4 assumptions of monotheism

revelation
scripture
tradition
authority
people need an afterlife as something to look forward to
christianity says that the thought of murder is as if he murdered, same with looking
at a woman and having improper thoughts about her its as if you committed
adultery with her. this is too idealistic for people to follow
bible says love your enemy and love those who persecute you
bible says that giving charity for the wrong reason is worse than giving at all
because youre selfish
bible says one should only pray to God by yurself, not in public, which contradicts
christianity today
new testament says that it would be easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a
needle than for a rich man to get into heaven. this contradicts most christians
today, for they want to be rich
everybody is a hypocrite, just the difference is what theyre a hypocrite about
Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the
judgment. And whoever says to his brother, "Raca!" shall be in danger of the
council. But whoever says, "You fool!" shall be in danger of hell fire (Matt 5:22).
some texts add the words without cause
This indicts Christianity because it was added by the copiers in order to sell more
copies. They have altered Gods word. These added words create a justification for
anger, as long as there is cause.
4 births within christianity
natural birth
baptism
born again
salvation
Everybody has immoral thoughts. The sin of sexual immorality is completely
dominating, according to christiainity. this is the original sin. Jesus is the only way to
save us. the christian god creates a world in which he created everybody on the
way to eternal damnation. even though the christian god is supposedly the god of
love.

after jesus died, christianity is born. a big schism split the early christians. one side
said the old testament is part of christianity, the other completely got rid of old
testament. the side that kept the old testament and built upon it is the chrisitianity
we know today.
this chrisitianity interpreted the old testament as a preclude to jesus. they say the
Moshe leading Jews out of slavery in egypt is a preclude to jesus saving mankind
from hell into heaven. this is called prefiguration.
the new testament is filled with parables and stories paralel to old testament. or
they are given a new or additional logic or morals from old testament.
Judas iscariot plans to kill jesus for 30 coins. at the passover meal in jerusalem,
jesus says that truly i tell you that one of you will betray me. (matthew 26:20)
the last supper by leonardo davinci is painted at the exact moment that jesus tells
his disciples this statement.
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he
broke itand gave it to his disciples, saying, Take and eat; this is my body.27 Then
he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink
from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many
for the forgiveness of sins. (matthew 26:26)
jesus took all of mankinds sins into his own hands and knew he would sacrifice
himself for the sake of mankind. but only people who believe that his actions are
true will be saved from damnation.
some catholics believe that each week they eat wafers and wine that are jesuss
blood at church. they eat their god. this is called sacrament of eucharist
some of the greatest artworks and music are based off of christian fables. many
bethoveen and bach music is based off christiainity.
Peter replied, Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.34 Truly I tell
you, Jesus answered, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me
three times.35 But Peter declared, Even if I have to die with you, I will never
disown you. And all the other disciples said the same. (matthew 26:33)
69 Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. You
also were with Jesus of Galilee, she said.70 But he denied it before them all. I
dont know what youre talking about, he said.71 Then he went out to the gateway,
where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, This fellow was
with Jesus of Nazareth.72 He denied it again, with an oath: I dont know the
man!73 After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, Surely
you are one of them; your accent gives you away.74 Then he began to call down
curses, and he swore to them, I dont know the man!Immediately a rooster
crowed. 75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken:Before the rooster
crows, you will disown me three times. And he went outside and wept bitterly.
(matthew 26:69)

