Help with Critical Thinking Class

Religion Pursues Life's Meaning Constructing a Life Philosophy, 2005 As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What are "life's great questions," according to Saint-Laurent? 2. According to the author, what do Jews, Christians, and Muslims see as humanity's central

problem? How do Hindus and Buddhists define the human predicament? 3. Why is it that theological language can provide only an indirect description of the sacred, in

Saint-Laurent's view? Religion is a pursuit, and religious persons must be prepared to make a sustained effort throughout their life. Religion can be an idyllic search for absolute Truth, Love, and Beauty, but it can also demand a rigorous program of performance. An authentic faith commitment usually engenders a practical way of life and can even create a whole culture, as in the case of medieval Christendom. That is why Moses, the Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad required that their disciples not only hope in the future but also apply themselves to virtuous conduct here and now. These men were teachers of uncommon vision, but they were also men of action who marshaled all their physical energy and inner resources toward their life's mission. People practice religion in the more or less conscious quest for human significance. They often feel that they would be troubled, incomplete, and restless without their religion. Religious men and women seek satisfying answers to life's great questions: From where have I come, what does it mean to be a human being, why am I here, and what will happen to me after death? To the extent that practitioners faithfully adhere to the teachings of their tradition, they discover a new meaning in life. Of course, authentic faith should bear fruit in practice. Religious people have a framework of meditation and/or rituals of prayerful worship to purify their intentions and ethical criteria to discipline their activity. Devotees learn to interpret their daily experiences from a perspective of inspiring vision and lasting values. As their spirituality deepens and matures, they often feel a new conviction of purpose and mission, perhaps even a sense of vocation and election "from above." The Pursuit of Transformation Religion is the pursuit of transformation. Religious people want to integrate harmoniously all the levels of their humanity. They long for liberation from whatever traps and binds them. They seek healing from every scar of past brokenness, elevation to a new dimension of consciousness, and transfiguration according to their new ideal of complete personhood. Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists all teach a source of meaning not of this world: a confirmation in peace (Hebrew shalom, Greek eirene, Arabic salam, Sanskrit shanti, and Pali santi). They also agree that we initially find ourselves in a dehumanizing predicament of dis-ease. Human life, indeed, abounds with difficulties of every description, but human life itself is a major problem. That is

why, they say, we feel ill at ease and alienated, as though we are strangers who do not quite fit into our own world. That is also why a haunting malaise troubles the most fortunate among us at the radical core of our being: our pervasive obsession with ourselves. We must, they insist, pass over from our systemic egocentricity to become reoriented about a new focal center. Consequently, each of these world religions presents itself as a secure and trustworthy way. Each way is more than an ennobling concept to raise up the heart; it is also a path that guides behavior and a road that leads to salvation. Jews, therefore, speak of "the way of Torah." Early Christians identified themselves as followers of "the way" (hodos). Muslims submit to God's will by following the "straight path" (shariah) of Islamic religious law. Hindus, with that broad tolerance for which they are famous, present no less than four major "ways" (margas) to moksha ("liberation"). Buddhists teach the "middle way" (magga) to Nibbana (or Nirvana) ("state of being blown out, cool"—that is, liberation from the wheel of rebirth), and some of them refer to each major interpretation of Buddhism as a yana ("vehicle"). A Message of Fulfillment These world religions proclaim ways to personal transformation for those who follow them, despite the affliction of moral evil, physical misery, and death. They announce a message of human fulfillment by which followers may conduct their lives with heartfelt purpose and an uplifting morality by which followers may devote themselves to others with compassionate service. Believers suffer frustrations, disappointments, and failures, of course. Yet each of these religions offers its adherents the strength to pick up the pieces after setbacks, go on in hope, and finally prevail, either within this world or, perhaps, within some further dimension in the future. Of course, many people are born into a living tradition that nourishes them, and they spontaneously appropriate their parents' religion as their own. Other individuals deliberately choose a particular religion after careful reflection, because it enables them to make sense out of their confusion and wholeness out of their dividedness. They have found its teachings about human dignity and destiny, good and evil, health and pain, life and death to be uniquely persuasive. Both kinds of religious persons confidently root their hopes in a ground that is imperceptible to the senses, yet accessible through faith, enlightenment, or some sort of initiation into a "higher" level of existence. Their own belief system rings true for them and resounds in the deepest recesses of their hearts, while doctrines of other religions appear "less probable." The Human Predicament For Jews, Christians, and Muslims, our human problem is the moral ensnarement of sin that estranges us from a personal God, but the Creator in faithful and merciful love offers redemption. In Jewish thought, human beings must use their freedom responsibly and make the right choice between two strong inclinations: good tendencies (yetzer ha tov) and bad tendencies (yetzer ha ra). They must obey the 613 commandments of God's instruction (Torah) in order to confirm their good inclinations and pass from dehumanizing self-will to the ennobling righteousness of God's holy people. In the Christian view, people must struggle against a state of sinfulness that they inherit from their first parents (original sin);

