Different Sacral Readings - Essay Example

I esteem that it is not possible for a map to be extensively complete, full size for vision, perfect in details, and handy inits nature. As a large size map will be huge with extensive details. Hence, the local size maps are small and are also printed in small size font. It’s not exactly full of peculiar details (regional) and is not exactly legible. Thus, one cannot expect there to be a perfect map for everything as there are many peculiar details, which lack at the time of printing, as modifications happen in the areas and they are not instantly printed on the map. Similarly, there is no such thing as a perfect theory, as circumstances and events change frequently, therefore; there is no such thing as a perfect theory which foretells its believers how to attain objectives in an understandable fashion. A perfect theory will be too large and will be extensive to understand and implement. Moreover, it will need to be modified time after time as circumstances and applications change according to time and other significant aspects of life. However, there are theories, which determine how to understand things not all, but some of them. They are guidelines to understand certain phenomena in life. These do not contain all the details like a map, but show peculiar aspects to set our objectives in a known manner. Renowned Scottish Social anthropologist J. G. Frazer, researched in comparative religions and mythology and ascertained that magic was the initial belief of human beings to relinquish the obstacles in their lives and to obtain favor from the higher and powerful entity. E. B. Taylor also agreed with his views, but his theory did not revolve around magic instead it is known as animism theory. Thus, according to Frazer, primitive human beings relied on magical acts to imitate their fellow beings as being powerful and pleased their lord to receive benefits. This struggle of receiving favor from God changed into belief in God after some time. Thus, humans used religion to plead, please and preach. To attain bounties in this life and hereafter, this all was done through praying and living a life according to standards set by the religion, which determined how to please the most powerful and almighty God. Yet, Frazer did not belief in religion and he assumed that religion is a modest form of magic, which connects human to powerful God, who hears and fulfills the prayers of his creatures. Moreover, he assumed that religion will become extinct one day as science will show the magnitude of magic and religious belief both. He also assumed that myths of religion are tales, which were real events, but were exaggerated by the narrators. Karl Marx a German philosopher and revolutionary sociologist devised his social theory, but he devised it whilst observing only factory workers. Marx mainly observed how hard laborers contribute and how less they receive. Moreover, the entrepreneurs share less or no profit with them and give them no identity and privilege. Hence, his theory entailed how to resist and react under prejudiced and unjust environment. He also observed the class difference between the labor and elite, which so happened in the industrialization era. Thus, Marx determined that alienation emerged due to class system and it produced religion as a result. This created moral support for low class to accept their sufferings and be motivated to work and move ahead in life. Marx thought illusion of religion made it easy for the working class to accept hardships and to receive reward in afterlife. Yet, he determined that a sturdy and aggressive revolution against unjust segregation is required by the working class to save their social and monetary prestige. Another, sociologist Day esteemed the same ideas as Marx. However, she prefers the revolution to be pacified rather than aggressive. Day condemns any kind of violence and infuses religion in his theory. Hence, suggests a myth of Christianity, when Paul was asked to keep his sword away whilst entering a garden, as if he lived by his sword he will surely die by the same. Day is a true Christian, she has felt the pain of unfortunate working class; but suggests that the charitable welfare organisations should intervene in the matter instead of a brutal social war among the two classes. She suggests that the value of helping the deprived ones is taught in Bible and also in all the other religions of the world. The prophet of the Lord (Jesus) also taught the Catholic Social Teachings to share values and one should never opt for aggression when disputes can be settled with empathy. Renowned Psychologist and theorist Edmund Freud devised a huge and extensive theory to cover all aspects of life. He suggested that the mind of a human being is divided into two main parts and one subpart: Rational mind Conscious mind Unconscious mind The unconscious mind entails all the urges and desires a person’s wishes, but does not show because they are senseless like fear, love, and insecurities. Furthermore, he determines another theory Oedipus, which is a complex stage of child’s life, where he wants to displace one of his parent and become the lover of his favourite one. At this stage he suggests that this inclination in child comes direct from religion, which is untrue. He establishes his claim here by adding that in olden days, fathers were stern and boys only received affection from mothers, so they wished to kill them and loved their wives. Later on, he suggests that such notions were assumed absurd and religions created the theory of Totem (substitute of their father). Hence, Freud suggested that religion is a bi-product of fear and love, and conflict of emotions gave birth to it. Thus, in childhood it is strong and as we grow it extinguishes from our lives. Johann Baptist Metz in the given excerpt talks about the wrong acts, which have caused evil, hate, and anguish to spread on Earth. He gives the example of holocaust, which swallowed six million Jews. He also considers the rational plan of the most merciful and affectionate God and how his plan included the death and suffering of innocents. Since, he