peter implies that jesus is wrong. he was one of his closest disciples. todays
christians look up to these early christians.
trinity, god, his son, and the holy spirit. the holy trinity is a basic belief in chrisianity
jesus is arrested, he is about to be killed by the sword. jesus wanted to love his
enemy.
50 Jesus replied, Do what you came for, friend. Then the men stepped forward,
seized Jesus and arrested him. 51 With that, one of Jesus companions reached for
his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.52
Put your sword back in its place, Jesus said to him, for all who draw the sword will
die by the sword. (matthew 26:51)
. 56 But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.
Then all the disciples deserted him and fled. (matthew 26:56)
this is a common sentence. new testament is based off of old testamanet
stories.this is another example of prefiguration.
jesus is on the cross. the new testament says that there was an eclipse or
earthquake, which there are no recorded events for at that place and time. he says
my god what have you done to me as if he regrets dying for his sins.
11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and
reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief
priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large
sum of money, 13 telling them, You are to say, His disciples came during the night
and stole him away while we were asleep. 14 If this report gets to the governor, we
will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. 15 So the soldiers took the money and
did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the
Jews to this very day. (matthew 28:11)
jesus body is taken out of the cave and it is blamed on the jews.
Socrates, jesus, bruno, galilelo, john brown, abraham lincoln, ghandi, yitzchak rabin
are all examples of people who tried to improve society, and instead they were
killed by one of their own kind because their ideas were too radical or against
previously accepted ideals.
Confessions by Saint Augustine. he wants others to be inspired to bring to
catholicism through his own troubles.
he draws scientific conclusion from watching babies cry and smile. he claimed that
babies are nothing but trouble
he writes many pages about him stealing pears and throwing them away. he says
the only pleasure in doing it was that it was forbidden. this is because jesus stressed
the morality of our thoughts. the nature of humans is to go against the law. laws
were made to be broken.

when someone stubs their toe, they scream out F*CK because they are taking
revenge on the universe.
gratuitous act is an act done not for practical purpose. it does not have any of the
four Reasons for doing something: 1 pleasure (sex) 2 revenge 3 money 4 power. it
gets the opposite result of what you originally wanted.
he claims that people pay a lot of money to watch operas with tragic deaths at the
end, which is crazy. man would rather go through pain than feel nothing at all.
we enjoy watching tragedy specifically for the sake of enjoying sorrow. today we
watch baseball teams and spend hours of our week watching them. but every team
but 1 loses some way or another. each batter is not going to get a hit %70 of the
time. most teams do not go anywhere. people buy stocks knowing that they could
lose it all. in a baseball game that ends 2-1 in the 15th inning, we stay the entire
game on the edge of our seats hoping to see our team win
society is built on lies, because people hear what they want to hear. people lie at
eulogies and political speeches to people who know they're lying
watching other people suffer makes us feel better about our own lives
Augustine leaves Carthage for Rome.
his students perversity made him want to leave for better students.
he claims that at the time he left, he didn't realize what was best for him, but that it
was all part of GOds plan. this is called disguised blessing.
Augustine sees a beggar
he has an identity crisis in which he sees a beggar who is drunk in the street.
augustine has an aim to get to happiness, but he hasn't gotten there. the beggar
has done nothing but get drunk and he is very happy.
this changes augustines mindset to find something else to make him happy
augustine opens up a bible and reads a passage that reminds him of his previous
sins and converts after.
his mother dies. his mother was uneducated but had belief in catholicism the whole
time. christianity says that you dont have to be rich smart or logical to believe. you
just must believe in jesus. augustine went through all these troubles trying to find
happiness when his mother had it from the very beginning.
as a young girl, his mother was a drunkard. her maid snitched to her parents, and
instead of taking out her anger on the maid, she changed her ways and became
sober. she actually listened to her parents and behaved more properly. augustine
looks up to this obediance to serve God than her parents.God comes first, and from
God she learns to become obediant to her parents.
the mother said she doesnt care where she is buried.

Dantes divine comedy

story of a christian that goes from irreligious to religious.he a tour guide for others.
he falls in love with a girl who is 9 years old. she dies when shes 18
dante is considered one of the best writers of the west in modern times along with
homer and shakespeare.
he confesses his sins in this book. he gives us a space trip story in which he gets a
glimpse of hell
his story is a utopia because everything is where it should be. bad guys in hell, good
guys in heaven.
the word divine is added later on by critics. it means that its the greatest work
about G0d, but he doesn't show G0d at all in the book. he only shows Gods work
through accomplishments. he realized that GOD is unknowable, and is a mystery,.
comedy is a story that begins in catastrophe and ends in prosperity. this work
begins with the central character finding himself in bad condition on the road to
hell. the work ends in a beatific vision. he sees God in the end of the work
3 realms of afterlife. heaven, hell, purgatory. those who are good in this world wil be
purged of their sins before going to heaven. john milton was a protestant and
protestants do not believe in purgatory. satan started a war in heaven, gathered
of angels and fought God, they lost and went to hell. based on passage of a dragon
at the end of new testament. dante believed that hell was a funnel to the center of
the earth.
3 is a holy number. the holy trinity. divine comedy is written in 3 line stanzas.
each chapter is called a canto. 33 cantos for each realm (hell heaven, purgatory).
1st canto is a preface to story. 100 cantos in total
he breaks up hell into 3 categories. the first is for sins of incontinence(people who
cant control themselves morally). 2nd level is for violent sins. 3rd level is for
fraudulence. the further down you go, the worse the sins are. at the bottom is
satan.
violence is something shared with animals. but fraudulence is something from
reason. reason is something given from God, and one who deceives others takes
Gods gift and throws it away.
purgatory deals with modes of love. start with most offensive sins then to least
offense. first category is love pervaded. love defected is 2nd realm. 3rd is realm is
love excessive(jerusalem gay pride parade stabbing).
at the top of mount purgatory, is placed garden of eden. this is devoted to the souls
in heaven.
dante writes about his midlife crisis. he has a spiritual awakening.

