Look up Portal, portal, or portals in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Portal may refer to:

• Portal (architecture), a gate, door, or the extremeties (ends) of a tunnel
• Portal (fiction), a magical or technological doorway that connects two different locations.

Computing[link]

• Enterprise portal, a framework to provide a single point of access to a variety of information and tools
• Intranet portal, a gateway that unifies access to all enterprise information and applications
• Portal rendering, an optimization technique in 3D computer graphics
• Web portal, a site that functions as a point of access to information on the Internet
• Portals network programming api, a high-performance networking programming interface for massively parallel supercomputers

Entertainment[link]

• Portal (interactive novel), a 1986 video game by Activision
• Portal (video game), a 2007 video game by Valve Corporation
• Portal 2, the sequel to Valve's 2007 video game Portal
• Portal (TV series), a series about MMORPGs

Geography[link]

• Portal, California
• Portal, Georgia
• Portal, North Dakota

Music[link]

• Portall, a Thrash-Death Metal band from the Netherlands
• Portal (Australian band), a metal band from Australia
• Portal (UK band), a band from the UK
• Portals (album), a 2009 album by Arsonists Get All The Girls

Other uses[link]

• Portal (comics), a Marvel comic character
• Portal (Magic: The Gathering), a set in the Magic: The Gathering card game
• Portal Bridge, over the Hackensack River in New Jersey
• Portal Software, a company based in Cupertino, California
• Clube Atlético Portal, a football club based in Uberlândia, Brazil
• Portals Athletic F.C., a defunct football club, based in Overton, England
• Portal (magic trick), an illusion performed by David Copperfield

People with the surname[link]

• Antoine Portal (1742–1832), French anatomist, doctor and medical historian
• Charles Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford (1893–1971), British Marshal of the RAF and Chief of the Air Staff in World War II
• Wyndham Portal, 1st Viscount Portal (1885–1949), British businessman and public servant
• Michel Portal (born 1935), French composer, saxist, and clarinetist
• Nicolas Portal (born 1979), French professional road bicycle racer
• Gerald Portal (1858–1894), British colonial diplomat

See also[link]

Portal portal

Portal Directory

• El Portal, Florida
• Hepatic portal vein, a vein that drains blood from the digestive system
• Portal venous system, an occurrence where one capillary bed drains into another through veins
• Portal frame, a construction method
• Portal stones, a type of stone monument
• Porthole

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. It entails more than basic facts (education, work, relationships, and death), a biography also portrays a subject's experience of these events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae (résumé), a biography presents a subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of his or her life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of a subject's personality.

Biographical works are usually non-fiction, but fiction can also be used to portray a person's life. One in-depth form of biographical coverage is called legacy writing. Biographical works in diverse media—from literature to film—form the genre known as a biography.

An authorized biography is written with the permission, cooperation, and, at times, participation of a subject or a subject's heirs. An autobiography is about a life of a subject, written by that subject or sometimes with a collaborator. ^[1]

Early biography[link]

The Early Middle Ages (AD 400 to 1450) saw a decline in awareness of the classical culture in Europe. During this time, the only repositories of knowledge and records of the early history in Europe were those of the Roman Catholic Church. Hermits, monks, and priests used this historic period to write the first modern biographies. Their subjects were usually restricted to the church fathers, martyrs, popes, and saints. Their works were meant to be inspirational to the people, vehicles for conversion to Christianity (see Hagiography). One significant secular example of a biography from this period is the life of Charlemagne by his courtier Einhard.

Meanwhile in the medieval Islamic civilization (c. AD 750 to 1258), biographies began to be produced on a large scale, noteably with the advent of paper and the beginning of the Prophetic biography tradition. This led to the introduction of a new literary genre: the biographical dictionary. The first biographical dictionaries were written in the Muslim world from the 9th century onwards. They contained more social data for a large segment of the population than that found in any other pre-industrial society. The earliest biographical dictionaries initially focused on the lives of the prophets of Islam and their companions, with one of these early examples being The Book of The Major Classes by Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi. And then began the documentation of the lives of many other historical figures (from rulers to scholars) who lived in the medieval Islamic world.^[2]

By the late Middle Ages, biographies became less church-oriented in Europe as biographies of kings, knights, and tyrants began to appear. The most famous of such biographies was Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. The book was an account of the life of the fabled King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Following Malory, the new emphasis on humanism during the Renaissance promoted a focus on secular subjects, such as artists and poets and encouraged writing in the vernacular. Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists (1550) was the landmark biography focusing on secular lives. Vasari made celebrities of his subjects, as the Lives became an early "bestseller". Two other developments are noteworthy: the development of the printing press in the 15th century and the gradual increase in literacy. Biographies in the English language began appearing during the reign of Henry VIII. John Foxe's Acts and Monuments (1563), better known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, was essentially the first dictionary of the biography in Europe, followed by Thomas Fuller's The History of the Worthies of England (1662), with a distinct focus on public life. Influential in shaping popular conceptions of pirates, A General History of the Pyrates (1724) is the prime source for the biographies of many well-known pirates.^[3]

The romantic biographers disputed many of Johnson's judgments. Jean Jacques Rousseau's Confessions (1781–88) exploited the romantic point of view and the confessional mode. The tradition of testimony and confession was brought to the New World by the Puritan and Quaker memoirists and journal-keepers, where the form continued to be influential. Benjamin Franklin's autobiography (1791) would provide the archetype for the American success story. (Stone, 1982) Autobiography would remain an influential form of biographical writing.

