LESSON LightofRestorationPeace,WorldCulture,Heavenly 23 THE CAUSE OF DISORDER LESSON OBJECTIVES 1 Understand what the root causes of disorder are. 2 Find out about the tragedies caused by human greed. TERMS TO KNOW • Greed • Discord • Lust • Holocaust
There is no satisfying sensual desires, even with the rain of gold coins. Dhammapada, Buddhism Therefore find your enjoyment in renunciation; do not covet what belongs to others. Upanishads, Hinduism
Many scholars who study habits agree that good habits are hard to build and easy to break. Just like habits, a state of order is difficult to establish. But it could take only a day to break it. When you look into the cause of conflicts, you often find the reasons are not simple. Most conflicts have complex causes, but by analyzing many cases you can find a commonality. Most conflicts originate from excessive greed. Greed, in this case, means a state of mind that wants something too much or overindulging. In contrast, disputes that are not caused by greed can usually be resolved amicably. Let’s take a look at records in history and religious texts to find out how greed disrupted peace and order and caused conflict and discord.
2 23. The Cause of Disorder What is the Root Cause of Breaking Order?
After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is fullgrown, gives birth to death. the Bible, Christianity Follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest ye swerve, and if ye distort (justice) or decline to do justice, verily Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do. Quran, Islam Know how to be content, and you will have pleasure; pursue greed, and you will breed worries and concerns. MyungShimBoGam, Confucianism
How GreedScripturesReligiousDescribe
Many religious scriptures teach people that unwarranted greediness brings worries to a persons heart, and causes conflict and discord in society.
Tragedies Brought by Ghreed 1) Holocaust
The Holocaust derives from the Greek word holókauston, meaning sacrifice by fire. The Holocaust was a systematic genocide committed by the Nazi regime, led by Hitler during World War II. It took place across Nazi Germany and regions it occupied in 35 countries. It targeted Jews, Slavic peoples, Roma (gypsies), homosexuals, people with disabilities, and political prisoners in the genocide of 11 million civilians and war prisoners. 6 million of the victims were Jews, which accounted for 2/3 of the 9 million Jewish population in Europe at the time.
23. The Cause of Disorder 3
On 20 January 1942, on the outskirt of Berlin, Hitler’s Nazi Figure 23-1 Auschwitz concentration campy
4 23. The Cause of Disorder regime discussed the Final Solution of the Jewish Question. There they defined Germans as the “superior race” and decided that they needed to carry out racial cleansing for a world under German rule, by detaining the mass killings of Jews and Roma (gypsy) people. Building detention camps equipped with gas chambers with the sole purpose of mass murder was what made the Holocaust an unprecedented case in human history. Nazi camps were set up in Auschwitz, Bełżec, Chełmno, and other locations. They also conducted human experimentation. Experiments included placing subjects in pressure chambers and freezing rooms, testing drugs on live subjects, injecting chemicals into children’s eyes in an attempt to change their eye color, and heinous surgical experiments. Survivors of the experiments were immediately murdered most of the time and dissected. The Holocaust was one of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century spun by a disorder that was brought by human greed under the banner of the doctrine of racism (ethnocentrism). What is even more surprising is that the horrific atrocity happened less than 100 years ago. Records and recounts of the Holocaust lead to the production of movies like Schindler’s List, Life is Beautiful, and The Pianist. German people teach their children at school these facts about the Holocaust to remember the past and prevent it from happening again. They also built Holocaust memorials. Former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt knelt in penance before the monument to Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in Poland.
2) Opium Wars
The Opium Wars started in the 1840s between Qing (China) dynsaty and Great Britain over the Qing dynasty’s policy to suppress opium trades. The East India Company of Britain suffered losses in trades with the Qing dynasty. While Qing exported a big volume of tea and porcelain, they did not import British products such as woolen cloth and manufactured goods. In an attempt to increase exports, the East India Company bribed the authorities of Canton to bring opium, a narcotic, to China. Most of
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the officials and commoners in the Canton region became addicted to opium, and an enormous amount of Chinese silver flowed into the East India Company. The Qing dynasty appointed viceroy Lin Zexu to confiscate all opium in the region and arrested smugglers. It is said that the confiscated opium was 1,400 tons, most of which viceroy Lin Zexu either threw into the sea or burned. Merchants of the East India Company returned to Britain. They demanded compensation from the government for the confiscated drugs. The British Government refused to pay for the opium that was taken for smuggling into a foreign country. To find a solution to their loss, the British merchants lobbied the British Parliament to wage war against China. Their claim was put to the vote in the Parliament and was approved with a narrow win.
June 1840, about 4,000 troops of the British Army and Navy arrived on the coast of China. That was the beginning of the First Opium Wars
Figure 23-2 Opium
Hong Kong was returned from Britain to China on 1 July 1997. The Holocaust and the Opium Wars are examples that show how greed can overturn order, violate the dignity of lives, and dismantle peace.
2. The Qing dynasty would pay an indemnity of the war and opium confiscation within three years.
6 23. The Cause of Disorder War, which ended in June 1842 as British forces took over Shanghai and swept into Nanking. The first war resulted in the Treaty of Nanking. The treaty included the following agreements.
1. The Qing dynasty would hand Hong Kong to the British Empire.
Activities 1
23. The Cause of Disorder 7 Reviewing the Lesson
3 What was the origin of the greatest tragedy of the 20th century, the Holocaust?
5 What is the name of the city that was handed over to Great Britain as a result of the Opium War and returned to China in 1997? Think about whether you have greed, how greed affects your state of mind, and how to resolve it. Share with your classmates.
2 What is the Holocaust?
2 Research and present, cases where human greed threatens the natural ecosystem or that humankind brings disregard for life.
4 What was the name of the British Company that exported opium to the Qing Dynasty of China in the 19th century?
1 According to each religious scriptures, what does greed create in the heart and in society?
Lesson23. The Cause of Disorder 5th floor 20, Nambusunhwan-ro 347-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South-Korea Tel. +82 02-514-1963 Fax. +82 Thehwpl@hwpl.krhttp://www.hwpl.kr02-514-1961firsteditionon31 July 2022 Published by Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light Copyright 2022 Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light All rights reserved. You must get consent from a copyright owner to use all or parts of the contents of this book. Image Credits Figure 23-1 https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/06/19/19/31/auschwitz-3485116_960_720.jpg Figure 23-2 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/98th_Foot_at_Chinkiang.jpg
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