dante is influenced by Virgil, who wrote aenius. aenius visits the afterworld. dante
makes virgil his guide thru the first 2 realms of afterworld. he implies that poetry is
your best way to experience this world. poetry you get facts and enlightenment.
virgil is the tour guide for dante.
Dantes canto 4 (1477)
danete makes up poetry about the circle of life. no theological basis.
canto 4. they come to limbo, which is the lobby to hell. line 51, the patriarchs were
going to go to hell, but jesus saved them. virgil pays tribute to his famous roman
poets.
dantes canto 5
the lustful ones are to be swept away by winds. the punishment fits the crime, so
how does the punishment of being swept away by winds relate to illicit sex? they
were swept away by passion.
when youre in the middle of a bad time, and you recall good times, the recoleection
is more painful of what you lost.
they are a young couple that need a book to arouse them to have sex. the book is
used as an excuse. it gives them cover to have illicit relations. lancelot is a
character that has relations with many women so it doesnt look so bad in reality.
books do play a role in seduction. many famous couples dont get married but
appear on covers of magazines.
line 133-136. changes from smile to kiss lips. this signifies that we look up to
something so much in our imgination but in reality it falls short.
dante explains sex through the readers imagination. the punishment for the couple
is that they are going to be together forever. this is a reminder of the sin they did.
human beings arent able to do something for a long time.
dante creates a tension between his being a pious christian to his love for this
world. he sympothizes with the lovers who saw a moment of beauty and seized it.
they love life but they sinned. beuty and experience often clashes with reality. why
would a god create a world where two lovers couldnt satisfy their lusts?
canto 15
circle of homosexuals. he runs into brunetto latini. he wrote a book called the
treasury which celebrates christian virtues and lifestyle. dante says to him you
were my teacher, and followed your book,
sinful acts are not the most important things about a man, but the book is a
distillation of his best ideas. only internal part of him. a book is a vile of a persons
soul.a book is the best part of a human being, and everything else about him is
trivial and doesnt matter. sometimes a good person makes something bad, and a
bad person makes something good

the composer wrote some of the most beautiful music ever written, but he was a
terrible person.
dante shows brunetto in a bad way because he violated gods law he should be
punished even though he did good things
canto 26
the greek of odyssues is the subject of oddysey.
ulysses brought to the end the trojan war. he came up with the wooden horse idea.
when the war was over, odessius had angered poseidon, the god of the sea.
poseidon sought revenge and caused the return trip to take 10 years back home.
the point that homer makes is that he is eager to get home but many
misadventures thrown at him poseidon. these are distractions from getting home.
dante says the adventures on the way to get home is the best part. dante explains
him as someone who wants to get home. hes an early romantic character. they
emphasized experience as a supreme value. he also anticiaptes the age of
exporation. ulysses represents that spirit.
line 94. he wants to travel and see many different people. after coming home, he
ttravels again. its not enough to exist, but to live. ulyseus says to learn through
experience, not through books. be bigger than the average person. strive to seek
out and experience. he threw trickery, caused the trojans to lose the war. the trojans
are ancestors of romans. dante had a theory that the rpomans were the second
chosen people of god because they were destined to spread christianity. ulyseus
tried to stop gods plans. thats why he his in hell. dante has appreciance for the
arrangements of human behavior.\
canto 33
ugolino. he was locked up in the tower and the key was lost. this region of hell was
pure ice. his children want him to eat them to save his life. the children he was
locke up with were adults but dante turns them into children. a writer to tamper
with the facts to enhance the points. 13th century italy.
one kid after another drops dead out of hunger. he either eats his kids or drops
dead.
dante makes him sympathetic even though hes evil. dante sugguests that every
person had some dignity and thats the job of the author. dante is a great poet
because hes open to other people and celebrates being human.
dante turns to the other frozen bishop next to him. this pious dante breaks his word
when talking to the bishop. he didnt open his eyes. you are able to break your word
on others becaus people broke there covenant wiht god. this is a precursor to
machivaleo. on behalf of a greater cause, you can break a covenant. he calls this
the suspension of the ethical. the allegiance to god is greater than ethical norms. is
something rational when the gods do it, or do the gods do it because it is rational?
the will of god comes before ethics. called

