spiritual self

• Religion


  An organized system of ideas about the spiritual or supernatural realm that is accompanied by rituals. Through rituals, people attempt to influence things that they think are beyond their control.
• Spirituality


  Concerns an aspect of the divine and supernatural but is oftentimes limited to the individual, with no need for any formal organization. This is the search for meaning and direction in life and the ways by which one may preserve these.
• Religion and Spirituality


  The two are related, although not separate from one another, spirituality is much more profound than religion.
• Functions of Religion


  • To explain things
  • To establish order
  • To justify things
  • To provide support
  • Socializes people
  • Vehicle for passage into a different domain
• Theories on Religion


  • Cognitive – imparts meaning and value to the world
  • Psychological – how people adapt to extreme fatigue and tension (stress)
  • Social Function – looks at the relationships of people, unity, and conformity to the majority
• Religion (Organized)


  Organized belief in the supernatural. Fulfills numerous social and psychological needs. In the last 10,000 years, no group of people have gone/existed within religion.
• Religion (Symbols)


  Religions make use of many symbols - Norms, words, ideas and objects that point to other objects. When put together, these symbols become a system of knowledge.
• Religion (Myths)


  These are stories that have explanations about the divine and the supernatural. Within a culture, myths are considered real. This is accompanied by ideology and a worldview.
• Examples of Myths in Major Religions

  • Brahma, Krishna, Vishnu, many more (Hinduism)
  • Muhammad and the Angel Gabriel (Islam)
  • Adam & Eve (Judaism & Christianity)
  • The Jade Emperor/Heavenly Grandfather (Taoism)
• Myth


  Religious, sacred, stories that provide the basis for beliefs/practices. Origins of humanity, creation of the universe, nature of death/illness. Lay the founding for values/morals. Can be passed down verbally or in writing. Myths help to shape a culture's worldview.
• Worldview


  The collective body of ideas that members of culture generally share concerning the ultimate shape and substance of their reality. Myths help to shape a culture's worldview, the way they look at reality.
• Functions of Religion and Spirituality

  • Reduce anxiety by explaining the unknown and offer comfort in times of crisis
  • Provide notions of right and wrong, setting precedents for acceptable behavior
  • Through ritual, religion may be used to enhance the learning of oral traditions
• Religion vs Spirituality


  Religion is directed toward the pursuit of a wider set of destinations or significant goals than spirituality. Religion serves the important purpose of facilitating spirituality itself, but it serves other functions as well, including those that are psychological, social, and physical. Spirituality focuses on the search for one particular significant destination, the sacred.
• Religion (Rituals)


  Religions have rituals/ ritu. It is whatever is done repeatedly. A ritual is a series of acts conducted primarily for symbolic purposes. Rituals serve a variety of functions; Rituals can fulfill religious obligations or ideals, satisfy practitioners' spiritual or emotional needs, strengthen social bonds, provide social and moral education, demonstrate respect or submission, allow one to state one's affiliation, obtain social acceptance or approval for some event—or rituals can be performed simply for the pleasure of the ritual itself. Rituals are helpful in the development of a strong sense of group identity.
• Types of Rituals


  • Calendric Rituals - Festivals or ceremonies done at specified periods of the year depending on calendar cycles
  • Crisis Rituals - Intended to assist people or groups in dealing with a difficult or traumatic occurrence
• Examples of Calendric Rituals


  • New Year's Day
  • Ramadan
  • Christmas
• Examples of Crisis Rituals

  • Funerals
  • Grieving rituals
  • Healing rituals
• Rites of Passage


  Ceremonial celebrations that mark an important transition in one's life, such as moving from infancy to maturity or from singleness to marriage. Rites of passage have three stages: separation, transition, and incorporation.
• Stages of Rites of Passage

  • Rites of separation (pre-limen) - Rites that involve the separation of the individual from society
  • Rites of transition (liminality) - Rites on the temporary separation of an individual before inclusion in a big group
  • Rites of incorporation (post-limen) - In the new state/condition, the individual is returned to the big group
• Rites of Intensification


  Rituals used in times of problem or crisis, in order to unify, reduce fear or to mobilize people into action. The majority of the repetitious religious ceremonies provided by churches, synagogues, and mosques are intensification rituals.
• The origin of the concept of religion cannot be certainly said when and how religious ideas emerged in man. It is also certainly cannot be said that
• Rituals of intensification


  Also known as rituals of affirmation and calendrical rites, done to reinforce, enhance, and preserve relationships of solidarity
• The majority of the repetitious religious ceremonies provided by churches, synagogues, and mosques are intensification rituals
• Intensification rituals have a somewhat solid and repeating framework that allows practitioners to simply follow along
• If you attend or participate in a religious ritual on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, it is most certainly a rite of intensification
• Even if additional ritual activities accompany it, these rites define and expose individuals in a way that they identify as a religious community
• Origin of the concept of religion


  There are different theories but no broad consensus amongst thinkers on when and how religious ideas emerged in man
• Religious ideas are instinctive in man, not present in other animals
• At the very inception of human race, men were totally ignorant about different events in nature and applied their own efforts to imagine an invisible power mightier than themselves to get assistance, strength and relief
• Fear and curiosity are the main factors responsible for the emergence of religious tendency in ancient people
• Different aspects of religion

  • Internal (emotional and intellectual elements, man's relation to God)
  • External (practical activities like rites and ceremonies)
• There are religions without God or gods, like Buddhism, Jainism and Comte's religion of humanity
• Religion is an individual matter, where one acquires religious experience and has personal conviction
• The social aspect of religion is emphasized by all the great religions of the world, as religion plays an important role in maintaining social unity, its promotion and maintenance
• Religious institutions perform not only religious activities, but also discharge different types of activities related to social welfare such as charitable hospitals, schools, homes for the homeless, orphanages, and collecting money for the poor
• Religion has an external form of social control, as different activities of people and their social life are influenced by religious rites and ceremonies
• In primitive societies, almost all aspects of life were covered by religious practices, and in modern societies, religious rites are performed on important social occasions like birth, marriage, death, etc.
• Religion helps to shape the character of an individual and thereby moulds social life, bringing forth the sense of social value, social obligations, and fellow feeling amongst people
• Religion enforces uniformity of behaviour, strengthens social solidarity, and acts as an instrument in stabilizing social order
• In primitive age, religion controlled society by inspiring God-fear, while in modern age, it inspires people by the hope for attainment of virtuous and noble life