As children, we are often told stories, some of which may have practical value in the sense of providing young minds with lessons and morals for the future, whereas some stories create a notion of creativity and imagination in the child. In Karen Armstrong’s piece, “Homo Religiosus”, a discussion of something similar to the topic of storytelling could translate to the realm of religion. Armstrong defines religion as a, “matter of doing rather than thinking” (17) which she describes using an example in which adolescent boys in ancient religions, who were not given the time to “find themselves” but rather forced into hunting animals which ultimately prepares these boys to be able to die for their people, were made into men by the process of doing. …show more content…
This notion in regards to the question of why we tell stories in society similarly situates the same premises of telling a story for a moral reward or understanding where it up to the reader to interpret the text or in this case the belief. By understanding the context on an individual basis, one can also understand that throughout Armstrong’s argument, religion is not just a belief but rather, “an all-encompassing, wholly transcendent reality that lay[s] beyond neat doctrinal formulations,” (18) that presents the conclusion that without discipline, there is no method of attaining a practical sense of …show more content…
The same concept applies to religion where without a practical sense of the belief, there is no way to exercise the concept and ultimately follow that religion. Thinking and doing go hand in hand when applying the practical use of a “story”. However, the concept of “doing” is the main component of the two, by taking advantage of the practical use of a story, one is able to find the reasoning and morality behind the initial concept whereas by just thinking, anything is possible but that doesn’t mean it is also probable. This, for example, can be directly correlated to the main monotheistic religions where they all say to be a good person. However the practicality of the religion is not formed until the religious contexts are exercised and being a “good” person is truly understood on an individual basis. The notion of thinking can be useful however it serves more of an individual palate where the idea is taken in and only perceived by the specific individual which can be seen in the extremist’s perception of their specific followed beliefs but ultimately the notion of doing is more directly correlated with the topic of religion because it allows the individual to take in their surroundings in the process of doing and then perceive is on a more open-minded
More than forty-five thousand years ago, there have existed two types of bipedal humans, the Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, but only one has survived. The survivors were the humans who we are comprised out of and still breathing and living today the Homo sapiens. Some scientist say that the lack of imagination was the key factor to the Neanderthals demise, while the Homo sapiens with a broader imagination lived on. In Karen Armstrong’s essay “Homo religiosus” she describes her time in the caverns of Lascaux, while she explains the painting on the walls as part of the ancient civilization’s rituals. The painting tells us a story of their daily lives and the myths in which they believe in, that keeps them in a peace of mind. As there were many
Hobbes, Thomas. “Of Religion.” ed.Smith,Lacey Baldwin and Jean Reeder Smith. The Past Speaks. 2nd ed. 1 vol. Lexington: Heath, 1993.
Patel introduces the concept of a “faith line” and its importance by describing two cases of young people’s education relating to religion. In the first, a young man was taught religious totalitarianism, a destructive and hateful
...s story: do not let Earthly ideas of salvation through the religion blind self-judgment and acceptance of earthly lives and inevitable death.
For centuries religion has played a huge role in the black community. From slavery to freedom, religion has help black folk deal with their anger, pain, oppression, sadness, fear, and dread. Recognizing the said importance of religion in the black community, Black poets and writers like Phillis Wheatley and Richard Wright, use religion as an important motif in their literature. Wheatley uses religion as a way to convince her mostly white audience of how religious conversion validates the humanity of herself and others. Wright on the other hand, uses religion in order to demonstrate how religion, as uplifting as it is can fail the black community. Thinking through, both Wheatley and Wright’s writings it becomes apparent that religion is so complex,
In Karen Armstrong’s essay “Homo Religiosus,” she describes religion as a result of rituals. The more a person practices rituals, the more they believe that they work. For example, in “Homo Religiosus,” Armstrong describes a scene from the Paleolithic age in which a crucial, initiation ritual was performed. Young boys were taken from their mothers and forced to go through terrifying situations. When the initiations are complete, the boys will fully understand the, “...link between hunter and prey in their common struggle for survival”(5). Understanding the similarities between the animals and the people will make the hunt more sacred and will honor the animals. This ritual encourages the boys to face their fears and to learn to embrace
People who are dominated play a role in cultural dominance, but how is cultural dominance possible? Cultural dominance is control and power enforced by a country or group over individuals. In Karen Armstrong’s essay “Homo Religiosus” she talks about how the relationship between myth, art, and religion has changed over time. In Ethan Watters’ essay “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan” he talks about how pharmaceutical companies in the west are trying to change the meaning of depression and market it to the Japanese people, for the benefits of themselves, rather than the Japanese people. In Karen Ho’s essay “Biographies of Hegemony” she addresses the issue of Wall Street recruitment on college campuses, as well as Ivy League students
In Thomas King’s “’You’ll Never Believe What Happened’ Is a Great Way to Start,” a battle of stories can be seen in how different cultures tell the story of creation. These stories and the manner in which they are told are at the core of different possible belief systems, one Christian and the other more “traditional”. Each story suggests a different framework for viewing the world in its entirety. In some ways they may be interpreted as the root of such framework; in other ways these stories can be seen as small embodiments of a larger meta-narrative. It is within the larger narrative of colonialism that I will attempt to dissect several examples of this battle of stories.
