Spirit- Latin spirts- Breath

Spiritus- Derived from the Greek Pnuma

Pnumea- vital or animating principle
Spirituality is the true religion
ReligionReligare
Religare-latin to bind oneself back
Religion Requires action
Essentially good for us that brings fulfillment

Human Spirtiuality
Homo Religious- the being who is religious coined by Mireea Eliade
Scared Dimension of Life
As the world was viewed fundamentally different before the rise of
technology
5 Approaches in the study of religion
1. Study of Sacred Texts:
a. Hermeneutics (the art of interpretation) ex. Bible,
Torah, Quran
b. Hermeneutics is used to find a way to gain in sight into
the tents
2. Historical Method:
a. Looks at emergence of religious behavior in pre-history
before the written word.
3. Comparative Approach:
a. Focuses on the various types of religious behaviors such
as ritual, prayer, and meditation.
4. Philosophical Approach:
a. Evaluate the arguments for and against religious faith.
5. Socio-Historical:
a. Traces the development of religious ideas and
institutions over time.
What is Phenomenology?
Phenomenology- that which it appears.
Phenomenology avoids reductionism. To take religion and to make
it something that is not religion. Religious truth is suigeneris of its own
kind of a class
What are the four stages of this method?
1. Gathering Data(this is how religious studies gain data)
a. Begins with certain facts draw from religious observation.
2. Search for patterns
a. Most religious share the concept of sacred place, sacred
time, sacred persons, etc. Discussions on the nature of
mortality and evil.
3. Analysis of the Structure of Patterns:
a. Distinguished between the meanings assigned to religious
behavior in certain contexts and the more universal
meanings
4. The suggestion of Generalizations:
a. Attempt to from a context theory or united theory regarding
religious behavior
Comparing Eastern and Western Spirituality
On what there is conceptions/reality itself


Ch. 1-Lec. 3
Dimensions of Human Spirituality
Spirituality and Human /thought
2 types of Thought: by Martin Heidegger
1. Calculative Thinking
a) Type of thinking that helps us get day by day. Not
the type of thinking that is spiritual.
Calculative thinking computes It computes ever
new, ever more promising and at the same time
more economical possibilities. Calculative thinking
races from one prospect to the next. Calculative
thinking never stops, never collects itself.
Calculative thinking is not meditative thinking, not
thinking which contemplates the meaning which
reigns in everything that is.
2. Meditative Thinking
b) As we become more developed we are using the
power to think on our own.
Flight from thinking This flight from-thought is
the ground of thoughtlessness. But part of this
flight is that man will neither see nor admit it. Man
today will even flatly deny this flight from thinking.
He will assert the opposite. He will sayand quite
rightly that there were at no time such farreaching
plans, so many inquiries in so many areas, research
carried on as passionately as today. Of course. And
this display of ingenuity and deliberation has its
own great usefulness. Such thought remains
indispensable. Butit also remains true that it is
thinking of a special kind.
This is the type of thinking that produces spirituality the process of
opening oneself and emptying oneself.
What is Faith? What is Belief?
1. Belief
c) You either believe Jesus rose from the dead or not
2. Faith- as surrender and acceptance on the far end of
reason.
d) When rationality or reason has exhausted itself that
are not rational or rational it is trans rational it
transcends reason.
Pistis- To be persuaded. To Trust.
Paul Tillich: Faith always includes the element of doubt.
e) It has feeling
f) A sense of trustful confidence
Spirituality and Feeling
Rudolf Otto and Idea of the Holy
experience of the Holy
1. Inspires feelings of awe, dread and terror.
The Numinous
1. Used to describe the power or presence of the sacred in
our lives. Experienced as wholly other. Cannot be
categorized in language.
Ex. Laying on your back and looking at all the stars and
it being never ending. That feeling of dread that you will
never see all of what little you are seeing in the sky
2 Aspects of the Numinous:
1. Tremendum (overwhelming)
2. Fascinans- The tendency to attract compel or fascinate.
a) He connects it to how most religious came to be
from the beginning
C.S. Lewis he makes a clear distinction between
the numinous and the unknown.
Suppose you were told that there was a tiger in the
next room: you would know that you were in
danger and would probably feel fear. But if you
were told There is a ghost in the next room, and
believed it, you would feel, indeed, what is often
called fear, but of a different kind. It would not be
based on the knowledge of danger, for no one is
primarily afraid of what a ghost may do to him, but
of the mere fact that it is a ghost. It is uncanny
rather than dangerous, and the special kind of fear
it excites may be called Dread. With the Uncanny
one has reached the fringes of the Numinous. Now
suppose that you were told simply There is a
might spirit in the room and believed it. Your
feelings would then be even less like the mere fear
of danger: but the disturbance would be profound.
