An overview of Western Civilization - Essay Example

Western Civilization is a set of practices, values, language, traditional customs, beliefs, politics, crafts, and technologies. Also known as European civilization, the culture sprang from Middle East leading to Europe and other parts of the western world. Countries such as the Mesopotamia, Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome have significant contributions towards the development of this said set of cultures dated back around 3000 BCE. It was during 300 BCE when Ancient Greece has added the Hellenistic philosophy and culture into Western Civilization. Under the philosophy, different scholars prompted the discovery of schools of thought such as the Pythagoreanism, Sophism, and Platonism. These schools of thought have significantly shaped the thinking of people living in those times. Another exemplar facet of Western Civilization is the religion. Around 700 BCE, Ancient Rome came into power and led many people in subjecting to Roman Catholic which believes in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit to be one person equal in power. Roman Catholic was gaining its popularity among people in those times. Popes were being praised, people come at their feet and kiss them, and they generally gave what they have materially in order to gain the attention and blessings of the popes. Amidst the church’s great influence is a man who courageously sees and speaks of its flaws. Looking at the prose titled “Grand Inquisitor”, Fyodor Dostoevsky boldly scrutinized it with an aim of “an attack to the Catholic Church”. Apart from a system of education and religion mentioned earlier, Western Civilization promoted values and issues such as rational argument, human rights, equality, democracy and free thought. Regarding the last, the prose gave nothing but a wide array of reflections. One point in the prose states, “…gift of freedom with which the ill-fated creature is born” (Dostoevsky). The gift of freedom stemmed out from Jesus Christ’s choice when he was on earth, at a time when Satan approached him in the mountains to tempt him. The three temptations to Christ, were first, the earthly bread. This was followed by casting his own self while at the same time trusting that he will be saved by the angels, and the third, choosing the word kingdom to gain unity upon earth. The issue of freedom revolved around these three temptations. The Grand Inquisitor presented the results and the curse or consequences of Christ rejections of the three while questioning the nature of man. Regarding the first temptation, the Grand Inquisitor mentioned that Christ’s failure of choosing the earthly bread over the heavenly bread resulted to unhappy people with freedom. This is shown by this passage, “…the terrible gift that had brought them such suffering…” Freedom allowed people to carry on independently. Freedom casted a provider, or a leader, according to the Grand Inquisitor. Thus, people suffer because having no ruler is like being a sheep driven into confusion and misery. It is a common human nature to worship and be a slave of someone, “Feed men, and then ask of them virtue! That’s what they’ll write on the banner which they will raise against Thee”. Such philosophy is seen when human chose to be led by political leaders like Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin (Dostoevsky). They were willing to give up their freedom and be in subjection to rulers who would give them the earthly bread despite the persecutions they impose. Another scene which illustrates that is when Christ went down from the heavens to make miracles like resurrecting a dead one and healing the ailing ones. Upon seeing the miracles performed by Jesus, people came at his feet and started to do acts of worship to him. The Grand Inquisitor pointed out that Christ must have satisfied people if only he did not reject Satan’s temptation. That way, he will serve for the sake of many and make himself famous as a grand provider just like what the pillars of the church are doing. The second temptation reveals that Christ’s rejection made people unhappy and unsure of themselves. This is illustrated by this passage, “For the secret of man’s being is not only to live but to have something to live for. Without a stable conception of the object of life, man would not consent to go on living, and would rather destroy himself than remain on earth, though he had bread in abundance”. As a result, people are looking for someone to appease his conscience or self-worth even though it means worshipping and doing bad deeds, “And as man cannot bear to be without the miraculous, he will create new miracles of his own for himself, and will worship deeds of sorcery and witchcraft”. The third and the last temptations present the “craving of man for universal unity”. Grand Inquisitor argues that if Christ accepted to be the ruler of the world, people would be under one government and subjection. This would bring a world of peace and happiness. But because Christ did reject the temptation, he allowed unhappiness rule over mankind. The Grand Inquisitor questions the choice of man to give up their freedom for being subjects of the church in return. He said, “Oh, we shall persuade them that they will only become free when they renounce their freedom to us and submit to us”. The Grand Inquisitor, throughout the prose, has given the church self-glory as reflected in this sentence, “They will marvel at us and will be awe-stricken before us, and will be proud at our being so powerful and clever that we have been able to subdue such a turbulent flock of thousands of millions”. Sadly, it is notable that people behave just like how the Grand Inquisitor tells of them. The very nature of man is to give up their freedom to someone superior since exercising one’s freedom brings about strife and sufferings. Man is afraid of challenging his freedom and abilities and has instead look for ideologies for he does not want to embrace responsibility for his own life. Going back to Western Civilization, we might hear that aside from the flourishing culture and education during these eras, revolutions and protests exist. These clamours are not because people are without freedom. From the start of this paper, it is explained that we possesses freedom due to Christ’s rejection of the three temptations. However, the clamours are due to man not exercising freedom and in looking for someone