Skip to main content

October 3 Culture and Religion & Serving

When China was in turmoil and disorder, Chinese thinkers began to think of solutions to fix this. A practical philosophy called Legalism came up, where it stated that laws and rules had to be played and strictly enforced.
Confuscious thought about this a different way. When a political position that he was seeking never came and eventually died, his students wrote his teaching in a book called Analects. He urged for no laws or punishments but the moral example of superiors was the key to a rested social harmony.  Inferiors would follow the example of the superiors. It was not long that Confusicms made its way to family lives.
Another system was Daoism, which was associated with a sixth-century archivist called Laozi. Laozi ideas ran counter of that of Confucious. Confucious urged the importance of education, moral improvement, and a good government, while Doalist ridiculed such efforts. Doalist encouraged behavior that was spontaneous and individualistic. "Confucius roams within society, Laozi wanders beyond"
There was also a system in India. Indian elite culture embraced the Divine and all things spiritual. Unlike other religions, Hinduism had no historical founder. It spread because it was associated with a particular people and territory. They also had a caste system. Where if you were reborn in a higher caste, that as evidence of "good karma." Women were also seen as unclean below the naval and they thought that all embryos were male and only weak semen generated female babies. "A woman must never be independent."
Then came Buddhism. A religion that believed that experiencing life as imperfect and impermanent was the central and universal feature of human life. This kinda of suffering came derived from the desire or craving individual fulfillment, the notion of a core self or an ego that is solid "me". To cure this, one had to live a modest and moral life with meditation practice. Unlike others, Buddhism had no interested in the creation of the world or the existence of a god. It challenged Hindu's based caste system, arguing that the caste nor gender was a barrier to enlightenment. This caused women to flock to join Buddhist order of nuns because of the freedom and independence.
Then came Monotheism. Example of these new systems are Zoroastrianism(Persian prophet Zarathustra), and Judaism, which was born among the Hebrews. Jesus of Nazareth and the Christianity grew out of his brief career had a dramatic impact. "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" is a Christian teaching. Both Buddha and Jesus called for personal transformation for their followers over various interpretations of the teachings.
Serving is different from helping and fixing. Serving is like healing because its mutual and there is no debt unlike helping. Fixing is a form of judgment and creates a distance and disconnection.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

October 31 Worlds of Islam

Mecca came to occupy a distinctive role in Arabia since it was the site of the most prominent religious shrine in Arabia. It was home to people from various tribes and clans. Muhammad Ibn Abdullah was going to be an important figure in Islam and was going to be the messenger of Allah.  The Core message of Islam was summarized as a set of five requirements known as the Pillars of Islam. Islam was a bit different than other religions because unlike Jesus or the Buddha, Muhammad was a political and military leader able to implement his vision of ideal Islamic society. Soon the mixing and blending of these many people emerged the new and distinctive third-wave civilization. There were numerous empires and they all had some sort of conflict with one another. With Islam full blooming, many converted. They all found their cultural identity bond with a belief in Allah and the message of this prophet.  For example, between 750 and 900 about 80 percent of the population made the trans...

Chapter 12

The fifteenth century was an important time in history because there were numerous organizations like  gathering and hunting societies. Australian paleolithic societies lacked agriculture and remained traditional, but still left an impact, and North American coast paleolithic societies were more advanced, economically and politically. Civilizations were more advanced and larger during this time. In China, then Ming Dynasty China established numerous great things like the civil service examination system, government, it went on large expeditions.  China was a big player at the time. In Europe, there were also a large number of good things happening. Europeans were seeking African wealth. On the other hand, The Ottoman Empire was stable and had a good amount of land and was in a good place. The Mexican people also had advanced structures and a very unique culture and traditions. Although they had many rebellions that managed to make their own state. During this century...

September 18 Early Civilizations

Communities were turning into civilizations. Some rose, fell, revived and changed. There were seven first civilizations. The first civilization emerged around 3500 BCE in southern Mesopotamia. There were different types, for example, the Norte Chico was way different with their small cities and their less evidence of economic specialization. Civilizations in other places were very different from one another. For example, Egypt and China experienced an impressive continuity of identity as a distinct civilization from its early years. But although they are all different, all civilizations had their roots in the Agricultural Revolution. With civilization came cities and with cities, came a hierarchy and inequality that was regarded as normal. For example, men were superior to women. To keep everything in balance and place, the idea of a government based society was born and laws beginning to be written. But as the first civilizations broke down, new civilizations took their place and...