Generally the American biography followed the English model, while incorporating Thomas Carlyle's view that a biography was a part of history. Carlyle asserted that the lives of great human beings were essential to understanding society and its institutions. While the historical impulse would remain a strong element in the early American biography, the American writers carved out their own distinct approach. What emerged was a rather didactic form of biography, which sought to shape the individual character of a reader in the process of defining national character. (Casper, 1999)

The distinction between the mass biography and the literary biography had formed by the middle of the nineteenth century, and reflected a breach between high culture and middle-class culture. This division would endure for the remainder of the century. Biography began to flower, thanks to new publishing technologies and an expanding reading public. This revolution in publishing made books available to a larger audience of readers. Almost ten times as many American biographies appeared from 1840 to 1860 than had appeared in the first two decades of the century. In addition, affordable paperback editions of popular biographies were published for the first time. Also, American periodicals began publishing a sequence of biographical sketches. (Casper, 1999) The topical emphasis shifted from republican heroes to self-made men and women.

Much of the late nineteenth-century biography remained formulaic. Notably, few autobiographies had been written in the nineteenth-century. The following century witnessed a renaissance of autobiography. Beginning with Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery (1901) and followed by Henry Adams' Education (1907), the chronicle of self-defined failure that ran counter to the predominant American success story. The publication of socially significant autobiographies by both men and women began to flourish. (Stone, 1982)

The authority of psychology and sociology was ascendant, and would make its mark on the new century’s biographies. (Stone, 1982) The demise of the "great man" theory of history was indicative of the emerging mindset. Human behavior would be explained through Darwinian theories. "Sociological" biographies conceived of their subjects' actions as the result of the environment, and tended to downplay individuality. The development of psychoanalysis led to a more penetrating and comprehensive understanding of the biographical subject, and induced biographers to give more emphasis to childhood and adolescence. Clearly these psychological ideas were changing the way Americans read and wrote biographies, as a culture of autobiography developed in which the telling of one's own story became a form of therapy. (Casper, 1999)

The conventional concept of national heroes and narratives of success disappeared in the obsession with psychological explorations of personality. The new school of biography featured iconoclasts, scientific analysts, and fictional biographers. This wave included Lytton Strachey, Gamaliel Bradford, André Maurois, and Emil Ludwig, among others. Strachey's biographies had an influence similar to that which Samuel Johnson had enjoyed earlier. In the 1920s and '30s, biographical writers sought to capitalize on Strachey's popularity and imitate his style. Robert Graves (I, Claudius, 1934) stood out among those following Strachey's model of "debunking biographies." The trend in literary biography was accompanied in popular biography by a sort of "celebrity voyeurism", in the early decades of the century. This latter form's appeal to readers was based on curiosity more than morality or patriotism.

By World War I, cheap hard-cover reprints had become popular. The decades of the 1920s witnessed a biographical "boom." In 1929, nearly 700 biographies were published in the United States, and the first dictionary of American biography appeared. In the decade that followed, numerous biographies continued to be published, despite the economic depression. They reached a growing audience through inexpensive formats via public libraries.

The late feminist scholar Carolyn Heilbrun observed that women's biographies and autobiographies began to change character during the second wave of feminist activism. She cited Nancy Milford's 1970 biography Zelda, as the "beginning of a new period of women's biography, because "[only] in 1970 were we ready to read not that Zelda had destroyed Fitzgerald, but Fitzgerald her: he had usurped her narrative." Heilbrun named 1973 as the turning point in women's autobiography, with the publication of May Sarton's Journal of a Solitude, for that was the first instance where a woman told her life story, not as finding "beauty even in pain" and transforming "rage into spiritual acceptance," but acknowledging what had previously been forbidden to women: their pain, their rage, and their "open admission of the desire for power and control over one's life."^[4]

Multimedia forms[link]

With technological advances in the twentieth century, multimedia biography became more popular than literary forms of personality. Along with documentary Biographical films, Hollywood produced numerous commercial films based on the lives of famous people. The popularity of these forms of biography culminated in such cable and satellite television networks as A&E, The Biography Channel, The History Channel, and History International.

More recently, CD-ROM and online biographies have appeared. Unlike books and films, they often do not tell a chronological narrative: instead, they are archives of many discrete media elements related to an individual person, including video clips, photographs, and text articles. Media scholar Lev Manovich says that such archives exemplify the database form, allowing users to navigate the materials in many ways. (Manovich 220) Twenty-first century web 2.0 applications, such as Annoknips.com enable users all over the world to compile their own biography and illustrate it with other people's photos.

Book awards[link]

Several countries offer an annual prize for writing a biography such as the:

• Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize – Canada
• National Biography Award – Australia
• Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography – United States
• Whitbread Prize for Best Biography – United Kingdom
• J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography – United Kingdom
• Prix Goncourt de la Biographie – France

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	History portal

• Autobiography
• Biography: A Brief History (book)
• Biography in literature
• Dictionary of National Biography (DNB, notable figures from British history)
• Family history
• Historical document
• List of biographers
• List of political career biographies
• Lists of people
• Who's Who

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Casper, Scott E. Constructing American Lives: Biography and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999.
• Heilbrun, Carolyn G. Writing a Woman's Life. New York: W. W. Norton, 1988.
• Lee, Hermione. Biography: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-19-953354-1
• Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001.
• Stone, Albert E. Autobiographical Occasions and Original Acts. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.

