A self bow is a bow made from a single piece of wood. Extra material such as horn nocks on the ends, or built-up handles, would normally be accepted as part of a self bow. Some modern authorities would also accept a bow spliced together in the handle from two pieces of wood.^[1]

Advantages and disadvantages[link]

An effective self bow can be made from widely-available local material in most inhabited parts of the world, with limited tools whose functions include chopping, shaving, and scraping. A day of work may be needed, as against a week for a composite bow which requires also a much greater range of materials and skills.^[2] However, self bows must be long, approximately the height of the archer, if they are to allow a long draw, and they are less efficient in the specialized art of flight archery. The higher arrow velocity is only for well-designed composite bows of high draw-weight. At the weights more usual for modern amateurs, the greater density of horn and sinew compared to wood usually cancels any advantage. "A combination of many technical factors made the composite flight bow better for flight shooting..." For most practical non-mounted archery purposes, self bows can perform as well as composite; "the initial velocity is about the same for all types of bow... within certain limits, the design parameters... appear to be less important than is often claimed." ^[3]

History[link]

In many parts of the world including much of Africa, the Americas, northern Europe, and Southern Asia, the great majority of traditional bows are self bows. The first bow artifacts, the Stellmoor and Holmegaard artifacts of Northern Europe, are self bows. The Stellmoor bow was made from the heartwood of a Scots Pine while the oldest Holmegaard bows were carved from small-diameter elms. In primitive flight archery competitions, bows inspired by the design of the Holmegaard bows perform very well because of their light, non-bending tips.

Selecting wood[link]

The majority of timbers can be made into high-quality self bows, if the pieces are long enough (approximately the height of the archer), and the grain is sufficiently straight. Denser timbers normally store energy better and can be made into narrower bows with less effort – high-quality yew allows for particularly narrow self bows, such as the traditional European version of the longbow. The Eastern Woodlands tribes of North America used hickory, tribes in parts of the Southwestern United States osage orange, Brazilian rainforest tribes palm wood, and many others. In Europe and North America, commoner woods such as maple, ash, elm, and oak will make excellent flatbows, and are far easier to obtain.

The fibres on the back of a self bow must be, so far as possible, continuous. This may be achieved by using the outer, under-bark surface of the tree as the back of the bow (convenient with most white woods), by the painstaking process of removing outer growth rings (often used with yew and osage orange), or by making or following a cut or split surface which happens to have continuous grain (a usual approach if starting with commercially-sawn wood).

The density of timber correlates well with its ability to store energy as it is bent. Denser timbers can make narrower bows. The same design for less dense timbers will result in the bow taking excessive set/string follow, or even breaking. However, equally effective bows may be made from less dense timber by making them wider near the centre. The mass of equivalent bows will be closely similar whatever the density of wood; approximately the same mass of wood is required whatever the density of the timber.

The overall length of bending wood must be about 2.3 times the draw length. Narrow bows (known as "longbows") can bend in the handle. Wider bows (known as "flatbows") must be narrow in the handle if they are to be practical, but the handle must be made thicker so as not to bend, and the complete bow will therefore tend to be longer.

Self bows may be of any side-view profile; moderate recurving can often be achieved with heat and force.

See also[link]

• Crossbow
• English longbow
• Cable-backed bow
• Compound bow
• Laminated bow
• Composite bow

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• The Traditional Bowyer's Bible Volume 1. The Lyons Press 1992. ISBN 1-58574-085-3
• The Traditional Bowyer's Bible Volume 2. The Lyons Press 1992. ISBN 1-58574-086-1
• The Traditional Bowyer's Bible Volume 3. The Lyons Press 1994. ISBN 1-58574-087-X
• The Traditional Bowyer's Bible Volume 4. The Lyons Press 2008. ISBN 1-59921-453-9 ISBN 978-1599214535

v t e Archery Archery topics Archer's paradox Archery Bow Bow draw Bow shape History of archery History of crossbows Modern competitive archery Mounted archery Bows Cable-backed bow Composite bow Compound bow Crossbow English longbow Flatbow Laminated bow Longbow Recurve bow Self bow Yumi Equipment Arrow Arrowhead Bow string Bracer Cresting machine Finger tab Fletching Flu-Flu Arrow Quarrel Quiver Thumb ring Archery activities Archery games Bowfishing Bowhunting Clout archery Field archery Popinjay Target archery Target World Championship Archery at the Summer Olympics Archery at the Summer Paralympics Glossary of archery terms

The self is an individual person as the object of his or her own reflective consciousness. The self has been studied extensively by philosophers and psychologists and is central to many world religions.

