MIDTERM REVIEW
“RELIGION”
AND
THE HUMAN QUEST
WHAT DOES “RELIGION” MEAN?
IF THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT USES OF A
WORD,
IT IS NECESSARY TO ESTABLISH LIMITS ON USE
IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE—
OTHERWISE WE DON’T KNOW WHAT WE ARE
TALKING ABOUT!
WORDS ARE SOUNDS
WE MAKE THESE SOUNDS
TO STORE AND RETRIEVE
OUR EXPERIENCE
gezorninplatz
BOB NEWHART
A COMEDY ROUTINE
The Premise:
If you took an infinite number of
monkeys and set them to work at
an infinite number of keyboards,
eventually they would type out
the works of Shakespeare.
A COMEDY ROUTINE
The Scene:
Bob and his associates are
circulating amongst the
monkeys, checking out what
they are typing.
A COMEDY ROUTINE
The Discovery:
Bob says:
“Hey, Joe! Listen to this! I think
we’ve got something!”
.
“ To be or not to be.
That is the
gezorninplatz….”
Get it?
CAN YOU EX-PLAIN THE
MEANING OF
“gezorninplatz”?
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
If you get it, you can just tell the
story.
The icon carries the meaning.
If you don’t get it, explanation
probably won’t really cut it.
EIKASIA PRODUCES EIKONES
OUR EXPERIENCE (pistis) IS STORED IN OUR
MEMORIES
WE USE OUR IMAGINING (eikasia) to
RE-MEMBER
RE-CALL
RE-COLLECT
RE-CORD
OUR EXPERIENCE
WE EXPRESS ALL THIS IN ICONS
• ICONS EMBODY AND EXPRESS THE
EXPERIENCE, NOT JUST ABSTRACT
OR GENERALIZED IDEAS ABOUT
EXPERIENCE
• HUMAN EXPERIENCE COLLECTS AND
ACCUMULATES IN ICONIC FORMS
THAT BECOME TRADITIONS
WHAT KINDS OF ICONS?
• THERE ARE MANY FORMS OF ICONIC
EXPRESSION
• THESE FORMS ARE EXTENSIONS OF OUR
BODIES IN SOME WAY:
– SPEECH AND HEARING (Stories, poems, songs…)
– MOVEMENT (gesture, dance, pilgrimage…)
– SMELL AND TASTE (eating, incense…)
– VISION (pictures, statues, mandalas, books…)
– SKIN (clothing, dwellings, architecture…)
HOW DO ICONS WORK?
• THE MOST POWERFUL OF THEM ARE
SYNESTHETIC (combine forms)
• CONVEY THE EXPERIENCE
• REPEATED EXPOSURE (practice) FACILITATES
“FRAMING” (cf. Lakoff) “Virtue”= “habit”
• MERELY GETTING IDEAS, EXPLANATIONS OR
PROPOSITIONAL STATEMENTS IS SHALLOW,
UNIMPRESSIVE
HOW DO ICONS WORK?
THE KEY TO AN EFFECTIVE
RELATIONSHIP TO ICONS IS BEING
OPEN TO EXPERIENCING THEM—
Using them to deepen and broaden
one’s own pistis
THIS IS THE HEART OF PISTIS—THE ACT OF
“believing,” “’faith-ing’,”
HOW DO ICONS WORK?
• ONE CAN USE EPISTEME (noesis and dianoia)
to probe, “ex-plain,” icons, BUT
THIS ONLY WORKS TO THE EXTENT OF THE
DEPTH AND BREADTH OF—
• ONE’S OWN HUMAN EXPERIENCE
• PRACTICED INVOLVEMENT WITH THE ICONIC
EXPERIENCE
WHAT IS ‘RELIGION’?
R=ICV
WHAT IS ‘RELIGION’?
THAT IS:
THE HUMAN QUEST, SEARCH (VALUING)
FOR LIFE, AWARENESS, FULFILLMENT
THAT IS CHARACTERIZED BY
GENUINE, AUTHENTIC, HONEST COMMITMENT
(INTENSIVENESS)
IN SEARCH TO OBTAIN THE WHOLE ACTUALITY AND
MEANING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE AND NOT ONLY
SOME PART OR PARTS OF IT
(COMPREHENSIVENESS)
WHAT IS ‘RELIGION’?
• THIS DEFINITION OF RELIGION ASSUMES:
– THE HUMAN DESIRE TO FIND LIFE
– THE RECOGNITION THAT HUMAN LIFE IS
CONDITIONAL
– THE SUCCESSFUL LIVING IS ACHIEVED BY
POSSESSING AND ENGAGING IN STRATEGIES THAT
ARE EFFECTIVELY LIFE PRODUCING, SUSTAINING
AND ENHANCING
WHAT IS ‘RELIGION’?
RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS FLOW FROM THE
HUMAN QUEST AND EMBODY THE
HUMAN EXPERIENCE FOR ACCESS BY
LIVING PERSONS AND FUTURE
GENERATIONS WHO ADD TO AND
DEEPEN THAT EXPERIENCE BY APPLYING
IT IN THEIR OWN TIMES, PLACES,
SITUATIONS AND CIRCUMSTANCES.
WHAT IS ‘RELIGION’?
• A SEARCH FOR HOLY POWER
AND HOW TO RELATE TO IT
• THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE OF
THIS SEARCH IS EMBODIED IN
THE GREAT TRADITIONAL
ICONS
WHAT IS ‘RELIGION’?
HOLY ICONS OF THE COSMOS
SOME TRADITIONAL ICONS
FOR STUDY
ORIGINS AND NAMINGS
• Water went they say. Land was not
they say……
• In the very beginning everything was
resting in perpetual darkness: night
oppressed all the earth….
• The fish does…HIP…I throw myself to
the left… I act the fish.
DIRECTIONAL STRUCTURE OF COSMOS
LAKOTA STAR EIKON
THE CHINESE EXPERIENCE
• UNITY
• SENTIENCE
• HARMONY
• MAINTAINING HARMONY
• SURVIVAL
THE CHINESE EXPERIENCE
LAO TZU: TAO TE CHING
THE GREAT MYSTERIOUS TAO
• THE WAY OF ULTIMATE
REALITY
• THE WAY OF THE COSMOS
• THE WAY TO ORDER ONE’S
LIFE
HINDU HOLY POWERS
• www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_go
ddesses.htm (Be able to describe Ganesha,
Saraswati, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva)
Note the video clip on Ganesha on the bottom
of the above page.
HINDU HOLY POWERS
The term “Holy Powers” is preferable
to the terms “gods and goddesses”
because the iconic figures are
representations of certain powers
that operate in the cosmos.
Remember Demeter and Persephone!
HINDU HOLY POWERS
THE POINT IS TO RECOGNIZE
WHAT POWER IS BEING
IDENTIFIED AND HOW IT FIT
INTO THE WHOLE “HOLY
POWER” COMPLEX.
LEVELS OF HINDU HOLY POWERS
____WHO?____
(Ultimate concern)
BRAHMA-VISHNU-SHIVA
(Pan-cosmic concerns)
330 MILLION HOLY POWERS
(Mundane concerns)
USING DIANOIA TO EXPLORE
THE COSMOS
SEE “COSMOS AND BIG BANG” ppt. at
academic.regis.edu/rlumpp