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Class for Feb. 1, 2006

Religious Studies 101

Items needed: Lotus, candle, match, Blank sheet to write on; Water bird jar; Sema: Human Being in the Universal Movement www.mevlana.net/sema.htm ; music—Hindu religious music, player; reading—Poet Kabir, Hindu;  Kabir (1398 - 1518); http://www.poetseers.org/the_poetseers/kabir

Buddhism link: http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/buddhism.html

 

There's a moon in my body, but I can't see it!
A moon and a sun.
A drum never touched by hands, beating, and I can't hear it!

The bhakti path winds in a delicate way.
On this path there is no asking and no not asking.
The ego simply disappears the moment you touch
him.
The joy of looking for him is so immense that you
just dive in,
and coast around like a fish in the water.
If anyone needs a head, the lover leaps up to offer
his.

WITHIN this earthen vessel are bowers and groves,

     and within it is the Creator:
Within this vessel are the seven oceans

      and the unnumbered stars.
The touchstone and the jewel-appraiser are within;
      and within this vessel the Eternal soundeth,

      and the spring wells up.
Kabîr says:

         "Listen to me, my Friend!

         My beloved Lord is within."

Religion is:

An intellectual explanation of the ultimate meaning of Life: Theoretical dimension

A Way: How to live according to the intellectual explanation which should lead to a connection to and experience of the Transcendent.

 

Judaism: Halacha, the Way—rabbinic teachings and their internalization

Christianity: Hodos (Greek); The Way (English)—Conversion>Discipleship

Islam: Shari’a, the Way—the path to find water in the desert—legal decisions followed by a devout Muslim.

Hinduism: Margas, the Three major ways—of knowledge, of works, of devotion

Buddhism: Magga, the Way—the Noble Eightfold Path to be followed to reach Nirvana—between harsh asceticism and loose sensuality

Taoism: Tao, the Way—to discern the Tao of the universe and live in harmony with it

Confucianism: T’ien-Tao—the Way of Heaven (Heaven being personal prior to 960 C.E.)

Shinto: To in Shinto—the Way of the Gods

 

What is the goal or goals of Religion?

EXAMPLES:

Indigenous people: to gain a self-benefiting power; deflect an injurious power

Magic…or emerging from magic

Native American—Ancient Zuni: The painting of water birds on a jar to ensure the jar is never empty.

World religion: to engage in selfless praise of the Good, the True, the Beautiful; to pour one’s self out for another.

The Sufi mystic: Sema: Human being in the universal movement; the revolving dance.

A Wide Variation in Goals: Popular Vs. Reflective Religion

*Popular Religion: Self-awareness low; not aware of oneself experiencing something; generally "pre-adult" but not always

Example:

A young adolescent learning his responses for his Bar Mitzvah.

*Reflective Religion: Self-aware of what one is experiencing; a time of reflecting on the beliefs and practices of one’s religion and sifting and sorting what is literally true and what is not literally true; generally "adult". If a person continues maturing in religious life, he reaches a "second naivete"—sees the truths as "metaphorically" true, as symbols pointing to a profound Reality. The language of the Mystery is best presented in symbol, icon, metaphor, poetry, song, dance and art.

Example:

Adam and Eve—View from popular religion

 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "

 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

 10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."

 11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

 12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."

 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
      The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,
       "Cursed are you above all the livestock
       and all the wild animals!
       You will crawl on your belly
       and you will eat dust
       all the days of your life.

 15 And I will put enmity
       between you and the woman,
       and between your offspring ^[a] and hers;
       he will crush ^[b] your head,
       and you will strike his heel."

Adam and Eve—View from Reflective religion (Jungian adult perspective)

 

Jungian Template of the male psyche, simplified

(For the female psyche, substitute "Animus" for Anima, the masculine element within the woman--the capacity for rationality and consciousness.)

 

Adam listens to the "woman" and does what he knows to be wrong.

