Monthly Archives: September 2015

Kings of the Continent(al Europe)

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The governmental structure of continetal Europe was generally the same. From the Vasa kings of Sweden, to King Charles VII of France. The main form of government at the time was having a monarchy, usually hereditary, in which sons (and occasionally daughters) who were born in the same bloodline as the current ruler, were crowned king (or queen) at the passing of their parents, even though the heir may not have been the greatest possible candidate to the throne. Examples of countries that participated in the hereditary monarchy system of government include Norway, Monaco, Spain, France, and many others.

The Popes at the time could also be considered heads of government. Most countries at the time were god-fearing states, and who had the most control over religion? The Pope. He was a large factor in the way countries were run and how society functioned. And even though the line of Popes isn’t hereditary, there was always a successor.

The way this government worked was key in the influence on everyday life. The social system was worked by wealth, much like it still is today. The kings and queens were of course on the top of the pyramid, while lower class, poorer citizens were dumped at the bottom. The middle-class was not very large, not nearly as strong as it stands now. The situation in most cases, is that you were rich, or you were poor.

As for crime and punishment. Well. If there’s one thing we can all feel good about is that we have improved a lot in regards to not killing people in the slowest, most painful way possible. I’m sure at one point in our lives, we have all stumbled upon one of those historical ‘fun facts’ that told us about all these revolutionary and new ways to punish a human being in a way worse than death. The law enforcement in continetal europe had a real knack for that. Crimes could range anywhere from espionage to murder to thievery to witchcraft. Depending on the victim’s social status, the punishment could be severe.

However, none of this is 100% accurate for every situation in continetal europe. The place was so incredibly immense and stock full of so much history, the way the government and social systems worked varied in every country. The specifics on the government in Norway is much different than that of Spain. However they have many aspects that are the same, and those similarities are the facts I am attempting to relay to you now.

For more information on Continental European Technology, Religion, Economy look at the links by Madison, Kendra, and Brian.

 

You and I, Changing the World

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We all get our big questions from somewhere. Whether it be our friends during a heated discussion on existentialism, our teachers knowingly or unknowingly planting the seed of curiosity in our minds, or ourselves when our mind wanders on and on.

Questions of a provocative nature are as numerous and as varied as there are people in the world, and then some. Everybody has thier own question[s] and thier own opinions on what the answer may be, despite the fact that a definitive answer may never reveal itself. But thats the joy of provocative questions. They are provocative.

A question that I’m sure all of us have asked or are still asking is; how can I change the world? When people say they want to change the world they might mean diffenerent things. This brings us to the question, do we want to change the world on a whole, or change the world for one person? In other words, do we want to make life a little bit different for a lot of people, or do we want to dramatically change the life of someone for the better, therefore completely changing thier world.

Now, when people say they want to change the universe, that’s just ridiculous. Because first of all, what percentage of the known universe can be affected by you? An extremely small percent. In fact, the only thing that can be affected, is the floating bit of rock we call earth. That’s all that can we can affect and be affected by. Our goal is not to change the lives of people on Neptune, because there aren’t any lives there. We can only hope to achieve affecting others by focusing on our world. [I suppose this could be an analogy for our expectatons.]

To dig deeper into this question of wanting to change the world, we must ask ourselves, why? Why do we want to change the world, no matter our definition on “the world”. Is it to be remembered? And does wanting to be remembered make our want to change the world a selfish thing? This in turn brings us to the question that can not only be applied to this question, but many others: does the means of which we achieve our goal matter? A great example of this would be the story of Christopher Columbus. His ultimate goal was progress. And he achieved his version of progress, but not without leaving his mark on the poeple he belived he had to get through to achieve it. This is a drastic example, but makes you think about the answer to that question.

Many provocative questions are ones thought of by many others, and have philosophers currently attempting to solve the sometimes unsolvable. A common question would be, what is life? I cannot deny that I too have thought of this question and have asked others, usually to recieve a sarcastic or comedic response (Siri told me the answer was chocolate. Hard to disagree). This question is perhaps too vague. By definition, life is the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, and continous change before death, or the existance of a living being. Searching Google would give you the answer to that. Not really a provocative question then. So the question is, what does life mean? Or in other words, what does our life mean in the grand scheme of things? And this brings us back to one of my earlier questions.

More deep-thinking questions of mine include:

  • Why do we fear death? What is it about death that scares us? Is it the dying? or being dead? Or do we fear what could come after? Is it the fear of not knowing?
  • What are we? Are we our body? Our mind? Our soul?
  • Does achieving our goal bring us happiness?  Is the pursuit the real joy? The end result just being the metaphorical cherry on top?
  • Is there life other than us out there? If there is life, would we even see it as life? Would it display the characteristics that life here does?
  • Are there beings much bigger than us ‘out there’? Is there a god? Whether it be the god of the Christian, Muslim, or any other religion known or unknown?

