Faith by the Spoken Word - Final Post

We inherit many things from our parents. In the process of growing up, we learn to speak their language. We mimic their actions, striving to become like them. We gain this folk knowledge from our parents without needing to be taught explicitly. We simply learn from their example. Perhaps most importantly, we construct our beliefs according the values taught by our parents. Without question, we accept the religion of our fathers. It’s only after we are grown and we enter a larger world that we realize the variety of religious options that exist. Worldwide there are hundreds of religions that have been preserved throughout the years by oral tradition. Arguably, these religions have thrived only because they have been passed down orally. In fact, oral knowledge has had a more powerful effect upon spirituality and religious practice than any other type of knowledge.

Knowledge Needed for a Nation

     Throughout history nations have come to be and passed by, leaving their mark on existence. Some left legends of grandeur, while other left nothing but their bones to be found by others. Traditions have been passed down mouth to mouth; some nations have left scrolls and pictorial scripts. While others left only remnants of tools and craftworks for a clue about their ways of life. What helped these nations who thrived and chose to do more than just exist to become the beacons of knowledge? These nations became so much more because they were built on a foundation that knew how to purvey their knowledge from one form to another.

Reinventing Knowledge: The Final Post

As this semester has gone on, my ideas about knowledge have constantly been changing. Each new unit, blog post, and in class discussion gave me new insights on the topic, and standing at the end of our journey I have come to a conclusion. The ability to express our thoughts through spoken word is the most significant advance in the communication of knowledge in human history, and this oral knowledge is the basis of knowledge in all of its other forms.

And So It Ends

Folk Knowledge

Self-Directed Learning:
For me, folk knowledge is anything that is learned outside of the classroom. I focused my initial studies on symbols and their meanings.  I noticed that the culture greatly influenced a person's understanding of symbols. Also, I learned to knit. Something that I never expected to learn to do. In fact, my roommates were quite shocked when they found me sitting at my desk with the purple knitting needles in hand. (maybe they were even more shocked by the "lengthy" scarf at the end of the needles.)

Oh, How Far We've Come

Preliminary Blog Post

Let me start off by saying I hope you're all doing well with your exams and not stressing out too much! I know for me as a new freshman at BYU this is definitely a learning experience! In preparation for our "salon" tomorrow, here's a look at some of the great work our class has done over the course of the semester.

Sanskrit: The Priestly Tongue

Sanskrit is an oral language and has no written script of it's own.

What? Then how is it written? Well, with any style of script really. Some examples are shown below.

Sanskrit can be written in a variety of scripts

Road to Success

"The government that seems the most unwise,
Oft goodness to the people best supplies;
That which is meddling, touching everything,
Will work but ill, and disappointment bring."

- Laozi (Tao Te Ching section 58)

Quoting the Iliad

Let me start by saying that I can take no credit for finding someone to interview.  After my best efforts, I had found a few people who qualified as people I could interview, but for various reasons, I was unable to set any kind of appointment with them.  Wednesday morning, discouraged, I asked in my morning prayer for help finding someone to interview.  My first class that morning was Book of Mormon with Doctor Seely, and during our class, that discussion ended up (somehow) on oral functions in the Book of Mormon, and Brother Seely actually recited the introduction to the Iliad in Greek.  Talk about answers to prayers, right?

(This is a reconstruction; Minoan palaces don't look like this anymore.)

Lost in the Sand

The old saying goes, "You don't know what you don't know..." And when it comes to the ancient Kush of the Southern Nile river valley, what you don't know is quite a bit. I've scoured numerous sources, other blogs, newspaper articles, books, you name it, and I've found that the common theme with their take on this once powerful political force, is how much is left to be discovered.  Here's a video that helped me gain a better understanding of this than getting lost in the text of dozens of written articles. (At least for me, an example of an advantage of oral communication over written forms)

Law and Religion - Indivisible in India

Last week I posted about my findings while reading from the Mahabharata, an ancient epic poem written in India that contains key beliefs of the Hindu culture. I dedicated this week to reading from the Bhagavad-Gita, a sacred scripture taken from the Mahabharata that is so important to Hinduism that it is often treated as a free standing text. The poem recounts a conversation between Lord Krishna (later revealed to be the Supreme Being himself) and a prince named Arjuna who questions the war he’s fighting against his own cousins. As they stand on the battlefield with both sides ready for conflict, Lord Krishna (often referred to simply as “the Lord”) teaches Arjuna his duties as a warrior in the caste system of India and also instructs him on how to live a righteous life. As such, this text allows us to have a better understanding of Hindu theology and the caste system of ancient India.

Effectively Ending a Culture

How do we know anything about a culture that once almost completely disappeared?  Limited sources of information make it difficult to define the culture with any accuracy.  It just so happens that the culture I am going to discuss today is such a culture: the Minoan civilization, which disappeared more than a thousand years before the beginning of the Christian era.

Politics of the Kush (and not the kind from a Dr. Dre song)

If you're like me, you might not be terribly familiar with the Kush people of Africa, so here's a bit of background... the Kush civilization was a group located in the South of the Nile River valley, mostly in what is the modern day country of Sudan. For most of it's history it was the generally accepted belief that the Kushite culture was a result of the expansion of Egyptian rule into that area, but more recent discoveries in the latter half of the 20th century showed strong evidence that a thriving culture culture existed here prior to the First Egyptian Dynasty, and might have been a very influential force in the development of the Kemites. The Kush Civilization had rich architectural achievements, flourishing trade, a strong belief in divine kingship, and even matriarchy. They were under Egyptian rule for several centuries, but at their high point the Kingdom of Kush, based in Meroe, took control of Kemet and had a very prosperous dynasty of Kushite Pharaohs. But what made political landscape of the Kush kingdom unique?

Persuading Death (Exploring the Mahabharata)

Those who have a way with words set themselves apart from those who don't. Aptitude for speech and reason gives power to those who possess it. Power to entrance those who hear their voice and fill their souls with emotion - pain, joy, sadness or excitement. Power to convince others to do or believe what the speaker wants. This is the power of rhetoric.

In fact, with enough practice and skill, one can talk their way out of almost anything. But have you ever heard of someone who could talk their way out of death itself? In the Mahabharata, a virtuous woman does just that.

Ni Hao

The Chinese language has often been coined one of the most difficult languages to learn and speak. Not only are there thousands of characters one would need to learn, the language itself is tonal and uses different inflections than the English language.





Other than being a language that dates back centuries, Chinese has evolved to become one of the forefront languages to learn in today's world. But even before its evolution, the language was still a great influence in the ancient dynasties.