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) toRE-MEMBERRE-CALLRE-COLLECTRE-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, FULFILLMENTTHAT IS CHARACTERIZED BYGENUINE, 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_goddesses.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