Philosophy[link]

The philosophy of self seeks to describe essential qualities that constitute a person's uniqueness or essential being. There have been various approaches to defining these qualities. The self can be considered that being which is the source of consciousness; the agent responsible for an individual's thoughts and actions; and/or the substantial nature of a person which endures and unifies consciousness over time.

The philosophy of a disordered self, such as in schizophrenia, is described in terms of what the psychiatrist understands are actual events in terms of neuron excitation but are delusions nonetheless, and the schizo-affective or schizophrenic person also believes are actual events in terms of essential being. PET scans have shown that auditory stimulation relates to certain areas of the brain and imagined similar events occur in adjacent areas but hallucinations occur in the same areas. In such cases, external influences may be the source of consciousness and the person may or may not be responsible for "sharing" in the mind's process; and/or the events which occur, such as visions and auditory stimuli, may endure and be repeated often over hours, days, months or years -- and the afflicted person may believe themselves to be in a state of rapture and/or possession, which their artistic expression may tend to confirm. Whether art has moral responsibility is difficult to relate to the idea of a unique source of consciousness and rapid thinking may lead to an insubstantial nature of the enduring person's consciousness over time; it can be said in view of these two exigencies that the person is vulnerable.

Psychology[link]

The psychology of self is the study of either the cognitive and affective representation of one's identity or the subject of experience. The earliest formulation of the self in modern psychology form the distinction between the self as I, the subjective knower, and the self as Me, the object that is known.^[1] Current views of the self in psychology position the self as playing an integral part in human motivation, cognition, affect, and social identity.^[2] Self following from John Locke has been seen as a product of episodic memory^[3] but research upon those with amnesia find they have a coherent sense of self based upon preserved conceptual autobiographical knowledge.^[4] It is increasingly possible to correlate cognitive and affective experience of self with neural processes. A goal of this ongoing research is to provide grounding and insight into the elements of which the complex multiply situated selves of human identity are composed. The 'Disorders of the Self' have also been extensively studied by psychiatrists.^[5]

For example, facial and pattern recognition take large amounts of brain processing capacity but pareidolia cannot explain many constructs of self for cases of disorder, such as schizophrenia or schizo-affective disorder.

Religion[link]

Religious views on the self vary widely. The self is a complex and core subject in many forms of spirituality. Two types of self are commonly considered - the self that is the ego, also called the learned, superficial self of mind and body, an egoic creation, and the Self which is sometimes called the "True Self", the "Observing Self", or the "Witness".^[6]

Human beings have a self—that is, they are able to look back on themselves as both subjects and objects in the universe. Ultimately, this brings questions about who we are and the nature of our own importance.^[7] Traditions such as Buddhism see the apparent self (our identification as souls, minds, bodies and egos) as a "grasping-after" self—i.e., inasmuch as one has a "self," one has it only through a deluded attempt to shore it up. Christianity makes a distinction between the true self and the false self, and sees the false self negatively, distorted through sin: 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?' (Jeremiah 17:9)

According to Marcia, identity comes from both political and religious views. He also identified exploration and commitment as interactive parts of identity formation, which includes religious identity. Erik Erikson compared faith with doubt and found that healthy adults take heed to their spiritual side.^[8]

One description of spirituality is the self's search for "ultimate meaning" through an independent comprehension of the sacred. Spiritual identity appears when the symbolic religious and spiritual value of a culture is found by individuals in the setting of their own life. There can be different types of spiritual self because it is determined on one's life and experiences. Another definition of spiritual identity is " a persistent sense of self that addresses ultimate questions about the nature, purpose, and meaning of life, resulting in behaviors that are consonant with the individual’s core values." ^[8]

The direct experience of God is usually reserved for prophets, saints and martyrs but many schizophrenics have claimed to hear, see or know God and have been dismissed as delusional. All too often these same mentally challenged individuals are beset by demons, who act to push them towards God by a variety of antagonistic means. Also, people on drugs have claimed to be witness to God but they have similarly been dismissed as hallucinatory. Then again, people in native cultures imbibe or ingest plants or concoctions that lead them to see holy visions. PET scans have shown that the areas of the brain that are excited by hearing actual events are adjacent to the ones imagining the same event, but the same as ones hallucinating the event.

