Using Texts by Armstrong and Thurman to Analyze the Sources of a Problem for the Individual - Essay Example

Using Texts by Armstrong and Thurman to Identify and Analyze the Possible Sources of a Problem for the Individual and Society Table of Contents I. Introduction 3 II. Discussion 4 Works Cited 10 I. Introduction One problem that I see affecting students growing up and trying to find their place in society, is the problem of grounding, and just what constitutes an authentic life. In a way one can argue that American life is seemingly without any grounding in any kind of tradition. Young people dont seem to want to look up to what has been done before, what has been proven, what the wisdom of the older generation is. How can such wisdom be made part of ones set of “maps”, so to speak, to guide one through life? In the place of such potential “maps” from elders, we have nothing. Younger Americans sometimes view our elders and their advice with some suspicion, we rebel against them. In place of tradition and the guidance of elders we students turn to a kind of individualism that is itself groundless and unoriginal. In a way it is like, through successive generations, instead of looking for something larger than themselves and their tiny egos, students and young people in society in general turn to narcissistic self-indulgence. They follow their whims, being disrespectful of authority, chasing momentary pleasures, or else turning to drugs and other forms of escape. It is all so totally unoriginal and worn out, because every generation is the same. So few realize that while to themselves they are being original, in fact to the jaded, to the older ones, they are acting out aspects of themselves that are the most unconscious, the most predictable, and the most lacking in any kind of authentic awakening. There seems to be no sense of awareness of something deeper and more profound among the youth. It is a general sickness, to be sure, this absence of anything real and substantial that young people and students can latch on to for real stability, and popular culture and the shallow lives of their peers do not help. It is as if, with every generation, instead of following a wise and proven tradition that has examined and lived through the follies of men who had come before, young people “reinvent the wheel”, so to speak, and make the same mistakes over and over again. The problem has everything to do with the absence of depth and soul in the things that young people do. There is lack of depth in their pursuits, and in the things, institutions, and lifestyles that they look to for meaning. There is nothing in what they do or acquire that seems to give them a sense of something more than what the surface of life and their egos have to offer. It is interesting that both Thurman and Armstrong seem to hold some answers, or at least they wield pointing sticks and signs pointing to places where there is grounding and meaning and depth. Armstrong points to religion, and what religion can be, and what religion actually is , something that as an intrinsic part of being human. It is something rock solid and fully explored. Religion to Armstrong is a repository or storage house of all of mans experiences and musings and intimations about the deeper meaning of life. Maybe there is something substantial in religion that students and young people can probe into, and root themselves in. Thurman, on the other hand, basically says that we are, living in our egos as young people, not really who we think we are. There is something within us that is substantial and real, and wise, and it is this part of ourselves that are our real depth and root. Both in a way point a way out of the lack of grounding and depth that is the persistent problem of young people in society now and ever has been. Both authors also point the way towards a deeper exploration of the problem of young people identified here, what its sources are, how to go above them (Armstrong; Thurman). II. Discussion Students today seem to shun religion or any talk about spirituality not because they are atheists. Arguably it is because in todays youth culture to show any kind of inclination towards spiritual things is an invitation to being labeled as fringe, not in, and out of touch with the concerns of young people. The concerns of young people today arguably, with few exceptions, include fitting in, being original and hip, being in a career track or an educational track that guarantees a place in the fast lane, and making it in the “real world” of competition and work and acquiring material things. There seems also to be a pressure in society for young people to be secular, to separate their religious inclinations and interests in the spiritual side of life, from the main stage of life-school life, work life and social life. Yet in such a separation something is lost, because where else can a young person for instance find his or her bearing but in society, in social, work and school life? The secular life, where religiosity, spirituality, and such similar things seem taboo, also seems like a kind of atheism, also a kind of religion. The language of ordinary life is glamor and practicality, and getting ahead of others in school and eventually in societys rat race. Ordinary life is materialistic and shallow, and where no talk of God or an interior life is allowed. Following Armstrongs logic, there may be a point to be made about this secular attitude of young people being itself a kind of distorted practice of religion. In place of God though are these wild going around by the ego wanting to satisfy all kinds of desires in the “real world”. Here is where one can argue that young people, in following such ways of life, are being unoriginal, and are on course to reach dead ends. Contrast the depth that is found in a passage in Thurmans essay on wisdom on the one hand, to any random rap song magnifying and glorifying the ego of young people on the other. Doing so one can immediately catch a glimpse of how empty secular life can be, with no higher conception of what man is than that part of him that is inferior, the ego. This ego singing the rap song constantly brags about his clothes, his women, his jewelry, what this man did and did not do to him, guns, drugs, violence, and all sorts of random, flailing thoughts and ideas. An idea from Thurmans essay, on the other hand, is like a message from someplace no ego has ever been in: “Your infinite life thus becomes grounded in the greatest virtue of all- wisdom” (Thurman). Though the passage seems to be some kind of shallow motherhood statement to the ears of young people, and likely make no impact at all to the greater many, dismissed as some corny sound bite may be, it seems to nevertheless highlight its stark contrast to the “wisdom” of secular young life. This secular life wisdom seems determined to ignore anything that is lofty or spiritual, determined to glorify the ego and to shun everything that has been said and done by the older generations. In the ordinary lives of young people spirituality does not seem to matter. It is something awkward to discuss, something not cool. Thurmans wisdom reflected in the above quote seems to have no place. Now