DEFINITIONS: WHAT WE ARE TAKING FOR GRANTED?
EXAMINING SOME ASSUMPTIONS BEHIND THE “WORKING” DEFINITION
Given the definition of religion as "intensive and comprehensive valuing," and having clarified some terms, we
can begin to look at the basis for the definition and some of the implications that follow from it. All definitions are
based on assumptions: "If `x', then `y'." These assumptions should be known, and they should be made as explicit as
possible. Let us look at the assumptions behind the definition we have proposed to see if it can provide some further
insight.
Among the possible assumptions that underlie the definition of religion as intensive and comprehensive valuing, we
deal here with three.
ASSUMPTION #1: HUMAN BEINGS DESIRE TO LIVE.
It would be useless to talk about human valuing as life-seeking unless human beings, like other living beings,
experience living as something they want to do and continue to do, something about which they have a positive
attitude or disposition. Life is not something about which we are neutral and indifferent. Life seeks its own
continuance and welfare. Life appears as a given to which we respond. Dead people, it seems, do not do religion.
Further, we decide consciously and reflectively about life only after a considerable amount of living. We grow into
human life and progressively come to experience and understand it as our own. As we develop from birth toward
adulthood, we experience the gradual emergence of valuing in the proper sense of the term. That is, we become
increasingly self-aware and self-conscious about the character of human living and our own role in its progress. We
begin to take ownership of the valuing process and gradually realize that how we value really counts.
For each of us and for all of us, the experience of being alive has many dimensions. Much of our understanding is
common sense, that is, it is shaped by the concrete experience of living that we have from our families, our
communities, our friends, the media, and the cumulative effects of our daily living.
We can also learn through studying. We attempt to understand the many dimensions of life and our relation to them
academically through biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, political
science, the study of literature and the other arts, and so forth. Philosophy of religion concerns itself with how all
these aspects fit together into a whole.
Taking as its starting point the desire to live, the practice of religion (as opposed to the study of religion) is a
practical, down-to-earth activity of human beings in which they endeavor to live comprehensively, with an eye to
the overall meaning and purpose of life. But the desire to live (however that may be understood) is taken for granted.
It is there before we even think about it. Basically, we all want life to work for us and others. We do what we think
will work.
ASSUMPTION #2: HUMAN BEINGS RECOGNIZE THAT LIFE IS DEPENDENT ON POWER(S).
Perhaps everyone experiences a moment of particular annoyance at his or her parents and has thought or said
something like, "I didn't ask to be born." What this registers is the recognition that life is something derived from
something else. As we grow into life, we become increasingly aware of the complex fabric of forces and powers that
make up the context of human living. A variety of terms points to this fact: human life is dependent, conditional,
provisional, limited, not-necessary, contextual, sub-ordinate. Even if we live, we can die. In fact, given the nature of
human being and the world in which we live, death is a certainty for everyone and everything we know.
If my life were entirely automatic, self-generating and self-sustaining, I would not have to worry about it. There
would be no need for valuing (life-seeking), for I would fully possess it. But the awareness of life's radical
conditionality sets up a problematic tension between my desire to live and the conditions under which that desire
might be fulfilled. Hence, life appears as something to be sought (valued), and it can be lived successfully only if
the conditions can be met, only if I can incorporate the power(s) -- physical, biological, social, intellectual, spiritual
or whatever -- needed for life to go on. By power(s), I mean simply that which can meet or satisfy a condition
for live to be and to go on.
Notice, too, that there is a reciprocal relationship between the notions of "life" and "power". What I think life is
all about, the implicit or explicit sense of comprehensiveness I have, will determine what power(s) I will seek, what
the relevant conditions are, what and how I will carry out my life search, my valuing. Likewise, what kind of
power(s) I take as important will condition what I think life is and how it should be lived. I might think economic
power (money), or political power, or love, or knowledge, or pleasure or whatever, is the good which will fulfill the
conditions for life. In any event, I am faced with the question of how to satisfy the problematic tension between the
desire to live and the recognition of dependence upon power(s). As we shall see, this is not only a question of the
availability of things to keep me alive, but it also involves overcoming obstacles to life such as disease, war, and
violence, forces that can destroy us.
So, as human beings, we do recognize that we have to “play ball” with a complex world that was here before we
came and will endure after we leave. There is no escaping this state of affairs. We are limited, dependent,
contingent, conditional beings. It matters whether or not we have it right when it comes to determining how and
what we should value.
ASSUMPTION #3: HUMAN BEINGS NEED EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR RESOLVING THE
TENSION BETWEEN THE DESIRE TO LIVE AND THE RECOGNITION OF DEPENDENCE ON
POWER(S).
Whatever else may be involved, the question of strategies here is first and foremost a matter of practical concern, a
matter of finding out and implementing what works. Having said that, we must also acknowledge that this does not
make it simple. Human living is a very complicated and subtle business. As we progress from childhood to
adulthood, we gradually realize this.
Each religious tradition responds to life's conditionality and complexity particular religious tradition, for example, is
a complex system of strategies hammered out by countless human beings under all sorts of varied and specific
circumstances in space and time. Nevertheless, without getting into any particular religious traditions, we can say
some things about the structure of this strategic process.