External links[link]

Find more about Biography on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

Ahmed Raza Khan Fazil-e-Barelvi (Urdu: احمد رضاخان, Hindi: अहमद रज़ा खान) (1856–1921 CE) was a Sunni Islamic scholar and sufi, whose works influenced the Barelvi movement of South Asia.^[2] Raza Khan wrote on numerous topics, including law, religion, philosophy and the sciences. He was a prolific writer, producing nearly 1,000 works in his lifetime.^[2]

Early life[link]

His father was Naqi Ali Khan, and his great-grandfather Shah Kazim Ali Khan^[3] was a noted Sunni scholar.^[4]

Ahmed's mother named him Amman Miyān.^[5] Raza Khan used the appellation "Abdul Mustafa" (slave [or servant] of Mustafa) prior to signing his name in correspondence.^{[clarification needed][6]} He studied Islamic sciences and completed a traditional Dars-i-Nizami course under the supervision of his father Naqī Áli Khān, who was a legal scholar.^[2] He went on the Hajj with his father in 1878.

Beliefs[link]

Ahmed Raza Khan defended several beliefs regarding Muhammad:

• Muhammad, although human, possessed a Noor (Light) that predates creation. ^[7] This contrasts with the Deobandi view that Muhammad was insan-e-kamil ("the complete man"), a respected but physically typical human.^[8][9]
• He is haazir naazir (can be present in many places at the same time, as opposed to God, who is everywhere by definition).^[10]
• God has granted him ilm-e-ghaib (the knowledge of the unseen,this belief and theory directly negates the Islaamic concept of 'Shiirk'which attributes some qualities only to Allmighty Aallaah, including the 'i'lm-e-ghaib' or knowledge of the unknown and unseen..^[11] Raza Khan writes:

We do not hold that anyone can equal the knowledge of Allah Most High, or possess it independently, nor do we assert that Allah’s giving of knowledge to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is anything but a part. But what a patent and tremendous difference between one part [the Prophet’s] and another [anyone else’s]: like the difference between the sky and the earth, or rather even greater and more immense.

—Ahmed Raza Khan, al-Dawla al-Makkiyya (c00), 291.

• God has made him mukhtaar kul (having the authority to do whatever he desires).^{[citation needed]}

Quran and hadith studies[link]

Ahmed Raza Khan translated the Quran into Urdu, which was first published in 1912 under the title of Kanz ul-Iman fi Tarjuma al-Qur’an. The original manuscript is preserved in the library of Idara Tahqiqat-i-Imam Ahmed Raza, Karachi, and an English translation of Kanzul Iman has also been published. Ahmed Raza Khan also wrote several books on the collection and compilation of hadiths.

Fatwas[link]

Raza Khan's main work was Fatawa Ridawiyya which runs in 30 volumes of over 1000 pages each. The Raza Foundation under the leadership of Abdul Qayyum Hazarwi revised the work, translating all the Persian and Arabic sentences in Urdu, and published it in 30 volumes, running across 90,000 pages.

Religious research[link]

Raza Khan investigated numerous religious questions:

• In 1915 he wrote a treatise describing 160 types of water which are acceptable for wudu (ablution), and 146 types of proscribed water.
• He identified 181 acceptable and 130 unacceptable materials for tayammum (alternatives to water for ablution).
• He was able to fill up the Naqsh-i-Murabba (a sixteen column quadrilateral) by 1152 methods.
• He knew 800 names of Prophet Muhammad from books, and was able to gather 1400 more.
• He analysed whether it was credible that Hussain ibn ‘Alī was able to travel from Mecca to Kerbala on 3rd Dhū al-Ḥijja and reach there on 2nd of Moharram. He investigated the types of horse, the loads they carried, the route of the caravan, the types of terrain, and other factors, and finally concluded that the caravan could feasibly have reached Kerbala by the 2nd.

Works in physics[link]

Raza Khan opposed the belief in a heliocentric universe, instead stating that the sun and moon circulate around the Earth.^[12]

Works in economics[link]

Raza through his book^[which?] published in 1912, presented four points for the economic development of Muslims:

• Barring the affairs wherein government is involved, thus very tacit and shrewdly promoting unquestioned loyalty towards the Imperial-Colonial-Capitalist British Government. Muslims should decide all their disputes mutually so that millions of rupees, which are being spent over litigations, may be saved.
• The affluent Muslims of Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta, Rangoon, Madras and Hyderabad should open banks for other poor Muslims.
• Muslims should not purchase anything from anybody except Muslims.
• The sciences of Islam should be propagated and publicized.

Antagonism towards Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and the Ahmadiyya Movement[link]

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian claimed to be the Mahdi (messiah) awaited by the Muslims as well as a new prophet. These claims proved to be extremely controversial among many in the Muslim community, and he was branded a heretic and apostate by many religious scholars of the time, including Ahmed Raza Khan. Ghulam Ahmad's claims are controversial to this day, but his Mahdi status and prophethood is believed in by the Ahmadiyya sect. Though, Pakistan in 1974, have officially declared the Ahmadiyya sect non-Muslims.^[13]

When Ahmed Raza visited Mecca and Medina for pilgrimage in 1905, he prepared a draft document entitled Al Motamad Al Mustanad ("The Reliable Proofs") for presentation to the scholars of Mecca and Medina. Ahmed Raza Khan collected opinions of the ulama of the Hejaz and compiled them in an Arabic language compendium with the title, Husam al Harmain ("The Sword of Two Sanctuaries"), a work containing 34 verdicts from 33 ulama (20 Meccan and 13 Medinese). The work concluded that Ghulam Ahmad's beliefs were blasphemous and tantamount to apostasy.^[14]

