Final Templates on All Accounts of Mine.

I have chosen to talk about precious gemstones and crystals. There are many people now and days rediscovering the many uses of gemstones and crystals. To my knowledge each, have many different uses. They can be used as adornments, for health, for healing and for spiritual practices. You have probably never even heard of stones or crystals in this fashion before. I am going to take this opportunity to tell you what I know about this fascinating world that I have grown very accustomed to. I am not a gemstone/crystal specialist but, I do know enough about this topic to give you a slight overview about this topic.
I first encountered a lovely crystal by the name of Amethyst about 4 years ago. A friend gave it to me and told me that it would …show more content…
These include the Chinese, Native Americans and Celtics. Gemstones have even been mentioned in the Holy Bible. In Exodus, Amethyst was one of the twelve stones jeweled in a breastplate worn by the High Priestess Aaron, brother of Moses. This purple gemstone has been claimed to protect against Intoxication, to have a sobering effect on obsession and to invigorate the intellect. Amethyst is still worn to this day by bishops in the Catholic Church. I mentioned before that crystals are used in technology. They play an important role ranging from liquid crystal diodes on calculators and clocks, to the use of diamonds for precise cutting of optical lenses, computers, credit cards, phone lines and even laser technology.
Crystals and gemstones are both minerals. Mineral is defined as naturally occurring, solid, inorganic elements or compounds having a uniform composition and a regularly repeating internal structure. Each mineral has a composition that can be expressed in a chemical formula and a characteristic crystalline structure. Because atoms make up minerals and all the matter in the universe, they are in constant motion.

What is a crystal? A crystal is a solid substance with definite geometric shapes and molecules that are arranged in a repeating pattern (Comptons ). Crystals have fixed angles between its faces, which have distinct edges. If the faces of a crystal can reflect light, then it will sparkle (Stangle). Crystals have constant angles because of the regular arrangement of its particles. There are seven types of crystals cubic, tetragonal, orthorhombic, hexagonal, trigonal, monoclinic, and triclinic (Dr. Boyle). Crystals are classified by the shapes of their lattice or the regular, periodic configuration of particles (American Heritage).There are two different types of lattices. There are primitive lattices where there is only one lattice point per unit cell. There are also non-primitive lattices. They are the ones with more than one lattice point per unit cell. Crystals can also be classified by their physicalchemical properties. There are four types of crystals classified this way. They are covalent, metallic, ionic, and molecular (Dr. Boyle). A covalent crystal is a crystal which is one big molecule. They usually have extremely high melting points. An example of a covalent crystal is a diamond and zinc sulfide (Dr.Boyle). Metallic crystals have high melting points and densities. They are metal atoms which sit on lattice sites while the outer electrons from these atoms flow freely around the lattice (Dr. Boyle). Ionic crystals are crystals where the individual atoms do not have covalent bonds among themselves. These atoms are held together by electrostatic forces. They are also very hard and have a relatively high melting point. Sodium chloride (NaCl, salt) is an example of an ionic crystal (Dr. Boyle). Molecular crystals are crystals where there are recognizable molecules in the structure and the crystal is held together by non-covalnet interactions such as hydrogen bonding (Dr. Boyle). Sugar is an example of a molecular crystal. These crystals tend to have low melting points and are soft (Dr. Boyle).

A Treasure House of Knowledge. Books are wonderful gifts to mankind. Books are useful in many ways. They educate, entertain and serve as good companions when we are lonely. They guide us when we are confused. They inspire us when we are low in spirit. They are men’s best friends. Books console us when we are in sorrow. We are never alone in the company of books. They demand nothing for the service they do to the mankind.

The kingdom of books is as vast as universe. There are books on literature, science, fiction, history, art, culture, civilization, architecture, fashion, technology, philosophy, etc. Some books are for serious reading, some are intended to enrich our knowledge and learning. Many books give us an insight into various aspect of life. Books on travel and adventure infuse into us a spirit of fearlessness and adventure. The reading of novels is a pleasant pastime for many of us. This provides an escape from the din and bustle of life. One is completely lost in the company of good books. There is no sphere of life which has not been explored by the books.

Books are good source of dissemination of useful ideas. They are effective tools to popularize the fruits of our research in various fields of knowledge. They help in the spread of our progressive views. They are reservoir of knowledge and information. They pass the knowledge and information from generation and generation. In fact, no single labour of human fruit has been as helpful to the advancement of civilization as books. Books are written in all languages of the world.

When someone commits a sin on earth, they are punished for it in the afterlife. The amount of suffering one must take is based on the gravity of the sin. The sin and the punishment must balance out. God created hell out of the concern for justice. According to Dante's Inferno we either have eternal punishment, which is Hell, or a lesser punishment called Purgatory. The poet Dante has lost his way on the "true path" and has to pass through these places in order to free himself of the temptations to sin and reach God's city, Heaven. A great Roman poet, Virgil, offers to serve as Dante's guide.