It is this connection by perception that is of interest to the self, and once made, people will often return to make it again. Think of the painting in the Sistine Chapel -- is Adam's finger outstretched pointing to God in a relaxed, accepting way? As if it is in our self's nature to seek God, and more over, to accept Him when found? As if a circle of spirit were made complete? To whom should we go when our mind or soul is broken in such a way that others cannot fix it? Deep within each of us is the act of creation and the Creator ... deep within our self. Artists mirror culture and nature, and is that not worship? Is that not faith, by a different name? What is "new meaning" if not revelation? Such can also be found in the etymological thinking of the "word salad" of schizophrenics and the idiomatic logic of schizo-affectives; it is its own form of poetry, albeit under-appreciated. It may be an attempt to express the inexpressible, such as the mother's and father's voices heard while still in the womb, whose morphemes were incomprehensible at the time, and forming layers upon layers of early memories while the embryo or fetus was still wholly dependent and raw perception of the unknowable and ineffable was being laid as the basis of communication.

See also[link]

• Ego
• Individual
• Individuation
• Outline of self

Further reading[link]

Please expand this article. Some suggested sources are given hereafter. More information might be found in a section of the talk page. (February 2012)

• Thomas M. Brinthaupt, Richard P. Lipka, The Self: definitional and methodological issues
• Jean Dalby Clift, Core Images of the Self: A Symbolic Approach to Healing and Wholeness
• Anthony Elliott, Concepts of the Self
• Anthony Giddens, Modernity and self-identity: self and society in the late modern age
• Robert Kegan, The evolving self: problem and process in human development
• Clark Moustakas, The self: explorations in personal growth
• Richard Sorabji, Self: ancient and modern insights about individuality, life, and death
• Charles Taylor, Sources of the self: the making of the modern identity

References[link]

Look up bow in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Bow may refer to:

• Bow (weapon) /ˈboʊ/, an archery weapon that uses elasticity to propel arrows
• Bowing /ˈbaʊ/, to lower the head or upper body as a social gesture
• Bow (ship) /ˈbaʊ/, the foremost point of the hull of a ship or boat
• Bow (rowing), a term which has multiple meanings within the sport of rowing.

Knots[link]

• Bow knot, a shoelace knot or a rosette
• Hair bow, a hair accessory of hair or a ribbon tied in a bow knot
• Bow tie, a type of necktie and ribbon fashion accessory tied in a bow knot
• An ornamental knot made of ribbon

Music[link]

• Bow (music), a device used to play a stringed instrument
• Musical bow, a musical instrument resembling an archer's bow
• EBow, a hand-held electronic device for playing the electric guitar
• Bows (band), a band from the UK

Places[link]

United Kingdom

• Bow, Devon, England
• Bow, London, England (historically called Stratford atte Bowe)

United States

• Bow, Kentucky
• Bow, New Hampshire
• Bow, Washington

Canada

• The Bow (skyscraper), a building in Calgary, Alberta
• Bow River, a river in the province of Alberta

Other[link]

• Elbow, considered as an (often) approximately right-angled ("L"-shaped?) bow
• Bend, The action or effect of bowing to the force of something or someone
• Bow, of bow and warp of semiconductor wafers and substrates
• Bow porcelain factory, a London-based porcelain factory, active 1747-1776
• Bag of words model, a model used in natural language processing and information retrieval
• Bow (She-Ra), a character from the cartoon She-Ra: Princess of Power
• B.O.W (Bio-Organic Weapons), a type of weapon in the Resident Evil video game and movie series
• Bow, a character from the video game Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Bow"
• All pages with titles containing "Bow"
• Beau (disambiguation)
• Bo (disambiguation)

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