub-section (7) cannot imply that the Tribunal has no power with respect to any fifth item. Such questions have been raised a number of times before the higher judiciary and the Courts have always answered affirmatively.

The Supreme Court held in Bhopal Sugar v. ITO [AIR 1961 SC 182] that the decisions of Tribunal are binding on the lower authorities. It may be mentioned that the Act is silent on the binding effect of the orders of the Tribunal. The Act is silent on the issue of judicial descipline but the Supreme Court has affirmed that in case of UOI v. Kamalakshi Finance Corporation [1991 (55) ELT 433 (SC)]. Although the Tribunal is said to be a fact finding authority, it was held that the decision of the Tribunal will be binding on question of law also and also in subsequent period as held in Indo National Ltd. v. CCT [(2004) 136 STC 586 (AP HC FB)]. Although the law is silent as to what happens when there is inconsistency between a Tribunal’s order and Board’s order, Bombay high Court held in Century Rayon v. UOI [2002 (142) ELT 319 (Bom HC DB)] that the order od CESTAT will prevail.

Tribunal can recall an order passed ex-parte as held in JK Synthetics v. CCE [1996 (86) ELT 472 (SC)]. It may be mentioned that the act is silent on power to recall order passed ex-parte. Tribunals are empowered to impose adjournment costs as held in Rahul Enterprises v. CST [(1999) 115 STC 282 (Del HC DB)]. Quasi-judicial authorities have inherent power to dismiss a case on the ground of abuse of process of law as held in New India Insurance Co. v. K Srinivasan [2000 (2) SCALE 131]. Tribunals are empowered to pass interim orders to secure the ends of justice as held in CC v. Madras Electro Casting [1994 (71) ELT 646 (Mad HC DB)]. Supreme Court has unequivocally held that the Tribunals have power to execute their own orders in the case of State of Karnataka v. Vishwabharati [2003 SCW 558]. The Court held the same view in Savitri v. Govind Singh [AIR 1986 SC 984].

It may be mentioned that on these points the Act is silent and inspite of that the Courts have held that the tribunal is empowered to do that. In Grindlay’s Bank v. Central Govt. Indistrial Tribunal [AIR 1981 SC 606], the Supreme Court held that,

“ A Tribunal should be construed to be endowed with such ancillary and incidental powers as are necessary to discharge its function effectively to do justice between the parties, unless there is any indication in the statute to the contrary.” The Supreme Court held in UOI v. Paras Laminates [1990 (49) ELT 322 (SC)],

“There is no doubt that the Tribunal functions as a court within the limits of its jurisdiction. It has all the powers conferred expressly by the statute. Furthermore, being a judicial body, it has all those incidental and ancillary powers which are necessary to make fully effective the express grant of statutory powers. Certain powers are recognised as incidental and ancillary, not because they are inherent in the Tribunal, nor because its jurisdiction is plenary, but because it is the legislative intent that the power which is expressly granted in the assigned field of jurisdiction is efficaciously and meaningfully exercised. The powers of the Tribunal are no doubt limited. Its area of jurisdiction is clearly defined, but within the bounds of its jurisdiction, it has all the powers expressly and impliedly granted. The implied grant is, of course, limited by the express grant and, therefore, it can only be such powers as are truly incidental and ancillary for doing all such acts or employing all such means as are reasonably necessary to make the grant effective. As stated in Maxwell on Interpretation of Statutes, (eleventh edition) “where an Act confers a jurisdiction, it impliedly also grants the power of doing all such acts, or employing such means, as are essentially necessary to its execution.”

It is clear from these binding judgments that the Tribunal can exercise all powers necessary to do justice except those powers prohibited in the statute. Thus a tribunal cannot have a power against the express provisions of the statute as held in CIT v. Anjum M H Ghaswala [2001 AIR SC 4318].

Tribunal has a power to do Justice:

The above quoted judgments clearly show one thing- the Tribunal has power to do justice. Power to do justice is a plenary power and any authority which has power to do justice must have all powers necessary to do justice. If it is said that the Tribunal has no power to justice, i.e. the only power it has to either confirm or modify or annul the order appealed against, then the jurisdiction of civil court is open in the matters of Customs and Central Excise as a forum of justice cannot be denied to the citizens. Either the Tribunal has to do justice or people can approach courts for justice and judicial determination of the issues related to these fields.