All these questions have the ability to develop into larger or smaller questions which in turn give light to more questions and so on and so forth. That’s what provocative questions are. Questions which trigger other deep-thinking questions. A butterfly effect of questions that maybe won’t ever be answered. These questions are a very special type of question. Some provocative questions have evolved, such as is the earth round, to now, is the universe round (a whole other blog post). We’ve all had and still have provocative questions burning in our minds, with a desire to have it answered. But maybe that’s the beauty of provocative questions. Sometimes, there isn’t an answer.

And as for my first question on trying to change the world, you can. That is an answer I like to think I have correct. You may not chasnge the world Bill Gates or Steve Jobs did. You may not even change the world the Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King did. But one thing is for sure. You can. You may have already. You may have already changed someone’s life for the better, and you just dont know it. Or if your family sponsors a child in a struggling nation. Even volunteering at a local community or charity, you could be changing someone’s life, and therefore, thier entire world. Our neighbours in Jupiter can wait. Dont set too high standards for yourself. Your question on how you could change the world might have its answer hiding in plain sight. You just need to find it because it’s going to be different for everybody. That is one provocative question I hope that everyone will one day find an answer to.

Will all provocative questions have answers? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean to stop searching for the answer. Enlist the help of your friends who just finished thier talk with you on thier existential crsis. Look for guidance in your teachers who knowingly or unknowingly planted that seed of curiosity in your head. Or of course, try and answer the question youself when your mind has wandered when in fact it should be learning the difference between rational numbers and irrational numbers.These questions are all meant to be challenging, and thats the fun of it. Some are of course more intimidating than others, but that’s OK. Pick ones you are intruiged by, which in my case is [fortunately and unfortunately] all of them.Sometimes you wont be successful in finding answers, but like I said before, some questions aren’t meant to be answered, and that’s the beauty of it.

 

In the Name of God, Man!

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Discoveries. When you’re just a wee lad, one of the most amazing discoveries of all time was the fact that ants could crawl up your arm, or finding out balloons made a silly sound when they deflated. As you grow and mature, your discoveries become larger and more thoughtful. Like discovering what you do could make a difference. In some cases, people’s discoveries have led them to new lands. However in my case, my most recent discovery was the real story of a certain Spaniard named Christopher Columbus.

We all now know of the inhumanities from the exposed telling of Columbus’ tale [which included but is not limited to the slaughter and annihilation of an entire people, incredible lack of humanity, and an infamous sense of greed] and that leaves us with a question: Why? Why did they do it, and how did they justify it to themselves?

Perhaps the answer lies in one of the most sacred parts of the human soul, the part of religion. At the time of the conqueror’s arrival, Spain was an entirely Christian state, thus was the Roman Catholic Columbus. So of course it was only natural to proclaim that his grand expedition was in the name of God. Which meant, the mass murder and near eradication of an entire culture and its peoples, was in the name of the Christian God. He showed his belief in God and was convinced he had his lord’s blessing over him as he continued the barbarous treatment towards the Arawaks. An example being that he stated “In the name of the Holy Trinity, go on sending all the slaves that can be sold”. He had a strong faith in God, but for all the wrong reasons.

Columbus’ acts against basic humanity itself was not an isolated event. Other conquerors and groups of people justified the means of achieving their ultimate goal, by claiming it to be for God. For example, the Puritans called upon the bible to justify the fact they were taking over native lands, the Roman Catholic Charlemagne believed had had God on his side in all his conquests, even holy wars between Muslims, Christians, and Jews all called upon their respective gods for justification. And using a god for justification of your doings is not only applicable to Christianity in the past. Nearly every other religion has had a leader or follower that has done nearly unspeakable things in the name of their god, when in fact, their religion’s aim is to be the exact opposite of who Columbus was. It was almost like calling upon their god was an excuse. Any excuse that could be found to make their actions seem pure and just would be taken, and that even included their own faith. It is truly disappointing, that for leaders of their religion and states, that they would firmly believe that committing acts of modern-day terrorism could even be possibly looked upon with approval by their god.

Despite all the horrific deeds committed by this ‘hero’, a fact that cannot be disputed, is his ingenuity as a sailor and, for lack of a better word, his bravery [but only for the time before he crossed the Atlantic]. At the time, with all the uncertainty on just how vast our earth is, it would have taken a massive amount of courage to even attempt an expedition so far into the unknown. If he, for whatever reason, never made it to ‘the new world’ he would have without doubt perished at sea, along with his crew. The bravery of both the crew and captain is commendable, however, does not at all justify the method for his progress, nor does it allow his god to reconcile him for his sins against humanity.

And perhaps, nothing can ever justify his doings.

“No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Saviour, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service.” – Christopher Columbus