Quietism[link]

During the period of the Indian Khilafat Movement, Gandhi was advised that he should meet with Raza Khan. When he was told that Gandhi wished to meet and speak to him, Raza Khan said, "What would he speak about? Religion or worldly affairs? If it is worldly affairs, what can I partake in, for I have abstained from the world and have no interest in it."^[15]

Opposition to heterodox practices[link]

Raza Khan condemned many practices he saw as bid'at (forbidden innovations), such as:

• Qawali (religious music)^[16]
• Women going to visit mazaar (tombs)^{[citation needed]}
• Tawaf (ceremonially walking in circles around a holy site) of tombs.^[17]
• Sajda (prostration) to those other than God^{[citation needed]}
• Ta'zieh, plays re-enacting religious scenes^{[citation needed]}but unfortunately the followers of him practice and preach just the opposite of what he had said.

Positive Views and Admirers[link]

Syrian Islamic scholar Muhammad al-Ya’qoubi declared on national television his belief that the mujaddid of the Indian subcontinent was Ahmed Raza Khan, going so far as to say that a person of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah can be identified by his love of Ahmed Raza Khan, and that those outside the Ahlus Sunnah are identified by their attacks on him.^[18]

Criticism[link]

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (July 2010)

• He issued fatwas against other religious group such as Deobandis and Wahabbis, accusing them of being disrespectful towards Prophet Muhammad. Deobandi and Wahabi scholars believe that Ahmed Raza Khan has made these accusations due to his "exaggeration" in loving the prophet, which they claim violates hadith which proscribe deifying Mohammad.
• He advocated the practice of tawassul (asking to deceased Muslims), which his opponents declared to be shirk (polytheism):

If you are embarrassed in your affairs, seek help from the inmates of the tombs, having beliefs that Allah is the one who is helping and the person in the tomb is just wasila.^[19]

• Raza opposed labeling then-British held India to be Dar-ul Harb ("land of war"), thus opposing any justification of jihad (struggle) or hijrat (mass emigration to escape) against the proposed plans of Gandhi and the Deobandiyya Movement who wished to begin jihaad with the help of Hindus.^{[citation needed]} This stance was opposed by Deobandi scholars such as Muhammad Qasim Nanotvi.^[20]

See also[link]

• Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat
• Mustafa Raza Khan
• Abu Bilal Muhammad Ilyas Attar Qadri
• Hamid Raza Khan
• Qamaruzzaman Azmi
• Akhtar Raza Khan

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Baraka, A – A Saviour in a Dark World (Article) The Islamic Times, March 2003 Stockport, UK
• Haroon, M The World of Ahmed Raza Kazi Publications, Lahore 1974
• Sanyal, Usha, Ahmed Riza Khan Barelwi: In the Path of the Prophet (Makers of the Muslim World), Oneworld, 2005.

External links[link]

• Alahazrat.net
• Online Quran Project includes the Qur'an translation of Ahmed Rida Khan.
• The True Life Picture of Hazrat
• A Complete Encyclopedia about Ahmed Raza Khan.
• The Life and Works of the Muslim Revivalist, A'La Hadrat
• Research works on Ahmed Raza Khan
• Books and works of Ahmed Rida Khan
• Fatawa and works by Ahmed Rida Khan
• A detailed website about the Raza's life and works

This article has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality. Discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page. (September 2011)

Anthony "Tony" Robbins
Tony Robbins in 2009
Born	(1960-02-29) February 29, 1960 (age 52) North Hollywood, California, United States
Occupation	Author Actor Professional speaker Peak Performance Coach
Years active	1978–present
Height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)[1][2]
Spouse	Becky Robbins (m. 1982–2001) «start: (1982)–end+1: (2002)»"Marriage: Becky Robbins to Tony Robbins" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Tony_Robbins) Sage Robbins (m. 2001) «start: (2001)»"Marriage: Sage Robbins to Tony Robbins" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Tony_Robbins)

Anthony "Tony" Robbins (born February 29, 1960) is an American self-help author and motivational speaker. He became well known through his infomercials and self-help books, Unlimited Power: The New Science Of Personal Achievement and Awaken The Giant Within. Robbins writes about subjects such as health and energy, overcoming fears, persuasive communication, and enhancing relationships. Robbins began his career learning from many different motivational speakers, and promoted seminars for his personal mentor, Jim Rohn. He is deeply influenced by neuro-linguistic programming and a variety of philosophies.

Robbins's work has been featured in major media including Time, Newsweek, Fortune, Forbes, Life, GQ, Vanity Fair, Business Week, Tycoon and Success magazines, the CBS Evening News, NBC News, ABC's Prime Time Live, Fox News, CNN and A&E as well as newspapers, radio programs, and Internet media worldwide.^[3][4] Robbins has been mentioned or featured in 15 major motion pictures, including a cameo role a romantic comedy film Shallow Hal, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Jack Black, and Jason Alexander.^[5] In 2007, he was named to Forbes magazine's "Celebrity 100" list.^[6]

Robbins' programs have reached over 4 million people from 100 countries around the world.^[7][8]

Robbins was ranked among the “Top 50 Business Intellectuals in the World” by Accenture’s Institute for Strategic Change.^[9] Robbins has spoken at Harvard Business School^[10] and was ranked by the school among the “Top 200 Business Gurus” (Harvard Business School Press, 2003).^[11][12][13] It was estimated by Forbes Magazine that Robbins earned approximately USD$30 million from his various business activities in 2007.^[14]