Because of these applications and implications in human lives and existence, religion should be understood deeply, particularly, on how it affects the world. Looking at the American perspective of the term "religion," it could be simply understood as images of church, worship, traditions and other sacred pilgrimages. However, religion is more than that. It bears and carries heavier implications and definitions that cannot be merely based on practical applications and references. This influenced the overall development of their cognitive skills and emotional capacities.
Through studies such as comparative mythology, researchers and philosophers have discover hundreds of parallels between the myths that make up every culture, including their creation myths. As most are deeply rooted in religion, comparisons based on geographic area, themes, and similar story lines emerge as religions form and migrate. Campbell recognized these similarities an...
In much of The Things They Carried, stories are retold time and time again. One reason for this is the idea of keeping a story’s story-truth alive. In “Good Form,” O’Brien differentiates what he calls story-truth from happening-truth. Story-truth seems to give us a better understanding of O’Brien’s sentiment in a particular story even though the story itself may not be true at all. On the other hand, happening-truth is what actually happened in the story, but may not contain as much emotional authenticity as story-truth. According to O’Brien, story-truth is therefore truer than happening-truth. Relating back to storytelling, O’Brien retells stories continuously to maintain their sentiment and emotional value. Without this continuous repetition, this sentiment fades away and the emotional value of the story is lost.
“Christianity, along with all other theistic belief systems, is the fraud of the age. It serves to detach the species from the natural world, likewise, each other. It supports blind submission to authority[control of the masses].”(Zeitgeist 2007) In this essay, we will explore the different roots of religion and the plagiarism that Christianity and a number of different religions have committed.
Eastman, Roger. The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. Third Edition. Oxford University Press. N.Y. 1999
On its surface, Martel’s Life of Pi proceeds as a far-fetched yet not completely unbelievable tale about a young Indian boy named Pi who survives after two hundred twenty-seven days on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. It is an uplifting and entertaining story, with a few themes about companionship and survival sprinkled throughout. The ending, however, reveals a second story – a more realistic and dark account replacing the animals from the beginning with crude human counterparts. Suddenly, Life of Pi becomes more than an inspiring tale and transforms into a point to be made about rationality, faith, and how storytelling correlates the two. The point of the book is not for the reader to decide which story he or she thinks is true, but rather what story he or she thinks is the better story. In real life, this applies in a very similar way to common belief systems and religion. Whether or not God is real or a religion is true is not exactly the point, but rather whether someone chooses to believe so because it adds meaning and fulfillment to his or her life. Life of Pi is relevant to life in its demonstration of storytelling as a means of experiencing life through “the better story.”
C.S. Lewis was the 20th century’s most popular proponent of faith based on reason. As a child, he created an imaginary world where personified animals came to life, and later, he wrote the book, Chronicles of Narnia. How did he transform from a boy fascinated with anthropomorphic animals into a man of immense faith? His transformation to the Christian religion happened as his fame began to flourish. People wrote him, asking him about his claims about the truth of Christianity (Belmonte, Kevin). As I attended the drama of Freud’s Last Session, I was engrossed into the plot of the play and was constantly thinking about how it pertained to the objectives of the World Literature class. I not only connected the content of the play to its context, but I also reached out to apply the context to a discussion on a broader scale. I then discovered why the context of literature is imperative for true understanding of the w...