did not comprehend the idea of life after death hence, he could not understand his pain strategy of his creation. Moreover, he probes how theodicy queries were silenced and how eschatological questions reinstated them to calm the religious believers. Meltz is ascertaining suffering inflicted by God upon his men and how a final day of judgment will announce some winners (sufferer but believers) and majority losers (sufferer and sinners). He also establishes the stance against corrupting God’s creation and ponders, if religion is perceived wrong or God has a theory which humans are unable to comprehend. Since, criticism on God is neither allowed nor accepted in religion and theology; therefore, atheism emerged and it exaggerated the notion of sin and guilt mechanism for men and women. Conclusively, he suggests that religious myths for sins and good deeds are tales, which offer us a choice and consolation for our actions. Emile Durkheim another sociologist shared same thought pattern like Freud, but instead of claiming that religion is an illusion or side effect of an age. He called it a choice of society to grow, prosper for communal change and later on for large scale Good and God. He suggested if one needs to understand a religion he needs to study a society. Durkheim invented many social theories and is considered the pioneer of scientific study of society. His theories enabled the researchers to understand how to study the patterns of a society to understand their beliefs, values and actions. The mimetic theory of Rene Girard is based on a three moment cyclical system. Its three moments are as follow: Moment of Imitative desire Moment of Unifying expulsion Moment of Revealed discovery In the initial moment or phase, Girard explains that it is the desire one has or the desire other people ought to have. If the desire was not wished by other people it would have meant nothing for the individual who desires it later on like fashion and technological gadget trend. The second moment entails the moment of unification with a foe or opponent on something which, two individuals wish equally. This temporary pact is due to the same desire both pertain. The conflict or anger between the two remains the same but they both share same desire and develop mutual agreement pact for attaining it. This anger however, does not disappear, but eventually somebody else becomes a victim of it. This victim is yet the focal point of the two opponents and they plan against him for their desire. Eventually the third moment, is the reflection and realization moment, where one regrets his actions against the victim and alters his course of action so not to repeat the same mistake again. Amos is not a big fan of King, rulers, land lord and people in power. As they develop war, regional conflicts, social discrimination and do not prevent plague. These rulers rule for their selfish reasons. Hence, they tend to exploit religion and make its principles flexible for their own reasons. Famine, temple, killings are for the poor and under rule. Amos implies that God does not agree to their way of life and they are not considered as true practioner of religion either. God does not approve their extensive feast, music and sacrifice of innocents and they will end up in chaos, their territories will be captured and they will have to run away from them for survival. In his concluding chapter, he suggests that these kingdom due resume to their former position once the culprits receive the penalty of their wrong acts. It seems like this book is in relevance to the prediction of Babylonian Captivity according to the notions it entails. Otto fathoms that there is a supreme power and existence in the shape of God. However, his theory is not like others, he does not proclaim that religion is or was a part or reaction of something else, but it has several parts which produce diverse effects on society. Likewise, his way of association to the higher power is also not traditional. He describes the rational and non-rational factors of a religion, but in the due process he does not call them irrational as they are not understandable for a mind, which has a limited capability. These mystical phenomena are created by God and he has the power to understand it not his creation. He also suggested that the word ‘HOLY’ has not the capability to describe God’s divinity and qualities. Thus, he invented a term ‘Numinous’, which meant entailed the mysterious qualities of God irrespective of the rational ides and moral aspects. “Msterium Tremendum et fascinan” determines unapproachably, power and energy in terms of Religion and God. American Anthorpoligist, Clifford Geertz proclaims that culture is the best way to understand religion. For that he adapts a non-reductionist style to comprehend the concepts of religion through culture. Like Clifford, Durkheim also emphasized on the significance of social aspects to determine religious beliefs. However, Geertz considers that religion is not the only and single way to understand religion, but one also needs to study individual psychology to understand it. The main aspect of his theory was regarding the motivation of religion towards the intended action of an individual. Yet, he wanted to study religion from a perspective, which pertain amalgamated views of an insider and interloper. Diamond Sutra is a manuscript of dialogue between Buddha and his discipline Subhuthi. Buddha is preaching about enlightenment and how it can be attained through relinquishing all the habits which entail ‘I’ factor. If traits like ego, identity individual and universal being are practiced and instilled in oneself then one cannot reach the enlightenment stage. For that he uses an example of a row, row is used to cross river and once an individual reaches the other side, he doesn’t need the row anymore. Similarly, Diamond Sutra is a row a path way towards enlightenment and beyond it. Hence, if a person once arrives at that stage, he doesn’t need diamond sutra then. Moreover, he also suggests that enlighten people perform acts of compassion and empathy without bias as they are beyond the stage of