The Adam who listens, is Adam’s ego, his "I am".

The "woman" is the feminine element within—the Anima. "Anima" literally means "soul--the psychological functions of relatedness and mediation, especially between the ego and the unconscious.

If Adam is open to developing this aspect of his being, it will connect him to the the Transcendent. If unaware or not open, various thoughts arising from the unconscious from the "Anima" may be taken as his own ideas and acted upon without reflection. A man in a "mood" is being influenced by the Anima.

One of the best ways to connect with the Anima and receive her knowledge is through dream work.

The Personal and Reflective apply not only to individual development, but also cultural development.

Karl Jaspers and the *Axial Period (German psychologist/philosopher 20^th Century)

A leap in group consciousness appears to have taken place 800-200 BCE.

Jasper calls this "The Axial Period"

The great civilizations of Asia, the Middle East and Europe arise.

 

*Pre-Axial Consciousness—Personal religion

Cosmic, collective, tribal, mythic, and ritualistic.

Cosmic: A rich and creative harmony was established between primal peoples and the world of nature.

Collective: Experienced themselves as part of a tribe vs. as an individual; related to the Cosmos through life’s passages, life & death, and nature.

Mythic/Ritualistic: Relationship with the cosmos celebrated in myth and ritual.

*Axial Consciousness—Beginnings of Reflective Religion

Individual consciousness distinct from the tribe and nature.

Individual: Greece: Know thyself; India: the atman—the transcendent aspect of the self; the Buddha: individual enlightenment; Jewish spirituality: individual moral responsibility

The development of the World Religions. (Assumes Christianity and Islam arise from Judaism)

Where we are today

Two great happenings in the 20^th Century:

1. Development of nuclear war—we can destroy ourselves.
2. Landing on the moon—photo of the earth alone in the dark, not map divisions
3. Global involvement

Nuclear War: A need to see a Higher Power as in control > Fundamentalism

From the Moon: We are all one human race, alone in a vast expanse of our galaxy. Our earth is fragile. We need to take care of it and of each other.

Global vision: We need to get along with each other—understand religions.

*A Second Axial Period

Is a second Axial Period coming with an integration of the pre-Axial and the Axial?—awareness of our unity as human beings, and our individual responsibility to the earth and to each other.

Need for a "collective" jump in consciousness.

From reflective--sifting and sorting the "literal"--to something more:

1. Conjunctive Faith
1. The integration into self and outlook of much that was suppressed or unrecognized in reflective stage. Conjunctive faith develops a "second naïveté", a willingness to open to Mystery. There must be a new reclaiming and reworking of one’s past. There must be an opening to the voices of one’s "deeper self." One’s social consciousness can handle dissonance with what is happening in one’s nation. Alive to paradox and the truth in apparent contradictions, one strives to unify opposites in mind and experience. Ready for closeness to that which is different and threatening to self and outlook (including new depths of experience in spirituality and religious revelation). (Stages of Faith, Fowler)

1. Terms for the Goals of Religion—Different Views of Human Nature

*Redemption

Judeo, Muslim and Christian

"Buying back" or "ransom"

For the Hebrew, redemption was through keeping the law and sacrifice.

For the Muslim, by following the five pillars of Islam

For the Christian, redemption is through faith in Jesus Christ and his redemptive sacrifice on the cross.

General goal: freedom from the ego’s self-centered desires and union with Ultimate Reality--to monotheists, God, to Hindus, Brahman.

*Liberation

Hindu

Moksha (moke-shoe) = Liberation

The goal is to free oneself from a constant round of new physical lives.

A freeing of the inner "spirit" from that which prevents the self, the soul, from reaching its goal.

*Enlightenment

Buddhism

The goal is to perceive reality, including self, as it truly is. All is impermanent

Satori—Attaining Nirvana

*Nirvana

Buddhism, Hinduism

Literally, "blown out."

What is blown out is the attachment to things which are impermanent. Seeing (being conscious of) reality as it really is.