they then aggravate this solidarity in sinfulness by their own transgressions (actual, or personal, sins). They must by Christ's assistance and empowerment (grace) die to self and pass over with him to resurrection as God's adopted children. In Islamic understanding, human beings must reject the temptations of the devil (Iblis) and choose freely to surrender (Islam) unreservedly to the will of God (Allah) as God's servants and finally, perhaps, as God's friends. For Hindus and Buddhists, our predicament is not moral but intellectual: We human beings erroneously fail to see things for what they really are, and so we become trapped by the law of karma (action, consequence of an action) on the wheel of endless rebirth. Hindus identify our difficulty as the illusion of individual separateness, the false sentiment that we are discrete selves in our own right, distinct from one another and from the one universal and absolute Self (Brahman-atman). Hindus insist that we all possess the same Self (atman) and that all selfishness is, in fact, based upon pointless error. Therefore, we must adopt one of the approved margas and pass over from the state of error that constrains us in rebirth to a liberating realization of our true identity in the universal Self. Buddhists, on the other hand, view our difficulty as the delusion and ignorance of permanent selfhood as such. This ignorance leads to craving desire, and craving desire causes rebirth to further suffering. In fact, the notion of self, whether individual or universal, is empty and void of any reality. Therefore, we must follow the "middle way," with its Noble Eightfold Path, in order to pass over from our state of ignorance that causes craving desire, rebirth, and suffering to a state of enlightenment and Nibbana.... The Impact of a Sacred Worldview Religion is the pursuit of transformation under the impact of a sacred worldview. The notion of the sacred is utterly decisive here (although problematical and resistant to discrete analysis), and we must work out at least some general understanding of its meaning. Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Hindus acknowledge the sacred as existing in an ultimate and absolute reality such as God or the Godhead (Brahman-atman). Buddhists recognize the sacred in the ceaseless process or flow of being, although many of them reject any dualistic distinction between the "sacred" and the "profane" (just as the flow of this-worldly experience and absolute Nibbana are really inseparable and the same). All of these religious people further recognize the sacred as an awe-inspiring dimension of whatever symbolizes and/or communicates the numinous ("pertaining to the divinely Other"). For example, devotees encounter the numinous in consecrated shrines, seasons of celebration, inspired books, and rites of passage. All religious people experience the sacred as beyond all comprehension, impossible to define, and very difficult to describe. Yet they insist that the sacred is incontestably real, irresistibly attractive, wondrously provocative, and enduringly fascinating. They know that they can approach the sacred only with the utmost reverence. The sacred transcends every limitation and overflows every boundary. The whole universe cannot fully contain the sacred and its phenomena, because it exceeds our every ordinary horizon. If the ultimately sacred is a divine being, it may be at once deeply immanent (abiding within) and absolutely transcendent (exceeding limits, transcending). The God of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims is distinct from all creatures, yet God pervades them all in immanence and surpasses them all in transcendence. For many Hindus, the ultimate divine principle (Brahman-atman), is identified with all things as It

pervades them all in immanence and surpasses them all in transcendence. The divinity contains the cosmos, but the cosmos does not contain the divinity. The Mystery of the Sacred Since the sacred is intrinsically mysterious, we are incapable of grasping it directly, whether by our senses or by our intellect. Since the sacred exceeds all that we encounter in our natural and ordinary experience, it is ineffable (beyond adequate human expression). That is why theological language, for example, can at best be no more than indirect and analogical or negative. Even Thomas Aquinas (1225- 74), a philosopher-theologian of extraordinary acumen, affirmed that we know what God is not rather than what God is. Our clouded knowledge of the sacred can be no more than a distant reflection, and our stammering speech about the sacred can be no more than a metaphorical suggestion. Our words may point toward the sacred from afar, but they cannot encompass it. Still, religious people have always tried mentally to probe the meaning of the sacred and have attempted verbally to articulate its significance. They have often created myths (vividly imaginative stories) in order to pass on their experience to the next generation. These colorful narratives form the core of their nonwritten and scriptured traditions, creeds, and texts for worshipping communities. It is very important to realize that religious persons may persevere in their religiosity whether or not they have any emotional feelings in the presence of the sacred. Religion is not essentially a matter of sensibility and sentiment. Some people are certain that they have somehow encountered the sacred, although they have perceived little or nothing on an emotional level. Others may engage themselves with enthusiastic and even passionate commitment to the sacred. Even these people recognize, however, that their faith or enlightenment has to sustain them even when all the sweetness of sensible consolation dissolves into the bitter darkness of aridity. Most religious persons are not mystics who frequently or habitually experience the sacred as immediately available. Some do speak poetically of savoring the supernal delight of the divine presence or hearing the melody of the divine voice. Others recount how the ecstasy of spiritual betrothal has drawn them up out of themselves into the divine embrace. Nevertheless, the vast majority of religious people lead humdrum lives of unspectacular but faithful practice in an earthbound and uninspired context. Religious people engage in numerous kinds of activities. For example, they likely pray and worship, meditate upon scriptures, engage in ritual celebrations, fast, give alms, go on pilgrimages, or serve the needy—and maintain some sort of contact with the sacred through it all. They all seek to commune with awe-inspiring Reality, and they hope that their particular way will lead them to final transformation, enlightenment, or salvation. The defining dimension of all religious exercises is the sacred connection. Buddhists of the Theravada ("teaching of the elders"—that is, the Buddhism of Southeast Asia), for example, deny the existence of both a personal God and a human soul, yet they are certainly religious, since they acknowledge the sacred. Reform Jews are often agnostic in regard to afterlife, but they too are undeniably religious, since they are committed to the sacred. Members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) and practitioners of Zen

give no place to ritual, but they are religious beyond doubt, since they pursue communion with the sacred. Moreover, religious traditions differ from one another in their descriptions of the sacred. They may attempt to speak of the sacred literally, figuratively, or mythically—or not at all. In the last analysis, however, the sacred still remains pivotal and indispensable. Source Citation Saint-Laurent, George E. "Religion Pursues Life's Meaning." Constructing a Life Philosophy. Ed. Mary E. Williams. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 3 Nov. 2015. URL http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?failOverType=&quer y=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display- query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&d isplayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&do cumentId=GALE%7CEJ3010219244&source=Bookmark&u=oran95108&jsid=88741ba5bc80eb829ca62fe 08493cd92