Religion is arguably most influential when concerning politics, society, and individuality. This belief system provides most people with somewhat of a 'guideline' on how to live their lives on a daily basis, depending on which religion one follows. One of the major underlying aspects of religion, Catholicism or Christianity in particular, is to show guilt or sorrow to God for one's own sins and to ask for forgiveness on Earth so when Judgment Day comes the gates of heaven will open. A follower of Christianity is expected to follow the divine doctrine (e.g. The Ten Commandments) and any deviation requires repentance. If one does not ask for forgiveness for his sins, the common belief is that he will be sent to Hell upon death, spending an eternity in damnation. But how does this affect life on Earth? It seems that the individual harbors an internal battle between acting on instinctual desires and what is deemed right or wrong according to God. This self-war creates a sense of guilt. Guilt and sin are closely related to one another in terms of Sigmund Freud's analysis of religion in civilization and can be further compared to Dante's account of sin and the afterlife.
In Civilization and Its Discontents, one of Freud?s main purposes is to point out the effect of the relationship between the human conscience and religion. Freud?s central view of religion is that it is an illusion created, and even needed, by man to attain a sense of security from ?an enormously exalted father? who watches over his life and promises a better afterlife (Freud 22). Individually, humans portray through behavior what their motivation in life is: to attain happiness. But religion only offers one road to happiness, and that road is through God. ?Its tech...
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...ness, heightens the demands of his conscience, imposes abstinences on himself and punishes himself with penances? (Freud 87). The same can be said according to Dante, but instead of turning to the superego, one turns to God as Dante did while he was ?lost in the dark wood?. An individual looks for a way of escaping these disparaging emotions and searches for a path that will lead to ultimate happiness?usually through and with God. As the purpose of Dante?s Inferno was to understand sin in a way that will allow him to lead a more virtuous life, so was Freud?s theory that the more aware of your guilt the more able you are to recognize what it means to be virtuous. The more aware an individual is of his sin or guilt, the better his ability to repent and achieve virtuosity. This in turn makes peace with God and/or within him and it is here that one achieves redemption.
In Dante’s Inferno, the punishment for a sin is the representation and reflection of the sin itself. The law of Dante’s Hell is symbolic retribution, which means that the specific attributes of the sin--how it was committed, by whom, and its effects--are concretely embodied in the specific nature of the punishment. This paper will attempt to show, by going through the geography of Dante’s Hell, how the sins in Dante’s Inferno are related to their punishments.
Similar to Marx, Freud believes humans simply make up the idea of God in explanation to things science could not disprove. Humans take relationships from our Earthly fathers and compare it to our Heavenly father. According to Freud, “Religion is an attempt to master the sensory world in which we are situated by means of the wishful world which we have developed within us as a result of biological and psychological necessities.” (H/R,p.26) Science can neither prove or disprove religion. Freud chooses to believe science and claims religion is only comforting and hopeful thinking to our purpose after
In 2002, Doctor Armand Nicholi, Jr. sought to put two of the greatest minds of the 20th century together to debate the answer to the lifelong question, “Is there a God, and if so, how should we respond to his existence?” Nicholi is the first scholar to ever put the arguments of C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud side by side in an attempt to recreate as realistic of a debate as possible between the two men. He examines their writings, letters, and lectures in an attempt to accurately represent both men in this debate. His result, the nearly 300 page book, The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life, is one of the most comprehensive, well researched, and unbiased summaries of the debate between the worldviews of “believer and unbeliever” (Pg. 5).
In analyzing this gradient of morality, it is useful first to examine a work from early literature whose strong purity of morality is unwavering; for the purposes of this discussion, Dante’s Inferno provides this model. It is fairly straightforward to discover Dante’s dualistic construction of morality in his winding caverns of Hell; each stern, finite circle of Hell is associated with a clear sin that is both definable and directly punishable. As Dante moves downwards in this moral machination, he notes that
In Dante’s Inferno, the relationship between Dante the Pilgrim and Virgil the Guide is an ever-evolving one. By analyzing the transformation of this relationship as the two sojourn through the circles of hell, one is able to learn more about the mindset of Dante the Poet. At the outset, Dante is clearly subservient to Virgil, whom he holds in high esteem for his literary genius. However, as the work progresses, Virgil facilitates Dante’s spiritual enlightenment, so that by the end, Dante has ascended to Virgil’s spiritual level and has in many respects surpassed him. In Dante’s journey with respect to Virgil, one can see man’s spiritual journey towards understanding God. While God loves man regardless of his faults, His greatest desire is to see man attain greater spirituality, in that man, already created in God’s image, may truly become divine, and in doing so, attain eternality.