You would feel wonder and a certain shrinking
described as awe, and the object which excites it is
the Numinous.
Spirituality as Ritual Act
a) Salat (prayer)- Islam
b) Offering Kami-Shintoism
c) Participation in mass- Roman Catholicism
d) Divine Liturgy-Eastern Orthodox
e) Eucharist, Communism, Meditation
f) Any type of fasting
Baraka the movie:
So far in the movie its been 20 minutes and the only thing we have been
shown is spiritual and religious factors for different regions all over the
country. It just amazes me how many different religions there are that I
basically know nothing about. Why is that? I was raised in a mixed
household with my father being Muslim and my mother being orthodox
Christian. I was never told that I had to pick one or the other but in mind
I believed that I had to pick on or the other. The only thing my parents
asked of me was to wait to choose whatever I believed after I was 18. In
my mind I believe that was out of respect for either parent but if there are
so many other religions that I know next to know nothing about. How
can anyone say that their religion is the true religion or their spirituality is
the true spirituality? When they know only a glimpse of every religion out
there? I can only say for myself specifically that God has done so much
for me in the sense that I know that he is there watching over me. He has
done right by me in so many ways that I have lost count. The one thing
can take from this movie is that there is some type of being out there that
watches over all of us and we choose to praise him, thank him in so many
different ways. Whether it be a him, her or them.
Something that always seems to astound me as Biology major is that we
are here on this earth and it really comes down to the big bang theory but
at the same time I have a need to believe in something more and that is
where my spiritual side comes in.
The Language of Spirituality Part 2:
What is Parable?
Means illustration, Analogy
Parable illustrates Moral/Ethical lessonshow you behave
Parables are Normative Statements how we should behave and
how we SHOULD act
Parables are found in the New Testament (Synoptic Gospels are
Mather, Mark, Luke and John)
Oral Cultures
a) No forms of writing, stories and myths are passed down orally.
b) Native and Aboriginal Cultures in Australia, Asia, North
America, South America, Africa
c) Myths are central to Oral Cultures
d) Importance of Place and Time for re-telling of myths.
Scriptural Cultures
a) Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism,
Zoroastrianism, Taoism
To preserve the ideas of their religions
b) Scriptures which are considered most important or privileged are
referred to as Canonical
c) 4 gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are canonical
d) Buddhism: the Tripitika is Canonical Tripitika means Three
Baskets
i. Vinaya(Ethical and Moral Conduct)
ii. Sutras(Discourses of the Buddha)
iii. Abhidharma(Buddhist Psychology)
Other Canonical Works
Islam-Quran
Judaism-Torah- Hebrew Bible
Taoism- Tao te Ching (The Way and its power)
Hinduism- The Four Vedas(Veda=Knowledge)

a) Rig Veda
b) Sama Veda
c) Yajur Veda
d) Atharva Veda
What is the function of written scripture?
a) Yardstick-Provides a framework for which certain ideas or the
rightness of certain actions can be measured or judged
b) Evoke the Presence of sacred reality
c) Scripture defines a community-ex. The Passover Story in Judaism
d) Acts as means of preservation.
The Language of Theology:
a) Theology is Discourse or study God
b) Requires a faith commitment
Specific Tools for Theology:
a) Exegesis- Method of Interpretation
b) History- Understanding the meaning and development of a
specific t RADITON
c) Systematic Thought: how can the disparate elements of faith
tradition be brought together to form a comprehensive unity?
d) Apologetics: Defense of faith. Attempts to answer questions and
critiques from the outside world
e) Critical thought: Attempts to asses the current state of ones faith
f) Ethics: behavior and its relationship to the teachings
Visual Language of the Sacred
a) Sacred is conveyed in painting, sculpture, and architecture
b) Artwork as a direct vehicle for transmitting spirituality
c) Icons (images). Ex: Hinduism, Eastern Orthodox Christianity
d) Aniconic (against image) ex. Islam, Quaker

The Nature and Role of the Sacred
What is sacred? Sanctus= to set apart, to consecrate, to dedicate
Sacred vs. Profane
Profane means outside the temple, outside of the sacred
Sacred manifests in two distinct ways
a) Transcendence- Above or Beyond. Christianity, Judaism,
Islam (Abrahamic Religions)
Transcendence in Buddhism-refers to the Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas.