volunterism. people will do the most awful things in the name of a noble cause, like
burning jews at the sake during the inquisition. this is a dangerous idea because it
gives an excuse to do terrible things. people in the protestant reformation killed
each other but thought they were doing god's will. they did not feel guilty. dante
expresses a common human weakness which is to do bad things in gods name or
another noble cause.

canto 34. they reach the center of the earth. satan has 3 faces. each mouth was a
sinner. first was judais escariot, then brutus, then cassius. in killing caesar, they set
themselves up with the destiny that god had plans. they had no idea they were
doing that. they had no idea of god's plan. this is irrational of dante's chrisitiainity.
having reached the center, they see the other side of the earth. they come out on
the bottom of purgatory. in purgatory, at the end, virgil takes a leap from dante. she
was a lover and died at the age of 18. she goes to heaven and she sees that dante
is leading a sinful life. and wants to save his soul. she goes to virgin mary. virgil to
to appear on earth and show dante his life to prevent damnation. dante indicates he
left the path and maybe fell in love with another woman. purgatorio 30 line 55. he
goes through heaven and reaching the highest circle, he's prepared to get the view
of god that blesses you. beatrice hands him over to someone. last canto.he sees
God and recounts his experiences. after all of this, he gets a pen and writes down
everything he just encountered

christianity is rife with illogical paradoxes, god came down and suffered death. lots
of paradoxes. early church goers believed because it was absurd. if its logical then
its not faith. faith is tested by ideas that contradict themselves.

machiavelli THE PRINCE

when at war, its better to kill the kings father then to steal his money. this is
because man can forgive the killing of a relative more than stealing his money.
his writing suggest that if you use your head you can overcome your enemies.
if you want to be a saint, dont get involved in politics. if you want to get involved in
politics then get ready to play dirty. nice guys finish last

politics are like a game. cant depend on people being honest. must do what you
have to do. like poker, there is a lot of lying in politics. its okay not to be virtuous,
only to appear as virtuous to the public.
cant let yourself get carried away by emotions in politics.
do good when you can, do evil when you must, act forcefully, and dont confuse
good and evil
either you can buy off your enemies or kill them off. but dont do anything in
between. the right way is to go to either extreme, but nothing in moderation
most people think that there are 2 choices, no violence or violence. the choice is
between a little violence early or a lot of violence late. hitler marched into the
rhineland in 1936. the allies did not do anything because they were afraid of
bloodshed. had they interfered, hitler would have been overthrown for embarrassing
the army. and WW2 would have been avoided supposedly.
there has been no major improvement in society that was not catalyzed by violence.
the shedding of blood is necessary to do the right thing. if mothers campaign to a
city hall to put a traffic light by the school, city hall says there is no money. after a
kid is killed by the school, the city puts in a traffic light. violence is necessary to
bring people to do things. no country would exist without violence and wars.
cesena was the king he had his henchman rimirro the guy who made harsh laws.
once the people hated him, he had his head cut off and laid in the city square.
citizens were awestruck and pledged allegiance to cesena as king.
machiavelli writes how people actually behave. hes a realist. chapter 15

chapter 15.
a ruler must be indecent in order for the greater good of the kingdom.
chapter 15. people decide between the futures. short term and long term. we do
things in the short run but wreck ourselves in the long term. the american revloutino
was good in the short run for the american slave-owners who solidated slavery in
the colonies. but ended up one of the causes of the american civil wars 80 years
later. the british had already abolished slavery before the revolution. the revolution
in the long run had a bad side effect.
chapter 17
if you show too much mercy, youre only causing more problems to happen down the
land. hitler and the rhineland is a good example. its a choice between a little
violence early or a lot of violence llater. if youre easygoing, youre just letting
yourself fall into more disaster. must be violent and sitff.
men are very unreliable. they will backstab others without fear.

