Development and Interaction of Cultures; Reflection

Through-out the beginning of AP World, a main focus has been the development and interaction of cultures, especially religion. From Egyptian beliefs up through Buddhism and Confucianism, a complex looking-glass is our point of view. From the Shang Dynasty and Egyptian, along with other monotheistic religions, we have looked for the source of belief and its impact on others and history in general. Complex burials and veneration of ancestors was a common event in earlier peoples. Then as society developed and people started to look at the catastrophies in life and the power of nature, gods developed as the chief source of power. This struck me as very strange and almost sacriligous that religion and the gods can be viewed as a pacifier to the people of earth. It is an uncomfortable position in which to be standing, yet a much more enlightened one. Then we progressed into the great Asian belief systems of Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. In such a diverse and yet similiar water, each belief system developed in its own way and took on different roles. Religions and philosophies alike, they started to focus more on the person of worship. I saw this with the knowledge of today's religious standpoint, one not so dominated by religious acts, but very much so neverless, and saw the power that such systems held. It is a historic wonder, this development of religion.