The advantage of being poor is that you have nothing of value to steal. The other day someone broke into my car. If they would have thought for a second, they would have seen that I am driving a 10 year P.O.S., I reside in an apartment that is falling apart, and I live on a street where most cars are so old and worthless that the owners do not even bother to shut their windows or lock the vehicles. Although, a man desperate enough to break into a car of no value probably has little to no common sense.
First he tried to steal my CD player (which is broken anyway), but as he was taking it out, it fell to pieces. He then proceeded to take the unit and throw it on the ground outside in an act of frustration. At this point, I think he realized that he was not going to find anything of value. The perpetrator then scoured my car for anything of value. Of course, there was nothing. They looked in every crevice of the car, and the only thing they stole was my registration and insurance card. After talking to the police I found out that there was absolutely nothing they could do with this information, and I had a good laugh at the situation. At least he saved me trouble of uninstalling my broken cd player and throwing it away.
However, the most humorous part of this whole ordeal was my realization of the diminutive value of the American dollar. Like most people, I keep spare change in my car. Unlike most people, my spare change is little more than a bunch of pennies, a couple nickels, a few dimes, and one or two quarters. The homeless man took the time to dig out all of the change in the container, place it on my drivers seat, and sort through the pile. He proceeded to take out all of the quarters (3 at most), all of my dimes (a total of 2 at last count) and leave the rest. Apparently, nickels and pennies have become so worthless that it is worth the time of a homeless man, who is so desperate that he is willing to break into a decrepit automobile, to sort out the change and only take the "high value" coins. Ironically enough, I counted the change I had left, and there was actually more money in the pennies and nickels than he ended up taking in the quarters and dimes. What has the economy come to?
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
The Phenomena of the Rise of Religion
I think that in order to truly understand the meaning of today's religions you need to understand the how they came about and took hold of the world. Interestingly enough, all of the major religions of today arose in a very short amount of time - approximately 2500 years. Although this may seem like a long time, in the context of human existence it is very short. Just for reference, here is a general timeline of the beginning of all major religions:
I find this very interesting because after Muhammad, no major religions have taken root and become successful. I think that there are a few major reasons for this peculiarity.
1.) As society has progressed, people have become more rational, and those claiming to be "prophets" are labeled as mentally ill.
This definitely occurs in today's society, but I don't think that this will hold true in 600 AD. At that time, there was no knowledge of science, and many of the most basic phenomena were explained as magic or as an act of God.
2.) Once the major religions of today were established, it was impossible for other new beliefs to compete.
This is probably partially true. However, each religion was not well enough established in the beginning to out compete any new beliefs. I think it still would have been possible for a charismatic individual to spread a new belief, but maybe the existence of someone as charismatic as Jesus or Muhammad is so rare that they did not appear again until religions were already established.
3.) Religions arose during this time period because it was the optimal balance between the development of society and knowledge of the external world.
In order for religion to be successful, society needs to be developed. In the tribal past of human existence it would have been impossible for outsiders to penetrate all of the different tribes and spread a new belief. Knowledge and ideas were difficult, if not impossible to spread because of the barriers of a rudimentary civilization. However, as society began to develop and communication pipelines were created, humans became more and more industrialized and lost touch with the natural world, while at the same time they began to acquire a greater understanding of the world around them. A deep connection with nature is essential for a true understanding of the existence of the universe. This connection was slowly lost as society advanced and became more and more complex. So, from 200BC to 600AD, societies were developed enough to allow a relatively quick spread of knowledge and ideas, but people still had a strong connection with the natural world and at the same time a poor understanding of the external world (ie. there was no science).
- c. 2000 BC: Time of Abraham, the patriarch of Israel.
- c. 1200 BC: Time of Moses, the Hebrew leader of the Exodus.
- c. 1100 - 500 BC: Hindus compile their holy texts, the Vedas.
- c. 563 - 483 BC: Time of Buddha, founder of Buddhism.
- c. 551 - 479 BC: Time of Confucius, founder of Confucianism.
- c. 200 BC: The Hindu book, Bhagavad Gita, is written.
- c. 2 to 4 BC - 32 AD: Time of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and founder of Christianity.
- c. 32 AD: The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- c. 40 - 90 AD: The New Testament is written by the followers of Jesus Christ.
- c. 570 - 632 AD: Time of Muhammad, who records the Qur'an as the basis of Islam.
I find this very interesting because after Muhammad, no major religions have taken root and become successful. I think that there are a few major reasons for this peculiarity.
1.) As society has progressed, people have become more rational, and those claiming to be "prophets" are labeled as mentally ill.
This definitely occurs in today's society, but I don't think that this will hold true in 600 AD. At that time, there was no knowledge of science, and many of the most basic phenomena were explained as magic or as an act of God.
2.) Once the major religions of today were established, it was impossible for other new beliefs to compete.
This is probably partially true. However, each religion was not well enough established in the beginning to out compete any new beliefs. I think it still would have been possible for a charismatic individual to spread a new belief, but maybe the existence of someone as charismatic as Jesus or Muhammad is so rare that they did not appear again until religions were already established.
3.) Religions arose during this time period because it was the optimal balance between the development of society and knowledge of the external world.
In order for religion to be successful, society needs to be developed. In the tribal past of human existence it would have been impossible for outsiders to penetrate all of the different tribes and spread a new belief. Knowledge and ideas were difficult, if not impossible to spread because of the barriers of a rudimentary civilization. However, as society began to develop and communication pipelines were created, humans became more and more industrialized and lost touch with the natural world, while at the same time they began to acquire a greater understanding of the world around them. A deep connection with nature is essential for a true understanding of the existence of the universe. This connection was slowly lost as society advanced and became more and more complex. So, from 200BC to 600AD, societies were developed enough to allow a relatively quick spread of knowledge and ideas, but people still had a strong connection with the natural world and at the same time a poor understanding of the external world (ie. there was no science).
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)