o Bodhisattva= The being who is awake
Transcendence in Hinduism
o Escape from worldly existence. The cycle of
birth and death= Samsara
o Atman= Soul, Brahman= God/Absolute
o Atman is Brahman in Hinduism
o Through the force of Maya (illusion), we
fail to perceive this.
o Moksha= Liberation from Samsara
o Yoga= to link up with, to connect
Sacred Manifests as Immanence
a) Immanence- to dwell in, to remain in
b) Immanence is found in Monotheistic, polytheistic ad d is
Pantheistic Spiritual Traditions.
c) Pantheism= nature is God
d) Hinduism is Pantheim- Contained within and ultimately
Beyond. God is nature yet ultimately beyond nature as well.
Ex. Of Immanence: Taoism, Incarnation of Christ
(Logos), Nature Worship Religions.
Nature and Role of Sacrifice:
a) Sacrifice: Makes communication possible with the sacred/the
real/the divine.
The sacred responds to ritual
Ritual technicians in native/aboriginal cultures are called
Shamans
Shamans employ the use of song, dance ritual substances
(peyote, ayahuasca, iboga, etc)
Ecstasy- Ex- Stasis to stand outside of oneself
Buddhism and the Sacred
a) The goal of Buddhism is Nirvana
b) Nirvana literally means to blow out, or to extinguish
c) Nirvana-Awakening
d) The cornerstone of Buddhism is the FOUR NOBLE
TRUTHS (aryasatya)
1. Truth of Suffering-Dunhka (Life is Suffering)
o The first thing the first Buddha said when he
came out of awakening. In the sense of things
not going our way and that this is the way
human life is.
2. The Origin of Suffering- Craving, Desire Fixation
(trishna)
o The nature of the world is unstable and
because of that we suffer
3. The Cessation of Suffering(Nirodha)
o The acceptance that there is a cure to trishna.
4. The Path of Cessation (Maga)
o The cure itself
o Noble Eightfold path (The order is important
because they grow on each other)
1) Right View
2) Right Thought
a) Correct intentions
b) To discern between right and wrong
3) Right Speech
a) We should not engage idle speech
i) Gossip, rumorsetc
4) Right Action
a) Hunting
b) Sexual misconduct
5) Right Livelihood
a) Obtaining money and status through
the right means
6) Right Effort
a) It encourages us to make a sustained
effort
b) To make a persistent effort to avoid
wrong thoughts deeds actions..etc.
7) Right Mindfulness
a) In the practice of right mindfulness the
mind is trained to remain in the
present, open, quiet, and alert,
contemplating the present event. All
judgments and interpretations have to
be suspended, or if they occur, just
registered and dropped. The task is
simply to note whatever comes up just
as it is occurring, riding the changes of
events in the way a surfer rides the
waves on the sea. The whole process is
a way of coming back into the present,
of standing in the here and now without
slipping away, without getting swept
away by the tides of distracting
thoughts.
8) Right Concentration (in meditation)
a) Picturing or thinking of anything such
as the image of Buddha and sustaining
this image.
b) When one reaches this state they have
reached one thought one path in the
path of liberation.
The Appearance of the Sacred
Heierophany- The Appearance of a sacred reality
3 Patterns of Sacred Manifestation
1. Prophetic- Oriented towards a person or prophet. Ex
Judaism, Islam. Hebrew word for Prophet is
Nabi- One who speaks with authority of another.
2. Sacramental Oriented towards material
reality/objects. Christianity, Tribal Traditions
Shintoism
3. Mystical-Sacred shows itself in certain states of
behavior awareness/consciousness. Ex: Buddhism,
Hinduism, Jainism.
a. What are some examples of Mystical states?
i. Nirvana/Enlightenment of the Buddha,
Hinduism=Samadhi (yogic Concentration)
A. Sacred Persons-The Sacred manifests in particular people at
particular times.
a. Abraham, Mohammed (Islam), Buddha, Jesus, Martin
Luther, John Calvin, Joesph Smith, Lao Tzu (Taoism),
Confucius, Georg Foxx (Quakers).
i. Archetype=Primary/Original Pattern
ii. Messiah-Hebrew word for the Greek Christos
iii. Messiah
B. Sacred Objects,
a. Books, Statues, Relics, Food, Shrines, Animals, Stones
b. Eucharist, the bread and the wine, symbolizing the body
and blood of Christ.