the fear of hell makes people do good. the love of God is not enough to make
people do good things. fear is instilled in our lives to make us do well.
most men would choose their money and property than the lives of their relatives.
if a king needs to kill someone, it must be done at the right time to justify it. dont
strike in anger, and strike when the moment is right.
hannibal was a great general. he was great because he was cruel. cruelty without
talents is nothing. talent is nothing without cruelty. he was a great general because
he was so strict in front of his soldiers. like hitler, he used any means available to
gain power. hitler listened to these principles, until he got too big and destroyed
himself. he was a great ruler and was winning until the 1942.
chapter 18
people who trusted a ruler, and did it under their own peril. pays lip service to
morality, but if you want to be succesful you must play dirty.
must be strong and cunning to be succesful, like a fox and a lion. you must know
when to be a lion and when to be a fox. adjust to the temper of the moment. there
are times to be good for a lion, and times to be good for a fox.
when men are bad, and must resort to deceit, you can always come up with
justficiatino. with reason, you can prove anything. when hitler took over
czechoslovakia, he said he was restoring order.
people are easily fooled. dont have to be an einstein to justify bad behavior.
perception is everything. a ruler may not have power or moral, thats all you need,
because people will believe anything.
must be aware what people are thinking and doing while ruling. something that
works at one time may not work at another time. hannibal was at the gates of rome,
the romans picked a general fabius. he was afraid to have a head on conflict,
because he was afraid of being defeated. resorted to gurella warfare. another
general took the offensive and attacked carthage and forced hannibal to retreat.
this strategy was successful. in chess, your strategy changes each turn. people your
opponent changes. must be good in changing circumstances and in politics as well.
the strategy of chess is to have a changing strategy the whole game.
when a ruler shifts strategy, he must persuave others that this is the right way to
go. must be flexible in plans as well.
those who dissent from the opinion of the government will not be listened to. you
may be right but that may not be realized until much later
all is fair in love and war. must do anything to win, and people wont ask as long as
you won. if you play honestly, theyre going to play it out on you. one judges by the
result. all history books are innacurate because the winners write history. the
outcome of a war sets the view of those involved like the generals. estimation of
things are dependent on circumstances and luck. peope judge by results.

in 2000 there was a bombing plot by terroritst to crash plans into LAX. it was
stopped. if it had happened, itwould have made stricter rules and 9/11 wouldnt
have happened.
chapter 25
being cunning and skillful are useless if belief in GOd is above because he plans
everything. this book only has relevance if we dont have free will.
something that worked in the past may not be useful in the future. history repeats
itself but never in the same way.
one must take chances and risks in order to win. lee at chancellorsville played risk
and won the battle.
one cannot generalize. must be adaptive to changing circumstances. its a human
trait to use our reason to generalize but it only goes so far.
chapter 26
machiavelli was a ptriot of italian unification. in 1500s. he has an end to stablize
italy without foreign control. he lived in italy. we want the homeland to be stable
and prosperous. hes a moral person because he has a good goal.
machivalleis book represents a book that was liberated from christianity. a very
important step into modernity.
machivalli is a wrtier of the renassiance in the 1500s. renassiance means rebirth.
renewal of interest in classical civilization, especiialy greek and roman literature.
in the ancient pagan cultures, it clashed with christianity.
while he is writing the prince, thomas moore is writing utopia. based on platos
republic. influence of greek culture. thomas moore described a perfect society. early
attempt to reconstruct society.

in the netherlands, erasmus

martin luther. very influential man. he started the protestant reformation in 1517 by
posting 95 thesis to church door in germany.
usually, the catholic church stomped out any heresy, but martin luthers
protestantism survived. first big change to world
protestantism says between G0d and man stands nothing. catholicism says you can
only speak to God through church, and can only go to heaven via the church.
the bible was not translated by this time. only the papacy gave over the bible.
martin luther says that christiainity was pure in its foundation but drifted away, and
became corrupt. catholicism was the adulterated version of christianity.

