The First Crusade essays

The First Crusade essays In their book, From Reliable Sources: An Introduction to Historical Methods, the authors write, "History as academic historians write it today would be almost unrecognizable to scholars working even fifty years ago, let alone in a past that is a century, two centuries - or twenty centuries - old" (Howell and Prevenier 119). The First Crusade, edited by Edward Peters, is a collection of texts that includes not only currently accepted historical views, but also primary source material. This book allows the reader an opportunity to examine the method used by the author while reading the various accounts of events. It is important for the reader to have a basic comprehension of historical methodology to understand the value and context of the texts contained in The First Crusade. There are many ways by which to record history. The methods used by historians are as different as are the historians themselves. This is why a collection of primary source materials differs from digested' and compiled history. Howell and Prevenier explain that this interpretational framework may include Historicism, a process attributed to Leopold von Ranke, or Positivism, as defined by August Comte. A third approach to history, the teleological view and "expounded by Aristotle" is defined as "seeing the universe as striving towards its own final cause" (Aristotle 2). By seeing history as a type of creation, one understands the value of primary sources such as those in Peters' book. The Story of the First Crusade begins with a proclamation made by Pope Urban II in the year 1095 and extends to St. Gilles march toward Jerusalem in early 1099. Peters extends the context of his collection to the year 1270 in the appendix of his book. He begins with four distinct accounts of the same event in his book, Urban's speech. In doing so, he provides the reader with a broad sense of the meanin...

Heres why chasing happiness won’t make you happy

Heres why chasing happiness won’t make you happy This country was founded partially on the â€Å"pursuit of happiness,† a goal that many people still strive toward on a daily basis. In fact, it seems that people seek constant joy even when they aren’t sure what happiness looks like for their individual lives. Are you so keen on chasing a foggy idea of â€Å"happiness† that you forget to live your life? Do you spend your days trying to avoid all pain, all sadness, and all roadblocks? Happiness is not some kind of prey that can be trapped and held onto for a lifetime. Figure out how to have a healthier relationship with the idea of what it means to have a fulfilling life- which isn’t necessarily a 100% happy one.You’ll never know joy if you never know sadness.Understand that positive emotions aren’t the only ones that make us human. We need the negative ones for balance. Constant happiness would prevent you from accessing the many other emotions that live below your bubbly, Insta-worthy surfa ce. Remember that these other- sometimes undesirable- emotions are often lead to the most productivity. Overcoming challenges can only add to your quality of life, so don’t ignore them! Swim into the current, learn life lessons, and come out a better person.There’s no finish line.The minute you start chasing happiness (or the idea of happiness you have in your head) is the moment you doom yourself never to reach it. Think of happiness more as an activity than a pursuit. You can’t win it and move on, like a prize at the end of a long race. Rather, you cultivate it gently and slowly over the course of your whole life. You learn to discover the people, achievements, and hobbies that bring you joy in the thick of other, more negative feelings and realities of life.Happiness does not equal achievement.You may think if you just keep doing, doing, doing and earning, earning, earning and winning, winning, winning, that happiness will be automatic. But it isn’t ne cessarily equated to success. You will feel great pride with your biggest achievements, but this isn’t the only path to happiness. And excessive pride can lead to selfishness and greed. Stop focusing so hard on your personal advancement and focus on what kind of person you are within every interaction instead.You can’t ever be 100% happy.There will always be something going on in your life that’s unpleasant. Nobody’s life is perfect. Just focus on the positive, feel the emotions you need to process the negative, and remember that happiness isn’t a zero sum game. It’s possible to be mostly happy most of the time. Just don’t try to be perfectly happy all of the time.If you leave a window open for happiness, you’ll find that it finds you fairly easily. Stop to enjoy the little things. Practice more mindfulness. Take joy in the small, the pleasant, the minutiae of your life. Let your cup fill up slowly, by tiny increments, rather t han waiting for one big flood to do it for you.