World Religions And Philosophy

1. World Religions And Philosophy

3. Over the next 10 weeks, we’ll be examining the “BIG 5” of world religions: Hinduism Judaism Buddhism Christianity Islam

4. What, if any, is the relationship between Philosophy and _____? • Religion • Myth • Science • Ritual • Anthropology • Morality

5. What is Western Religionand Philosophy? • It may not be what it seems to be. While ‘Western’ generally means American and European, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian are often excluded. • While Western Philosophy is grounded on Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle, it has been suggested that many of the primary sources for Greek ideas were first developed in the Middle East, Asia, Egypt, and perhaps parts of Africa.

6. What is Non-Western Religionand Philosophy? • Basically anything which does not fit neatly into the small American-European theatre, especially if it seems far away and unfamiliar. • China, Japan, India, Africa, Latin America, and Islamic Middle Eastern countries are typically considered Non-Western (despite Islam’s monotheism). • Generally, distinctions between Western and Non-Western philosophy are largely arbitrary and misleading (because even in Western, there is not a single coherent system of belief). But trying to find some dissimilarities provides us with a starting point.

7. What Religions are Asian/Eastern? Western Religions are generally designated as the monotheistic “Big 3” – meaning Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (which arguably could be considered an “Eastern” religion as well). Asian/Eastern/Non-Western Religions are typically defined as such because they are (a) polytheistic, or (b) have no identifiable “god,” or are more grounded in “intimacy” than “integrity” (i.e., more “relationship-oriented” than “individualistic”). The last point (c) will be more fully developed in a little while.

8. Some Philosophical Questions • Did the world have a beginning? If it did, was the world created, and if so by whom and how? • Is the world and all the things of the world viewed as living beings? • Are there pervasive gods or God or spirits? • Is there a sharp division between the secular and the divine, between people and the God or gods? • What are the origins and sources of good and evil? • How important is the concept of social harmony? • Are some people in a privileged position to gain philosophical/religious knowledge or wisdom, or can anyone who puts his mind to it become wise? • To what degree are our philosophical and religio-theological positions culturally biased?

9. Can the West think “Asian”? A basic logical statement: Eastern ‘If A, then B’ or ‘All A are B’ Western

10. What is “thinking Asian”?

11. Are the differences in Western & Eastern Religions and Philosophies an indication that people in the West & East do not “think” the same way? No -- The simple answer: thinking is thinking… despite “where,” “HOW” people think does not change from culture to culture; our brains are all wired the same WHAT people think “about” and how they perceive what they think about may be culturally influenced (just as a person’s attention and emphasis on things perceived also may be influenced by race, gender, religion, economics, and a host of other things) But the basic “how” is the same for all people; the focus on the “what” and interpretation of that “what” may be at the root of any significant differences

12. Let’s play a game to see if everyone in this classroom perceives and interprets the same What is it? A rabbit or a bird?

13. What is it? A young lady or old hag?

14. What is it? A vase or faces?

15. “Thinking” is the same Study the stairs carefully. Attentiveness, emphasis, and interpretation of perceptions are generally the reasons why people believe there are (cultural) differences in people’s thinking But more realistically, there are no differences in thinking, just in attentiveness, emphasis, and interpretation Since cultural philosophy is based on what a particular culture (or cultures) chooses to emphasize and explore, the differences between the West and East philosophically are a result of different focusing and interpreting – NOT a difference in thinking itself See handout on “Integrity v Intimacy”

16. A working definition of Religion  Belief in something sacred (e.g., gods or other supernatural beings).  A distinction between sacred and profane objects.  Ritual acts focused on sacred objects.  A moral code believed to have a sacred or supernatural basis.  Characteristically religious feelings (awe, sense of mystery, sense of guilt, adoration), which tend to be aroused in the presence of sacred objects and during the practice of ritual.  Prayer and other forms of communication with the supernatural.  A world-view or a general picture of the world as a whole and the place of the individual therein. This picture contains some specification of an over-all purpose or point of the world & an indication of how the individual fits into it.  A more or less total organization of one's life based on a worldview.  A social group bound together by the above.

