Religion and Other Cultural Systems - Coursework Example

Running Head: RELIGION AND OTHER CULTURAL SYSTEMS of Submitted Religion and Other Cultural Systems Introduction There are two epigraphs that have to be recognized in religion, one which is used in elaborating the transcendent religion dimensions. Currently, many scholar of religion are bound to ignore these dimension. The second epigraph is derived from the studies by Wilfred Smith on dilemma that faces any religion and its study. The dilemma results from the fact that studies only focus on the observable aspect of religion ignoring the non-observable ones which are in fact very critical for instance rituals, ideas, religious communities, mythologies, teachings and arts. There is a bewildering difference in religious belief, sects, spiritual movement, cults and denomination development. Taken collectively, the religions of the world are a reflection of social, linguistic, and geographical diversity. It trying to comprehend religion, the inevitable questions usually result in the need for rational comparisons that demonstrate intelligible aspects, elements or patterns that create some kind of meanings. Comparing religions comes down to assessment of commonality and this is a faulty assumption to make. Ecstasy is very critical in the practice of religion. Religion as a Cultural System Generally religion is very difficult to understand since it involves certain practices and beliefs that are beyond logic where only faith is required. Religion is described as the sacred association and that it is a reality in the spiritual context (Poma 2006). Religion is very unique and it’s a world wide occurrence that has shaped the life on mankind and the development of culture and as such, this has made it even more complicated type than the collection of practices and beliefs that single religions hold. The study of religion hence requires the answers from other cultural systems or else it cannot be satisfactorily be understood. Adequate comprehension hence has to consider the distinctive features and patterns as a type of human experience, including the similarities and differences in the religions over the cultural diversity the world has. In all the cultures that exist, it’s been established that mankind makes a practice of interaction with what is termed as spiritual powers, spiritual beings or spiritual world (Poma 2006). The spiritual existence could be in the form of gods, spirits, ancestors, gods, or other type of sacred representation in which human beings believe to be linked to. In some cases, the spiritual existence of power is portrayed generally as a wide-ranging reality and occasionally it’s depicted by use of certain symbols. Religion is an Element of Society: in most of the instances, the things that are perceived as being sacred or religious are influenced by the society that these individuals belong. The most sacred thing in the world according to one community for instance, sacraments, gods, saviors or scriptures may not be necessarily considered sacred absolutes in any way whatsoever by another community (Hamilton 1995). The perception that the sacredness of a certain ritual, object or ceremony is quality that is given by the community and generates the feeling or reverence to the members, the religiousness of these things is hence a function of society. This concept was first proposed by a sociologist from France in 1965, Emile Durkheim. In his writings of the Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, Dukheim postulated a classic theory which suggested that in its most fundamental form, the belief in divinity or in existence of some sort of supernatural powers is not entirely a distinguishing feature in religious practices but the rather an existence of objects regarded to be sacred to be sacred by that community (Hamilton 1995). According to the proposition made by Durkheim, the authority of the society and the beliefs they hold is what makes the certain objects sacred or non-sacred. Religion as a result cannot be best understood depending on the perceived supernatural revelation or a delusion or set of misguided ideologies. Durkheim appreciates that there could be a personal notion held by one of the many members of a religion or the ideas of skeptical non-member who does not be abide by the specified religious beliefs. Rather the best way to understand Religion is by considering it to be as a result of the society’s power to assert things to be sacred on non-sacred in way of life of its members (Hamilton 1995). Durkheim asserts that religious power and social authority of holiness are just the same thing since to belief an object is sacred is to express one’s dedication to and show reverence for the authority of one’s custom. Sacred objects are the things that symbolize holiness for instance, beliefs and principles that should be violated or compromised as what they represent in highly valued by the society. Every culture in the world alt least holds something as sacred. In the western world where there are so much secular lifestyles, the object considered sacred could be certain principles, rights, equality, freedom, justice and so on. According to Durkheim’s perception of this matter, religion is not just about proclaiming something about the universe to be either or false but rather a usual way through which the society establishes and maintains its most treasured customs and moral values (Hamilton 1995). Supernatural Experience: some societies recognize personal experiences as core beliefs in religiousness. Through such experiences, the personal feels a sense of awe in presence of mysterious reality that considerably interconnects people susceptible existence. It’s through this reality that religious customs and beliefs symbolize concepts like existence of God. The supernatural powers can be experienced as a very fearful and alienating but at the same time something very much comforting with which is felt a particular communion or continuity (Hamilton 1995). Some consider his as religious