Early life[link]

Robbins was born Jay Mahavorick in North Hollywood, California, on February 29, 1960. He later moved to Azusa, California, and attended Glendora High School. Robbins says that he lived in a small low-rent apartment in the Los Angeles area during his early twenties and had dreamed of living in a mansion for years. In 1984, as his career began to take off, he bought the Del Mar Castle, designed by Richard Requa, for $1.7M. He sold the property in 1988 for $3.25M.^[15]

Career[link]

Robbins began his career promoting seminars for Jim Rohn. According to Robbins, Rohn taught him that "happiness and success in life are not the result of what we have, but rather of how we live. What we do with the things we have makes the biggest difference in the quality of life."^[16]

Later Robbins began his own work as a self-help coach. He taught neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and Ericksonian Hypnosis after training with NLP co-founder John Grinder. In 1983, Robbins learned to firewalk from Tolly Burkan^[17] and began to incorporate it into his seminars.^[18][19]

Robbins promoted his services as a "peak performance coach" through his books and TV infomercials, gaining strong public recognition and lucrative sales. He conducts a large range of seminars and live events around the world dedicated to achieving greatness in his participants by unleashing their personal power and helping them align their values with their individual life goals.^[20] In 1997, Robbins began the Leadership Academy seminar, in which participants learn to "[c]reate an identity for them self as someone who can help 'anyone', no matter what his/her challenge may be."^[21] Robbins is a featured speaker on the seminar circuit sponsored by Learning Annex. Robbins appeared as a featured speaker at the 2007 Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference. His talk is among the top ten TED talks viewed online.^[22]

Robbins is involved with the Robbins-Madanes Center for Strategic Intervention, which focuses on personal, family and organizational psychology, and claims to help people "find breakthrough strategies and solutions for overcoming the problems that confront us all."^[23]

Seminars[link]

Tony Robbins giving a talk at a Twitter conference in 2009

Robbins also conducts seminars, including his four-day Unleash the Power Within (UPW) seminar, Mastery University and Business Mastery.^{[24][25] [26]}

The UPW is also known as his firewalk seminar, during which the participants walk barefoot over hot coals at the end of the first evening. The aim of the seminar, demonstrated in the firewalk, is to illustrate that the main quality shared by those who achieve greatness is the ability to take action ("Personal Power").^[27]

Mastery University is promoted at the UPW seminar.^[24][25] Mastery University is composed of three seminars:

- Life Mastery, espouses Robbins' ideas about what makes for a healthy lifestyle, and has in the past featured guest lecturers including Deepak Chopra and John Gray.

- Wealth Mastery, espouses Robbins' ideas about what makes for a wealthy lifestyle.

- Date With Destiny, the only Mastery event at which Robbins is present for the entire event, is said to be designed to help participants align their values so that they are not in conflict, but rather are aligned with the participant's individual goals.^[28]

In 1997, Robbins initiated his Leadership Academy seminar,^[29] in which he invites participants to learn the skills he uses, with the stated goal of the program to enable the participant to "[c]reate an identity for yourself as someone who can help 'anyone', no matter what his/her challenge may be".^[21]

In 2009 Robbins created his Business Mastery program,^[26] designed to provide business leaders with tools to manage and grow their businesses. The seminar is conducted live by Robbins and features entrepreneur guest speakers. Past speakers have included Steve Wynn, CEO of Wynn Resorts,^[30] Peter Guber (Chairman & CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group)^[31] and Tony Hsieh (CEO and Founder of Zappos.com).^[32][33]

Books[link]

Robbins has published two best-selling books, Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant Within.

Unlimited Power, published in 1987, discusses the topics of health and energy, overcoming fears, persuasive communication, and enhancing relationships.^[34] One reviewer called the book "uplifting and idealistic" and referenced the "dynamic enthusiasm" of the book;"^[35] and another describes Robbins as “a persuasive communicator who spends more linage on step-by-step details of his recommendations than in self-boosterism."^[36] while another reviewer said it's "too wordy" and "reads like a transcript of a series of talks."^[37] Other reviewers dispute the book's originality, pointing to ideological similarities with Maxwell Maltz, Norman Vincent Peale, Napoleon Hill, and Dale Carnegie, all of whom Robbins acknowledges in his book.^[38] Some have criticized the chapter called "Energy: The Fuel of Excellence" which includes information on food combining, lymphology, and deep breathing to promote health. Robbins makes reference to the book Fit for Life and its authors, Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, whom he refers to as his "former partners".^[39] The National Council for Reliable Health Information wrote a critical review of the chapter and called his sources unreliable.^[40][41]

Awaken the Giant Within, published in 1992, was an expansion of his personal development techniques and strategies taught through a motivational self-help type approach. Robbins made the distinction between his techniques, coined as Neuro-Associative Conditioning as distinct from Neuro-Linguistic Programming because the trademarked difference is defined by the application of "conditioning" to a newly learned personal development technique and/or skill or strategy rather than "being programmed" and suggest-ably fixed once and for all by someone else who had more power than the individual to make a change.^[42]

Movie appearances and TV show[link]

Robbins has cameo roles in the 2001 movie Shallow Hal, the 1994 movie Reality Bites, three episodes of The Roseanne Show and an episode of The Sopranos.^[43] In July 2010, NBC debuted Breakthrough with Tony Robbins, a reality show that followed Robbins as he helped the show's participants face their personal challenges.^[44][45] NBC canceled the show, after airing two of the planned six episodes, due to low viewership of 2.8 million.^[46] In March 2012 the OWN Network picked the show up for another season beginning with the original first season set to re-run and thereafter leading directly into the new 2012 season.^[47]