17. A working definition of Philosophy • The philosopher Wilfrid Sellers defined philosophy as the study of how things in the most general sense hang together in the general sense. • Philosophers worry about the order of things – how our natural, social, and cultural worlds hang together. • When Eastern philosophers address the idea of how things hang together, they express a relational principle of ordering, which they label ‘aesthetic.’ • The Western notion of ‘hanging’ is a more atomistic and hierarchical ‘logical’ ordering which is also more linear. • Because relationships are of primary concern for the Eastern, coordination is more important than rigid distinctions, and social roles are understood contextually.

18. In the West, a scientist and/or philosopher might think about discovering the natural laws which underlie and regulate the universe. Aquinas, for example, believed that if a person could reason out these laws by looking at nature, he would be able to immediately comprehend (and be able to follow) the Natural Laws and then be able to distinguish moral and immoral behavior. An Eastern philosopher would look for the aesthetic sense of order in the (ever-changing) universe in the same way that an artist might think about creating a pleasing composition. The difference is between discovering an order already there, even if we don’t see it (the Western approach), and helping to invent one (the Eastern approach). Western ‘Scientific’ v Eastern ‘Aesthetic’

19. The Western preference for ontological permanence over the flux and change of the phenomenal world means that the world of ordinary experience cannot be presumed finally real. “Reality” refers to the “really-real” that grounds this world of appearances (which itself is not real), since appearances are misleading and/or illusory. The phenomenal world (as things appear) of process and change is simply wanwu (“the ten thousand things”). Adherents to Eastern Philosophy and Religions are less inclined to asked what makes something real or why things exist, and they are more interested in negotiating the complex relationships among the changing phenomena themselves. West v East – Ontology (Being)

20. Being takes precedence over Becoming, and thus becoming is ultimately unreal. Being itself is complete (and perfect, like Plato’s ‘forms’) and has no further need to change. Becoming takes precedence over being. “Being” is interpreted as a transitory state marked by further transition. The yin-yang relationship typifies the always changing situation of existence and experience. Everything is in “process.” West v East – Being (Part 2)

21. There is some permanent, perfect, objective, originative, determinative principle in the single-ordered (really-real) world (usually called God). The realm of appearances (where we live) is characterized by ‘wholes’ and ‘parts’ – a world patterned by discreteness and permanence in which change is primarily the rearrangement of that which is unchanging (like the ‘atoms’ of Democritus). Since everything is always in a transitory state, there is no final whole we call ‘Cosmos’ or ‘World.’ The world is an interactive field. It iswanwu– ‘the ten thousand things.’ There are no ‘parts’ or ‘objects’; the ‘things’ are simply states of becoming -- just happenings, processes, or events. West v East – the World/Cosmos

22. Regardless of how the world came about, there is the general assumption that there is a ‘given’ cosmic design which gives meaning and purpose to human life. The universe began somewhere and is going somewhere, and this tradition is characterized by a predominance of linear, cause-and-effect explanations for why things are what they are and the way they are and will stay the way they are. Order is simply the patterned regularity we find in the world as we discover it and as we add to it; it’s the way things happen and the way we make things happen (the Tao). Order, then, is the unique graining in any piece of wood, the DNA genetic map in every cell, the veins in any blade of grass, and so forth. Order is the Eternal Now, an always changing pattern of order that inheres in and is inseparable from the uncreated and unending world that is ordered. West v East - Order

23. The West asks questions that the East generally does not ask Design – by Robert Frost I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,On a white heal-all, holding up a mothLike a white piece of rigid satin cloth--Assorted characters of death and blightMixed ready to begin the morning right,Like the ingredients of a witches' broth--A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,And dead wings carried like a paper kite.What had that flower to do with being white,The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?What brought the kindred spider to that height,Then steered the white moth thither in the night?What but design of darkness to appall?--If design govern in a thing so small.

24. Eastern philosophers generally believe that they live in spontaneously self-originating and self-ordering world which has no beginning or end and no independently assigned purpose. Eastern Aestheticism means that shaping life is a process of education and refinement, comparable in many ways to learning to draw bamboo ink paintings or to writing well-formed characters in the art of calligraphy or to studying the flow of the water in a stream.