ecstasy. . Religious ideologies for instance the rage for God or God’s peace are some of the ways these aspects of the supernatural beings are expressed the capabilities of such awareness lies only in certain individuals. It’s the aim of the function of the religion to shape and evoke this awareness. Religiousness is secondarily an issue of set of guidelines or morality. Basically, devoutness is a matter of the intuition, sense of infinite and an immediate experience, prior to language (Hamilton 1995). There are several forms that religious experience can occur, ranging from extreme asceticism and spiritual union with the heavenly to contemporary methods of positive thinking. There several recorded cases of people who have reported having some sort of divine contact or inspirational and that they had been transformed positively. Many of these instances came in the form of unexpected and spontaneous consciousness of spiritual union or insights. The spiritual experiences are very difficult to express in words. Sacred Mediates Religiousness: according to Eliade Mircea, a Romanian scholar, the religious people usually experience the normal world in a different way from those who were non-religious because for their perception of the world as a sacred place. According to Elaide, the belief in divine foundations of live translated to importance of natural objects and practices. He believed that a religious person, space, time, sky and earth and the body can all be symbolic and have religious meaning (Mircea 1984). He also believe that the study of religion should not affect the subject in any way to try and reduce the subject to a something simply psychological or social, but rather consider a critically the idea that in the believer’s world, the experience sacredness of defines a unique reality. Eliade views myths and ritual as representing the central language by methods of which religion is organized. In this approach, myth is not simply fiction or a fairy tale but a powerful word and story that give an account of the activities of gods and founders the guidelines established for directing human life (Mircea 1984). In this essence, myths describe not what is considered fantastic but what is most rational and real, naming the spiritual forces that founded the world and that keep on to permeating it. Religion has its own way of describing the mystical order of the universe; just the same way science does have description of the physical world. Furthermore, the reason of creation description by giving the divine timeline of creation is not only to a way to offer a justification for how the world was created but also give a point of reference in a logic way or a writing for living in the current society. Religious group desire to live in mystical origins: making observations, for Jews, Friday night is not just a night but the beginning of the Sabbath as established by the heavenly father in the beginning; and looking at the Christians, Christmas marks the time Jesus Christ was born (Hamilton 1995). Ritual times and places create chances for associating with the holy and its regenerative power. Rituals Rituals are described as types of communications to the spirits. Rituals evolved performances and symbolism in bodily movement displayed in a visible manner a tangible as well. Rituals have power to concentrate experience and hence can strengthen the sense of the sacred. Rituals can be very simple like saying a phrase, bowing down or in extreme cases the ritual can include complicated ceremonies carried out by a certain group of people for instance priests, and could last for some time (days to weeks). Rituals bring out the holy via specific objects, symbolic activities for instance specific sounds, special clothes (Mircea 1984). Some other activities could b carried out like chanting, maintaining total silence and so on. The most common ritual is the priesthood which is found in many religions like catholic, Hinduism, orthodox, and Buddhism. Some like Islam, Jews and Protestants do not have this priesthood. Religions have different use of imagery. Muslims, Jews, and puritanical Protestantism forbid portraying God in form of images so that to be able conserve the transcendence and sanctity of the divine. However the images of holy persons or of the divine being are significant aspects of veneration in catholic religion. Most other religions regard use of images as idolatry. Religious Ecstasy Religious ecstasy is an extreme elevation of mood or feeling of delight (seventh heaven) that is characterized by significantly decreased external awareness and increased internal mental and spiritual consciousness which is habitually accompanied by religious visions, emotional, intuition and in some instances physical euphoria. The experience is said to last for a very brief moment though some statistics indicate recurring or some cases lasting for longer. Bearing in mind that this ecstasy occurs during the religious rituals, then it’s imperative to understand the role of the religious beliefs and activities to the society. Ecstasies experienced in religious practices are normally referred to as religious experiences regardless of what triggers them. Religious ecstasies are different from some kind of spiritual control or hypnotized condition in that the subject experiences no loss of the interior consciousness or the will. The individual experiencing the ecstasy realizes increasing awareness of the spirit and a complete concentration of the will on it. If thee ecstasy comes in a slow manner, the individual may notice the physiological reactions, But once taken to total ecstatic state, there is typically no or limited awareness of the physical body of the subject or the environment surrounding the individual. Different forms of religion have different forms of getting ecstasy. Sufism: this is a type of Islam that is described as the inner, spiritual dimension. This dimension is called Sufi and the individuals are identified as if though some followers only use the term to refer to the practitioners