A Reason for Paine

     Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason, was quite honestly a “paine” to read. Although it is a great representation of the language of the time, and his writing can be observed to be a type of beautiful, I had, at times, difficulty grasping the main concepts. The biggest ideas or themes that I found to be prevalent in The Age of Reason, were Paine’s bias against organized religion, the value and authenticity of the Bible including his problem with revelation, and his advocacy of deism. His bias against organized religion stemmed from the fact that any organization or group created by man cannot be equivalent to teachings of God. Most of Paine’s arguments do have adequate evidence and make sense, however, because he is so confident of his opinions, his arguments can come off as one-sided and arrogant.  He preaches that organized religion has its root in money and making its members feel guilty. His deep-rooted and obvious disdain for the Bible is perfectly shown towards the end of the text where he cites, “the stupid Bible of the church that teaches nothing,” (111), “stupid tests of the Bible,” (112), and, “only stupid sermons can be preached,” (112). It was almost childish to me to see such a profound writer basically throw a fit about how “stupid” he believes the Bible to be in the conclusion of the text. It is almost like he is so frustrated with the fact that people do believe in the things he is so against, that he tries to make it seem like the absolute most ludicrous thing in existence. 

     However, possibly contradicting myself, as Paine does a tad bit throughout his work, I can somewhat agree with his theories on revelation. Although it seems completely impossible to me that God should have to reveal himself or his teachings to us to have it truly be called revelation, I can agree that many true revelations could have been very much skewed through word of mouth. This concept reminded me of the game of “whisper-down-the-lane” in which a person thinks of a sentence and whispers it to the person next to them, after the sentence has been whispered all the way down to the very last person, almost every time the group finds that the sentence has been completely changed through the mishearing of re-telling the original. I do believe it is hard to have faith in a Bible written by many authors through many different recapitulations of events that occurred thousands of years ago. Revelation is supposed to be directly from God to man so I can understand how it is hard to define the stories told by the person who it was revealed to, to those who it wasn’t revealed to, to still be termed revelation. 

     Paine makes a lot of statements concerning the true God or higher-power of Creation. I certainly agree that the wonders and true mechanics of Nature and the Creation can be evidence of a higher-power. This deism that Paine promotes is something he has structured his beliefs and life around through the many experiences and research he has made in these subjects. I think that conscience can be inherently in us when we are born but it is first formed and shaped by our primary teachers, our parents. Our conscious is affected by everything our parents show us and teach us and as we grow, experience life, and learn of the acceptable aspects of society, our conscious is again shaped by what we want and what we receive from our culture and society. If a person grows up learning nothing of religion, is still a good person, and then the culture he or she moves into is all about a specific religion or way of thinking, that person may completely change based on what he or she wants or what he or she agrees with. 

     This text applies to our life and to class by representing further ideas about religion in our Ways of Knowing (Faith) section. Religion has always been one of those very debatable topics that is on the same side as Politics, topics that people are very personal about because they may rule their lives by what they are confident in to be true. However, I will always be a strong advocate for knowledge. I believe that no one should truly be able to have strong opinions about one side before being able to understand and be fully aware of all sides. For Religion, and for culture as well, it adds to a well-rounded individual to be knowledgeable on every possible option or belief, to simply be able to have an open-mind and better understand people who may have completely different backgrounds than you. One last point that I have sincerely taken away from The Age of Reason, is reason. I agree with Thomas Paine in that everything one believes in should contain a certain amount of reason behind it. It is difficult to trust in anything without sufficient foundation on which the “why?” and “how?” are based upon. There are questions that should always be answered but there are also questions that may never be answered, it will forever depend upon how much a person wants, needs, or cares about that aspect of his or her life or society. 

