How can Taoist texts can help deepen our understanding of early Chinese history?

Taoist texts can deepen our understanding of Chinese history. Taoism is China's only indigenous religion. Ancient China had never had an alternative model other than an emperor. Emperor was the model for over 2,000 years. Early Taoism is much different than that though. Taoism is a theocracy based around "tianshi." Tianshi was a celestial master who was supposed to establish a new political structure. The political structure was the "Great Peace," in which every individual would be treated justly. This concept provided an alternative for Chinese people in ancient times from Confucianism. The founder of Taoism didn't take the title of emperor unlike all all Chinese rulers. The founder of Taoism is called Zhang Daoling. But the political structure in China did not last. Taoism is an important religion among ethnic minorities in China, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. The Taoist religion left behind no physical objects so Historians needed to look at official dynasty history to learn about this religion and about its traditions. Also, the Taoist canon can be used to provide information about the religion.

Is Our World Real?

Is our world real? That's the question people are asking. Is everything we know exist or is it all a simulation? In the article, Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? the science world talks about this topic? It says that there is a 50% chance that our entire world is a simulation. They gave lots of evidence why this could be true but there is no real way to test these types of theories. I believe however that our world is real and that everything is not a simulation. I think that a greater intelligence being able to simulate our world with all of its details and everything that goes on it daily is close to impossible. The people controlling us would have to monitor everything 24/7 and if they are anything like modern day humans they probably are too busy with their own stuff then to bother with what we are doing. I think that everything we do it is real. Just like the quote by René Descartes, "cogito ergo sum," "I think, therefore I am," because I think and I am able to question whether the world is real or just a simulation I am real.

The Holocaust vs. The Story of Job

The story of Moshe Yosef Daum and Dela Nussbaum is very similar and different from the story of Job in the Old Testament. Moshe Yosef and Dela Nussbaum were both holocaust survivors and after the holocaust Dela Nussbaum lost some of her faith towards God because she was confused how such a powerful thing such as God could allow so many of his faithful followers, the Jews, to suffer such awful things. This also happened in the story of Job. In the story of Job Satin convinced God to test Job's loyalty to him and make him suffer by torturing him and see if he is still faithful afterward. This happened in the holocaust because like Job, God allowed to the Jewish people to suffer greatly and some people remained loyal to God after everything occurred and some people lost all their faith. Moshe Yosef Daum remained loyal to God even after all the suffering and so did a Hasetic Rabi who lost his wife and 11 children. The Rabbi said, “The fact that there are Holocaust survivors who, after all they endured, can still keep faith, is itself, the greatest miracle of all.” This is different from the story of Job because after God allowed Job to go through all this suffering he did lose faith in Gob by cursing the day he was born which was really cursing God because God has a plan for everyone and everyone was born for a reason and by cursing the day Job was born he was really cursing Job's plan.

The Book of Job vs. The Story of Abraham and Isaac

In both The Book of Job and the story of Abraham and Isaac God was cruel and insecure. In the story of Abraham and Isaac God told Abraham to sacrifice his own son to prove how faithful he was to God, this was cruel of God because Abraham loved his son very much and Abraham never sinned or did anything bad towards God. God did this because he was insecure and he wanted to see how much Abraham loved him. In The Book of Job God was cruel towards Job and punished him and did all these bad things to him even though Job never sinned or ever did anything wrong because he wanted to see if Satan was right. Satan said that Job only loved God because God was never cruel to him. Satan told God to punish Job to see if he would sin in Gods face. So this is what God does. In both stories God took an almost perfect man who never did anything wrong and put him to the test to see how much they loved him. God was a little bit nicer in the story of Abraham and Isaac than in the story of Job because in the story of Abraham and Isaac God only told him to sacrifice his son but didn't let him go through with it but in the story of Job God continued to make Job suffer and suffer until he cursed the day he was born.