Welcome to the Good Life!

In early civilization there were different views on what it meant to live the good life. Whether it was a certain type of occupation, pleasing the gods, or being successful. Two documents that refer to the good life would be “Be a Scribe” and “The Upanishads: Karma and Reincarnation”. Each document has the same main points on what it means to live the good life, but the specifics are different.

In “Be A Scribe” it is a scribe that talks about why living the scribe life is better then every other occupation. He talks about all the other jobs and how much hard work you have to put into it. Who would want to put in so much manual labor work? That’s why he saying be a scribe. For instance the scribe says “ The washerman’s day going up, going down. All his limbs are weak, from whitening his neighbors’ clothes every day, from washing their linen”. (All Occupations Are Bad Except That of the Scribe, 62) The scribe also states how much easier his job is then everyone else’s he says, “ The scribe, he alone, records the output of all of them. Take note of it!”.(All Occupations Are Bad Except That of the Scribe, 63) Their the scribe is saying why do those other jobs when you could just watch them do it and then write it down. There’s not as much manual work involved so it’s the easier way. Also if you are a scribe you will have more freedom and won’t be working all day. The scribe says, “ You stride freely on the road, you will not be like an hired ox. You are in front of others”. (Be a Scribe, 64) Also the scribe compares his job to that of a soldiers. The scribe refers to the soldiers life as dangerous, tormenting, and a lot of work. He thinks if you are a soldier you will either die in battle or if you do survive you will not be strong enough to continue on. The scribes last words of advice are “Be a scribe, and be spared from soldering! You call and one says: “Here I am.” You are safe from torments. Every man seeks to raise himself up. Take note of it!”(The Scribe Does Not Suffer Like the Soldier, 65) The scribe is basically saying his job is the best because it is the least amount of work. Why not become a scribe because it’s the least work load and least amount of manual labor.

Another document for living the good life would be “The Upanishads: Karma and Reincarnation”. In this document it talks about what happens to you if you live a good or bad life. Depending on how you live your soul get reincarnated into a higher or lower life. So depending on how you lived decided how life after would be. In The Upanishads it says, “ The doer of good becomes good. The doer of evil becomes evil. One becomes a virtuous man by virtuous action, bad by bad action. (The Upanishads: Karma and Reincarnation, 94) Also they believe you desires play a big part on how you live. If you have good desires you will do good actions, “ As is his desire, such is his resolve, as his resolve, such the action he performs; what action he performs, that he procures for himself”. (The Upanishads: Karma and Reincarnation, 94) To live the good life in this religion you don’t want any desire. That’s how you reach the top, Brahman. It says’ “ Now the man who does not desire. - He is who without desire, who is freed from desire, whose desire is satisfied, whose desire is the Soul- his breathes do not depart. Being very Brahman, he goes to the Brahman”. (The Upanishads: Karma and Reincarnation, 94) Living the good life in this religion is getting rid of desires or attempting not to desire anything. If you can get rid of those temptations you will be living their idea of the good life. You will be reincarnated into something high up when you die.

“Be a Scribe” and “The Upanishads: Karma and Reincarnation” didn’t share too much in common but both showed you how to live the good life. In “Be A Scribe” living the good life was not doing a lot of manual labor, keeping yourself safe from the extremities of war, and performing the easiest job. Being a scribe was like taking the easy route in the work area but you still learned to read and write, and you worked for high up people. In “The Upanishads: Karma and Reincarnation” it was all about getting rid of your desires. If you could get rid of them or try to limit them down you would be getting closer to Brahman. Brahman is want you wanted to achieve and would definitely be the best life. Everyone was trying to get there. Also, your actions affected you as well, the better the person you were the better your life would be. Therefore you wanted to be on your best behavior so you could reincarnate to a higher up state. You wanted to live a good life, and by doing that you had to act good.

Pre-Writing

Brainstorming
Thing that affect the good life:
morels
gods
status in society
what you were born into
male vs female
success
productivity
government
after life

Primary Sources:
The Upanishads: Karma and Reincarnation
Egyptian Book of the Dead
Be a Scribe

Quotes:

"Now, the man who does not desire.- He is who is without desire, who is freed from desire, who is desire satisfied, whose desire is the soul" pg. 94

The whole list of the things the man follows in the Egyptian book of dead lead to the good life

6 things I will use

Be a Scribe- whole primary source
gods
How your status in the civilization will affect if you living a good life or not
If your a male or female
Success
How living towards achieving a good afterlife

What I learned

This week in English I learned that the thing we went over on procrastination is definately me. Im actually doing this right now at the last minute. I kept saying I was going to do it Sunday, then I said I will do it Sunday morning, now im doing it Sunday night. I have always been a procrastenater and hopefully I can shake that habit this year. I don't know why I always say in my mind I want to get it done earlier, but I can never bring myself to do it. I don't know what it is!

