Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Spirituality
Someone in class brought up a great point about spirituality and how Marx and Durkheim would feel about its relation to religion, we discussed some ideas but I struggled to listen because one big thing stood out to me. Could the need to be spiritual stem from the need of religion? Although there is no institution, the need to relate to something is there. Is spirituality just a different way of relating to a religious group; one that does not have an established institution. Just wanted to see what you guys think...
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6 comments:
It is when humans find themselves in situations that involve suffering and struggle when they have the need to believe in a higher power to find comfort and strenght to deal with those different situations. I think that spirituality is a way of finding meaning within yourself to soothe human pain from the mind and soul. I think that religion is a means of following a specific doctrine associated to that particular religion. On the other hand, spirituality is a relationship between that person and a higher power of their own understanding.
GREAT question! Could the need to be spiritual stem from the need of religion? This would put the need "antecedant" to(before) the expression.
The male lion and the female lion - do they help us answer?
i think the need for spirituality is deeper than the need for religion, or at least i think it came first
the ancient people looked at the stars thousands of years ago and discovered how the placement of the stars determined rain, and rain determined whether or not their crops would grow, and if the crops grew, the gods were happy...if the crops didn't grow, the gods were angry
regardless if there is a god or gods, the need to have some idea of a force bigger than ourselves to thank when things are going well, to pray to when we need things to go our way, and to transfer some of the blame to when things are going wrong has been a strong human need for thousands of years
i don't think that spirituality is a way to relate to a religious group, maybe for some
but i like to think of spirituality as one of the few truly individual experiences...without subscribing to one religion, you can believe whatever you want to believe and you can take bits and pieces of all the religions or you can come up with your own idea of what a higher power is
for me, organized religion is the antithesis of spirituality
buddy: interesting to see spirituality at the ultimate form of individualism when it is also that which removes individualism, as one sees "the whole" "the all" "I am" the bird chirp, or whatever it is. what would Durkheim say about today's blossoming of "spirituality" - would he think it is the blossom of individualism about which he worried?
Buddy: also interesting triangle you form.
1 grow the crops
2 thank the gods
3 blame the gods (or selves, because gods are 'angry')
so - the ONLY way to calculate the methods (means) to grow the crops (goal) is through the sun and the moon and the stars. they are the map of the weather - they guide us. Thus they are ... the leaders, the gods. Obey them, like a technical rule, Durkheim might say. Not like a moral rule.
if they (the stars, gods) withhold, however, fear ensues. Anger covers fear. Anger cannot be directed at gods, since they are gods, so it is self-directed and done in the name of the gods. The gods are angry.
The ancients were smart and clear. Their goal was: eat. To eat you have to follow the laws.
I think people use spirituality because when they have problems within thier life, things that they don't want to face. For example, like someone is very ill and they cannot lived any longer. They don't have no where to go and no where to turn to, then, they turn to spirituality, at least this can still give them some hope, better then, no hope at all.
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