25. Power relationships reduce creativity to modes of external causation, and the creative element (such as the Western notion of God) is completely in control of its ‘other.’ The created object itself is literally nothing. Creativity is a notion that can only be characterized in terms of self-actualization for all involved. Creativity can only make sense in a world with ontological parity. Either everything shares in creativity or the world is sharply divided into the creator and the created – the maker and the made. There is an absence of linear causality or of singular determination. West v East – Power v Creativity 1

26. West v East – Power v Creativity 2 For example, in the East a poem is not an externally crafted product; rather, it is a creative process of spontaneous self-actualization through the realization of novelty. Creativity is both self-creativity and co-creativity in a world of mutually actualized selves, each a focus of transactional realization in a realm of interdependent processes.

27. In the West, logical and semantic clarity are among the most celebrated of the ideals of Reason. These ideas are associated with univocal definition guaranteeing unambiguous usage. In this sense, the opposite of clarity is confusion – a state of unarticulated ideas or feelings. In classical Eastern texts, allusive and connotatively rich language is more highly prized than clarity, precision, and argumentative rigor. For the East, the opposite of clarity is not confusion, but something like ‘vagueness.’ We must attempt to avoid what A.N.Whitehead called ‘the Fallacy of the Perfect Dictionary.’ For example, besides ‘creativity,’in Chinesechengcarries the associations of ‘sincerity’ and ‘integrity.’ Can you figure out how all three definitions could work together? West v East - Language

28. Death is the end of life. With death, a person can either cease to exist or expect some sort of judgment and then reward or punishment (which would last through eternity) based on the kind of life he lived while his spiritual self (i.e., his soul) was dwelling in a material body. Death celebrates the uniqueness of each person by punctuating and consummating the ongoing process in such a way as to produce distinct intimate events defined in terms of our unique relations with someone else. A person who lives forever is one who is remembered by those with whom he had relationships. A person who never developed relationships and is forgotten ceases to exist. Or, in the case of Buddhism, it means that our useless human “strivings” are finally over; it is a “release” from this world. West v East – Death

29. …….. Pervasive in the Eastern tradition (not just Daoist or Confucian), the recognition that the form of one kind of thing gives way to the ceaseless adventure of becoming other things is grounded in a transformational perspective. Confucius stood on a riverbank and mused about the flux and flow of life, saying, “Isn’t life’s passing just like this, never ceasing day or night!” Such a recognition of continuity and intimacy presumably stimulates empathetic feelings for other creatures in a shared environment.

30. ……… Life and death are not rivaling forces. The Chinese focus is on the interdependence and complimentary of opposites – on the yin and yang, mind and body continuum where each can only be explained by reference to each other. Indian (Hindu and Buddhist) cosmology is non-dualistic. Everything that is, is Brahman. The universe has to be grasped dynamically, as it moves, vibrates and dances. it moves and grows and changes continually. Brahman is the eternal Now, and in eternity there is no before or after, for everything is everywhere, always.

31. Western Thinking is based on Integrity (“one”-ness) Eastern Thinking is based on Intimacy (relationships) A Way of Summing it Up Maybe the following charts will help

35. OK, you say. People in the East & West don’t think differently but they still have different notions about things because their attentiveness towards and perception of the world leads them to reach different conclusions about things. OK. So what? There is an easy (but oversimplified) answer….. Different conclusions become the foundations for different religions.

36. Why should you care about all of this (other than for a grade)? One good reason is that you will know more about the people you meet and work with who may have religious beliefs which are different from yours. Not everyone in the United States is a Protestant Christian or an Atheist. There are many other religions actively practiced in the U.S.

37. Non-Religious 16% Judaism 2.2% Islam 21% Buddhism 6% Hinduism 14% Christianity 33% There are a lot of religions in the world, and we are going to be studying only 5 of them.