In April 2012, Robbins began co-hosting "Oprah's Lifeclass" on the OWN Network ^[48]

Anthony Robbins Foundation[link]

In 1991, Robbins launched a charity, the Anthony Robbins Foundation.^[49] It is dedicated to empowering students and prisoners through food drives and learning programs based on his teachings.^[50] According to the official website, the foundation has "products and programs in more than 2,000 schools, 700 prisons, and 100,000 health and human service organizations."^[51] These programs have been written about and featured in many dozens of articles, appearing on various websites, like Cherish Our Children International^[52] and Harmony With No Limits.^[53] The independent charity watchdog, Charity Navigator, gives the foundation a rating of two out of four stars.^[54] The official website states that "the Foundation is committed to make a difference in the quality of life for children, the homeless, the prison population, and the elderly through its various programs". The foundation has subsequently led to the forming of "Basket Brigades" across the world that occur each Thanksgiving. Individuals and groups have joined together to assemble and deliver dinner baskets to needy families.^[49]

Lawsuits[link]

Federal Trade Commission: In May 1995, Robbins Research International (RRI) responded to Federal Trade Commission charges of misrepresentation of potential earnings to franchise investors. RRI and the FTC entered into a stipulated settlement agreement, in which RRI agreed to pay $221,260 (USD) in consumer redress. RRI did not admit guilt under the settlement.^[55]

Wade Cook: Financial seminar guru Wade Cook also sued Robbins for copyright infringement and plagiarism, alleging that Robbins used proprietary terms in his seminars and in his book Wall Street Money Machine. In 1998, a Tacoma, Washington, jury ordered Robbins to pay Cook US$650,900 in damages. The order to pay damages was temporarily withdrawn^[56] until 2000, when the ninth circuit court ruled that the trial judge has misinterpreted the statutes.

The verdict and damages were reinstated with a statement that "The Court found that U.S. District Court Judge, Jack Tanner, erred in "finding a conclusion contrary to the jury award" and sent instructions to reinstate the award. "This is a landmark decision by the 9th Circuit Court because of the high profile players and issues at stake" said lead attorney and Wade Cook General Counsel, Troy Romero. "The Court is telling individuals that, no matter who you are, the protection of copyrightable material will be preserved." Robbins was forced to pay the entire amount.^[57]

In 2001, Robbins filed a lawsuit against the Vancouver Sun newspaper, alleging defamation and libel. The judge determined the Vancouver Sun defamed Robbins when it called him a hypocrite. Awarding Robbins $20,000 in damages, the judge wrote "While damages are presumed, the plaintiff's failure to take the witness stand and to testify about his feelings and the impact of the defamation upon his reputation leaves the court somewhat in the dark about these matters". The court awarded Robbins his attorneys' fees and costs in addition to damages.^[58][59]

Celebrity status[link]

In his book Awaken the Giant Within, Robbins recalls meetings with various celebrities, saying he was a student of their success. People he mentioned were Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill Clinton, Margaret Thatcher, François Mitterrand, and Princess Diana.^[60] In Robbins' infomercials, celebrity appearances were made by Fran Tarkenton, Pamela Anderson, Quincy Jones, Erin Brockovich and Anthony Hopkins. Robbins stated that they came without any compensation.^[61]

In 1994, President Bill Clinton invited Robbins, Marianne Williamson and Steven R. Covey to a meeting at Camp David. All parties "refused to divulge the substance of their meeting with the Clintons".^[62]

Personal life[link]

In 1984, Robbins and his ex-girlfriend, Liz Acosta, had a son, Jairek Robbins.^{[citation needed]}

In 1999, Robbins and his first wife Becky Robbins (née Jenkins) separated. Their divorce was finalized on June 21, 2001. Becky already had three children from two former marriages. Robbins considers them his own children.^[63]

In June 2001, Robbins married Bonnie Humphrey (now known as Sage Robbins)^[64]

Robbins alludes to his personal belief in God in Unlimited Power, giving the grand complexity of life as evidence of an intelligent designer.^[65]

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Psychology portal

• Kaizen, the continuous improvement philosophy
• Self-help

References[link]

Publications[link]

Books[link]

• Robins, Anthony (1986). Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 448 pages. ISBN 0-684-84577-6. 
• Robbins, Anthony (1992). Awaken the Giant Within. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 544 pages. ISBN 0-671-79154-0. 
• Robbins, Anthony (1994). Giant Steps. New York: Fireside. pp. 416 pages. ISBN 0-671-89104-9. 
• Robbins, Anthony (1995). Notes from a Friend: A Quick and Simple Guide to Taking Control of Your Life. New York: Fireside. pp. 112 pages. ISBN 0-684-80056-X. 

CD/DVDs[link]

• Robbins, Anthony (2006). The Edge: The Power to Change Your Life Now. Megaforce / Nightingale-Con. pp. DVD. ASIN B000I5XD1K. 
• Robbins, Anthony (2002). Live with Passion!: Strategies for Creating a Compelling Future. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7435-2521-3. 
• Robbins, Anthony (2001). Get The Edge (incl. Personal Power Classic Edition). Guthy-Renker. ASIN B000207IT4. 
• Robbins, Anthony (2000). Get The Edge. Guthy-Renker. ASIN B000BMASVS. 
• Robbins, Anthony (1998). Lessons in Mastery. Simon & Schuster Audio/Nightingale-Con. ISBN 0-7435-2515-9. 
• Robbins, Anthony (1996). Personal Power Classic Edition. Guthy-Renker. ASIN B000NE70MY. 

