A Phenomenal Medium

Be patient, for your patience is from God. And do not grieve over them, or distress yourself because of their plots. For God is with those who restrain themselves, and those who do good.”
“Peace be unto Noah among the peoples!”
“To those who commit evil through ignorance and afterwards repent and mend their ways your
Lord is forgiving and merciful”

“It is indeed the way of warriors to invert the instruments of war which they hold in their hands when calling for peace"
“for you have wielded your sword over it and profaned it”

"And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death…
…Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.”

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Quotes
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Figures
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Be patient, for your patience is from God. And do not grieve over them, or distress yourself because of their plots. For God is with those who restrain themselves, and those who do good.”
- Qur’an
“
Peace be unto Noah among the peoples!
”
- Surah 37, Ayat 79
“To those who commit evil through ignorance and afterwards repent and mend their ways your
Lord is forgiving and merciful” - Qur’an

“It is indeed the way of warriors to invert the instruments of war which they hold in their hands when calling for peace.”
 Nachmanides 9:13
“For you have wielded your sword and profaned it.”
- Exodus 20:22

“And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death…
- Matthew 10:21
…Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.”
- Matthew 10:34

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 What has been conveyed?
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The quotes were not associated w/ the images
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Does the message change?

IS THIS WHAT YOU PICTURED?

GROUND
MEDIUM
GOD
“
Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword… And he that doth not take his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me. “
 (Matthew 10:34-38)
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FIGURE
MESSAGE
DIVINE WORDS

“
Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword…
And he that doth not take his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me. “
 (Matthew 10:34-38)
GROUND
MEDIUM
GOD
-
FIGURE
MESSAGE
DIVINE WORDS

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The PICTURE , or the WORDS ?
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How accurate are either images? By whom were either instated by?

 The Bible gives no explicit description of the beloved Jesus.
 The geographic place of origin is obvious.
 Josephus, a Jewish-Roman Historian was quoted describing Jesus –
Although there is no description found in any existing writings.
 In the 8 th century, the archbishop of Crete, one Andreas
Hierosolymitanus, quoted a description of Jesus Christ which (he said) could be found in a version of Josephus extant at that time. Andreas' report is startling. “Jesus,” he said, “ was a dark-skinned hobbit-sized hunchback with a big nose, thinning hair, a patchy beard, and eyebrows that joined in the center in a monstrous fashion.”
 Tertullian, an early Christian writer, said, “Jesus was disfigured and ugly.”

 “The now ubiquitous image of the bearded long-haired Jesus did not become established until the Eighth Century.“
( Freke & Gandy, 2001, p.
56).
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If conventional images are vastly inaccurate, then why does it continue to be widely circulated? What is the meaning behind these actions? What are the effects? Who really asks or cares?
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The medium IS the image.
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What is the message? Why is this important? Does it make a difference?

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Ground/Medium
 Caucasian
 Good looking
 Long flowing hair
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Healthy looking
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Clean skin
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Well endowed
•
WHAT DOES GOD LOOK
LIKE?
• WHAT CHARACTERIZES
DIVINITY?

 “Religion” and Culture once as ONE
There existed a time when there was no formal religion, to the point where religion and culture were virtually indistinguishable. For example, Indigenous tribes and communities believed that the spirit of the earth pervaded everything, from human beings to nature.
This was so central to their life that it could not be separated from their daily being; they ate only was a necessary for survival, and they never exploited natural resources [1] .
These “oral religions” (as they have recently been coined), existed in societies where there was no formal religion, where culture was piety and piety was culture. Moreover, communities who practiced these universal and ubiquitous spiritual beliefs existed on all corners of the earth.
[1] “Experiencing The World’s Religions: Tradition, Challenge, and Change. 3rd Edition,” Molloy, Michael. McGraw-Hill, 2005. P. 36
 Religion “created” and shaped Culture,
 Culture now shaping Traditional Religion
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New Religion and Culture united once again, though drastically different from the original

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The word itself comes from the Latin word religio
, meaning “reverence” (for the gods)” or
“conscientiousness.”
 Latin initially being the principle language of the Roman Empire. Hence what was ‘religion’ called and how was it perceived prior to its systematizing and institutionalization by the Roman Church?
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It was introduced into civilization. For example: Constantine and the Roman Empire created the Roman
Catholic Church in 313 C.E. approximately 300 years after the death of Jesus. Christianity begins to make its mainstream ascent.
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Religion becomes an institutionalized system/organization – A conscious choice.
In the end, the development and systematizing of organized beliefs and worship creates a medium in itself with heavy social, psychological and cultural consequences .

