Five years ago, when I made the decision to go back to college, it was with the goal of achieving my Masters in Physical Therapy. At the time a Masters degree was all that was required, though it was known that the requirement was shifting toward a Doctorate. Now, several universities offer a combined 3.5 year Masters/Doctorate program for Physical Therapy, including Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Any Bachelor degree qualifies for entry into the program with the proper grade point average, but I have chosen Life Science to include the anatomy and biology courses I expect to be required. Even though striving for a Doctorate part time is a long process, I expect the job market for Physical Therapy to be wide open. A large population is constantly getting older, getting injured, and or doing more ‘extreme’ pastimes.
I sleep, I play, and I work. These are the three things that consume most of my day, in that order. Sleeping, though I shudder to say it, actually consumes the largest dedicated chunk of my week, especially on the weekends. If there was any one activity that I wish I could find a way to do less of, it is that little time waster. Leisure consumes the next largest chunk of my day. According to Take Back Your Time, the goal is to spend more time doing leisure activities, but I am not sure if ¼ of each day relaxing is considered ‘more’ or not enough. My leisure time is split between dedicated time with my wife, and relaxing with a solitary hobby. Finally, I work. Working is a necessary part of life, and everyone who has ever achieved anything in their lives has done copious amounts of it.
In American society, the purpose of education is to acquire knowledge to apply toward your eventual job; the higher the degree of the education, the more professional, and thus the higher paying, the career. But little in our education actually helps us take a step back and discover what we would be good at, or interested in, or happy doing. Most people simple stumble into a career, and whether they are happy doing it is a matter of luck and happenstance, rather than planning. At the 30 year mark, I am starting a bit late with my career path, but that is how long it took to find what it is I wanted to do, and largely, I stumbled into it. It took years to find the questions I needed to ask myself, much more the answers to those questions.
This paper will explore the Hindu caste system. Varnasrama-dharma, as applied to the varnas, or castes, is one of the fundamental aspects of Hinduism. Its origins trace back to the 1500’s, when the Aryans invaded India from then Persia. The complex hierarchy was devised as a system to facilitate the subjugation of the conquered tribes. The caste system is based upon the principle that human society is like a complex machine, with individuals and communities as its parts. If the parts are weak, broken, or asked to perform a function it was not designed for, the machine will not work. Likewise, each part has its place and function; no part can do the job of another, and all must keep their place for the machine to function smoothly. This Dharma, our place within and duty to the machine of society, is not just essential to our happiness, but the happiness of all.