luther proposed to go back to the origins of christianity. northern europe was

protestant, souther europe of catholic
luthers disciples translated the bible into the vanacular. they thought every
christian was their own priest and had to meet god on their own and had to read the
bible. and by not relying on the interpretations of others or the church.. of the 4
assumptions, revelation scripture, tradition and authority are knocked out.
luther thought that by each person interpreating the bible would arrive at the same
conclusion, but thats not so. many different interpretations. many different types of
protestantism but only 1 type of catholicism.
skepticism was a school of philosophy. cant be sure of anything these days.
luther destroyed christianity. his reformation began the decline in power of the
christiainity in state government. he had good intentions but had disastrous results.
nobody could tell which type of christiainty was right. he opened the door to
skepticism. the 16th and 17th centuries saw many religious wars in europe and
hundreds of thousands died fighting for their form of interpretation of the bible.
luther caused skepticism and many people lost belief. now in europe, only 7-9% of
people go to church regularly. now christiainity is a private hobby instead of a public
belief.
luther taught that man has no free will. because if God is omnipotent, then man has
no decision in his life. Erasmus was hired to rebutt luther. erasmus was a catholic
and wrote a long book to defend the idea of free will.
luther said that if man has no free will, therefore humans shouldnt be held
responsible for any crimes.
erasmus accumulates all the passages that favor free will, and the passages that
disfavor it, and he says the bible cannot contradict itself.
had luther won the fight, we would have been stuck in the middle ages, had
christiainty won the battle, we also would have been struck in the middle ages. but
because there was a fight, we are now in a modern society.

erasmus. DISCOURSE ON FREE WILL

free will is that you have the choice to follow God or go to hell.
even if you cannot use the bible to prove the existence of free will, the tradition had
established the existence of free will
free will must exist because if there is no free will, then god is sending every person
to hell without doing anything.
erasmus describes luther as one who doesnt recognize any author except for the
bible. the motto is protestantism is scripture only.

erasmus likes moderation best. he thinks the true answer is somehwere in the
middle. man
erasmus was someone who said that calm and peace in society is good and that we
shouldnt answer all of our questions
according to luther, god is all powerful and there is no room for decisions by man.
luther says how can we tell which type of christiainty is correct?he chooses a
rolemodel and follow in his ways. whichever side he is on must be the right side.
luther says that moderation by erasmus is not good. luther says that erasmus is a
christian skeptic, and the only thing you can be sure about is that jesus is the true
savior.
luther says you can only be a christian is if you assert youre ideals and doctrines
luther said erasmus is more concerned in maintaing peace then finding out the
truth. luther was more involved in learning the truth and going down in flames to
find it.
luther said hes willing to destroy the world in order to find the truth about
christianity. luther says reason interprets gods word for whichever way she likes.
the conclusion you arrive at with match with the ones you started out in. reason can
be used to prove anything.

Michel de Montaigne. ESSAYS.

skepticism. its the only way to answer anything. no decision is 100% true.skepticism
is rampant in everybody when it comes to others beliefs. if more people wre
skeptical, lots of wars would never happen. ww2 wouldnt have happened if more
germans were skeptical to follow hitler. to get things done, you must take a leap of
faith into the darkness. nothing would be acoomplished if you were too skeptical.
nothing is able to be proven
people jump to conclusions based on previous ideals.
only quotes pagan writers, not at all from the bible.
from france and mayor of a city. his essay writing underwent various stages. he
would write a brief passage on a certain book, and eventually published them. he
kept adding on and lengthened them and that was published. he did that again. the
book is written in ABC on the side to indicate which stage his mind was in.
his first set of essays are very gloomy. he was afraid that he would die young
because his father died of kidney stones.
his middle phase of writing is more positive. he is now less skeptic.

