Tea the Drink That Changed the World Summary - Chapter 3 - Tea in Ancient Japan

Image: Ancient Japanese Tea Paraphernalia

Tea the Drink That Changed the World: Ancient Japanese Tea

Tea served a major role in Japanese history. Tea was first introduced in Japan during the Nara and Heian periods when they sent an envoy of leading Buddhist scholars to what was then Tang dynasty China. The Buddhist scholars brought back tea seeds from China, and thusly Tea was introduced to Japan. However this did not mean everyone in Japan started drinking tea immediately, as tea during that time period was extremely valuable and only supposed to be consumed by royalty, nobility and Buddhist scholars. During the early Heian period Emperor Saga highly discouraged the drinking and cultivation of to, to try to keep its value. In the early Kamakura period new tea seeds were brought into Japan by Eisai, another Buddhist scholar and founder of the Rinzai sect of zen Buddhism. These seeds were brought from Kyoto during Sung dynasty China. The first book of tea written in japan was by Kissa Yojoki and it was titled "How to Stay Healthy by Drinking Tea." During this time period the emergence of the printing press allowed this book to be published in several different languages. This then marked the period when Tea started becoming a drink that was consumed by many people, and the rise in the popularity of tea,       

High Spirits High Seas Video Presentation

Our video presentation on High Spirits High Seas - History of the World in 6 glasses.

High Spirits High Seas

The Political Philosophy of: Ben Dover

Mr. Ben Dover

Image: Shakespeare with earring

Renaissance Philosophy My Way.

The Biography of Mr. Ben Dover:

Ben Dover was born in the late 1980s but nobody is sure the exact date because the historical records of the time period were very unreliable. Ben Dover is an educated man. He attended school, an achieved a bachelors degree in philosophy. He then tried to find a job in his field but since he majored in philosophy he only found a job in Olive Garden. Ben Dover spent most of his time in this garden where he was able to interact with many people. This exposure to so many walks of life allowed him to generate his own philosophical ideas by blending several philosophies from the Renaissance. Amazingly the philosophy he created is still applicable to the modern American political scene.  

Excerpt from: "Ben Dover's Conversation in The Garden."

Today is a slow day. So I sit down and have a chat with some of my friends at a table at the back of the garden. I think the political situation in America is toxic, and not healthy for the citizens living in the borders. We have demagogues that can say abhorrent things, and their polls in the race don't drop. They rise. Some philosophers would be okay with this. Machiavelli states that people are used to being ruled, and that the well being of the people should be ignored. The state exists for the ruler. President-elect Trump has now appointed Exxon Mobil's CEO as head of state. Trump is now leading America in the way of an international business with little regard for the people of the United States. The United States would be a lot better if the political ideals of Thomas More. There would be no greed, and little precedent to start wars. Even president Obama is not good at not starting wars. His drone program has targeted not only innocent people, but it is also very antagonistic towards other sovereign nations. Trump is almost always propelled by greed and even during his short time in office he has almost completely ruined our diplomatic relations with China, by accepting a call and acknowledging the fact that Taiwan is a country.

Philosophical Legend:
Machiavelli 
Baldassare Castiglione
Sir Thomas More

Thoughts & Reflections on: The Human Story - Enlightenment

Image: Maximilian Robespierre as a pokemeon card.
Fun fact! Maximilian is known for being extremely aggressive. He eventually started the time period during the French revolution known has the "reign of terror." when the French people were executing traitors as well as religious figures, and pretty much anybody Max opposed. Ironically Max eventually was killed because of this and thus ended the reign of terror.

Thoughts & Reflections on: The Enlightenment a Brief Summary

What is the enlightenment? The enlightenment is a time period that marks major social change throughout the world. These social changes have a lot in common. The enlightenment's social changes include the fall of monarchies, the ideal that all men are created equal, and the rise of democracy. This can be seen during the American revolution when the constitution was created and signed, eliminating the monarchy of Britain and starting the republic of America. The same constitution was used during the bloody French revolution. This revolution was sparked because the people were not being represented during voting correctly. Only the lords and noble men could vote. This started the push for democracy and reform. The end of the French revolution marked the fall of the French monarchy and the rise of a traditional voting system. During this time the land of the catholic church was also seized and many members of the church were executed. This marked the fall of the rule of religion and kings.