Let us see this question- can Tribunal award cost? The answer is unequivocal yes. Or we have to say that the Tribunal has no power to award cost and hence the litigant should fight their cases in Tribunal but approach the Civil Courts for cost proceeding. This interpretation is leading to menifest absurdity and cannot be accepted as a judicial interpretation.

Once it is accepted that the Tribunal has power to do justice, then it has all powers to do justice, which is not against the express provisions of the statute. In R K Jain v. UOI [1993 (65) ELT 305 (SC)], the court has examined the issue in such details as to ensuring people faith the Tribunal’s adjudication, its independence etc.

It may be seen that as per Section 129B(6) of the Act, the Tribunal has been given power to regulate its own procedure, of course subjects to the provisions of the Act. This is a very broad power. It imply that in matters where the Act is silent, the Tribunal shall have powers to decide its own procedure. Thus, it is the tribunal which has to decide whether it has power to award cost or not, or how can it enforce its orders. The tribunal has framed Rules under this Section, but those Rules too leave many questions unanswered. A clarification on the issue is long overdue.

The Quran contains an abundance of imagery, Many Quranic images are conveyed literally. These constitute descriptive imagery whereby they clarify or give a vivid picture of something. Then, there is figurative imagery, which are conveyed by figurative language, such as in metaphors, similes, symbols, etc. The figurative language used in the Quran, its metaphors, similes, symbols, etc., can certainly be looked at in more detail. Translators of the English language translations of the Quran, in striving to put across the closest meaning they can of the original Quran, do not neglect to use figurative language effectively.

Muhammad Asad explains the need for the use of imagery in the Quran.

This being so, it is not enough for man to be told, “If you behave righteously in this world, you will attain to happiness in the happiness in the life to come”, or alternatively, “If you do wrong in this world, you will suffer for it in the hereafter”. Such statements would be far too general and abstract to appeal to man’s imagination and, thus, to influence his behaviour. What is needed is a more direct appeal to the intellect, resulting in a kind of “visualization” of the consequences of one’s conscious acts and omissions and such an appeal can be effectively produced by means of metaphors, allegories and parables, each of them stressing, on the one hand, the absolute dissimilarity of all that man will experience after resurrection from whatever he did or could experience in this world; and, on the other hand, establishing means of comparison between these two categories of experience (Asad, 1980:990).

A judgement sample of verses was taken from a few different surah. Two index categorization books were used for this selection: Tafsil Ayat AlQuran AlHakim by Jol Labom (Labom,1963) and AlMustadrak by Edward Montet (Montet,1963). Both these books were translated by Mohamed Fouad Abdul Baqui and have a systematic listing of Quranic verses according to topics (eg. Heaven, Hell, Justice, etc.). Under Heaven, there are altogether 258 verses mentioned in 58 surah (chapters of the Quran). Under Hell, there are altogether 144 verses mentioned in 35 surah. The verses to be dealt with in this paper are:

XXXVII Surah As-Saffat (Those Ranged in Ranks), verses 62-68, 74 from Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s English language translation of the meaning of the Quran. This paper first provides a brief explanation and discussion of each verse to familiarize the reader with the basic meaning of the verse. The technique and the exemplary Quranic images (text) will then be presented in this paper:

Technique: Illustrating and Designing

Source: Pictures for Language Learning by Andrew Wright (Wright,1989)

Text: Verses 62-68, 74 of Surah As-Saffat

Source: The Holy Quran by Abdullah Yusuf Ali (Abdullah,1983)

THE DISCUSSION OF SELECTED QURANIC IMAGES 

Verses 62-62 of Surah As-Saffat tell us what awaits the wrongdoers:

62.              Is that the better entertainment

                   Or the Tree of Zaqqum?