then he started writing about himself in a manner that he makes fun of himself. he
writes about his own impitence
hes a great stylist. he inventor of informal essay. his essays are confessions. his
ideas are not in chronological, unlke augustine. augustine was a devout catholic and
tried to convince others to christianity, but montaigne was not christian. montaigne
doesnt not offer any conclusions.
no matter how high a throne you sit, youre still just sitting on your butt. hes very
down to earth. were all only human, like every rabbi, US president, etc.
why are supercelestial (noble) ideals defeneded by sub terrestial behavior
OF CANNIBALS. a french expeditionary force went to brazil and discovered the
natives. they wrote a book on them. montaigne read it and responded to it.
he says smart people interpret things differently than stupid people. everybody
imposes their own values. nobody sees clearly. only an uneducated person has no
preconceived notions. experts are unreliable. the more you know, the less reliable
you are.
montaign says that there is nothing barborous, except that each man calls
barbarism whatever is not his own practice. what you see as ideal is a product of
the society you were grown up in.
when a priest is found to be a false prophet, he is cut up into 1000 pieces. no false
prophets.
the generals who started the iraq war are still honored members of society even
though the iraq war was a huge failure.
europeans tortued others but were very critical of the cinnibals of the new world.
the cannibals would only eat the carcasses of tribes they defeated. he said there is
more barbarity in torturing a man alive than eating him dead.
this all happened during the french reformation wars in the 1600s where catholics
and protestants would kill eachother. but each sect were fighting in the name of
jesus.
the indians did not contradict their own religion like the european christians. the
indians fought over territory.
the european christians thought they were the civilized people of the world and
everyone else was inferior. montaigne says the indians are superior to the western
christians.
montaigne shows that there are other ways that soicety functions. everything is
relative. in europe wives woul
3 indians are brought back to france. they find it strange how a child king can rule
over soldiers.

they thought it strange how the rich had everything and there are many more poor
people starving by them, and why the poor dont just kill the rich and take their stuff.
he sayd the indians are superior in many ways but overall inferior because they
dont wear pants.
this can be said about anything. how can one be civilized without a TV or a
smartphone?
OF THE INCONSISTENCY OF OUR ACTIONS
who am i? as long as christianity was dominant, identity was not a major issue. the
church portrayed morals as seen by God and gave me people a sight of a bigger
identity. when people started to stray away from God, many people got rid of their
identitiy. according to the circumstances, nobody could say who they really are
without the eye of god in your personality.
if you study yourself thoroughly, youll find that you are inconsistent in a lot of
things. none of us know what we do until we confront the temptation. if one gets
extra change at the store, does he give it back? what if its 10 million?
we do not really know ourselves until its neccessary to. people have good and bad
attributes at the same time. celebrities apear to have wonderful lives but in reality
are miserable. cant judge someone by just 1 look. were are very different between
ourselves and with other people.
humans are subject to the moves of the moment and no persistence reasoning.
people change over time.
OF COACHES
the indians didnt care for gold because it had no value to their society. but the
europeans killed for gold. the value of something is relevant to its owner.
indians werent impressed with christianity. the indians had their own gods and didnt
feel like changing. christianity should have been natural and evident. but the
indians proved that christianity turns out to be a matter of circumstance. christianity
provided a cover for the colonization and westernization of other peoples.
the discovery of the new world was very good for people fleeing persecution. the
natives were wiped out completely. millions of native americans perished by the
hands of the europeans. blacks suffered terribly from the discovery of new world.the
4th of july was a bad thing for blacks.

cervantes (please read). due for tuesday. don quixote. Miguel de Cervantes
(Spanish, 1547-1616), DON QUIXOTE: 2363-71, 2375-86, 2423-31, 2463-76, 247980, 2484-6 [2217-20, 2226-48, 2285-92, 2323-38, 2341-9] [2]
a guy reads a lot of books and becomes crazy and would like to be a knight.

books shape our lives. by reading books, he thinks hes going to become a knight. he
saw himself as what he would be like if he reached absurdity.
cervantes saw that his habit, if taken to the extreme, can be bizarre.
chivalry had died out already, and all tournaments were play in jousting.the
question becomes that is everything we leave behind neccessarily bad? there is
something about chivalry that was noble, and by getting rid of it, were losing out on
something important. in making progress, we leave behind some beautiful things
cervantes says is everything we leave behind bad?
since the middle ages, one needed a woman to gain nobility. every knight had a
woman who does noble things. he makes up a woman and gives his sidekick to go
find her. he brings back a farmgirl. she does not exist except in his imagination.