Paralles Between Taoism and Mainstream Religion
When we think of this world and its origins, we as human tend to think in one of two ways religiously or scientifically. Those of us who think religiously obviously go with our religious affiliations. For example, Christians tend to think about the story of creationism in the seven-day time frame where God created the heavens, the earth, and everything else therein. The followers if science don't hold to any real theories as to the origins of the universe, but as far as this world and its surrounding heavenly bodies go some hold on to the big bang theory; this hypothesis states that all nine planets, including the sun, were once an enormous mass and were separated by a giant explosion, but kept in orbit by the gravity of the sun. It is a very rare thing indeed to find someone who first thinks philosophically when he or she ponders the origins of the earth and its inhabiting life. With the radical pigeonholing of philosophers today, usually thought of as being agitators of! the status quo, their theories about the nature of the world are hardly looked at as plausible. Throughout this essay, I hope to point out that philosophical and religious views about the creation are not as far apart as many of us would assume them to b
Thirdly, with the creation of man, it was done in multiple genera!tions each with the first generation passing away and all the other following generations either being wiped out by the gods or will soon day share that fate. They toil and labor for a living and they are not perfect in any way. Also notice the numerical ascension with these views, they start with the one source, move one to the paired opposites (2), and from those opposite come all that's left (3). The term world-order was plural in the last statement because according to Anaximander, it is limited, but that out of which it comes from is imperishable. Many people who are steadfast in religion hear stories like this one and first make a generalization that all philosophers hold to this or something quite similar, and second discount it because it does not concur with what they have been taught. The constant creation and destruction of man implies that the gods have flaws and make mistakes, where as the monotheist God is perfect, everything He has created fits perfectly into his own divine scheme of things. The earth engulfed this race and following them was a godlike race, the race before our own. Before the world order was established there was Earth and Heaven which was in distinguishable, one entity. We see everything, in nature, as it is because of the interaction of certain opposites. Monotheists believe that their god is one all-powerful God, with no equal. In Taoism, the source behind all things is the Tao, which gives rise to what they call the one; more specifically named chi. You start pretty much anywhere when looking for parallels between Anaximander's and the Taoists cosmology, but for simplicity's sake we will just start from the beginning. This source is infinite in nature and everything else arises out of it, the infinite and the Tao. For my argument I have chosen to discuss the works of Anaximander and how they parallel with Taoist themes of creation. The yin and the yang represent contraries; the yin is described as feminine, dark, and moist, while the yang is masculine, light and dry.
Common topics in this essay:
Zeus Testament,
Olympus Historically,
,
Taoists Taoism,
Anaximander's Taoists,
Muslim Jewish,
Hesiod's Days,
Earth Heaven,
Heaven Love,
Tartarus Tartarus,
earth heaven,
yin yang,
chi chi,
interaction opposites,
generation gods,
philosophical religious views,
world arises,
ten thousand,
views start,
mortal lived,
golden race,
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Acceptance Essays