63.              For We have truly

                   Made it (as) a trial

                    For the wrong-doers

64.               For it is a tree

                   That springs out

                   Of the bottom of Hell-fire:

65.              The shoots of its fruit-stalks

                   Are like the heads of devils:

66.              Truly they will eat thereof

                   And fill their bellies therewith

67.              Then on top of that

                   They will be given

                   A mixture made of

                   Boiling water

68.              Then shall their return

                   Be to the (Blazing) Fire.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali explains about the Tree of Zaqqum which exists only in Hell: “this bitter tree of Hell is a symbol of contrast with the beautiful Garden of Heaven with its delicious fruits” (1199).

A truly horrid picture of Hell is given by the chain of torture that revolves around the Tree of Zaqqum.

Verse 64 tells the readers that it is a tree that grows at the bottom of Hell. “Springs out” gives one the feeling that it is a thing unwanted and unpleasant, in a milder sense, like weeds in a garden. In contrast, one can picture the difference between the lively greenery in the garden and the bitter tree in Hell.

Verses 65-66 further describe this evil tree. The ugly fruits of this tree in Hell are described through a simile, “like the heads of devils”. This image strongly contrasts the lovely fruits in Heaven, or even the fruits that one is familiar with on earth. What horrid-looking fruits are in Hell and how bitter they must taste, too.

Verses 67-68 tell that after the sinners eat these bitter fruits of Zaqqum, they will be given a mixture of boiling water to drink as a further punishment. The readers can feel this humiliating and painful ordeal after which they return to the fire again. This makes one feel the chain of calamities of steps of horrors that the sinners have to go through. It seems unending.

The senses affected are visual, tactile and gustatory.

 The 2 lines in Verse 74 of Surah As-Saffat tell us that all shall suffer……

74.              Except the sincere (and devoted)

                   Servants of God.

There are only two lines that tell us what the believers will not go through. These two lines manage succinctly to give one a sense of relief and satisfaction that doing good on earth will indeed pay off in the end. As Abdullah Yusuf Ali puts it, “unrighteousness and wrong-doing never prosper in the long run” (1200).

THE INTRODUCTORY LESSON ON IMAGERY

There is a need for an introductory lesson on imagery since there are certain aspects of imagery that the students need to know and understand before they can fully participate in class discussions or attempt any of the written assignments. A teacher can devise his/her own introductory lesson on imagery according to the level of language competence of his/her group of students.

Thus, for this case study, it must be kept in mind that the group of participants is of the preintermediate English proficiency level. Careful selection of a suitable technique and level of difficulty of the text must be done. Consequently, activities that help to enhance the four language skills are also thought of.

A suggested written assignment after an introductory lesson on imagery is: Make sentences using the three literary devices and explain how and why the simile, metaphor and symbol are used. State the senses that are affected by each image.

The written assignment will be used as basis for gauging whether or not the students have understood the lesson.

LESSON PLAN ON IMAGERY

Technique: Illustrating and Designing

Text:Verses 62-68,74 of Surah As-Saffat

Level: PreIntermediate (undergraduate)

Duration: One Hour

Objectives: Develop in students the ability to:

1)  Identify and/or locate the images in the verses.

2)  Recognize and distinguish between the 2 types of imagery :

              i)   Descriptive imagery

              ii)  Figurative imagery and the literary devices used

3)  State which senses are affected .

4)  Draw/sketch the images.

5)  Use the four skills:

 i)   Speaking : Not done.       

ii)   Listening : Done in listening to the verses read by the teach­er.

iii)  Writing : Not done.

iv)  Reading : Not done.

The teacher can start the lesson by recapitulating the (previous) introductory lesson on imagery. Allow 15 minutes for this.

In the technique, Illustrating and Designing, the students are allowed to express themselves imaginatively not in verbal or written work or by reading but by listening and then drawing, sketching and colouring their interpretation of what is read to them. The students are told beforehand to bring coloured pencils.

The level of suitability for this technique would be elementary level English language class students (undergraduate) at an Islamic institutions.

The original text used for this technique was replaced with Quranic images of Heaven and Hell selected from Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s English language translation of the meaning of the Quran: Verses 62-68, 74 of Surah As-Saffat. The teacher begins by distributing the copies of the verses. The teacher then informs the students that these verses that they are about to study are from Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s English language translation of the meaning of the Quran, specifically, Verses 62-68 of Surah As-Saffat. The teacher tells the students that these verses are about Hell. The teacher reads these verses :

62.              Is that the better entertainment

                   Or the Tree of Zaqqum?

