KIM EXAM FINAL 1217

Daoism: A religion hard to pin down but pervasive in influence as its ideas are found throughout Asian society and even in other religions
Contrast with Confucianism which is a religion of strict social code and ethics
Arose around the time of Confucius and in “competition” with and as an alternative to the structure of Confucianism
Daoism is “allergic to doctrine” – Prothero

Dao characteristics/beliefs; Hard to pin down as Daoists will disagree with everything; like Christians
Wandering: purposeless by design as opposed to the purpose driven life of the west
Wandering without destination and plan is good; wandering in the west is a sign of punishment.
Some see it as a rural south against the urban north (of China); wandering among the mountains and in nature is better than the city
It is purposeless on purpose; Prothero uses the metaphor of the little league pitcher who must throw without aiming; the example we used in class was that of water coming down the mountain
Naturalness,
that is the harmony of the natural world; where Feng shui comes from, Feng shui literally means “wind and water;” originally used for grave orientation and location, now used for architecture and interior decorating
Daoism influenced Chinese art, poetry, medicine and martial arts
Confucians believed that people become fully human by being social; Daoists believe that one becomes human by being natural; we need to be ourselves
This is why politicians and bureaucrats preferred Confucianism over Daoism; it is easier to control people with Confucianism
Nevertheless; most people use both in their everyday lives; a little ying with your yang
Nurturing Life: living by the rules of society is NOT nurturing life
Rather live life to the fullest, enjoy good health for long life; for some Daoists this means physical immortality
This immortality is not the western idea of “soul” but is something that can be found in the earth and our bodies
Nourish life NOT defeat death
Civilization (Confucianism) sucks our QI (vital energy) from us
Focus on etiquette and rules and social convention not only speeds our death but increases discord in society; disrupts social harmony; we should focus more on spontaneity and change the self-cultivation of Confucianism is self-destruction in Daoism
Nurturing life fostered by
“sitting and forgetting”
“fasting of the mind”
“free and easy wandering”
Sometimes people drink elixirs to create an “embryo of immortality” (remember no soul in Daoism) to manipulate the 3 treasures of the body:
Qi; vital energy
Jing; sexual essence
Shen; spirit
Dao is the changeless, formless and indivisible power; the mother of all that is to come; the foundation of “becoming”; not to be mistaken for a creator entity
From the Dao comes Qi, the life force in ALL matter
From Qi come all else.

Text:
Daodejing by Lao-Tzu
Dao – way; de – power or virtue; jing – classic; so… “The Classic of the Way and its Power” or “The Classic of the Way and its Virtue”
3rd or 4th Century BCE by Lao-Tzu who may not have been a real person; his name means “old master” or “old child”; he used to work in the gov’t but then goes on a wandering; a border guard stops him on his way to the wilderness and asks him to write something… and he produces the Daodejing; which many people continue to try to understand
RETURN: or reverse; a primary theme in this book; return to the Dao; the state of being before being socialized by society; be an uncarved block of stone; reverse the socialization process
Be like the water coming down the mountain; wu wei, “no action;” this is to be understood in terms of the water coming down the mountain; act as nature acts; act without effort, spontaneously, do what seems right at that moment; “non-interference” is another way wu wei is understood and translated
Politically speaking, Lao-Tzu is in favor of “soft power”; that is, gov’t should do as little as possible to allow for the natural acts of people and nature; this is why people find libertarian/anarchistic type quotes in the Daodejing
Zhuangzi by Zhuangzi
Around the 3rd Century BCE; a follower of Lao-Tzu; and is characterized as a writer of anti-Confucian allegories what matters most can be found wherever we look; the Dao can be found even in dried sh*t. an idea here is: make yourself useless; that way everyone will leave you alone this book emphasizes that life changes and there’s nothing we can do about it the problem of the world is the rules of Confucians; so we must nurture the individual for immortality human nature is neither good or bad; it just is

Prothero notes that because so little is known about it, people adapt it and remake it to fit our own “image” that is purpose and agenda
Daoists themselves have not tried to systematize their thought… though people have started with contact with the west
Though there are practices and traditions, it is like Hindu religion and absorbs new ideas all the time

Atheism:

Religion or not?

