The Age of Reason

In my humble opinion, The Age of Reason is a magnificient literary work that has shaped the idealogy of modern society as we know it. Paine does an outstanding job of higlighting the concepts of God, Christianity, Nature, and Deism. As Common Sense is an argument against the British's rule over the early colonists, The Age of Reason is an argument against the validity of organized religion. While reading the text, although being puzzled at times due to the old style of writing, I could not help but concur with Paine on many issues. With that said, The Age of Reason is certainly not devoid of shortcomings as there were examples of bias, lack of knowledge, and inconsistencies. All in all I feel that Paine wrote a superlative piece of revolutionary work that challenged an established creed during his time while simultaneously introducing a radical intellectual theory which is Deism.

Throughout Paine's text, I agreed the most with perhaps his views of revalation  as well as nature/science. A revalation in a religious sense is when an idividual is informed of something directly from God. Therefore one should not have an inclination to subscribe to a certain creed simply because he is told of God's word from another individual or church. This person would not have the same luxury of receiving a revelation from God as an individual such as Moses did. Based on this rationale the Bible therefore cannot be a medium for conveying God's because it  too is not a revalation. Because parts of it had been elected from church members, it is not a message directly from God to man. This line of thought from Paine only seemed logical to me; I should not have to believe in something solely because another told me that it was true. However as I previoulsy mentioned, it was apparant that throughout the text that Paine harbored a bias towards the Bible and Christianity as a whole. Throughout the text, Paine refers to the Bible as "stupid". He even goes as far to say that the Bible must be "the word of a demon, rather than the word of God" on pg. 56. He also states that he does not own a copy of the Bible which causes the reader to question the credibility of his accusations. The occurence of these shortcomings throughout the text are unfortunate as they blemish an otherwise exemplary critical analysis on Christianity.

Thomas Paine was a very intelligent man. He was also talented at getting his intellectual point across to others. Paine spoke of a theology in his text and how an understanding of God's true word helps man better understand his surrounding environment. Paine reasons that Earth cannot be the focal point of the universe as there must be other planets occupied by sentient life. Paine reasons that if every niche on the Earth, is occupied by life then because of the sheer vastness of the universe, life of  some form must be present throughout it. Paine says that the church does not want the public to be educated on such views because they challenge the creed which they preach which he believes are fabricated by the church and bear no accuracy. He goes on to say that because of this, education is centered around the learning of dead languages rather then science. Although I believe in Paine's ideas of science I could not help but notice a glaring contradiction he made. Paine states on pg. 75 that "scientific learning that now exists, came to us from the Greeks, or the people who spoke the Greek language." However on the next page, he states that he thinks that the study of the dead languages should be abolished. If the basis of our scientific knowledge was translated from the Greeks, wouldn't it seem prudent to foster an eductaion of the dead languages to perhaps uncover important pieces of information? Although this slightly confused me, this does not take away on what he says of true theology or the Church's motive of concealing the study of science.

I feel that Paine made some very radical claims for his time period. Although they are not flawless, I feel that they are logically sound and stimulated a new age of rational belief.

Genesis and Daodejing

I have not previously read The Bible or the Daodejing. I have been taught Hindu values when I was younger. Henceforth I did my best to read these texts with an open mind. I found that although different from my previous religious teachings they shared many similarites.

The Daodejing of Laozi is divided into two sections, dao and de. These refer to way and virtue respectively, the two major ideas discussed. The text is a series of verses that are quite straightforward. Dao, the Way, describes the virtually unnamable way of the universe. It is what makes life significant. It advocates that things happen when they're are meant to rather then when one wishes them to. De, virtue, highlights internal integrity. It underlines the way one should carry himself.  Because the text was believed to be written during the Warring States Period, its content are partially influenced from war and conflict. It cautions the reader against excessive desires as they are not indicative of happiness. Instead it highlights the neccesity of of simplicity and altruism as those values are ideal to substantiate the Way.

Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible. It follows a story format. It begins by describing how God created the world in six days. On the seventh he created man (his intended missionary into the world) in the form of Adam and Eve. He encouraged them to reproduce and be obdedient, warning them not to indulge in eating from the Tree of Knowledge. God realized that man was corrupt. Upon this epiphany, he proceeded to wipe out man in the form of a flood. Before this he urged Noah, one of the few pure humans, to construct a boat of some sort to shield those that were free from corruption. Despite his efforts, man still possesed the same shortcoming. In another attempt to remedy this, God asked Abraham to move to Canaan. He promised him a place in the heavens for Abraham and his descendents. Subsequently, Abraham continued his lineage through is son Isaac and his grandson Jacob.

Because the Daodejing and Genesis are religous texts stemming from inherently different origins, they are ideal to compare and contrast. Both urge the reader to live a simple, peaceful life devoid of greed and corruption. However, while the Daodejing conveys these messages in straightforward verses, Genesis does so in a story like text. This causes the reader to have to carefully analyze the book in order to derive its intended message. As I mentioned, I have never read either of these texts. I learned of Hinduism mainly from the Bhagavad Gita. I was able to relate several themes I read to my previous experiences. I found a connection between the way (the concept of the occurences of the universe happening for a reason) to Karma (the idea that the fortunes/misfortunes and individual experiences are influenced by his/her previous actions).  Although I consider myself agnostic and do not neccesarily recognize with a specific higher power or deity I value the main ideas of these sacred texts.  

The Souls of Black Folk

In The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B Du Bois dealt with the needs of African Americans in order to thrive in their communities. He begins by emphasizing that the primary basic neccesities for African's should be the right to vote, education, and equality and justice from others. I was intrigued by his overview of the term he coined the "double consicousness", the idea that an individual views oneself based on the point of view of his/her peers. He goes on to convey the his message of the veil, his metaphor of black people's "second sight". The veil alludes to the view of the African American's of the opportunites they had in society and how it was vastly different from that of whites.

In the book, Du Bois reiterates the importance that black's obtain a classic education. He states that it is crucial for there to be an emergence of black leaders and instructors in order to factilitate the education for young African Americans and ensure that they can be treated equally among their white counterparts by receiving equally opportunites for success and growth. He believed in blacks forming an identity among their community and being able to develop essectial human culutures. Throughout his discussion of eductation he often criticizes the ideas of Booker Washington and his Atlanta Compromise. Washington conveys his idea of the importance for industrial training for blacks in order for them to obtain jobs and a lack of certain rights. Du Bois conversly stresses the importance of total equality for blacks. He goes on to argue for the existence of  black colleges in order to continue to foster the development of the standard for education as well as the new generation of African Americans. He states that "The worker must work for the glory of his handiwork, not simply for pay" (88).

Du Bois realizes however that such immediate success is impractical because many blacks will fail in their journies to attain social equivalence and high education. He recalls his experiences of his previous  job which involved  teaching in a community of individuals who thoroughly beleived in the veil. He noted that many of these people will struggle with their own personal hurdles as they try to adapt to society's norm. He points out many social problems that are prevalent amongst blacks. These involve segragation amonst themselves as well as the Black Belt which is a densely populated area of blacks. He also covers the segration that African Americans received from whites as well. He also states that the main reason for many black youth being involved in gangs and crime is the result of poor education that they received.

After reading The Souls of Black Folk I must say that I do believe with Du Bois opinions. I think that although drastic, they are necessary in order for African's to have the equality that they have today.