Other[link]

• Living Health
• The Time of Your Life
• Mastering Influence
• The Ultimate Relationship Program (Robbins-Madanes)
• Leadership In Times of Crisis (Robbins-Madanes)
• Reclaiming Your True Identity (Robbins-Madanes)
• Conquering Overwhelming Loss (Robbins-Madanes)
• Personal Training System
• Unleash The Power Within

External links[link]

Find more about Tony Robbins on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

• Official website
• Antony Robbins Foundation, website
• Anthony Robbins at the Internet Movie Database
• Tony Robbins on Facebook

Mehmet Okonsar (pronounced Okonschar) (born 20 October 1961, Istanbul) is a Turkish-Belgian (double nationality) pianist, composer, conductor, writer and educator.

Biography[link]

Mehmet Okonsar was born in Istanbul (Turkey) and lived in Paris during his first schooling. He started studying piano at the National Conservatory of Ankara, with Nimet Karatekin and Necil Kazim Akses. Thanks to the rich resources the Ankara Conservatory then possessed and the Médiatheque of the Centre Culturel Français d'Ankara, he grew up studying the music of Pierre Boulez, Edgar Varėse, Olivier Messiaen and Pierre Schaeffer, composers which would have a strong influence on him.

After about a year and half studying at the Ankara Conservatory, the family moved to Belgium where he entered the class of Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden at the Brussels Royal Conservatory of Music. Vanden Eynden, who ill entirely re-shape the keyboard technique of Okonsar, is a dedicated follower of the style of Eduardo del Pueyo.

The keyboard technique of Eduardo del Pueyo and Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, his teachers, is based on the work of Marie Jaëll, a pupil of Franz Liszt.

A change of Government in Turkey and the political turbulences of 1977 forced Okonsar family to return to Ankara. Back at the Ankara Conservatory he is put in the class of Gülay Uğurata for the piano and of Nevit Kodalli for musical composition. Okonsar did not attend with any assiduity in either class.

During this period he connected on both friendly and professional basis with the pianist and conductor Selman Ada. From this friendship he learned the basics of the keyboard principles of Pierre Sancan of whom Selman Ada has been a student.

His first important recital took place in 1979. The program included Préludes by Messiaen and the Pictures of an Exhibition by Mussorgsky.

Just before the military coup of 1980 the Okonsar family returned to Belgium. He resumed studying with Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden. In 1980 Okonsar was rewarded the Premier Prix avec Distinction.^[1] His program included the Dante Sonata by Liszt. His studies continued after the sudden death of his father with a special scholarship and he got the ^[2] de Piano Avec la plus Grande Distinction, Premier Nommé in 1986 by performing the Piano Concerto Op. 42 by Arnold Schoenberg.

At the end of his piano studies, Okonsar had the privilege of working with one of the greatest composers of Belgium: Madame Jacqueline Fontyn. He also studied with a pupil of Messiaen, Claude Ballif. In 1989 he gets his degrees in Composition-Orchestration from the Royal Conservatory of Music of Brussels.

Alexis Weissenberg, after listening to a recording by Okonsar invited him (on a scholarship) to study in Switzerland.

He endorsed the Belgian citizenship in 1992 but at the same time the President Suleyman Demirel of Turkey rewarded him with the title "State Artist of the Turkish Republic". Therefore Okonsar will settle in Turkey with his wife Lale Okonsar, painter.

Okonsar works now from Turkey on a busy schedule concertizing, composing, writing and teaching. He owns and manages a CD label exclusive to his own recordings, LMO-Records, and a publishing company "inventor-musicæ."

Career[link]

His international career began with the first prize at the International Young Virtuoses Competition of Antwerp in 1982. His orchestral début was the Third Concerto by Rachmaninoff performed at the deSingel Concert Hall^[3] in Antwerp. His other prizes are: Paris, 1989, "J. S. Bach" at the Salle Gaveau: second prize; 1990, Rome, Association Chopin "Premio Etruria": first prize; and 1991, United States, Utah, the sixth prize at the "Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition".

The "Académie des Arts Contemporains" of Enghien, Belgium rewarded him in 1991, for his acoustic and electronic compositions the Gold and Bronze medals respectively.

Mehmet Okonsar performed with the following orchestras: Utah Symphony, Antwerp Philharmonic,^[4] Poznan Philharmonic and Lublin Philharmonic. Some of the conductors he played with: Joseph Silverstein, Charles Dutoit, Sylvain Cambreling, Ingo Metzmacher, Christof Escher.

In recital he appeared at London's Royal Opera House, the Salle Gaveau in Paris, in New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Kyoto, Bruxelles, Anvers, Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Rotterdam, Rome, Athens, Calgary, Salt Lake City, Ljubljana.

His noted concerts included the premiere in Turkey of the Concerto for piano by Schoenberg and his performances of the Concerto for piano by Lutoslawski in Poland.

He has been a guest judge at the National Piano Competition of Japan under the auspices of the P.T.N.A. (“Piano Teachers National Association”). His researches on music and technology were presented in a lecture at the Yamaha headquarters in Hamamatsu, Japan. Okonsar wrote and presented a documentary series on the National Television Broadcast of Turkey, the T.R.T.