When Dante enters the gates of Hell he hears cries of torment. Virgil tells him that these are the cries of the people who were never dedicated to good or evil. They never really made moral choices. Heaven or Hell will not except them. Instead they are in the Ante-Inferno where they must chase a blank banner, and are attacked by flies and wasps, and worms consume their blood and tears. The neutral angels, the ones that did not side with God or Satan in the war in Heaven, join them here. There is a balance between the sin and the punishment. People who did not commit to good or evil are now being denied exceptance. If they did not chose one over the other then good and evil will not chose them. Since the souls could not act one way or the other on earth the flies and wasps sting them into action. Chasing the blank banner symbolizes their meaninglessness of activity on earth.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” This is the first statement that is mentioned in the Bible that Christians know. (Genesis 1:1) This sentence shows the start of what we know as Christianity but also of the entity that has given us life, God. Theology is the study of God, how he functions, his traits, his message, and motives. Theology also has subcategories that encompass it such as: anthropology, hamartiology, soteriology, eschatology, and finally ecclesiology. These five categories summarize the basic meaning how a biblical theist would think of man’s origin and purpose of life, man’s sinful nature and salvation of man, the establishment of the church, and finally the second coming of Jesus.
The first theological principle that was presented was anthropology. Anthropology is the study of man basically the study of man’s origin, meaning of life, destiny, and purpose. To one who is a biblical theist, man’s origin came from the dust that God made Adam out of on the sixth day. They also believe that man is dichotomous having two parts body and soul, or that they have a trichotomy of body, soul and spirit. (Towns 214) Either way man does in fact have two different parts one that is physical and one that is spiritual. The physical part of man is identified by God and theologians as “dead.” This is the part of man that has been ravished by sin and has curse of damnation upon it. Man’s soul however eternal whether it is damned in hell or saved and sent…

Their sight is a joy forever. They are a subject of poetry and no Natural description is complete without reference to flowers. Their beauty is sung by some of the best poets of the world.

They are of various colours and hues. Even the same species of flowers exist in several forms and tinges. They look picturesque and are a thing of beauty. One is lost in the sight of flowers and thinks of that invincible Power which has created them.

The sweet smell of flowers makes the air pleasant to breathe. The scent of flowers is extracted and preserved as perfume. People apply it on their clothes to make them sweet smelling. Water of certain flowers is sprinkled in gatherings.

Flowers are used in making sweet smelling hair oil. They are strung into garlands and with certain people it is a fashion to wear sweet smelling garlands in the evening. Flowers are offered to gods and goddesses. Some rich people spread them near about their bed at night.

A lover offers flowers to his beloved as a token of his sweet and pure love for her. Women love to hang them in their coiffeurs to look more attractive. Some gentlemen hung them in the button-holes of their coats.

The late Pt. Nehru always hung a red rose in the button­hole of his Achkin. The bee extracts honey from flowers. Honey is a tonic and a great purifier of blood. A bridegroom garlands his bride and she also does so in return at the time of their first meeting just before the actual marriage ceremony.

We shower petals of flowers upon our revered leaders when they happen to visit our city. When a great man dies, his dead body is laden with wreaths of flowers. People shower flowers upon his bier as it is carried through the bazars and streets as a mark of their love and respect for him.

Flowers are given to the sick as their very sight, touch and smell have miraculous healing properties. When any foreign dignitary visits our country, we offer him bouquets as a sign of our good-will towards the country he represents.

The foreigner, too, on his visit to our country places wreaths at Mahatma Gandhi's or Pt. Nehru's Smadhi by way of homage to the great souls of India. In short, no ceremony is complete without the use of flowers in one form or the other.

They are our companions in life as well as in death. They are a sign and symbol of love, sacrifice, regard, reverence, beauty and goodwill. Flowers adorn and enhance the beauty of our gardens, parks, temples, schools, offices, bunglows and rest houses. No human habitation is complete without flowers. Plants and trees full of variegated flowers are a sight to see. Poets are never tired of singing praises of flowers. Says Wordsworth in his famous poem, "Daffodils"-

"For oft when on my couch I lie,

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye,

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils."

A man, with a heart as sensitive to beauty as that of a poet, begins to dance with joy at the sight of flowers dancing in the breeze. He never forgets the sight. When he is in a sad or pensive mood, he recalls the scene to his mind and derives from it heavenly joy and bliss that are indescribable.

Flowers satisfy our sense of touch, sense of sight and sense of smell. They are a rare gift of Nature. Some flowers are used as a diet. Flowers like the rose are used for medicinal purposes. Some flowers are health-giving and are prescribed "as a tonic by physicians.

They have many moral lessons to teach us. They teach us to live for the pleasure of others. They teach us that a small life well. Lived is far better than a long life badly-lived. A little lily that lives for a day is far better than a huge oak that lives for three hundred years and at last falls sere and lifeless. They teach us to scatter mirth and beauty wherever we go.

Arrangement of their petals and leaflets in a systematic way teaches us to lead a systematic and disciplined life. Their smiles even in thorny surroundings bring home to us the art of living. The sweet fragrance which they impart to everybody irrespective of caste and creed teaches broad-mindedness and persuades us to break the narrow domestic walls. The resistance to strong gales and the hot sun urges us to have courage and not to lose heart even in the days of adversity.