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Creates and governs communities
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Fosters and establishes NETWORKS & TRADE (ex: Spreading through
Western Europe and consequently the rest of the World)
 Creates a LANGUAGE
 categorizing one’s lifestyle into a sub-genre.
 Communication through institutional affiliation,
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The spread of Latin)
 Establishes ART & CULTURE
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Maintains a lasting influence on:

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The Medium IS the Message
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"The Medium is the Message" is a phrase meaning that the generic form of media is more important than any "meaning" or "content" that the media conveys. For
Marshall McLuhan, the content of media is irrelevant. The form of the medium itself is what changes our consciousness.
[1]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_medium_is_the_message
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Religion IS the Medium
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While this concept was made to understand the effects of technological developments on society, such as the alphabet, the moveable type, and the internet, this concept is also extremely relevant to religion itself, being metaphorically an institutional technological development.

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MEDIA
– As propaganda
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TECHNOLOGY
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As applied through Mcluhan’s TETRAD:
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Religion can be seen to extend human intelligence, understanding and mental capacity, wherein people believe and accept concepts or ideas that they do not understand.
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It retrieves an ancient standard of morality and righteousness proposing idealized conduct.
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It obsoletes non-institutional spirituality, and the ability to have a natural, independent and unquestionable affinity with nature (such as experienced by indigenous tribes).
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Its benefits are reversed when discrimination, bigotry and war are perpetrated in the context of its universally peaceful ideals.
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POWER – Control over society
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CONTROL – Society’s behaviour

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Culture shaping traditional Religion
 Over the past two centuries modern civilization has witnessed the systematic eroding of all religious authority through the unprecedented advancements in technology, science, politics and economics.
 The Enlightenment
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Industrial Revolution
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French Revolution
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The vastly increased access to information through the
Internet

 The Rise of
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Referring to a worldview that shows interest in this world only and that refuses to refer to beliefs or values derived from any supernatural realm
 The decline of religion replaced by the increased worship of reason, humanism, and money (i.e. Pleasure)
 Western civilization’s notion of competition; to strive for individualism
– As opposed to familial herding and interdependency (Post-industrial revolution).

 Has openly embraced secularism.
 The kick-back of the simulated “3 rd order of simulacra”.
 Secularism rise over traditional religion.
 Baudrillards’ “Precession of Simulacra”
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This is easily illustrated through the modern methods of practicing traditional religion, for we live in a age that arguably revolves around the simulated copy of traditional religion that no longer exists.
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The reliance on religious information given vs. Facts & reality.
 Jesus’ false image and depictions as an example.

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The simulation of gesture instead of gesture itself
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Examples include:
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Wedding ceremonies
 Funeral processions
 Christ's’ Mass (a.k.a. Christmas)
 Hallows’ Eve (a.k.a. Halloween)
 “That we are living in a fundamentally different age -- an age dominated more by appearances than by what used to be known as reality; an age of simulacra, or copies of originals that no longer exist” - Baudrillard

• Culture is no longer shaped by the belief in divinity, but by the belief in independence – capitalism – the market system – individualism – secularism.
• It is a capital driven culture.
Social Status highly depends on income and materials (Cars, Jewellery, etc)
• Look at the “Great American Dream” or “The Pursuit of Happiness” that everyone seeks and speaks of.

• Religion and Culture has once again been symbiotically meshed into a unified way of living.
• Capitalism as religion,
• Religion (Capitalism) and culture being virtually indistinguishable from one another.

 It is “Pop Religion”. Simply turn on the television set and observe the images. The images created serve as the medium. Since the medium IS the message, the message must be that whatever you see is acceptable.
On the other hand, there are images created to teach us what NOT to do or to feel sympathy. The interesting this is, how over time and repetition, we only become more desensitized and simply change the channel.

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In the beginning, it can be argued there was no religion
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Religion institutionalized gave power to the religiously connected elite.
 Religion and Culture formally separated, As religion and religious leaders molded society.
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Religion and societal culture diluted one another.
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Secularism took advantage of changing attitudes, and rose creating great demand; translating into potential for profits.
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Society sought comfort, success, and happiness.
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In the rat race, more persuasive mediums developed
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Media and Technology delivers us what we want
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Culture now shapes religion to the point where they are ultimately indistinguishable
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Religion, a phenomenal medium, has now transformed into Capital culture
 Who molds the capital culture?