Embodiment

"A phenomenon is made into being by performance." Nothing is real until you enact it in your body, until you make it physically real in yourself. It is one thing to hear about something happening, it is quite another to actually do it. The idea of embodiment is probably one of the most important aspects of a pilgrimage class. The reason for the pilgrimage is the what separates it from leisurely travel. Now that we've talked about embodiment and given it a name, I am seeing how it has continually come up and been used during the class as well. When we did our own little Hajj on campus, that was a form of embodiment. Not only was it and effective tool to help us to remember its components, our participating in the actions made it more real and really deepened my understanding of it. By coloring the Hindu gods, our actions gave at least a little more life to something that I had almost no experience with. Visual aides are used in almost all of the classes, even the pictures of the statues and Hagar Qim help to embody, to some extent, the places and things which we are talking about in class. Of course, in a class about pilgrimage, we can't fully embody the pilgrimages of Muslims, Hindus, and all of the other religions that we have covered because that would require actually going on the pilgrimage, which would take more time and money than the course allows but even what embodiment has been done has made the pilgrimages more real than just a verbal explanation of each pilgrimage.

Mother Ganga

The importance of water to religion has been shown all throughout our class but I think that the relationship between the Ganges River and Hinduism is the greatest example of this that we have seen so far. Mother Ganga fell to earth from the sky and is her own goddess. Her waters are considered holy and pure, so pure in fact that anything that her waters touch becomes "as pure and as beautiful as Shiva."

It is strange and difficult for me to understand the devotion that Hindus have for a river. Their general lack of concern for the cleanliness of the Ganges is also baffling to me. The concept of water being spiritually cleansing even if it isn't physically isn't really a stretch for me, we already talked about it in relation to the Jordan River, but in the "Banaras" article I got the impression that many Hindus don't recognize the problems with the Ganges being as dirty as it is. I would think that if you believed that a specific river was a goddess, especially one as important as Mother Ganga, you would be careful not to pollute it.

Battle for the Holy Land

"It's ironic, at times like this you pray, but a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday." This verse, from the song Hands Held High by Linkin Park, ran through my head repeatedly as we watched "Battle for the Holy Land." It made me so sad to see the two groups fighting over a place that many hold to be sacred. For me, the fighting seemed so useless.

I don't see how either side can win this battle at this point with the tactics they are using. This continuous cycle can never stop the violence, it will have to be broken before any form of real progress can actually be made. I know from personal experience, at least to a small extent, that the philosophy "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" just doesn't work out very well, so this whole 'you terrorize me so I'm going to terrorize you' isn't going to get anyone anywhere, except for maybe buried in the ground.

It is paradoxical, at least in my mind, that both sides believe they are doing the will of the same God. A God that, by the way, is loving and forgiving. I just don't understand the mentality behind the fighting. One side is going to target a known organizer of terrorist attacks, and in the process make some people angry enough to join the other side and plot another attack. The other side feels that they are martyrs who will be blessed by Allah when they kill themselves in the process of killing dozens of other people whose only wrong has been trying to find a place to live and happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I am not the type of person who can't watch a bloody movie. The problem with this movie was that, for starters, it seems unnecessary and pointless, not to mention that the battle fields are city streets that hold deep religious meaning to millions of people around the world. On top of that, this is actually happening right now, as we sit in a quiet classroom contemplating where religion came from and why pilgrimage is so important to people.

Understanding Islam

I have known for some time that Islam was connected to Judaism and Christianity, and found that very interesting. It wasn't until class however that I got a clear picture of what it was that united these religions, and caused a lot of the conflicts between them that we see today.

All three of these religions are united through Abraham. They all claim the inheritance that God promised Abraham and his children, including the Holy Land and Jerusalem. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all worship one God. Actually, they all worship the same God. Islam is however the youngest of these three religions, beginning approximately 610 CE.