segregation and do not judge people by their faith or exterior. Buddha emphasizes on the benefits of Diamond Sutra and believes if individuals comprehend, advocate and practice these rules, they will receive incredible benefits. In ‘Reason for Contentment’ by William Paley, he discusses how inferiority complexes can be avoided by deprived and how they should rather focus on their responsibilities. He suggests that mere act of non-comparison with others can bring peace in life. Furthermore, he suggests that for deprived or unfortunate the only way to attain wealth and luxury is by snatching it away from the rich class or by destructing the system which provides wealth to these rich people only. However, this is not a solution it will not necessarily guarantee richness and will create chaos and disorder in society. This is considered a way to satisfy depriver’s resentment for the rich. On the other hand, his theory suggests that poor people need to learn to be contended and they can do so by being happy in the state they are. It can so happen when one stops comparing his blessings from others. As, rich people are a lot accustomed of luxuries that a slight change in wealth and lifestyle can cause discomfort and their personalities and health collapse. Simultaneously, poor can tolerate hardships and are accustomed of effortful life style. Therefore, complexities do not scare them and they courageously resolve these obstacles. Poor people enjoy simplest things and rich do not enjoy luxury, they consider it as a part of life not a privilege. Similarly, only a poor knows the worth of rest after hard work, rich do not know what it means. Italian philosopher and Theologian, Thomas Aquinas deals with the issue of people who lack the ideology of inspiring God. He proclaims that people cannot measure God’s abilities in his creation, as his creation contain very small portion of his trait, and his ability magnitude cannot be measured nor assumed. God instilled some of his traits in his creation (Humans), but one cannot assume his abilities by observing his creations. His creation cannot determine him fully and one can only understand him, the way he wants to be (by signs). For instance, Sun is assumed to be hot because it emerges hot rays which humans can feel. Neither, they can measure the magnitude of sun’s heat nor can object on his powerful heat. Similarly, God created various attributes in humans and these attributes were a small part or reflection of his entity. Thus, if a person is inspired with moral values like generosity, empathy, selflessness, forgiveness, courage, honesty and inner beauty therefore, it is not possible for him to be inspired by the God who created all these traits, who posses them all in the fullest form. God cannot be described by one name and mere human traits cannot entail the magnitude of his mighty characteristics. Thus, he can be described through analogy (Gilson, Maurer and Shook, 2002). O’Conner inscribes about the tale of racist woman of South, who considers herself at the top regime of the society due to her skin color. Mrs. Turnip used to judge people on the bases of their color, richness and good looks. Black and white-trash people are at the lowest level of her ranking. Wealthy people are also ranked and considered estimable according to their capital. Thus, an unfortunate and ugly girl irritated (presumed Flannery because she was determined to get an education in racist South) by persistent prejudice assaulted Mrs. Turnip. This encounter of insult led her to realize that she has no power to label people as good and bad. And she had a vision that in a horde of white-trash, black people and freaks (people she considered freak) are taken to heaven and the civilized gentry is looking at them with fascination and astonishment. Christian theologian and philosopher, Saint Augustine describes that it was his tinted determination that kept him away from Christianity. He elaborates it further and describes that his tainted heart led him to become lusty for worldly pleasures and the lust grew and became a habit. It was difficult to drop the habit and follow the pioneer of Christianity back in time. He disillusioned himself with the idea that the truth is not clear, but deep inside he knew he is only tricking himself into it. The actual reason was the burdens of sin, which I was so accustomed of that I was afraid to throw them away. Although, he did realize the significance of religion and did want to follow its pioneer with whole heart, but the idea of giving up worldly pleasure scared him and he compromised and delayed enlightenment to enjoy worldly beauty more. The chosen verses are from chapter one of the Luke, which entails the appearance of the angel of God, Gabriel. This chapter of the book describes the settlement of Mary with Elizabeth (her cousin). According to biblical revelations the angel appeared and announced to Mary that God will bestow her with a son and he will be a prophet of God. His Christian name will be and is Jesus, and according to biblical excerpt she was engaged to be married with Joseph back then and was a true virgin. She was confused as to how she will conceive a child without marriage, but the angel guaranteed that the power of God can make the impossible for humans; possible. Bibles term it as Holy Spirit, which also made Elizabeth conceive John; similarly like Mary. Bible also entails the concept that John jumped into the womb of Mary when she entered Elizabeth’s residence and that initiated Canticle for Mary. Lastly, the excerpt of John 1:1-18 entail that as God created his creature so did he create Jesus. His spirit was with him and all the messages of God came through him and he was a miracle of God. His creation was due to a purpose to shed the darkness of ignorance and bless the people of God with the knowledge of God. According to Bible, John testified his being and assured people that he was the true messenger of God. REFERENCE: Top of Form Gilson, E., Maurer, A. A., & Shook, L. K. (2002). Thomism: The philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. 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