In "popular" Buddhism, Nirvana is considered heaven.

*Heaven

Judeo, Christian, Muslim

For reflective Christians, Muslims and Jews: a "state of being" to be attained in this life that does not, however, cease at the grave. Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God is within you." This refers to the "reign of God", a state of being in which one lives entirely in harmony or union with God.

For popular Christians, Muslims and Jews: a place after death where believers go and are together with deceased family members and friends.

Medieval Christianity’s goal: Holiness in this life and complete union with God after death.

*Salvation

Judeo, Christian, Muslim (and a goal generally for all religions)

Primary meaning: Living a "whole, healthy" life. To be whole is to be holy.

Secondary meaning: "Saving", as when a "savior" rescues someone in danger of losing his or her "health" (e.g., when "saving" a person from drowning, whether in water or in sin).

Conflict: Is one "saved" by their own efforts or by a "higher power."

Evangelical Christianity: "By faith alone…by grace alone…by Christ alone."

Pure Land Buddhism: "Calling on the name of Amida Buddha.—Other Power

Integration of Primary and Secondary: With the help of a "higher power", one persistently and wisely must make the necessary effort.

*Conversion

Christian

A process of opening the heart to the living Christ, and living into a changed life—a life that is educated by the Christian scriptures and their portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of history. The Christian experiences a relationship with Christ, empowered by the Spirit of Christ within, also called the Holy Spirit, which animates/awakens the image of God within the human being.

Judeo, Muslim

A process of study in beliefs and practices, concluded with an initiation into the religion. Internalization of these beliefs and practices follows.

THE BEST WAY TO ATTAIN THE STATE OF SALVATION IS THE GREATEST, MOST FUNDAMENTAL DISAGREEMENT AMONG RELIGIONS.

THE REASON FOR DISAGREEMENT MAY BE FOUND IN "WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN."

Different Views of Human Nature

1. Fundamentally Good
1. Confucian—Meng Tzu 371-289 B.C.E.: Humans commit evil only because they forget their original good nature.
2. In the West—Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778: Humans are born good but are corrupted by "civilization". If education brings out the good in the child, it will "keep the corrupting influences of civilization at bay
2. Fundamentally Evil or Corrupt
1. Confucian—Hsun Tzu 313-238 B.C.E.: The original nature of humans is evil. Disordered tendencies within the human being—lust, envy, hate….
2. Christian—Martin Luther & John Calvin: Fallen humanity’s state is so dismal, that it can do nothing at all to attain its true goal—union with God. Salvation only as a free gift through faith in Christ. Human beings have the ability to become good through following rituals and rules of propriety that have been designed by sages.
   
3. Fundamentally Both Good and Evil
1. Catholic Christianity--Thomas Aquinas 1215-1274 C.E. approx.: "All things are subject to divine providence, but rational creatures are so in a superior way. For they are under divine providence by participating in it, since they are called to in some way be divine providence for themselves and for others." Humanity was created good, but through disobedience to God fell into a state of Original Sin—that is, its intellect was darkened; its will was weakened; and it developed an inclination toward evil. The human being needs a "savior."

Example: Romans 7:15-24

15 What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate.

16 Now if I do what I do not want, I concur that the law is good.

17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

18 For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not.

19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.

20 Now if (I) do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

21 So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand.

22 For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self,

23 but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ⁵

24 Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body?

25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself, with my mind, serve the law of God but, with my flesh, the law of sin.

2. Dilemma: If God is the cause of everything, how can the human being have free will?
3. Answer: We cannot comprehend an infinite God, and free human will can not be "rationally" understood—it would then be determinable by reason and therefore not radically free.
   
4. A developmental perspective
1. As one is loved, one responds to love. The mother is the first with her provision of milk, and this begins the process. The child receives the love (milk) in sucking. The child smiles. The mother responds with more love. In some religions, the child is taught about God, and this mother love is a catalyst to love of God.
2. With human development, the adult human discovers then lives out the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." If a theist, the end would be knowing and loving "Infinite Being.
   
