A Discussion of the Understanding of Religion In the Lights of Relativity and Interpretation
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i639732mvrhtcom (student)
A Discussion of the Understanding of Religion
In the Lights of
Relativity and Interpretation
Religious teachings over generations have been, generally and not necessarily, on a orthodox note with little room to question its principles and teachings. It is more of a monologue rather a dialogue between the preacher and the disciple. As society evolves, so should the teachings in order to hold societal relevance, this is inhibited because presently we are not questioning and editing the teachings rather than learning it and passing it ahead blindly. Thus, we should let religious teachings to have a flexibility to accept and modify ideas.
We generally teach ‘our’ religion as the only right path to reach the higher power. This leads to communal disharmony among people following different religion and as our society is advancing there are no more geographical boundaries to religions, we find many different religion dwelling in the same city, thus developing religious sensitivities and a sense of acceptance has become very important to social peace. We need to teach ‘Preach and let preach’ approach to everyone.
In our project, our main motive is to focus on the theory of relativity and interpretation in terms of religion to give a room to the idea of indulgence rather than tolerance which presupposes the feeling of superiority by discussing the common points in religions, the theories put by different philosopher and the problems caused by the intolerance of the relatively different approaches.
. Common Points in Religions
* Reincarnation
The basic idea of reincarnation is that an organism's soul leaves its body at death and then enters the body of another newly-born life form. Thus over time it passes through a series of successive existences in different physical bodies. According to an associated idea called karma, actions in one life will affect the form of existence in the next life. In particular, through good behavior a soul may be able to pass to higher and higher life forms in successive stages of existence.
Belief in reincarnation is found in a number of religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Manichaeism, and Gnosticism. Adherents of some of these religions also believe that an individual can permanently escape the cycle of birth and rebirth by reaching a state of enlightenment or nirvana.
* Gods in Human Form
The idea that a god or goddess can appear on earth in human form is a theme found in many religions. Such a belief was especially common in the ancient polytheistic religions of the middle eastern and Mediterranean religions. For example, in the epic works of the Greek author Homer, gods and goddesses often appear in human form in order to intervene in events taking place on the earth.
In Hinduism, a manifestation of a god in human or animal form is known as an Avatar. The most important of these ...
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* Gods in Human Form
The idea that a god or goddess can appear on earth in human form is a theme found in many religions. Such a belief was especially common in the ancient polytheistic religions of the middle eastern and Mediterranean religions. For example, in the epic works of the Greek author Homer, gods and goddesses often appear in human form in order to intervene in events taking place on the earth.
In Hinduism, a manifestation of a god in human or animal form is known as an Avatar. The most important of these Avatars are manifestations of the God Vishnu, and have appeared at critical points in history in order to protect the world from an especially evil threat. Founders of several major religions have been viewed as incarnations of a god. These include Zoroaster, Jesus, and the Buddha Gautama.
* Spirit World
Spirits are invisible supernatural beings, such as ghosts and demons, that sometimes interact with human beings. Some spirits are helpful to humans, or at least benign, but most are evil and harmful. Usually they are considered to be less powerful than true gods.
In Christianity, the Devil is served by evil spirits called demons. Originally these were angels, but they were turned into demons after they assisted Satan in his revolt against God. Some Christians believe that a demon can get inside a person's body and gain control of it. This is called demonic possession, and it produces behavior that resembles mental illness. According to the gospels, Jesus had the power to expel a demon from a victim simply by ordering it to leave.
In some religions, ghosts are the spirits of dead people. They may haunt the former house of the dead person or linger in the cemetery where he or she is buried. The ghost of someone who is murdered may try to get revenge against the murderer. And if a man dies in a violent accident, his ghost may haunt the scene of the accident.
* Sacred Texts
Sacred texts or scriptures are an important part of many religions. Many of these writings are thought to have come directly from a god or goddess, usually as some kind of miraculous revelation. Others are known to be compositions of an original founder of the religion, or early leaders or prophets, but are now considered to be divinely-inspired.
The sacred writings of Hinduism include the Vedas and the Upanishads. The Hebrew Bible, the sacred text of Judaism, was created over a period of at least eight centuries, but no new books have been added in two thousand years. Most Christians also consider the Hebrew Bible to be a sacred text, but have added some additional books to it in the form of the gospels and other books of the New Testament. Followers of Islam believe that their sacred book, the Quran (or Koran), are the words of Allah given to Mohammed through the voice of the angel Gabriel.