63.              For We have truly

                   Made it (as) a trial

                    For the wrong-doers

64.              For it is a tree

                    That springs out

                    Of the bottom of Hell-fire:

65.              The shoots of its fruit-stalks

                    Are like the heads of devils:

66.              Truly they will eat thereof

                    And fill their bellies therewith

67.              Then on top of that

                   They will be given

                   A mixture made of

                   Boiling water

68.              Then shall their return

                   Be to the (Blazing) Fire.

The teacher will now ask the students to focus on the sever­al images that are projected in these verses.

Verse 64 line 1-3:        For it is a tree                                                

                                    That springs out                                           

                                    Of the bottom of Hell-fire

What type of imagery? Descriptive imagery.

This image gives a vivid description of the location of the tree of Zaqqum and compares its growth process to that of weeds.

Senses: visual.

One can also imagine seeing this horrid tree in Hell.

Verse 65, lines 1-3:     The shoots of its fruit-stalks

                                    Are like the heads                                                            

                                    Of devils

What type of imagery? Figurative Imagery using the literary device: simile.

The word “like” tells one that a simile is being used to compare the shoots to devils’ heads.

Senses: visual.

This image gives a vivid picture in our minds of how evil-looking fruits of this tree in Hell are.

Verse 66, lines 1-2:     Truly they will eat thereof

                                    And fill their bellies therewith

What type of Imagery? Descriptive imagery.

This image tells one that the sinners will eat these disgusting fruits until they are full.

Senses : visual, gustatory.

One can picture the sinners eating these fruits and imagine how foul these fruits must taste, too.

Verse 67, lines 1-4:     Then on top of that                                                  

                                    They will be given                                                    

                                    A mixture made of                                                   

                                    Boiling water

What type of imagery? Descriptive imagery.

This image tells one that after eating these dreadful fruits, the sinners will drink a mixture of boiling water.

Senses: visual, gustatory, tactile.

One can picture this painful ordeal, having to taste, drink and feel the heat of the mixture of boiling water.

Verse 68, lines 1-2:     Then shall their return

                                    Be to the (Blazing) Fire

What type of Imagery? Descriptive imagery.

One is told that after eating these atrocious fruits and drinking the mixture of boiling water, the sinners will return to the  “(Blazing Fire)” again to be tortured.

Senses: visual, tactile.

One can picture and imagine feeling the heat of the Fire.     

After the explanation, the teacher reads the verses again, this time informing the students that they are to sketch, draw and colour while the teacher reads these verses on Hell. The students are to draw the images that come into their minds as they listen. While the students listen, they sketch. The teacher can walk around the class and repeat the verses until the students are about done. Allow 15-20 minutes for this.

Then the teacher reads these 2 lines on Heaven. The teacher informs the students that these 2 lines are from Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s English language translation of the meaning of the Quran, specifically, Verse 74 of Surah As-Saffat. The teacher starts to read :

74.              Except the sincere (and devoted)    

                    Servants of God       

These 2 lines tell  that only the sincere and devoted serv­ants of Allah do not have to go through what the sinners have to go through in Hell (as described in the verses just above).

Now the teacher can ask the students to draw and sketch a picture of Heaven, of what they feel to be the opposite of their previous drawing or sketch of Hell. The students can refer to their previous drawing. Allow 15-20 minutes for this.

If the students are able to complete the assignment within the remainder of the class time, these assignments can be col­lected at the end of the period. If not, these assignments will be collected at the beginning of the next lesson. These assignments will be the basis for gauging whether or not the students have understood the lesson.

A CASE STUDY

Two lessons were taught to a group of students at the undergraduate level in an Islamic institution. This class is an English language –PreIntermediate level class. The students were taught for one hour of the introductory lesson on imagery and one hour of the above lesson plan using the technique-Illustrating and Designing with Quranic images. Observatory comments were taken and reproduced in this paper. The breakdown of the marking scheme for the two written assignments after each lesson was taught, is dealt with.