to worship and exploit him later. Seeing things ahead through this view, it can be observed that man is a prisoner of his own fears. Casting away the fear is like going out from a shell to experience the turbulent sea and discover a treasure that lies amidst the cold and harsh splashes of waters. The treasure presents the true freedom, the happiness from leading one’s own life. This might however be mistaken for atheism which promotes detachment of man from God. True freedom is exercising freedom which Christ has given us. It is making the best out of our lives by using the gift that Christ and our God has given us. The future of man is, as he learns to exercise freedom and achieve the true freedom, is to be “united ‘in one unanimous and harmonious world”. RESPONSE ESSAY TOPICS TO CONSIDER # 1: Why was young Dostoevsky so affected by his father's murder by the local peasants? Dostoevsky was exposed to peasants at a young age when his parents brought him to the little estate every summer of each year. Perhaps due to the influential thinking of the writers he patronizes, he became attached with the “blessed earth” as well as to the peasants who sweats for every grain they will reap. When a peasant allegedly killed his father, Dostoevsky has not the slightest violent reaction or inclination for vengeance towards the culprit who has been anonymous. This is so because he already knew his father to be miserly, greedy, and corrupt. Dostoevsky experience being denied with an allowance while he was in school and this was for no valid reason. We see the great impact of this happening to his life in his prose of Grand Inquisitor. Maya Angelou said, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you”. True to this is Dostoevsky’s inspiration for writing his novels. His feeling towards his father and his death is clearly illustrated in Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov’s character in the novel “The Brothers Karamazov”. Karamazov is a senile, mean, and sensual man for his four boys. When he died, his four sons were disturbed, not because they are unhappy but because they are guilty in one or another reason. How does collective guilt play out in The Brothers Karamazov, the novel from whence this story is drawn? Romano Guardini said, “The guilt of every individual is binding upon us all, just as his salvation saves us all. Crime is the center of Dostoevsky’s tragic world”. For every crime, not only one is affected. Let’s take the example of the three of the four brothers in The Brothers Karamazov. When Smerdyakov killed their father, Dmitri and Ivan felt equally awkward feeling in the sense that each of them carries guilt inside their hearts. Smerdyakov hates his father because of corrupting his mother and for keeping him a serf. Dmitri is guilty because he loves the same woman his father loves. Ivan carries remorse over his father because he resembles him. Aside from them, people in the village were idle at looking after the criminal. “We cannot arrest a whole village,” they said, “and the whole village is guilty.”Yes, almost all people are guilty for Karamazov’s death even though only one person did the killing. What happened is a communal crime according to Fremantle. Thus, collective guilt is a feeling shared by a group of people over a misfortune happened to the wicked person they loath upon. TOPICS TO CONSIDER # 2 Do you think people would prefer a "One-World Empire" to tell them what to do and how to live? Or would most want to live free and accept the responsibility for their life choices? One of the feelings harboured by man is fear. Fear lets people secure a job in which they are not happy. It is also the impelling force for them to remain in their present situation of starvation and poverty. Fear controls every man unless that man chooses to break free. Being free entails responsibilities. And for such, man is very coward. Most of them wish more wealth and greater happiness. However, they are afraid that once they get out of the skirts of the superiors, they will lose everything. Having a “One-World Empire”, I should say, is pitiful. Since the rulers also have flaws due to our inherited sin, it would always be miserable if man would subject under the leadership of another man. Let us take Hitler as an example. Hitler’s motive was for all sorts of man to be under his hands. But instead of being happy, people became miserable due to killings, famine, and illnesses which originated from his cruelty. Of course, not all potential rulers are hard as he. However, man’s limited power in ruling other has been proved in the past decades and from there, man must learn the lesson that “One-World Empire” would not be the solution to his problems. Do you agree with the Inquisitor's estimation of people as sheep who need someone to protect them from realizing how miserable their lives are? When a person commits a sin and is ignored by all, that person would be a criminal sooner or later. Entertaining such small acts of sin would not move a person to change, lest to see its effect on his values as a man. Likewise, a person who does not see how miserable his life is would also not be moved to change his life for the better. This is what happens when some people hinder the majority to see the reality. The problem with this is that, the more the reality is hindered, the more expected problems are to come. Not solving one problem would surely lead to another. Suppose for example a cold. Because at first it seems that the cold is mild, the person would not be alarmed to take medications or go to the hospital. However, as he tried to cover his real situation, the situations worsen and as he continues to ignore his cold longer, the more it will worsen and lead to other complications. Worst stage is when it reaches pneumonia which is a hard to cure disease. In the end, the person would be sorry for what he has not done. This same situation is what faces those people who think they need a shepherd whom will cover the reality for them. As they linger on covering up for their real problems, they will find themselves one day, barren and naked. They would feel helpless and sorry for what has resulted from something which they can avoid at the onset. Works Cited "An overview of western civilization." .N.p.. Web. 11 Dec 2013. . Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The grand inquisitor. 2005. eBook. "Quotes about writing." .N.p.. Web. 11 Dec 2013. . Read More