Adherents of most religions consider it very important to preserve their sacred writings exactly in their original form.
* Afterlife
In many belief systems, a person's soul (or consciousness) continues to survive after the physical body dies. This continued existence is usually thought to take place in a spiritual realm, or possibly a different universe or dimension. This differs from reincarnation, since the individual isn't reborn in a new body.
Many religions have ideas about the places that these souls go to. Often there are at least two possible places, and which one the soul enters is determined by the kind of life that the person led. In Christianity, for example, the souls of saved people go to heaven, whereas the souls of the damned go to hell. However in a few religions everyone's soul goes to the same place.
2) Why Do They Sound Different?
The Theory of Relativity and Interpretation
* Protagoras
Protagoras is famous for his saying "Man is the Measure of All Things".Whether a room is objectively cold, then, can never really be known since the experience of being cold is entirely subjective. This same claim was extended to knowledge of the gods. He says: "Concerning the gods, I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not or of what sort they may be. Many things prevent knowledge including the obscurity of the subject and the brevity of human life". For one to claim certain knowledge of the will of the gods, then, is simply to claim that one holds a subjective view of what the gods are like and what they want of human beings; in other words, one believes in one's individual subjective understanding of the concept of the gods but can never claim to actually objectively understand them.
* Derrida
According to Derrida the meaning of a statement is destabilised by its contextuality and this instability affects in turn the judgement of truth that one makes in regard to such a statement. His understanding of deconstruction brings to light a realm of undecidability in our statements. The meaning is always differed and deferred which makes one statement indistinguishable from another in terms of relation.
Derrida suggests that a substance can only be described in relation to other substances, which ultimately takes us to the idea that all the philosophies and statements regarding one point of view in a religion are related to one another; which tries to deconstruct the hierarchy between thoughts and individuals. If we can acknowledge the idea that our interpretations are related to one another and cannot have any meaning on their own, then it enables us to respect them since it requires believing that those element actually what create our own understanding.
(see. Negative capability)
3) Problems Arising From Intolerance Towards ‘Different’ Interpretations
* Role Conflict and Separation in the Society
(The Juxtaposition of Expectation vs. Reality)
In our society, the parents or the environment to which the new member is born/brought; it is a tendency that the member shall fulfill the expectations especially religion-wise. If the understanding of different interpretations is not established in the environment, this tendency results in making the member acknowledge just to one perspective, acquiring the feeling of superiority towards other ideas in time and if the member does not choose to ‘obey’, it creates a conflict between inside and outside obligations which disturbs the wellbeing of the individual. Hence, the society which is made up of the individual itself loses its serenity no matter how religion tries to persist it.
* Social Cynicism
If the individual does not have the understanding of relativity and indulgence towards it, he/she creates a suspicion towards the individuals embracing different interpretations, practices or looks. This suspicion leads to thoughts such as: “He is having beard/kada/dhoti, he must be _____(the name of an interpretation). If he is a _____and if the terrorist I saw on TV yesterday claimed to be _____ too. Then he must be a terrorist and I should stay away from him.” This problem causes phobias; thus, it provokes social cynicism
* Inferiority/Superiority Complex
If a particular approach is overrated and the other possibilities are blindly left behind, it creates a delusion of grossly exaggerated feeling of being superior in the individual. Similarly; if an individual lives in an environment in which its ideas are not taken into consideration or even objected, it creates a delusion of inferiority complex in the individual. Many of individuals with inferiority syndrome grow up being shy, and this problem can lead to being hateful towards the ‘superior’ inside. Both of the complexes create considerable damages in the individual’s life in long run if not in a short period.
References
Gullahorn, John T., and Jeanne E. Gullahorn. “Role Conflict and Its Resolution.” The Sociological Quarterly, vol. 4, no. 1, 1963, pp. 32–48.
http://www.ancient.eu/article/61/
http://josephsoleary.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/02/4_derrida_on_tr.html
http://www.religion-gateway.net/themes.html
“New Theory of Complexes.” The Science News-Letter, vol. 56, no. 23, 1949, pp. 354–354.
Vice, Samantha. “Cynicism and Morality.” Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, vol. 14, no. 2, 2011, pp. 169–184.
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i639732mvrhtcom (student)
