[Music] i want to deal in this video with something very important we left out in our discussions about civilization so far and this is religion or belief systems these are an essential part of world history and in this class you need to know more than just lists of gods or holy books associated with each religion you need to understand how belief systems interact with civilizations how they reinforce important assumptions how they maintain those in power or regulate social distinctions and that integration is the focus of this video we're leaving the basic content of belief systems through your reading and here one only to reinforce those access points where the belief touches and impacts the civilization so let's summarize the role of a few belief systems in their host cultures now you read about confucianism in your text how and when it originated and its general teachings it was one of several belief systems that gained currency during the period of the warring states when centralized rule in china had unraveled leaving widespread chaos and insecurities chinese civilization was going through a crisis and many people were looking for explanations about why china had fallen and what it takes to maintain an enduring civilization now china's answer to these questions centered on the need for properly constituted hierarchies that is a society with layers of superiors and subordinates in which obedience to one's authority was essential but there were expectations for leaders as well those in authority were expected to practice self-control and act with kindness towards those they ruled over and this pattern was to be implemented at every level of society beginning with a father who had authority over the household up to the level of the emperor himself in fact the family was considered a miniature version of the empire with the ruled offering their obedience and the rulers displaying benevolence and self-sacrifice to those beneath him and all of these values were infused into china by its confucian schools and enshrined in detailed rituals that were performed at every level of society proper human relationships education and rituals now the story of how these beliefs got fused into chinese civilization began when the han dynasty inherited a reunified chinese empire to centralize their rule they used the bureaucracy a hierarchal system of superiors and intermediaries that connected the emperor to every region of the empire and think of your school with the principle and then assistant principles and then department chairs and then individual teachers however you look at it a bureaucracy was a way to centralize rule by allowing one leader to project power across a large geographic area at one point the emperor han wudi decided that the best bureaucrats were the ones who were literate and somewhat cultured and he had no preference for confucianists but at that time confucian schools were the most common centers of education so graduates from these schools were preferred in the appointment of bureaucrats now later in chinese history this process would turn into an elaborate examination system that gave political appointments to the highest graduates of confucian schools the infusion of confucian values into chinese political system will last until the early 20th century so let's take a look at the implications of this the bureaucracy a hierarchical system of levels of authority was staffed by scholars who had been trained in the idea that one must model proper behavior to those beneath their authority while at the same time giving their strict obedience to those who had authority over them the content of confucian thought perfectly complemented the organizational structure of a bureaucracy and this would create at least in theory the perfect bureaucrats a belief system intersected with and altered a civilization let's summarize a few other examples a similar process took place in south asia you read about the formation of hinduism how a long and gradual migration of indo-europeans blended the culture of local people with that of the arriving immigrants the resulting belief system taught that one's practice of dharma or duty to one's caste affected their upward reincarnation and could move him closer to the goal of finally achieving moksha or reunification with the brahmana or the world soul that meant it was a religious necessity to act out the duties of whatever situation people found themselves in so for the lower castes that did all the hard labor that labor it's your dharma to reject it was to sacrifice all the efforts of those who carried your soul or atman before you and meant that your reincarnation could reset your status back to a much lower level here as with confucianism a belief system served to regulate a civilization by making people carry out the tasks of their status in life it reinforced the divisions and hierarchies that it was believed brought order and continuity to society now that's not to say that everyone accepted this belief with its reinforcement of inequality now one hindu from the upper class challenged this he claimed that anyone could find fulfillment or release regardless of caste or gender and as you learn from your reading his followers called him the enlightened one or the buddha you also read how islam was able to break the bonds of bloodlines that kept arabia in a state of constant tribal war the belief in a single god gave an identity that was stronger than people's identity to their tribe or family and allowed them to rise above all those conflicting interests of polytheistic allegiances into a single religious community the uma islam was the glue that allowed for the rise of powerful states in an area of the world previously full of tribal conflict and the fact that the religion's founder muhammad was emergent made this a merchant friendly faith ensuring that trade routes and networks of exchange would spread this belief quickly across afro-eurasia so you see there's more to belief systems than memorizing vocabulary words the content of a belief system its practices and its values inexorably shape the way civilizations developed and maintained order and in many cases created the fractures that would divide and split civilizations as well so i'll see you in the next video where i review some important study tips for your unit zero test