Chapters 3-6

The intro of chapter 3 compares the US with the Roman Empire and that historically, all empires collapse after they become overextended abroad, corrupt, and dictatorial at home. In many ways the US has become all of these things, with wars we are involved in abroad, spying on our own citizens using the excuse of terrorism as an reason to circumvent the law and strip our country of our privacy rights through the Patriot Act, and the many sex and money scandals of our elected officials. It does indeed make me wonder if we will end up like so many other empires. Putin seems to be gloating that he inherited Edward Snowden and many of the U.S.’ valuable secrets.

 Interesting too how the Roman empire was weakened by the influx of different ethnic and linguistic groups who controlled the weakening empire and eventually took over displacing the Roman emperor altogether, however the Chinese empire was disrupted by the nomadic peoples establishing “barbarian states,” but eventually assimilated into the culture and became ethnically Chinese.  I have read where it is much easier in countries that are homogeneous to establish laws and get everyone on the same page, and there is much more disagreement and debate in countries like the U.S. that have a large immigrant population. Not that I would want to live anywhere else, but relating it to history, this seems to prove accurate.

The discussion in Chapter 4 about religion and rationality was intriguing. The comparison of the rational, this-world focused Chinese and Greek philosophers, and the exploration of the unseen worlds by the Indian, Persian and Jewish intellectuals. All of them were seeking to define the meaning of life through spiritual or moral realm and all of these new ways of thinking focused on compassion. However, with the development of these new ways of thinking it also seemed to establish a ridged hierarchy and patriarchy. The Confucian answer of the moral example of superiors (men, wealth, age) to their inferiors (women, status, child) to show sincerity, benevolence and genuine concern towards those inferior to them, would automatically motivate the inferior to act with deference and obedience, turns my stomach a bit. I do agree though that gov’t officials should be chosen from those with good moral character and intellectual achievement, and not on aristocratic background (although it seems that only those from wealthy backgrounds could achieve the education necessary to achieve these positions in gov’t.) It also seems as though they were seeking work/life balance even back then with the discussion that a scholar-official pursue Confucianism during the day at his work, but behave more in the Daoist fashion when returning home at night.

I was hopeful when I began to read about the Buddhist belief that Buddha challenged the inequalities of the caste system, and also that he believed the possibility of “awakening” was available to all. But it goes on to discuss that with the formalization of Buddhism also came patriarchal rules and inequality, and it seems true of most  religions that once teachings were formalized, distilled, and mainstreamed, that class and gender inequality became entrenched.

In chapter 5 I was shocked to discover what an asshole Aristotle was! That women were just infertile males, and  passive receptacle of sperm, compared to domesticated animals or children, unable to be rational or participate in public life. I wish he was around to see our society today and the powerful women in it! I truly enjoyed reading about Pericles and Aspasia! What an enlightened man who could have taught Aristotle a few things about equality!

Chapter 6: The separate but equal definition of the Bantu people in Africa was promising to me and seemed to make for a more egalitarian society. It was less patriarchal  and they saw women as having equal value and as a valuable contributor. They also worshipped powerful female ancestral figures. It seems that  in all of these societies that once politics, and organized religion were introduced and established, women's status was degraded substantially. I was also disgusted by the amount of human sacrifice that went on in the Mesoamerican civilizations, along with their artistic renditions of these sacrifices.