blog2

The Daoist Answer is one that I honestly wish I could live by.  To essentially live natural and free with no form of education. Of course in this day and age that is not realistic unless one lives in some remote location with no contact to the outside world.  Or perhaps grew up in a closed society that lived solely off the land, or even lived in 369-286 B.C.E.  The legendary figure Laozi who was a 6^th century B.C.E. archivist created this Daoism phenomenon.  Like many other things there is always someone who is different and goes against the grain.  Confucius thought the opposite; he emphasized the importance of education and earnest striving for moral improvement and good government.  The Daoists thought highly against such efforts as artificial and useless.   The conflict between the two ideals makes complete sense; I compare Daoism to the hippies.  Hippies were in love with nature and in some ways lived off the earth.  They were organic and showed a sense of yin and yang philosophy.  They were accepting and wanted peace, especially in the Vietnam era where peace was what everyone wanted.  Reading about this era I try and place myself in that time to try and see what it would be like.  I find a sense of peace among this Daoism concept.  It truly makes me wish that I could find my own Daoism one day, I’m thinking along the lines of retirement.  I can retreat to the woods and live among the trees and flowers and birds and all the other forest dwelling creatures.  Possibly paint a picture just like the Temple on a Mountain Ledge from chapter 5.

Greeks and Persians are some very interesting people.  Their ancient civilizations were amongst the most historic of all.  They created so many things and changed the way civilizations are run.  The movie 300 came to mind when reading this part of chapter 4.  Even though 300 were near the end of the Persian Empire and who knows how accurate it really was, it made me think.  While the Persians were these conquering, civilized society whom had hierarchy the Greeks had some great things of their own.  The Greeks were a free society who spread out and formed their own colonies.  They had states and were able to govern themselves.  Of course some states became more famous or stronger than the others, but they were individuals who lived as one.  Both the Greeks and Persians are a great example of adaptation.  They grew with time and learned how to thrive as separate societies, of course differently and against each other, but they were really the hallmark to ancient civilizations.

1st reading blog

Throughout my reading I undoubtedly came across some really good information.  In chapter 1 I learned that 100,000 years ago there was an estimated 10,000 people in the world.  To me that information is very significant because it also explains how closely knit a Paleolithic society was.  A group of 25-50 people were very close all relationships were very personal.  It was like a small town or family and that to me is amazing.  To know that humankind began as a tight family is great to know.  It makes me think about my family and how close we are.  The comparisons are close and with time a family or town grows.  The Paleolithic bands were seasonally mobile or nomadic, which meant that they needed to move often to exploit the resources.  They lived off the land and the women were the primary food gathers, women were the reason why they survived.  Everyone was an equal; it wasn’t until later that societies formed kings, chiefs and more powerful positions.  At this time they needed to work together to survive. 

In chapter 3 one of the six first civilizations was know as a Olmec, they were found along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.  It was said that the Olmec might have created the first written language in the Americas.  The rituals that were practiced by the Olmec spread throughout the region and influenced the other civilizations like the Maya and Teotihuacan.  Have you seen the movie Apacalypto? Well that movie is about that and is really a good source of information about an ancient civilization.  To be the start of a civilization and to influence others shows how strong and powerful a nation and way of doing things can be.  All the evidence that was left behind for us modern humans to find like; temples, burial grounds, statues and living quarters, show us how influential and ingenious people were 1000’s of years ago.  They lived off the land; they didn’t have grocery stores or ketchup.  They survived on corn, beans and other naturally grown products that they harvested themselves.  To know that we started from that is exceptional and humbling.

My Blog

He is I and I am him.