Okonsar is a published writer in several music related periodicals in Turkey. His articles published in Andante the most important Turkish periodical on classical music, were featuring imaginary interviews with "Mephisto" on the subject of the global decadence of the quality of classical music, in Turkey and in the world, a subject often worked on by Okonsar. His other published subjects are mainly about musical composition, analysis, music history. Okonsar publishes also in English and French.

Repertoire[link]

His repertoire encompasses a range from the early 17th. century ("The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book") including among others Orlando Gibbons and Giles Farnaby and extends to late 20th. century with the works by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Witold Lutoslawski. Notable works in this repertoire are: J.S. Bach "The Art of Fugue" performed on organ (or piano) and harpsichord; the Goldberg Variations, the integrale of Well-tempered Keyboard.

Okonsar has performed recitals featuring the complete piano works by Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg and Anton Webern. Despite he refuses all sort of "musical specialization", his repertoire is heavily on the "modern" side with Igor Stravinsky "Three Movements of Petrouchka" the "Sequenza" for the piano by Luciano Berio and the Klavierstücke by Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Discography[link]

Solo on his own label "LMO-Records"

• "Liszt-Modern": "Modern" pieces by Franz Liszt, including Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H, the Bagatelle sans tonalité, etc.
• J.S.BACH: Goldberg Variations (piano)
• J.S.BACH: The Well-Tempered Keyboard (piano) (integrale, 48 preludes and fugues in 3 CD)
• J.S.BACH: The Art of Fugue (on organ and harpsichord)
• J.S.BACH: The Musical Offering (on electronic instruments)
• "Shadowy Arcade" free improvisations on solo piano

On other labels:

• "Live at Salt Lake City": Recital, recorded live (1991)
• "TANGO, Best tangos by A. Piazzolla": personal arrangements for piano solo
• "Mehmet Okonsar Plays Gershwin" Complete works for the solo piano by Georges Gershwin and a personal transcription of the Rhapsody in Blue

With other artists:

• "T.R.T. Youth Choirs 20. Anniversary": Commissioned work by the T.R.T. (Turkish National Radio and Television) for a capella choir;
• "T.R.T. Chamber Orchestra": J.S. Bach, concertos for keyboard in F min. and G min.

Adept of Free Music philosophy,^[5] Okonsar publishes all his recordings and writings as well as his compositions on the Internet under the GNU GPL or Creative Commons licenses.

Composer[link]

Mehmet Okonsar started composing at the age of 11. His role-models were Arnold Schoenberg et Pierre Boulez.

The compositions by Okonsar were from the beginning exploring unusual ensembles in an avant-garde line. During the eighties atonal (free) Jazz specially by Cecil Taylor and the intricate voicings by Bill Evans had strong impact on the total serialism Okonsar always used. Other extra-serialist influences are Krzysztof Penderecki, Iannis Xenakis and György Ligeti.

The electronic works created in the fifties and early sixties by Ligeti, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Xenakis, Henri Pousseur and others created a new and previously unheard approach to orchestration. The sound possibilities of the classical orchestra started to be conceptualized by the composers in terms of "sound envelopes", "sound filters and formants. Okonsar followed a similar path in his orchestrations, in the ninethies.

The music by Okonsar is extremely structuralist and calls for an analytical approach. Today the composer uses the computer to formulate symbolic and algorithmic music composition principles. Okonsar uses LISP and Common Music to create a strong structural base for his compositions and advocates this approach as the condition sine qua non for a strong and coherent work.

This structuralism is presented in the finished score in a very detailed, complex and refined musical écriture.

Compositions[link]

• "Shir Ha Shirim" שיר השירים For soprano and grand orchestra (2010).
• "Tehillim" תהלים For solo vocal (male or female) and small orchestra (2010).
• "Kaleidoscopes" (2006–2009)

N1. for Piano Première by the composer in Ankara

N2. for Strings Chamber Orchestra, Marimba and Piano. Première conducted by Hakan Sensoy in Istanbul

N3. for Viola and Piano. Première by Çetin Aydar (viola) and the compositer in Ankara

• "Percussion X" (2005) For three percussionists. Première in Ankara by he Trio SaNeNa.
• "Temples of Kyoto" (2004–2010) Three pieces for the piano,

N1. "Kinkaku-ji" 金閣寺, The Temple of the Golden Pavillon, Première by the compositer in Tokyo (dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Yasuko Fukuda)

N2. "Tetsugaku no Michi", Philosopher's Walk 哲学の道 (dedicated to Reiko and Masatsugu Sasaki)

N3. "Ginkaku-ji" 銀閣寺, The Temple of the Silver Pavillon

• "Two Seascapes" (2000) for mixte choir a cappella. Première conducted by Prof. Mustafa Apaydın, Ankara.
• "Rhythm Studies pour Piano Solo" series 2 (2000)
• "Rhythm Studies pour Piano Solo" series 1 (1999), inspired by the "Schillinger System of Musical Composition"
• "Oannés" & "Mr. Dunne" (1990) Two sketches for improvisation for one or several piano(s). Première by the compositer in Brussels.
• "Unknown" (1989) for Bass Clarinet and Percussion. Première in Brussels.
• "Mandel Fractal Studies" (1997) Five pieces for the Piano based on fractals.
• "Emulation" (1989) Five Pieces for the Piano. Première by the compositer in Istanbul.
• "Chameleon" (1987) Three Pieces for the Piano. Première by the compositer in Brussels.

References[link]

• Biography & discography from Okonsar's official website
• Short Biography at "bach-cantatas.com"
• Short Biography (Turkish)

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Mehmet Okonsar - Official Website
• Videos
• Free scores by Mehmet Okonsar at the International Music Score Library Project