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Taoism and Later World Religions
Laozi -- the legendary author of the Dao Dejing -- may not have been a real person, since his name is simply the Chinese for "Old Master." Yet the Dao itself would not want this fact to get in our way inquiring what Laozi himself would have thought of something -- after all, the Dao teaches that "the name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name." Indeed, the Dao's insights are particularly interesting in considering developments in world religion after the time in which the Dao Dejing was composed (somewhere between about 500 and 300 B.C.E.). I hope to apply the principles of Laozi to take a Daoist view of the two major religions to rise out of Judaism -- Christianity and Islam.
A Daoist view of Islam would be somewhat contradictory. Islam itself means submission unto the will of Allah. To some degree this could be considered similar to Laozi's concept of "wuwei." Both imply a suppression of the personal will, although "wuwei" is usually translated as "nonaction" or "nonstriving" and it represents the effort to "go with the flow," so to speak. It implies a certain degree of harmony with the forces (if not the "will") of nature. But there the similarities end. Nothing could...
The notion of praying five times a day toward Mecca at specific hours seems like an attempt to impose a human order -- although Muslims consider it a divine order -- upon the natural progression of the day. Whereas the Dao functions in a way that is totally opposite: the natural order of the day should guide human endeavor. Moreover the actual tenets of Islamic dogma do not match up with stated Daoist beliefs. For example, one of the five central commandments of Islam is almsgiving for the poor: whereas Laozi rather shockingly announces that charity is counterproductive: "If we could renounce our benevolence and discard our righteousness, the people would again become filial and kindly." (p.91)
This resembles more some of the more cryptic statements of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, as when he warns his apostles that "The poor you always have with you; but me you have not for long." Overall, though, Christianity places less of an emphasis on charity for the poor, and more of an emphasis on the worth of the impoverished -- examples abound in Christian scripture of Jesus warning a rich man that a…
Both documents make references to time, which give them the form of historical documents. The Book of Documents is believed to be an advice given to King Tai Jia by the faithful Yi Yin, and the Book of Genesis is the advice given to Noah by God. But the advice of Yi Yin, according to this legend, is comparable to the authority of the Bible. It is the Mandate from
Middle East Has the presence of oil in the Middle East had a significant impact on the peoples of non-oil-producing states in the region? If so, in what ways, exactly? Develop an argument with specific reference to AT LEAST TWO non-oil-producing states. and other Western powers, oil supplies are the only real interest in the Middle East, and most people in the region are well aware of this fact, and of
While on one hand, the Nile gets the highest discharge from rainfall on the highlands of Ethiopia and upland plateau of East Africa, located well outside the Middle East region; on the other hand, discharge points of the other two rivers, Euphrates and Tigris, are positioned well within the Middle East region, prevailing mostly in Turkey, Syria along with Iraq. In other areas, recurrent river systems are restricted to
Every year more than million local population migrate towards the urban areas. Gender Discrimination: The regional religious clerics and their influence over the governments have created broad problems for women, and thereby restricting their integration and involvement into society and profession. Although the females have secured permission to vote, and fight elections, but they are subjected to difficult terms and conditions. The employment of females in MENA has improved, however
The Egyptian King Faud (1922-36) repeatedly disbanded popularly elected Wafd governments, despite huge majorities, due to their distinctly nationalist platform. The fickleness of the British position is exemplified by their later coercion of King Farouk (1936-52) to appoint an enfeebled Wafd government due to their need for a neutral Egypt during the Second World War. This intense irony does not detract from the fact that the monarchs in Egypt
Conflict Resolution in the Middle East History of the ARAB-ISRAELI conflict The Palestinian Arab and Jews rivalry is of recent origin that started on the eve of 20th century. Even though both of them have different religions the religious diversity is not considered to be the reasons of such rivalry. This is necessarily a struggle over the territory. The territory claimed by both the groups till 1948 was known as Palestine. However,