History of The World in 6 Glasses - High Seas High Spirits Summary

Image: Ancient Distilling apparatus

Summary of: High Spirits High Seas

This chapter explores how the first distilling apparatus were made and how the discovery of spirits and hard alcohol drove discovery, sugar production, and the slave trade. The chapter starts off by describing the cultural power house of the time, Cordoba. Cordoba was advanced because they had street lights, a complex sewer system, and the largest library of knowledge at the time. This allowed them to invent and innovate using knowledge that may have been lost or forgotten. One of these inventions was the distillery. The Arabians built this apparatus by looking at books in their library dating back to ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Greece. They based this device off of something that was originally used to create perfume. The first hard alcohol created was fire water, or aqua vitae (life water). The process of making this alcohol was first recorded in code, because it was so powerful. Alcohol was used as a panacea for a long time. Eventually however the process of distilling eventually reached Europe where the drink turned into less of a medicine and more of a recreational drug. Each region had its own distilled drink that was made using region specific ingredients. Brandy, made in England was one of the most valuable trade commodities at the time. The Persians needed more slaves to run their sugar plantations because they were the world's number one exporter of sugar at the time so the Spanish in an attempt to compete with this went to Barbados to try to grow sugar. When the British trade for slaves the African traders would hold alcoholic drinks of high value. The British figured out if they distilled their alcohol they could hold more on the ship, rather than other countries method of using beer instead. In Barbados they figured out they could use the sugar reclaim to make rum. Rum was used to subdue slaves as well as a form of social control. The British again figured out if they mixed rum with water and lemon and lime juice they could make "grog" which held off scurvy allowing the British to hold their naval superiority.

Thoughts & Reflections on: The Human Story - We Discover Who We Are and Where We Live

Image: Aristotelian Cosmic Map

Thoughts and Reflections on: We Discover Who We Are and Where We Live

This chapter revolves around one conflict that was very prevalent during the Renaissance, the issue of science versus religion. During the Renaissance the Catholic church was in control of basically all of the ideology. However, this was mostly due to lack of scientific prowess, no one at the time had any advance scientific equipment, therefore science was basic and slow. One of the biggest scientific breakthroughs of all time happened during this period and it all started with a man named Ptolemy, who had made a basic, earth centric map of the universe. This was made with earth in the center because that's what the Bible had said. The Bible had also stated that humans and beasts were created on different levels, and that humans were superior to beasts. However a few men were set to change this map. During this time period science was built upon previous observations, no one man can be credited with fully discovering the fact that earth was not the center of the universe. The process started with Copernicus, who proposed that earth was not in fact the center of the universe, the second man Tycho spent years just observing the path of stars, then passed his work off to Kepler, who then proved that the earth was not the center of the universe, and then Newton proposed gravity and explained the motion of the stars. Galileo was also observing the stars in the same way Tycho did, and invented a telescope in doing so. However, this cosmic change was not approved by the church. By proving the earth was not the center of the universe, these scientists were changing the meaning of the word of god. The Catholic church perused persecution, wanting Copernicus arrested seventy years after his death, and eventually sentencing Galileo to house arrest, where he eventually died. A similar thing happened when Charles Darwin published his book Origins. In this book he explained that we share a common ancestor. The church disliked this as well because it showed we were entwined with the beasts, which God had created in a different tier. However, the Japanese empire was affected very little by this as their religion stated that they orbit around the sun, which is their god. The schism between science and religion is an issue that started a long time ago but is still seen today. People reject the idea of global warming, and there is also the ever present debate of homosexuality. There is one thing that is better though, the church can no longer imprison scientists and people who think differently of the church. 

Renaissance Self Project

Portrait of Titus the Monk

A portrait is defined as a representation of a specific person, like one the artist might encounter in real life. A portrait is important because it not only captures how the person looks, but also says something about who he or she is, offering a vivid sense of a real person's presence.

The first portraits came in the forms of sculptures and coins dating back to the ancient Greeks. The “modern” painted portrait had a strong resurgence during the European Renaissance.  These painted portraits were first commissioned rather than used for “art nouveau” or art for art's sake. The commissioned paintings were those of important christian figure heads, and were mostly hung as altarpieces. Portraits also served practical values, a ruler would use a portrait of himself to assert his rule even in his absence, in courting and diplomacy a man could see portraits of several wives before he chose, or to memorialize generals. Portraits were also used to mark a significant time during one's life, such as marriage, or a big promotion.

The hallmarks of the European Renaissance portrait is the sense of reality and the intention to depict the uniqueness of the individual person. This allows each portrait to express the individual identity of that person. The second hallmark is the small number of formats that the portraits were painted in. There was the profile view, three-quartered face, and the half-length formula.

This is a portrait of Titus in a Franciscans monk habit. Titus is the son of the master painter Rembrandt. The first order of the Franciscans were called The Order of Friars Minor. The Franciscans are a catholic group of monks that follow and worship Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Francis referred to his monks as "Fraticelli" or little brothers. Francis of Assisi went to Egypt in 1219 to try to put an end to the conflict of the crusades. His organization and sect of followers was eventually authorized by the pope. In modern times there is now three orders of Saint Francis of Assisi.

I chose this portrait because I really like the giant hoodie on the monk, he looks like he's moping with his headphones in because mom took away his keys to his car and wouldn't let him stay out past his midnight curfew. The portrait is painted in three-quartered face style, as well as uses light and shadow to show perspective. The robe he is wearing shows the unique identity of a monk and how they lived during that time period.

Sources:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/port/hd_port.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_as_a_Monk

Sources:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/port/hd_port.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_as_a_Monk