EVALUATION OF ASSIGNMENTS

The Introductory Lesson on Imagery

Assignment: Write a simile, metaphor and symbol, stating the senses that are affected.

For simile: Total – 5 marks.

4 marks for correct answers   

(-) 1 mark for spelling error, (+) 1 mark for creativity, (-) 1 mark for grammatical error

For metaphor: Total – 5 marks

4 marks for correct answers

(-) 1 mark for spelling error, (+) 1 mark for creativity, (-) 1 mark for grammatical error

For symbol: Total – 5 marks

2 marks for each part of the symbol

(-) 1 mark for spelling error, (+) 1 mark for creativity, (-) 1 mark for grammatical error

Maximum Possible Score: 15 marks

No. of Participants        Scores

2                                  14

7                                  13

3                                  12

7                                  11

2                                  9

Comments

Generally, this class of participating students lost points due to the fact that they had problems with grammar and word order. The students could not write their own symbols. Some wrote another metaphor for a symbol. It is also clear to see that the students have found similes and metaphors easier and symbols the most difficult.

The Lesson on Imagery using Quranic images and the technique-Illustrating and Designing.

Assignment: Draw, sketch and colour the images of Heaven and Hell.

Total marks – 30 marks (15 marks each)

For Heaven 4 marks for each image.

If the drawing contains more than 3 images: +3

For Hell 4 marks for each image.

If the drawing contains more than 3 images: +3

Maximum Possible Score: 15 marks

For Heaven

No. of Participants        Scores

 8                                 15

10                                12

4                                  10

For Hell

No. of Participants        Scores

6                                  15

9                                  12

7                                  10

Comments

For both Heaven and Hell, the majority of the participating students scored 12 marks when they drew three good representa­tions of images. Those who scored full marks drew more than three representations of images and those who scored less did not draw clear representations of images. This technique was thought to be suitable for a preintermediate level class because they did not have to express themselves by words and sentences. They were asked to draw instead. The students, however, asked me many times whether they could write some explan­atory notes beside their drawing for fear that I may not be able to interpret what they had drawn. I did not allow them to do this since I thought that this would defeat the  purpose of this technique– to express themselves in the form of drawing images. I assured them that I would be able to interpret and understand what they had drawn.

CONCLUSION

The focus of this technique (Illustrating and Designing) is of course, the teaching of imagery. At the same time, however, the teacher can point out new vocabulary and correct grammatical mistakes. For this preintermediate group of participants, the classroom activity was task-based, drawing and colouring.

This technique, Illustrating and Designing, text of Quranic imagery and the suitable activities carried out in the classroom, each plays its own role in a teacher’s successful teaching session. They are an integrative part of the whole teaching session.

Basically, the following are the main objectives of any teacher teaching a lesson on imagery:

Objectives: Develop in students the ability to:

1)  Distinguish the 2 types of imagery :

            i)  Descriptive imagery

            ii) Figurative imagery

2)  Distinguish the 3 literary devices usually used in figura­tive imagery:

i)   Simile

ii)  Metaphor  

iii) Symbol

3) Recognize and use the literary terms for the five senses that can be affected through imagery :

i)   see–visual

ii)  hear—auditory

iii) touch—tactile

iv)  smell–olfactory

v)  taste–gustatory

4)  Write their own similes, metaphors and symbols, stating the senses that are affected.

5)  Use the four skills:

i)   Listening

ii)  Speaking

iii) Reading

iv) Writing

            With the use of Quranic images, it is possible to generate a discussion on an aspect of Islam. This is an added advantage, especially at Islamic institutions. Both descriptive and figurative imagery, in particular, metaphors, similes, symbols, can be taught through Quranic images.

REFERENCES

Abdullah Yusuf Ali. The Holy Quran.  Brentwood, Maryland:Amana Corp., 1983.

Adeyanju, Thomas K. “Teaching Literature and Human Values in ESL: Objective and Selection”.  English Language Teaching Journal. 32.2 (1978): 113 – 8.