In the midst of his already successful career, Sigmund Freud decided to finally dedicate a book of his to religion, referring to the subject as a phenomena faced by the scientific community. This new work, Totem and Taboo, blew society off its feet, ultimately expanding the reaches of debates and intellectual studies. From the beginning, Freud argues that there exists a parallel between the archaic man and the contemporary compulsive. Both these types of people, he argues, exhibit neurotic behavior, and so the parallel between the two is sound. Freud argues that we should be able to determine the cause of religion the same way we determine the cause of neurosis. He believes, since all neuroses stem from childhood experiences, that the origins of this compulsive behavior we call religion should also be attributed to some childhood experiences of the human race, too. Freudian thought has been dominant since he became well known. In Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, religion becomes entirely evident as a major part of the novel, but the role it specifically plays is what we should question. Therefore, I argue that Freud’s approach to an inborn sense of religion and the role it plays exists in The Last of the Mohicans, in that the role religion plays in the wilderness manifests itself in the form of an untouchable truth, an innate sense of being, and most importantly, something that cannot and should not be tampered with.
In the first two chapter of the book, Freud explores a possible source of religious feeling. He describes an “oceanic feeling of wholeness, limitlessness, and eternity.” Freud himself is unable to experience such a feeling, but notes that there do indeed...
Religion is defined as a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. Throughout time, religion has been debated to the point where many have philosophers have claimed it as a crutch for individuals in times of depression or despair. However, the purpose of religion has been argued numerous times and now the age old question remains whether or not religion is a want or a need. This question has been debated, and it is clear where philosophers such as Kierkegaard, James and Nietzsche stand, in regards to such prominent men as Marx, Skinner and Freud. Both sides pose salient arguments and each present strong points. Based on each argument presented, religion is therefore both a want and a need under certain conditions.
Entwistle’s book explores the links and integration between psychology and Christianity. As the title explains this book paints a picture of the conflicting worldviews and philosophical foundations that people perceive about how they can be integrated. Entwistle provides research through scholarly reflection and various models that link both psychology and Christianity together. Entwistle remarked by saying “There are many events that raise both theological and psychological questions and such events serve as useful springboards to investigate links between Christian theology and other disciplines” (Entwistle, 2015, p. 8). This statement sets the stage for the readers to understand how some events throughout history have laid the
This is David Entwistle 2nd edition book published in 2010 by Wipf and Stock in Oregon. Entwistle is a Christian and a licensed psychologist; he has affiliations with Molone University in Canton, Ohio serving as chair of the Psychology Department and has taught courses related to his licensed field. This book clearly is not written for any newcomers to religion. However, it was written for those interested in the integration of science and religion. The authors’ purpose for writing this book was to define the relationship between psychology and theology. There are three specific areas this book touched upon to help readers’ better approach psychology and Christianity in a personal and more professional manner: The context of philosophical issues and worldview, to help the readers become aware of assumptions or beliefs- making the reader a more critical evaluators, and to introduce and familiarize the reader with five paradigms for integrating psychology and theology.
Geertz defines religion as ‘(1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.’ In this essay, I will focus on the Geertz’s idea, and Asad’s subsequent critique, of symbols. (Geertz, Clifford, and Michael Banton. "Religion as a cultural system." (1966).)
Erich Fromm in his psychoanalytical approach to religion is distinct from the earlier works of Sigmund Freud. Fromm defines religion as “any system of thought and action shared by a group which gives the individual a frame of orientation and an object of devotion.” Fromm argues that irreligious systems including all the different kinds of idealism and “private” religions deserve being defined as a “religion.” Based on Fromm’s theory, it is explained that there is no human being who does not have a “religious need,” almost every part of human life reflects religious need and its fulfillment, in fact he states it to be “inherent” in man.
Goodwin, A. (1998). Freud and Erikson: Their Contributions to the Psychology of God-Image Formation. Pastoral Psychology, 47(2), 97-117. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
What happens when I die? This is a question that everyone has asked at some point in life, and yet the answer remains a mystery and a point of major debate. Because the thought of the “lights shutting off forever” is scary for a majority of people, various religions, philosophies and ways of thinking have been created to explain the meaning of life and give people something to look forward to after their time on Earth comes to an end. These belief systems typically espouse a set of rules or practices that must be followed in order to reap the divine rewards of heaven or paradise in the afterlife. In addition, religions and belief systems will often try to convince their audiences that their way is the right way. Two books
In The Inferno, Dante Alighieri, the poet, places a strong emphasis on perception; it is through sight that Dante the pilgrim can acknowledge and learn from his experience in hell. Sight plays an especially crucial role in the work because Dante, the pilgrim, is often captivated by an image of some kind. The sight of the sinners transfixes Dante; and the sinners are, in turn, captivated with Dante and Virgil. It would seem that everything Dante observes through his journey would be enlightening. However, through the admonishments of Virgil, it becomes apparent that there exist two distinct ways of perceiving: practical, active observation and unreceptive, disadvantageous perception. It is through practical and active observation that Dante comprehends the lessons of his journey. Unreceptive perception fails to provide valuable information for Dante to use during his life on Earth. In addition, with practical, active observation, Dante not only learns about the sinners but he learns about himself when his journey is reflected by a living soul in hell. Dante successfully completes his journey of enlightenment though hell by learning through active observation and self-reflection about himself and his journey. With the beneficial observation and reflection, Dante learns from the sinners and gains knowledge about himself.