The Islamic tradition teaches that the Koran is the purest form of God's word since it never went through a period of oral tradition, unlike the scriptures of Judaism and Christianity. Although all three are connected to Abraham, Islam follows the path of Ishmael and Hagar instead of that of Issac and Sarah. There are five acts that are supposed to be carried out by devout Muslims which constitute the Five Pillars of Islam. These acts are (in general terms) to pray their profession of faith when they wake in the morning and before going to sleep at night, a ritual prayer five (specific) times a day facing Mecca, fasting during the month of Ramadan, acts of charity, and (if able) a pilgrimage to Mecca to perform the Hajj.

I feel that it is important in today's society to understand the driving principles behind Islam. It is easy for those ignorant of the religion to be misled by the actions of the few extremists. This is especially true in areas, such as rural Iowa/Nebraska/South Dakota, where the Muslim population is very small and there are no other examples of the religion to look to. Understanding is a crucial part of tolerance, which is something that our world today greatly needs.

Judaism: They've Had it Tough

It's not something that I think about a lot but, the Jews have had a tough time. The most obvious thing is the Holocaust in WWII but they've been picked on from the beginning. Their first three generations were okay, but everyone around them thought they were weak and weird because they only had one god. Then all of the Israelites had to move to Egypt because that was the only place for them to find food in the famine and eventually they became slaves.

God finally gets them out of Egypt but then they have to wander around in the wilderness for forty years (because they were complaining). Eventually they get back to where they are supposed to be and they have to fight off everyone who's moved onto the land. Several years of ups and downs later, Babylonia completely takes over, destroys the temple, and forces them to move. It isn't until Persia conquers Babylon that they can go back to their promised land, but they still have to serve the Persians. They go through Greek and Roman rule before they are completely kicked out and spread all over Europe. Many are still trying to find a way to get back and those who have are caught up in a dispute with others in the area about who has the right to live there.

I don't know about you, but I think that the Jewish people have had to take a lot of getting pushed around and beating down. Yet it is the Jewish religion that monotheism started. Try to imagine what the Western world would be like if monotheism hadn't lasted. I have no idea exactly how life would be but it would definitely be quite a bit different from what we're used to.

My Definition of Religion

In class, we have discussed the definition of religion. As part of our study of this, we read the blog by Chris Bateman called Defining Religion, and talked about his views on the matter. According to him, religion is a belief system comprised of a central mythology (or narrative), metaphysics, and ethics, usually relating to a transcendent experience. We talked over all of these aspects, and a few others that he left out, in our efforts to create a personal definition of religion.

My own Catholic-Christian beliefs have been with me for so long that this wasn't a question that I had pondered much previously. Since our class discussion, I have reflected on what I think that religion is and have come up with a definition that seems to fit well for me. In its most basic form, religion is one's beliefs in regards to an ultimate reality and the metaphysical domain. The other aspects that we observed are undoubtedly important to growing in, recognizing, explaining, and expressing these beliefs, but I feel that they are not what religion is.

This definition of mine may be overly simple, but it is my definition all the same. It will probably change over time, as my understandings change. For the time being however, it should serve its purpose. I am, of course, open to other opinions and views on the subject if anyone is willing to share them.

Support for Muller's Theory on the Origins of Religion

Friedrich Max Muller's work on determining the origin of religion was done primarily by comparing religions. He sought to show how religions stemmed from one main concept. This process of comparing religions, however does have its limitations, but perhaps it did provide Muller with some insight into the matter.
According to Muller, religion began in the human mind. He claimed that we, as humans, have always had some suspicion or sense of the Divine. What I find most interesting about this theory, is that there are recent scientific studies to support it. There are some scientists who claim to have found a gene on the human DNA that relates to a person's ability to believe in a higher power. Whether this claim is correct or not, I cannot say but it certainly raises some controversy. There are many who feel that such a gene would completely undermine having faith. Others (myself included) would view this as evidence that God exists and desires us to seek Him. In either case, as carriers of this DNA, we would surely feel dependent upon a higher power, as Muller suggested.
The question of how religion began, like many others in this world, is one that we will probably never be able to answer definitely. Yet the search for answers continues perpetually. We are on a never ending journey to answer life's deepest questions.