Al Ghazali, Muhammad and Hasanah, Umar Ubayd.  Kayfa Nata’amalu Ma’al Quran : Mudarasah Bayna Alshaykh.  Virginia: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1991.

Allison, D. & Carey, J. “What do university language teachers say about language teaching research?”. TESL Canada Journal. 24(2007):61-81.

Al-Sha’rawi, Syaykh Muhammad Mitwalli. The Miracles of the Quran. Baker Street, London: Dar Al-Taqwa Ltd., 1980.

Asad, Muhammad.  The Message of the Quran.  Gibraltar: Dar al-Andalus Limited, 1980.

Borj, S. “Conditions for teacher research.” English Teaching Forum. 44(2006):22-27.

Bowen, T. & Marks, J. Inside Teaching. Oxford: Macmillan, 1994.

Carter, R. & Long, M. Teaching Literature. London: Longman, 1991.

Duff, Alan and Alan Maley.  The Inward Ear.  Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Frye, Northrop, Sheridan Warner Baker and Geroge B. Perkins.  The Harper Handbook to Literature. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.

Khalifa, Mohammad.  The Sublime Qur’an and Orientalism.  Essex, England: Longman Group Ltd., 1983.

Kramsch, C. Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Labom, Jol. Tafsil Ayat AlQuran AlHakim.  Lebanon: Dar Alkitab Alarabi, 1963.

Larsen, F.D. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Lazar, G. Literature and Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Mawdudi, Abul A’la.  Toward Understanding Islam.  Leicester: Islamic Foundations, 1980.

Montet, Edward. AlMustadrak.  Lebanon: Dar Alkitab Alarabi, 1963.

O’Malley, J.M. & Valdez, P.L. Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners: Practical Approaches for Teachers. New York: Addison Wesley, 1996.

Oxford, R. Language Learning Strategies around the World: Cross-cultural Perspectives. Manoa: University of Hawaii Press, 1996.

Peregov, S.F. & Boyle, O.F. Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 2001.

Perrine, Laurence.  Literature – Structure, Sound and Sense – 4th Edition. New York: Hartcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983.

Pickthall, M. Marmaduke.  The Meaning of the Glorious Koran.  New York: Mentor Books, 1963.

Richards, J.C. & Nunan, D. Second Language Teacher Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Richards, J. & Rodgers, T.S. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching: A Description and Analysis. (2nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Stevick, Earl W. Images and Options in the Language Classroom. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

Von Denffer, Ahmad.  Ulum Al-Quran, An Introduction to the Sciences of the Quran.  Leicester: The Islamic Foundation, 1985.

Wallace, M. J. Training Foreign Language Teachers: A Reflective Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Wilkins, D.A. [David Arthur]  Second Language Learning and Teaching.  London: Edward Arnold, 1974.

Woodward, T. Models and Metaphors in Language Teacher Training. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Wright, Andrew.  Pictures for Language Learning. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

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Next, if said sparks or smoke are coming from your switch assembly, there is really only one way to interpret this problem; plainly, your switch is bad. In this scenario, your switch’s present state of “badness” was likely caused by a shortage in the assembly which, in turn, was most likely caused by moisture damage to the switch, or slightly less likely, by overheating in the tool. In either case the switch must be replaced.

Determinimg whether the bad-boy behind your suffering power tool is your field or armature is as simple as checking their assemblies for heat damage. Heat damage will appear as any kind of colorful or dark discoloration, or like melting, charring, or burning of the armature’s and field’s wiring, wiring insulation, or assembly. Any heat damaged component will require fast replacement. While checking the field and armature, you may also want to look at the armature’s commutator. If the bars do not form a smooth and complete circle it may cause the brushes to jump around and spark. This form of damage, however, although equally bad and equally needing of replacement, is likely not today’s culprit. Also be aware the heat damage to the field and armature generally occurs simultaneously i.e. if one is damaged it’s likely the other is too. If you catch armature damage early, you may sometimes prevent it from spreading to the field, but if your field is damaged, your armature is pretty much out of luck.

So, in short, be good to your power tools and if you should experience smoke or sparks emitting from them, a simple parts replacement for any heat damaged component is all the doctor will order.

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