In History we talked about differen't religions. It's difficult thinking about all those other views when I have been going to a catholic school for over ten years. It's intresting though, seeing what the believe, but everytime something contricts the bible I think its a dumb view or think how stupid are they too believe that. I know that people think the same about my views so I try to see every side of it.

Monotheism VS. Polytheism

Many religions in ancient times were polytheistic. For instance ancient Egyptians and the Mesopotamians had polytheistic religions. Unlike both of these two religions, Judaism was monotheistic. They believed in one God instead of worshiping multiple Gods. Judaism seems the most reasonable to me because now most of the dominate religions are monotheistic.

 Judaism and Egyptian religion are linked because many of the Israelites were actually slaves in Egypt when Moses came and saved them by crossing the Red Sea. Many of the Israelites were even tempted to go against God and worship other gods. For example some of them worshipped the Golden Calf. But unlike the Egyptian religion in Judaism they believe in one God. He was who created the world, and chooses whether or not you go to heaven or hell. Everything is centered around him and he created the rules of the religion, which would be the ten commandments. The ten commandments can be found in Exodus 20, and those are the rules that you have to follow. Like the Egyptian religion you also have to follow rules as well. He was all knowing and always knew what was going to happen. Unlike Judaism Egyptian religion believes in myths and multiple Gods. Myths are what explain unexplainable things like how the world came to be. Also the believed in multiple gods, and each had a different reason for being a god. For instance gods were the reason for natural occurrences or problems that people were having.

Mesopotamians religion is very similar to the Egyptians. They were polytheistic as well. They worshiped gods and goddesses. There gods and goddesses seemed more devastating in their religion because of the flood in Mesopotamia. There were many flood problems because of the unpredictability of the Tigris and Euphrates. When this happened the Mesopotamians believed that they did something wrong to upset the gods and that they were being punished.

Judaism seems the most reasonable because their one God is everything too them. It isn't a bunch of different gods controlling everything and stories to explain the unexplainable. Many of those myths aren't believable at all. Right now most of the big religions are monotheistic because it is easier to understand. It is easier to have faith. God was the reason for the earth being created, he was the one who made the rules, and he is all knowing. It is easier to put your faith into one god then into multiple gods.

Come to Mesopotamia!

Come to Mesopotamia if your looking for a great area to live, if your looking for new opportunities, and learn to about new cultures. Mesopotamia has two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, which provide a lot of job opportunities for you. You can be a farmer and grow crops because of the annual floods or build the irrigation systems to control the flooding of the rivers. Also Mesopotamia is an open area, where there is a great opportunity to trade with other nations. You can also learn to read and write cuneiform and become a scribe. There is so much available here to offer to you!

Mesopotamia has two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, that contribute to flood water for crops, thus there is less likely a chance of a dry season. Here we have built irrigation systems to control the flooding, so farmers can produce crops. Also an alluvial plain has formed, which helps out even more with controlling the floods. The alluvial plain gives Mesopotamia a great chance for a high production in food. Also the soil here is fine and rich, because of the silt carried by the river floods constantly replenished the fields. Therefore, tillage is light work.

Here in Mesopotamia we have open boundaries making it easier to trade with other countries. Unlike Egypt we have contact with our neighboring countries and don't cramp ourselves between natural boundaries. We can trade with Lebanon, to obtain cedars; Oman, to obtain copper and stones; Afghanistan, for lapis lazuli. It is perfect for living in cities, and for them to continue growing. It has a rich agricultural land and with easy access to neighboring countries. Mesopotamia has so much potential to continue to grow. It is the crossroad of Southwest Asia, and the meeting ground for several distinct cultural and linguistic groups of people. Also there is great opportunities to get cultural ideas from other countries to maybe adapt into your lifestyle. There is so much you can do with it.

Mesopotamia also has a writing style here called cuneiform. Cuneiform is syllables that are carved into clay to make out words. It is a way to send messages over long distances. It is another way to communicate with others. This enhances our trade opportunities, control property, and to transmit ideas of society through literature, historical records and sacred texts. So if you want to be a scribe Mesopotamia offers that job as well.

Mesopotamia has so much to offer. We have the Tigris and Euphrates, which provide food production through flooding.  It is an open area providing opportunity for trade and a way to interact with other cultures. Unlike Egypt, we are more accessible and easier to communicate and trade with. If you want the opportunity to meet others come here. We are the crossroad of Southwest Asia. We even have our own unique writing style called cuneiform. You can learn to read and write by becoming a scribe. Why would you not want to be here? There are so many different opportunities here for you!