Interpretation is Key - Daodejing vs. The Bible

      My parents have always taught me everything is good in moderation. My elementary, middle and high school education have taught me that the Bible, among many other religious or cultural centerpieces, can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Since I hold these pearls of wisdom to be true, I would say this unit is correctly entitled "Ways of Knowing (Faith)," because every person goes through their own unique life experiences that shape what they know and in what they believe. My catholic education has taught me and instilled in me my religious beliefs. However, through simply experiencing life, I have shaped my own values and morals. Through traveling the world and experiencing other cultures, meeting people from a variety of backgrounds, and learning about the vast amount of religions there are in the world, I have come to respect and acknowledge the unity that beliefs and core values bring to a group.
      The Daodejing of Laozi instructs one not to search for the answers or even try to live the dao (the way), de (virtue), or jing (classic), because once one strives to attain these they are instantly following the opposite of the teachings. I believe you cannot really try to interpret the Daodejing, instead you must just read it and accept it. There is a remarkable amount of similarity between the Daodejing and the Bible. Although the Bible contains stories, history, and miracles meant to teach life lessons, it too is emphasized to be taken into many different viewpoints and interpretations. Both readings include a plethora of arguments against jealousy, greed, excessive want/desire, and treachery. A huge example of jealousy found in the Bible is the story of Joseph... and his technicolor dreamcoat. A coat that his father Issac gives him and which his seven brothers decide to fake his death and sell him to the Pharoah over (because they were jealous of him). Fortunately, the Bible continues the story with Joseph rising in power with the Pharoah and forgiving his brothers after seeing his family suffer through the famine. The Daodejing would prefer to instruct us to stay out of problems for as far as to insure our own safety. However, the Daodejing would also tell us to be fair, king, forgiving people, especially in government. I think if both texts were closely examined and scrutinized, one could break down each of the hidden meanings and find similar if not equal core values. Living simply, truthfully, and with nature are recommendations found in both texts. I would not be surprised to see a phrase similar to Daodejing's "do not neglect one's belly in order to please one's eyes," in the Bible. However, while "the Daoist sage is guided by prereflective intuitions and tendencies rather than by preestablished or self-conscious policies or principles," a Christian or Catholic followers is constantly aware of his or her acts and whether they are moral or unmoral according to what the Church teaches, steming from how the leaders interpret the Bible.
      Therefore, I see the texts are being similar in value depending on interpretation but also very much different in outcome. The Daodejing is almost a self-journey while the Bible, most times, connects a group of people on the same path through the same actions and beliefs with which they live. While the Daoist ideal would be to fully live your life free from harm, full of health, and enjoying comfort and contentment, the Bible, on the other hand, includes stories of followers literally dying for what they believe in and cherish. The Bible wants its followers to stand up for what they believe and if you die for it then you are a martyr who is looked upon with much honor.
      So although I kept stating that the texts values can be similar, there is an ultimate view that neither of the texts would be able to agree upon. While in the Dao we "do nothing yet nothing remains undone," we can see great followers, those who live by the Bible, preaching on street corners to get the message they interpreted or have learned out to those who have not. Of course, there will always be a wide range of people who act differently in how they live out their religion, but there will never really be a Daoist person trying to teach another about Daoism because then they are strictly going against anything Daoist whatsoever. The Bible, specifically the Genesis readings, focus on history of family, Creation (which involves nature!), and the horrible acts that people committed and that God made them suffer for and learn from. The Daodejing is about enjoying and fully living life in the complete way. There really isn't a God that punishes or that one must honor or obey.
      A final point I would clarify is that there really is a different interpretation of each reading depending on each person. The Daodejing could be looked at as a more life related text while the Bible readings could be lessons to live by and uphold, believing in what one interprets the stories to mean. No matter what one believes, being the good person that one can be can automatically grant him or her a fulfilling life, no matter what they accept or hold to be true.

