Reflection 2

While reading through the chapters for this assignment , I found myself constantly having to stop and realize exactly how long certain spreads of years are . This caused me to think in depth about world history and how long it actually took to develop certain principles, ideas, and ways of life through experiences of successes and failures.  It is just really hard to imagine what could take place in the time span of 1000 years let alone tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years.
In the way that Strayer proceeds through history in this text , I feel like I am moving so fast through time and I am unable to stop and grasp on certain eras or certain things that have occurred which I know may have much more detail.
Once again, throughout these chapters, I am clearly reminded of the mistreatment of people that has dated back centuries. It is very apparent that our ancient predecessors practiced prejudice, slavery, inequality, power, greed, and other injustices in their empirical systems.  These injustices clearly remind me of the failures of certain empire like governments or leaderships of today. This also gives me a good reminder of how history does in fact repeat itself and how human beings are plagued with making the same mistakes time and time again.
However, on a more positive note, there were clear indications that people who were less fortunate then others were beginning to be included in political process . This was well noted by Strayer while mentioning attributes of the Roman Empire when they begin to grant citizenship to various peoples in the community for their service to the empire.
Through these readings, I also enjoyed the information provided on religions.  I found it very fascinating that there was indication of religion much before christ's time.  It amazes me how religions came about and actually became the guide for humanity and society.   I do feel that Strayer provides the reader with good information on the early religions;  his descriptions are clear and concise. 
I especially appreciated the sections on China and their search for order after the fall of the Zhou Dynasty.  In the text this is where Strayer begin to describe the different answers to Chinas problems of disorder and misconduct amongst its citizens.  Interestinly enough to me, was the "Legalist Answer." The the legalist prospective seem to be that of a heavy handed approach getting order amongst the Chinese.  This approach again offered many injustices to the citizens of China as some were regarded to be outcasts and of no value and others regarded as respected people with rights and privilege.  To me, this obviously was no way to gain any type of control  that would result in a positive outcome.  In our world today, we still see examples of this primitive type of control.  Although Strayer noted  that no Chinese philosopher or ruler ever again openly advocated for these ideas; however, others still do. Why do some modern socities continue to rely on this type of rule when they can easily see from history that this is not the best way to treat people and that the outcome always causes some kind of unrest?
The answers to the unrest in China that followed the legalist perspective were that of more of a religious  sense.  Principles that focus more on morals than laws and punishments began to be utilized especially in the  Confucionism philosophy.  I think that the confucianism pholosophy was extremely important as it focused on education and logic.  The Daoist answer that was noted in the text was also a good perspective; however, I'm not sure that it was a great perspective to be able to develop an economical start for China.
As I continue to read on I am ever reminded in the chapters, of the continuing mistreatment of human beings and the origination of inequalities that people of today still face .   These  inqualities are very evident of the caste system of India noted in the text.  Although the functions of a caste system were designed to accommodate various people of different societies and  cultures to fit into the Indian community and still maintain their unique identity, to me, it still fostered inequality.   
As the text continued into providing information on the Americas I began to focus away from the mistreatment of people and began to have wonder about the excellent capabilities of engineering that were found amongst the Mayan culture and other cultures of the Americas.  Although Strayer did note that much warfare and inequalities were present in these cultures,  I seem to have been averted from that thinking because of their other amazing qualities.  I continue to be astounded at the works that they did during that time.  How did these socities develop such intricate skills?  Will more of the mysteries be uncovered in the future? ........ 

Reflection 1

As I enter into this learning experience about world history, I am becoming very interested in how us as humans have developed over thousands of years.  I also find it most interesting how our history as human beings was discovered and studied.  Although no actual historic writings or completely solid evidence exists to back up much of early history, the theories that are current seem to make very much sense.  I am also left with many questions in my mind regarding early human life.

Learning about what occurred in the Paleolithic era, which was about 95 percent of the time that humans have been evolving strikes is very intriguing.  Most interesting to me is the process of our early ancestors migration.  Mentioned in the text, Strayer highlights the movement of human beings out of Africa which is said to be the originating area of humans.  I find that these travels are fascinating as early humans were very limited and they were able to expand to much further areas.  Especially fascinating was the mention in the first chapter was the first use of boats.  It is difficult for me to imagine use of primitive boats and what it was like for those who ventured off into the sea.  Even further,  I am astounded at how these early people were even able set out to sea and arrive in another land.  How did they know that some other land was out there?  By what means did they use to navigate?

In the readings, I also found that the presence of a possible spiritual connection seems to have existed among early humans.  Strayer mentions that artifacts such as bones, stones and art shows evidence of the presence of early people, however, it suggests little about what the people thought but the evidence of a "rich ceremonial life" certainly existed.  Evidence of human ceremony found deep in caves where humans did not live suggests some kind of burial ritual.  How did these rituals come about?  Was there a spiritual experience known to early humans before religion as we know it? 

Another interesting part of the history of early humans was the development of agriculture.  The development of tools and other methods to sustain a source of food also clearly shows the development of the human brain and advancement of the human being.  In addition to the advancement of the human, the changing climate of the earth also strikes me as being very interesting, which had its direct effect on agriculture.  It almost seems like the climactic changes happened in sync with the travel of humans across the planet.  The idea that parts of the seas were able to be traveled across due to more ice than water is especially fascinating and incredibly enough, when much of the ice melted as the result of a global warming the seas filled after humans were able to make it to certain areas which otherwise may have been more difficult to access. 

In the third chapter of the text discussion of socialization and the "erosion of equality" was striking.  As mentioned in an earlier chapter, socialization of the first human societies seemed to be more equal as there was no hierarchy.  As described in the third chapter by Strayer humans began to become unequal.  By this time there was more technology, more productive economies and greater wealth.  When reading about this, it brought to mind how the way we live today certainly stems from these early times.  This also makes me think about the origination of prejudice, which may be more commonly related to more modern times.  As I read on in this chapter, I clearly see how the development of societies has also lead to the negative attribute of humans to mistreat each other but I also see the positive developments such as language, accounting and societal structure.  All of these parts of the human development are facinating to me. 

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