1% in NAmerica, 9% in Europe
Reason over revelation
Logic over faith
Science vs “magical thinking”
Science has made possible the “anti-religion” perspective because of the knowledge production over facts and objective truth
Science is the crutch for people who lean against religion; but it is also a construct
Atheists argue that the human problem cannot be solved by religion, because religion is itself is the problem
Angry atheists; what set them off? (see Prothero; it is a situation which has already been made in class)

Fundamentalism by another name?
Goes back to that question in the beginning of the semester… what to do with religious tolerance?
Atheism is not monolithic; “Friendly atheists”
Atheists and morality; that is, religion
Atheists and community; that is congregations
The internet and newsgroups… or networking; has made possible meeting and forming groups of people who are located far apart from each other
Christian Atheism vs. Atheistic Atheism
There is a difference between the 2; consult Prothero for that difference
Some don’t “join” atheism because it is too religious

Does this mean… homo religious?
“Is it human nature to grasp after the sacred?”
Friendly Atheists
Favor coexistence in a TOLERANT society
The goal? Maybe for children to be able to play with other children?
Dr. Kim’s proposal for a peaceful society: the free market of course.

The free market Economics
It is not the same as Corporatism (cronyism) or fascism
Corporatism is where big businesses (corporations) collude with corrupt government to pass laws to enrich the gov’t and the corporation. Examples:
Healthcare
Scientific research
Auto industry
Hearing aids
Fascism is where the corporations are private but are under the control of the gov’t; in other words, they must do what the gov’t orders them to do
When the US gov’t bailed out Chrysler (again) they were now in a fascist relationship
When the NSA orders companies to hand over information or requires snooper/spy programs to be installed on device and computer software… this is fascism

Free Market only discriminates against failure; it is not prejudice against any religion or race. You sink or swim because you have a good product other people want to buy or not recall my shopping analogy: when you go to a store MOST people do not care about the race or religion of the store owner; most people only care about the quality and price… and sometimes service (but this can be overlooked if the price/quality is too good to pass up; think black Friday) the Free Market does not distort values but tries to represent true prices and cost for people to make choices according to their subjectivity; and everyone’s is unique

Economics is a religion
The study of human behavior and priorities given scare goods
It’s all about priority; religion is all about priority; what is more important or sacred than other things… as determined by price
Voluntary interaction. All interaction, relationship, buying/selling and beliefs MUST be voluntary.
No coercion… just freedom with consequences
Forms of coercion:
All legislation of morality
Taxation
Most regulations
Society still has regulations but they are organic and made by the people, not from the gov’t
Voluntary behavior is motivated and controlled by prices and consequences
If you think that something costs too much, then you don’t do or buy it
Understand that costs in society are manipulated to create a distorted view of value and cost (think about the diamonds… and the whole wedding construct)
The free market allows everyone to see true cost because it prevents the gov’t and corporations from manipulating this information

Important elements of this belief
Freedom for the smallest minority anywhere: the individual
No central governing body
Immense diversity with room for almost everyone (serial killers and murderers have their “place”)
Creative, innovative and unrestricted
No criminalization of behavior; e.g. drug war, alcohol prohibition, etc
Everyone has the same perspective of “the consumer”
General interest vs. Special interest
General interest is everyone considered collectively; special interest are smaller sub groups of people
Everyone in the country, no matter who you are, is part of the general interest
Special interest groups are ANY sub grouping within the general interest, including each and every individual
BOTH are important
A recent cliché is “Black lives matter.” I say… all lives matter in the same way; and everyone must be responsible for the choices they make
One does not have to be part of the right group or religion; you are protected because you are an individual

So… no government and no religion?
We police ourselves for order
We are free to choose our own religion and not have gov’t shove someone else’s down our throats

Problematic constructs:
Greed
Money