DuBois' The Souls of Black Folk & Our Society

     W.E.B. DuBois is an incredibly profound writer and activist. His book, The Souls of Black Folk, depicts a troublesome world that unfortunately took place in our society in the twentieth century. The major issue, as DuBois states, was the problem of the color-line. The color-line is the invisible line that segregates. This color-line in turn creates a double consciousness, which DuBois further discusses along his concept of the veil. Double consciousness is "this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity" (38). DuBois' veil concept is something that is worn by all African-Americans because they are able to see the world they live in but people on the other side, or outside of the veil, are unable to see behind the veil to relate to the world in which African-Americans live. The veil means that African-Americans are seeing themselves through their own eyes as well as the eyes of others while others can only see African-Americans through their own eyes and not the eyes of the African-American. The economic, political, and social opportunities of African-Americans at the time were nothing close to the opportunities whites, especially white men, held at the time. DuBois wanted this veil to be cast aside and he worked towards that goal his whole life. However, in The Souls of Black Folk, DuBois acknowledges the veil as being both a horrible curse to African-Americans but also a sort of blessing. In Chapter XI, "Of the Passing of the First-Born," DuBois accounts his infant son's death and decides that he is, "not dead, not dead, but escaped; not bond, but free. No bitterness now shall sicken his baby heart till it die a living death, no taunt shall madden his happy boyhood" (162). DuBois decides that his baby died before he knew the pain of the veil he was born into, before the double consciousness set in, so he died in love and happiness. I believe that this veil is actually present in more than just the African-American community. The veil can be present in any minority group and also in women versus men. The double-consciousness concept can be for anyone really. A rich man and a poor man, a man and a women, Black and White, Black and Latino or Hispanic, foreigner and American, and any other two groups that have grown up knowing different cultures, beliefs, and identity rules. America has come along way with civil rights but I believe no matter what we do the prejudices that continually pass down to us from our ancestors will never be totally gone. People will continue to have rascist or prejudice feelings, depending on where they have come from, what they know, and what they have learned. No matter what the law says, society still has norms and functions differently depending on the groups in it. The entire group concept is forever strong and will forever be strong. Even before each chapter, DuBois begins with a part of a Sorrow Song which identifies and unites the African-American slave community through the mutual suffering they experienced. People identify themselves as a race, a religion, or even a political party and they stay committed to the beliefs held by that group. So they will see themselves as how they see themselves and how others see them but like DuBois states, others will only be able to see them through their own eyes.
     Another concept that I though was well addressed in both DuBois' chapter on Booker T. Washington as well as his chapter, "Of the Coming of John," was the importance and affect of education. With education, those in poverty and those that were subordinate were able to see how the world worked. Education led to knowledge of and awareness of injustice in the world and the fact that one may or may not be able to do anything about it. For example, John Jones gained a morbid and contempt view of his home town where people just accepted their lives and how the whites treated them with the Jim Crow laws. When Jones traveled north and attempted college and the real world he came to realize his "place" and how he couldn't see how he would ever be accepted for his hard work. He gained the knowledge that opened up the current events of his country. Education is key for any progress in the world to be made, especially concerning the economic, politics, and society. The more people know, the better the decisions they can make because they will understand the concepts they need to understand in order to make those decisions. In today's world, many people may only vote based off what they have heard, and on prejudices or opinions they have grown up with, not on being formally and unbiasedly educated in what they want to be changed and what is problematic in the country to make an educated decision. When people are educated they are able to be, in a way, "free", to think for themselves because they have enough knowledge on enough topics to form strong opinions and beliefs which haven't been passed down to them. One reason I believe many people are stuck in poverty and hardships is the lack of education they receive and the constant cycle of only knowing what they have learned and seen from family and friends. The more people are educated about what has happened in the past and what is happening in the present and the affects present actions and decisions will have on the future, the less likely there will be a repeat of the past. A repeat of these struggles that DuBois so articulately described in The Souls of Black Folk. The more we fight to educate and realize that trying to keep certain groups in poverty or without having a say in our country/world, the less we'll be able to benefit from working together and coming to a mutual understanding of what we need as a whole.