Spiritual Self Module 6 PDF

SPIRITUAL SELF The etymology of the word ‘religion’ (Latin, religio) is disputed, but the most logical is that it is a combination of res, ‘a thing’, and ligare, to bind. Religion is thus what binds things together (such as families, societies, the world), and which enables humankind to live in ha...

SPIRITUAL SELF The etymology of the word ‘religion’ (Latin, religio) is disputed, but the most logical is that it is a combination of res, ‘a thing’, and ligare, to bind. Religion is thus what binds things together (such as families, societies, the world), and which enables humankind to live in harmony with the animal world and with gods. In most societies it is the basis for morality and for all human relationships, especially where it is believed that there is a divine law controlling all things, and it gives meaning to life.  Barbara King argues that while non-human primates are not religious, they do exhibit some traits that would have been necessary for the evolution of religion. Born 18 August 1956 (age 66) BARBARA J. KING is emerita professor of anthropology at William & Mary and a freelance science writer and public speaker. The author of seven books, including the new Animals’ Best Friends: Putting Compassion to Work for Animals in Captivity and in the Wild, Barbara focuses on animal emotion and cognition, the ethics of our relationships with animals, and the evolutionary history of language, culture, and religion. Her book How Animals Grieve has been translated into 7 languages and her TED talk on animal love and grief has now received over 3 million views. These traits include high intelligence, a capacity for symbolic communication, a sense of social norms, realization of “self” and a concept of continuity. There is inconclusive evidence that Homo Neanderthalensis may have buried their dead which is evidence of the use of ritual. The use of burial rituals is thought to be evidence of religious activity, and there is no other evidence that Neanderthal World History Encyclopedia religion existed in human culture before humans reached behavioral modernity.  Symbolic World Some of the earliest evidence of symbolic behavior is associated with Middle Stone Age sites in Africa. From at least 100,000 years ago, there is evidence of the use of pigments such as red ochre. Pigments are of little practical use to hunter gatherers, thus evidence of their use is interpreted as symbolic or for ritual purposes. Ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in color from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colors produced by this pigment, especially a light brownish-yellow. Among extant hunter gatherer populations around the world, red ochre is still used extensively for ritual purposes. It has been argued that it is universal among human cultures for the color red to represent blood, sex, life and death.  Why did Religion Flourish? 1. Explanatory Function ❖ In times of uncertainty and crisis ❖ Meaning in chaos ❖ Turn to GOD or powerful beings ❖ Wrapped in neat stories of creation and salvation 2. Promotes social solidarity and unity ❖ Worship as a public act ❖ Has positive psychological benefits  Origin: What is sacred? 1. Personalistic View Born: October 2, 1832, Camberwell, London, United Kingdom Died: January 2, 1917, Wellington, United Kingdom Edward B. Tylor Personalistic View ❖ Animism (Edward B. Tylor) an expert on Central American society. From Latin anima, ‘spirit’ was coined by the English anthropologist Edward B. Tylor (1832-1917) to describe the religions of preliterate ‘tribal’ societies where the religious community was coterminous with the ethnic community. Animism is the idea that all things—animate and inanimate—possess a spirit or an essence. First coined in 1871, animism is a key feature in many ancient religions, especially of indigenous tribal cultures. Animism is a foundational element in the development of ancient human spirituality, and it can be identified in different forms throughout major modern world religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-animism-4588366 Scientific Approach to Studying Religion Tylor believes that religion can be approached in an objective, scientific sense because religions themselves attempt to provide an objective account and explanation of the world. Religious claims can either square with reality or they can fail in light of it. Either way, religion is open being compared to objective reality and measured against empirical observation. This approach lies behind Tylor’s evolutionary chronicle of human culture and religious belief, as well as his theory of animism as the most “primitive” religious belief. “Primitive” Religion as Animism Tylor’s primary purpose is to understand the religious life of the “primitive” peoples. He argues that animistic beliefs constituted the earliest religious belief, and that these beliefs came into existence as a result of the projection of the ordinary experiences of powerful people onto a supernatural realm. One example is that people came to believe that the world was created by the gods or a God because they witnessed people making things in daily experience, and thus projected this onto the supernatural. To Tylor this is the most obvious reading of the data given that ancient religions and religious believers so frequently invoke the existence of spirits, souls, and gods to explain events in the world. Religion, across the board from the so-called “primitive” to the “modern,” encompass belief in spirits and spirit agencies. By “primitive religion”, Tylor specifically means the beliefs of hunter-gatherers who made use of stone tools. Tylor sees such historical people to be at a lower level in their development than modern human beings. https://jamesbishopblog.com/2019/06/23/e-b-tylor-primitive-animism-as-the-origin-of-religion/ 2. Non-Personalistic View Robert Ranulph Marett 13 June 1866 – 18 February 1943 Non-Personalistic View ❖ Animatism (Robert Ranulph Marett, 1866-1943) British anthropologist ❖ He argued that certain cultures believe “people, animals, plants and inanimate objects were endowed with certain powers, which were both