C. Sacred Time
a. Kairos infinitely repeatable, re-occurring, recoverable
b. Chronos Linear, sequential time
a. What is Cosmology?
Cosmos=Ordered
Whole
i. The study of the orginis, evolution
and eventual fate of the universe.
ii. First Causes- What brought the
universe into being?
iii. What are the material components?
iv. What is the reason for existence for
the existence of the universe? Does
it have a telos/purpose?
D. Language of the sacred:
a. How to speak or not speak of God.
i. Paradoxical Language
1. Ex. Hinduism- the Upanishads use the phrase
Neti, Neti- Not this not that.
2. Ex. Christianity- Particularly in the work of St.
John of the cross.
a. Everything and Nothing
ii. Cataphatic- Expressing God through positive
terminology
1. God is the Divine
2. God is Good
iii. Apophatic Via Negative
1. Approach to God by negation, to speak onlyin
terms of what may not be said about God.
a. Ex neither existence nor Non-existence
applies to God.
b. Ex God is not a credition
c. Ex God is not a being
d. Ex God is not ignorant
E. What is Myth?
a. From the Greek, Mythos, meaning, story, thought,
speech.
i. Myths are poetic ways of telling great truth Joseph
Campbell
1. 4 functions of Myth:
a. Metaphysical Function-beyond the
physical; mystery of life itself ;
b. Cosmological Function- changes of
seasons
c. Sociological Function- keeping Social
order together
d. Pedagogical Function- method of teaching
and instruction; help guide us safely
through these other stages.
2. Allegory
a. Allegory of the Cave (Platos Republic)
b. Allegory of the Cave is attempting to
illustrate Platos Theory of Form
c. World of Experience (phenomal)
d. World of Forms/ideas/Nuumenal Realm
F. Spirituality and Ritual
a. Etymology: Ritualis from the Latin
b. Ritual is defined as A ceremonial act or a repeated stylized
gesture used for specific occasions
c. Ritual relies on Kairos
d. Ritual according to Pre Industrial/Pre Modern Societies
i. Ritual re-actualizes the Myth
1. Ex. Creation stories. Employed Dance and
Gestures to act them out.
2. Ritual allows humans to participate in the power
of the Sacred.
ii. Vedic Ritual
1. Core of Early Hinduism
2. Fire= Agni. Thunder= Indra
3. Ritual was a means for maintaining cosmic
order and Harmony.
iii. Veda= Knowledege
The Four Vedas:
1. Rig Veda- Hymns to the Gods Hymns or
Mantras are called Sukta
2. Yajur Veda- Knowledge of rites
3. Sama Veda- Re-Working of Rig Vedic Hymns.
First Mention of Soma
4. Atharva- Spells and Incantations. Mainly for
Warding off Evil(Apotropaic) First mention of
the human soul(Atman).
Ritual as Axis Mundi
Axis Mundi-World Centmer
Ritual in Judaism
Passover Ritual
o Every summer is the Passover of food countless reading and
raying.
Passover is called Seder- order of Arrangement
Book of Exodus is in the central story or plot
Central to Passover is the Haggadah
o It is in a sense connecting with the past
Ritual in Christianity
Holy Communion(Eucharist)
Re-enactment regarding the events in the life of Jesus of Nazareth
Ritual in Islam: Muharrram
Re-enactment of the Martyrdom of Husayn at the Battle of Kabala
Members are drawn into a drama in which God Suffers with Evil
Ritual- Rites of Passage
a. Anthroplogist- Victor Turner
b. Three phases to Rites of Passage:
1. Seperation
2. Liminality (threshold)
3. Re-Integration (Rebirth back into the community)
Birth Rituals-
a. Ries having to do with the connection between a newborn and its
parents.
Rituals of intiation-
b. Passing into a new life with a community. (ex Fraternity,Military,
etc)
Ritual of Mourning
c. Ritualization of the mourning process associated with death
Ritual Promotes 4 Purposes
1. Adoration- Acknowledges the power of the sacred over the
individual. Ex. Prostrating, Bowing, Kneeling.
2. Thanksgiving- Arises from the insight that the world consists of
bountiful flow
3. Petition- to beg or ask favors either of a material or spiritual nature
4. Penance/ Purification- Connected to the desire to appear worth or
pure in the presence of the sacred.
Human Spirituality
Video #1- Gabon, Africa. Iboga Ritual performed by Bwiti tribe.
Video #2- Sufi Ritual (Whirling Dervishes)Dhikr= Rembernce of God
Video #3- Tibetn Buddhist Kalachakra