38. With the exceptions of Islam (600 AD) and Hinduism (c.a. 1500 BC), almost all of the major world religions (including Chinese Confucianism & Daoism) began during the period called THE AXIAL AGE

39. According to the German philosopher Karl Jaspers, the AXIAL AGE was the period from 800 BC to 200 BC during which the same intensity of thought appeared in three different regions: China, India and the Occidental Near East & West. After the Axial Age, the different regions of Earth never again showed such parallelism. Jaspers defined this period as that against which future generations measure the quality of their thinking but was unable to define any cause or connection for it. The word axial in the phrase Axial Age should be interpreted to mean pivotal. The name is derived from the German word Achse, which means both axis and pivot. However, in this case the word was mistranslated as axial, and the term has stuck. The phrase Axial Age is frequently seen in the writing of English-speaking theologians such as Karen Armstrong.

40. Characteristics of The AXIAL AGE • Man becomes aware of existence, himself, and his • limitations. • 2. People begin to move into urban areas, and the cities • grow larger and larger (e.g., Greek “city-states”). • 3. Instead of one butcher or baker or candlestick maker, in • the cities, there are many people who do the same • things. There is a major shift from bartering to a • “market economy” (with coinage) which includes • “competition.” In the competitive struggle, some • people fail and some are successful; economic class • stuggles begin to emerge.

41. 4. City states and regions begin to vie for power (in order to claim the wealth), and there is a marked growth of violence as well as a stuggle for global empires (e.g., Alexander the Great). The battles and violence leads to the dislocation of large numbers of people. 5. Man becomes less certain about his home, his economic situation, and even about his existence itself. He yearns for his salvation (i.e., ‘saved’ from these things). 6. He tries to gain salvation by reflection. For the first time in history, philosophers appear in public. Philosophical disputes ensue to convince the other party. This ends in discussion, fractionalization, and ultimately chaos. 7. This chaos produces today’s thinking categories. 8. Man’s opinions, manners, and customs are hereby put to the test, doubted, and done away with.

42. All these characteristics appeared under the same sociological circumstances: China, India, and the Occidental Near East & West were divided into small states engaged in a never-ending struggle against each other. The scholars roamed from city to city to exchange ideas. These scholars were the wise men of religion and philosophical systems; in China, Confucianism and Taoism; in India, Brahmanism (later called Hinduism) and Buddhism; in the Occident, the religion of Zarathustra; in Canaan, Judaism; and in Greece, sophism and philosophy.SOURCE: Karl Jaspers: Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte, Fischer Bücherei, Frankfurt/M – Hamburg, July 1955.

43. For This Course, Skills Needed Are: - the ability to listen - the ability to read - the ability to do independent research - the ability to do essay writing -having an open and questioning mind • Some EssentialPoints To Remember: • - There are no certain answers (except for the tests) • The main idea is generally exploration, not • explanation • You should be prepared to abandon cherished • notions • - You’ll have more fun in this class if you develop an • interest in the abstract and have a curious mind

44. So, let’s get started! Let’s look at Chapter 1 and then come back for some questions.

45. 1. People embrace religion… a. to gain strength to deal with personal problems. b. because of the desire for life beyond death. c. because of the desire for this life to have meaning. d. all of these.

46. 2. Genuine religious experiences have common elements (according to Wach, a comparative religions scholar). The pattern includes: • the experience involves the person’s whole being. • an experience with the Unseen or Sacred Reality. c. the experience is the most intense of all human experiences. d. all of these.

47. 3.The experience of "connecting" with a divine, transcendent reality or “Unseen Reality” has been called by many names including __________. a. God-realization. b. Awakening. c. Enlightenment. d. Any of the above.

48. 4. Our two primary modes of understanding the reality around us are through _____________ and _______________. a. non-emotional responses, direct knowledge b. emotional responses, belief in a non-rational reality c. intuition, emotional responses d. rational thought, non-rational modes of knowing

49. 5. Westerners sometimes embrace Eastern religions in an attempt to avoid life’s realities. Psychologist John Welwood’s calls this attempt _________ _________. a. “spiritual escapism” b. “world denial.” c. “spiritual bypassing.” d. “new-age pilgrimages.”

50. 6.These elements, characteristic of religions everywhere, serve as aids to connect followers to the divine. a. Spiritual practices b. Sacraments c. Rituals d. any of these.