impersonal and supernatural”. Animatism originates from Latin “animatus”, indicating that it revolves around the belief in a diffuse, impersonal life force. According to Marett, this life force, also known as “mana” in many cultures, is not associated with deities or specific entities but permeates all things and can be utilized or manipulated through certain rituals or practices Animatism: Belief in a widespread, non-personal supernatural power or influence Mana: The impersonal supernatural force in many cultures, believed to be present in all things. Animatism is a widespread belief, especially in small-scale societies. Among the Polynesian cultures of the South Pacific. Mana, Marett states, is a concentrated form of animatistic force found within any of these objects that confer power, strength, and success. http://what-when-how.com/social-and-cultural-anthropology/mana-anthropology/ Some things or people have more of it than others and are, potentially dangerous. For instance, a chief may have so much of it that he must be carried around all of the time. If he were to walk on the ground, sufficient residual amounts of his mana might remain in his footprints to harm ordinary people if they later step on them. Volcanoes and some other places were thought to have concentrated mana and were, therefore, very dangerous. The power is usually impersonal, unseen, and potentially everywhere. It is neither good nor evil, but it is powerful and dangerous if misused. 3. The sacred is a social construct. 1858 - 1917 Durkheim saw Totemism as one of the earliest and simplest form of religious practice. It is most commonly found among aboriginal peoples, such as the Australian aborigines, and North West Native American Indians, who have clan based societies. Totemism, system of belief in which humans are said to have kinship or a mystical relationship with a spirit-being, such as an animal or plant. The entity, or totem, is thought to interact with a given kin group or an individual and to serve as their emblem or symbol. The term totem is derived from the Ojibwa word ototeman, meaning “one’s brother-sister kin.” The grammatical root, ote, signifies a blood relationship between brothers and sisters who have the same mother and who may not marry each other. In English, the word totem was introduced in 1791 by a British merchant and translator who gave it a false meaning in the belief that it designated the guardian spirit of an individual, who appeared in the form of an animal—an idea that the Ojibwa clans did indeed portray by their wearing of animal skins. The term totemism has been used to characterize a cluster of traits in the religion and in the social organization of many peoples. Totemism is manifested in various forms and types in different contexts and is most often found among populations whose traditional economies relied on hunting and gathering, mixed farming with hunting and gathering, or emphasized the raising of cattle. Ojibwa, also spelled Ojibwe or Ojibway, also called Chippewa, self-name Anishinaabe, Algonquian-speaking North American Indian tribe who lived in what are now Ontario and Manitoba, Can., and Minnesota and North Dakota, U.S., from Lake Huron westward onto the Plains. Their name for themselves means “original people.” According to Jones, the Great Spirit had given toodaims (“totems”) to the Ojibwa clans, and because of this act, it should never be forgotten that members of the group are related to one another and on this account may not marry among themselves. https://www.britannica.com/topic/totemism-religion In many tribal societies, animal names and emblems were identified with social groups such as clans groups related by descent. Clans are often associated with animal species, plants and natural forms, which clan members take care not to injure. Early anthropologists assumed that totems represented the divinities of the clan, often ancestors of the group. 4. Religion is an idealized society By worshipping the symbol of the sacred, society worships itself. How? ❖ Worshipping is a public, collective social act. ❖ Feeling of solidarity ❖ All religions perform tis basic function. Hence, all are true. World Religions Have sacred scriptures ❖ sacred narratives ❖ Christianity (Paschal Mystery) ❖ Muslims (the return of Mohammad to Medina) ❖ Hindu (Bhagavad Gita – devotional work in poetic form), etc. What Constitutes Religion? 1. Belief ❖ Intellectual aspect of religion ❖ Exists in the mind of individual adherents ❖ Focus on the truth about religion 2. Practice ❖ Social part of religion ❖ Expression on the level of the group as a social unit ❖ Process: focus on meaning and meaning-making Religion as Identity ❖ Identity formation based on religious affiliation ❖ Religion provides the ideology – a way of looking at the world. ✔ Assertion of identity vis-à-vis- other groups ✔ Experience of marginalization and oppression ✔ Religion can tie a group of people together and identify them to be of a religious group who follow the same beliefs and teachings. Conclusion 1. Religion is positively correlated with identity formation. Identity achievement is highly related with internalization of religious commitment. 2. The influence of religion on identity formation may also work through parental influence. Children whose parents are significantly religious are more likely to be significantly religious themselves. 3. The influence of religion on identity formation might also arise from community influence. 4. The strength of the linkage also depends on the period covered. Religion seems to be more forceful in the olden days compared with the modern society. In the past, most societies tend to be deeply religious. This implies that the influence of religion on identity such societies would be strong. “Our identities are formed through the assimilation and articulation of narratives, but these identities are not fixed and transcendental: they shift according to where we are, what knowledge is available to us and who we are with. So the construction of identity may change depending on where, or by whom, the description is being made.” Shakespeare and Erickson in Rose and Rose (Eds) 2000 p. 202