who have fulfilled the aim of Sufi tradition. Sufis usually carry out a ritual practice referred to as dhikr (adhkaar in plural). This is a practice that is focused on remembrance of God. Dhikr is a devotional act and in most cases it includes the repetition of God from the Quran, prayers and aphorisms from hadith writings and some parts of the Quran. Sema is a terminology that is used to mean hearing. It was borrowed from Persian to refer to some rituals performed by the Sufis and in most cases included prayer, dance, singing, and other activities. The Sufis begin by repentance and submitting to a guide. If the guide accepts the individual, he/she becomes a disciple and is instructed on asceticism and meditation. This includes fasting, abstaining from sex and poverty. The definitive objective of this practice is to fight the holy war usually represented as a black dog. As the subject starts experiencing heightened awareness and acquiring illumination, there is spiritual changes, hope, fear, spiritual expansion, longing, and intimacy which are believed to be granted by God the culmination of the path is interior knowledge or love (union between man and God- lover and beloved). The ultimate goal is annihilation essentially individual’s values but occasionally of individual’s complete personality. This is when maximum spiritual ecstasy is attained. Charismatic Christians in different parts of the world (Russia, America, Africa and Greece) also engage in rituals that lead to attainment of ecstasy. God is a holy being (deity) in theism and deism religious practices as well as other systems. These experiences can be personal spiritual experiences with no implication to everyone but only to the individual experiencing them. The charismatic movement included the adoption of some beliefs from Pentecostal Christians and this has been practiced for sometimes now an often leads to the state of slain in spirit which refers to the situation where subjects falls down and speaks in some foreign language. The Pentecostals are still referred to as the “holy rollers” derogatorily because of the masses they hold and during this time, the members shout, twitch, speak in tongues, and fall on the floor. In the mid 1800s, a group in which individuals in a trance (spiritualism) spoke directly to the spirits of the dead was very popular in America and quickly moved to Europe and the rest of the world. Ecstasy behavior in Pentecostal and several other Christians in learned and as such it’s seen to conform to the expectations and patterns of the society. In religions when monotheistic is practiced, ecstasy is said to be as a result of communion and oneness with almighty God. Certainly, ecstasy is the basic means through which prophetic visions and revelations are revealed to people as it was in the bible. However such experiences can at times be personal spiritual experiences with no importance at all. Modern Religion The modern world has caused a serious challenge to the conventional religion. In the 1960s, membership in the typical Christian denominations started to reduce and contestants for priesthood were very minimal (Luke 2005). For many people currently, religion is not considered a good neither a bad thing but rather not so relevant, since there are many other ways to find meaning of several other forms of culture pursuits, ideologies, ethical and ideas or even lifestyle. These challenges are in part due to science prestige. The sciences illustrate a universe with no reference to deities, spirits or the soul. Additionally critical analysis of the bible and the stories has exhibited that its not all that unique after all compared to other ancient religions. For instance thee bible has stories about the Garden of Eden and the deluge which are also familiar in the prehistoric Middle East religions. The other reason why there is reduced participation in religion is the fact that religion has been considered as an alternative way of though that is pre-scientific and superstitious in nature to be used as a source for political control and divisiveness, as a verification of customary patriarchal qualities or as an emotional crutch. Furthermore many families have been unable to stick to one stable religion since they are detached from conventional supportive religions or as a consequence of varied or taking part in non religious marriages. Another considerable influence that has lead to decline in participation in religious practice is the decreased social commitment and loss of community unity that has followed in currently world with increased mobility. Frequent movement from places of stay has cased instability and impermanence. In spite of these factors, religion has managed to surpass obstacles and in many places, its still thriving very well though secularism has crept in it and its effects is has been to keep religion alive partly. Religion is adapting to secular qualities and reposition of conservative religions has been very difficult and as a result there is increased emergence of new religions that can accommodate certain needs of different people in the contemporary. Conclusion Religion is perceived as a cultural construct and not innate ideology and deals basically with moods and motivation and not merely logical types, it provides a model for the real world situation and offers a sense and model for living that inspires people for further advancement. Religion provides organization of existence. Hence religion is closely associated with cultural practices and it would difficult to comprehend religion in isolation from culture. References Hamilton P. (1995). Emile Durkheim-Critical Analysis. Taylor and Francis Luke T.W (2005). Civil Religion and Secularization: Ideological Revitalization In Post Revolutionary Communist Systems. Journal Of Sociological Forum. Springer Head. Vol 2. No. 3 Pp 108 112 Mircea E. (1984). The Quest-History and Meaning in Religion. University of Chicago Press. Poma A. (2006) Religion as a Fact of Culture and the System of Philosophy. Springer Netherlands Read More