it is either the quote from Thurman above does not ring true, or else that the lives of young people today are so lacking in depth that there seems no place for Thurmans wisdom. Complementing this idea from Thurman is an example from Armstrong. Armstrongs example likewise provides a contrast between the religion of young people today, living like there is no religion and soul, to the religiosity of young people in older times. The indoctrination of young people in more primitive societies to adult life made clear to the young people undergoing indoctrination that entry into adult society meant entry into religious life: “A boy would not be expected to “believe” in the Animal Master before he entered the caves. But at the culmination of his ordeal, this image would have made a powerful impression...” (Armstrong). The point in citing this passage in Armstrong is that in todays society, young people, in the university for example, are likewise going through some kind of initiation into a kind of religious life. That religion though seems to be a dead end, rooted in materialism and the shallow pursuits of ordinary life in society rather than in spirituality and God (Armstrong; Thurman). Armstrong seems to say that there is really no escape from religion, because religion and religiosity is what man is. It is mans nature to seek something higher than himself, and to transcend himself and the world. In her essay she points out the example of modern young people such as ourselves. She says that the source of our discontent is in us not finding transcendence in religion. Our ordinary life and pursuits is our religion. This religion is pursuing success in the material world. It is a religion where God is not talked about, nor the soul. It does not allow young people to transcend themselves and express their true nature as homo religiosus. Therefore to transcend the world young people turn to drugs and all sorts of temporary pleasures. The point seems to be that the impulse by young people is ever towards religion and transcendence, only that the outward religion, the unmentioned religion, materialism and glorifying the ego, suppresses that impulse and tries to redirect it back to the material world. The example cited by Armstrong is one where young people, suppressed in this way, turn to the recreations we observe even now: “Today people who no longer find it in a religious setting resort to other outlets: music, dance, art, sex, drugs, or sport”. Some of these recreations, like drugs and sex, can be destructive. This example tells us of the trivial ways that young people waste away something in themselves that is divine, that impulse towards God and higher things. That impulse is redirected towards drugs, or sex, or rock and roll. We can see sometimes that in rock concerts young people seem angry and wild, maybe because the current religion in society seems to thwart them somehow. Maybe the current religion prevents them from experiencing something deeper and higher than what society wants to force on them as young people. Thurman expresses the idea of “enlightenment” in terms that seem similar to what Armstrong was trying to say with her example above. Thurmans idea, that man is not ego but is that transcendent enlightened self seems like a message that young people today may need. It seems Thurman is prescribing that young people need “enlightenment”, finding who we really are, in order to break free from the diversions that they pursue in futile fashion (Thurman; Armstrong). Related to the idea above is Armstrongs idea that in reality, all throughout human history, people never really give up religion even when their external circumstances mattered and society changed. All that ever happens is that men change the way they manifest their religiosity. This is so, because man can never really escape what he is, and what he is is a religious person who needs to pursue God. As Armstrong says, “Religion was not something tacked on to the human condition, an optional extra imposed on people by unscrupulous priests. The desire to cultivate a sense of the transcendent may be the defining human characteristic”. What Armstrong says above has implications for how young people today live out their lives actually. If young people are also religious even when they are pursuing success in the material world, and pursuing ego, one needs to ask whether their religion is doing them any good. Is the ego, the material world, and glorifying both doing them any good? The experience of many generations before them seem to say no. The world religions seem to say no. Thurman also seems to say no. This religion is a dead end now, and has ever been. The fruits of this religion have ever been rejected by those who know better. There is a reason religion exists, and why the saints of all faiths have ever shunned the religion of young people today. Paraphrasing Thurman, in so many words he is also saying in so many words that there is no future for the ego. In Thurmans words, life lived like young people live it today is really “ignorance”. In other words, Thurman is saying, like Armstrong, that there is a true impulse in man that young people today are missing. That impulse is there, but to realize it maybe young people are pursuing and looking for the wrong things (Thurman; Armstrong). The conclusion is that there is a general malaise afflicting young people today, and it is an old malaise. There is nothing new in the sun. Young people have ever tasted what it is like to live out on the level of the ego, and what it is like to live in the world as if this material world is all there is. It is a sickness and the outcomes of the sickness are predictable. Looking for something deeper than the shallow thrills and pleasures that this world offers, they find none. They turn to themselves and try to assert themselves somehow, but all they find are their egos, who will not be pleased. Their egos turn out to be the pettiest part of themselves. They turn to drugs and sex, rock and roll, and not finding fulfillment there either they become increasingly agitated, violent sometimes, aggressive. These are signs of the worsening of the sickness and the problem. The thing is that if Armstrong is right, then all of these even make up a kind of religion, because in the end all of these are also about man expressing his religious impulse. The religion of young people today are false, because ordinary life and life in society gives them nothing to really hold on to. There is nothing in the end out there that allows them to satisfy their inner craving for something higher than themselves. Thurmans essay seems to validate the existence of this problem in young people. Young people are looking at the wrong things, are ignorant of where to look. Thurman is saying, like Armstrong, that young people today dont know who they really are, and what they can really become if they know where to go and what to look for (Thurman; Armstrong). Works Cited Armstrong, Karen. “Homo religiosus”. The New Humanities Reader (Miller & Spellmeyer ed.). Houghton Mifflin Company. 2011. Thurman, Robert. “Wisdom”. The New Humanities Reader (Miller & Spellmeyer ed.). Houghton Mifflin Company. 2011. Read More