5. Different Understandings of Ultimate Reality
1. The various religions, Semitic and non-Semitic
1. God in God’s self vs. God as perceived by others; God in se, and God ad extra.
2. Judeo:
1. God in God’s self: "face no one can see and live"; Yahweh—"I am who I am, or I will be who I will be."
2. God as perceived by others: The Spirit of God who moves over the waters in creation; Wisdom who creates all things.
3. Hindu:
1. God in God’s self: Brahman without attributes--all-pervasive supreme Principle of the universe
2. Shakti: God as perceived: —penetrating everything and manifesting God, also
3. Brahman with attributes=The Lord, Ishvara
4. Christian:
1. *God in se: "Cloud of Unknowing"
1. "Let that meek (quiet) darkness be your whole mind and like a mirror to you. For I want your thought of self to be as naked and simple as your thought of God, so that you may be with God in spirit without fragmentation and scattering of your mind."
2. "The grandest proclamations about God are like whispers in the face of the Infinite Hurricane."
3. Not considered important by fundamentalist and evangelical aspects of Christianity.
2. God as perceived: God’s Word (identified with "Wisdom" in Judaism) creating all things. Found manifest in Scripture and in Jesus of Nazareth, known as Jesus the Christ [Messiah].
5. Taoist
1. God in se: "the Tao that can be expressed is not the eternal Tao" [Chap. 1, Ftnt #30]
2. God as perceived: "The Tao can be communicated, but it can only be communicated from being to being. It can be communicated when you are with the Master, just with the Master, doing nothing, not even practicing anything. Just being with the Master it can be communicated."
6. Islam
1. God is se: "the underlying "abyss" below the personal Allah."
2. God as perceived (*ad extra): The Lord of Mercy
7. Buddhism
1. Not a theistic tradition
2. Sunyata—Emptiness…beyond all concepts and words; Pure Potency
1. Could this be God in se?
2. Ultimate reality—Formless Emptiness; Boundless Openness; nothing exists as a self-subsisting isolated thing. Everything is ultimately a network of relationships, always in flux, always becoming. AKA *Dependent Co-origination.
3. God as perceived: Masao Abe, Zen Buddhist, Kyoto school: Trikaya (the three-fold body) of the Buddha
1. The manifestation body—the body of an enlightened Master
2. The Dharma body—the enlightened Master’s inner light; eternal truth
3. (The bliss body—seen only in heavenly realms)
8. Confucianism
1. God ad extra: "Who knows his own heart and nature also knows Heaven—A guiding force; "Dynamic vitalism" refers to the basis of the underlying unity of reality which is constituted of ch’i, the material force of the universe. This is the unifying element of the cosmos and creates the basis for a profound reciprocity between humans and the natural world.."
2. Humanity is Heaven’s form of self-disclosure
3. Being religious: Being engaged in the process of becoming fully human, a limitless process.
4. Our inborn ability to respond to the bidding of Heaven impels us to extend our human horizon continuously so that the immanent in our nature assumes the transcendent dimension.
5. In Christian tradition, the human is "made in God’s image."
9. Taoist
1. The Way: "doing nothing" (wu wei) in the sense of being unattached to any particular thing, and thereby living in harmony with Ultimate Reality called "Tao."
2. Tao, the mother of everything, calling all things into being, without action, in stillness.
3. God in se: Tao
4. God ad extra: Te, the power of Tao working in all creation, all unfolding, and all preservation of the world. The Te makes things what they are, but the Tao is nowhere tangible or available; it is prior to heaven and earth—that is, before duality.

Note: Those who speak of a personal god are probably referring to "God ad extra." This has a great deal to do with personal experience. When theists state that the Ultimate is personal, they mean to affirm something positive about it.

What is Religion: A summary [text pg. 41]

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Last modified: February 01, 2006