4544

RELIGION AND SPIRTUALITY

Spirituality:

an extraordinary experience

communion with the GROUND OF BEING

transcends everyday consciousness

the evolutionary quotient: does spirituality "drive" or "create" new religious movements????

RELIGION AND SPIRTUALITY

Religion:

the institutional expression of spiritual insight

control: doctrinal interpretation of experience, myth, ritual, ethics & the social dimension

exclusivism: us v. them

inclusivism: I Am That I Am!!!

RELIGION AND SPIRTUALITY

A person can be spiritual but not religious

a person can be religious but not spiritual

a person can be religious and spiritual

a person can be neither religious nor spiritual

FIRE ANALOGY

Education is to knowledge as religion is to spirituality

Spirituality and knowledge are like fire.

Both are very powerful but potentially destructive

Humans create education and religious institutions to control this fire.

FIRE ANALOGY

Established religions are like finely-tuned family cars -- lots of control of the fires of combustion, but they get you where you want to go.

Alternative spirituality is like a nitro-dragster - pretty exciting but the fire can blow you up!!!

A free society needs both types!!!!

Myth, History, and Spirituality

Myth = paradigm-laden narratives

Key Functions of Myth:

1. Answer profound life questions (meaning, purpose, identity, etc.)

2. Guide ritual activity

3. Engender self-esteem and empowerment

4. Describe paths to salvation

Myth, History, and Spirituality

5. Present heroic models

6. PROVIDE MODELS FOR HUMAN BEHAVIOR

7. Offer ways of ordering human existence

8. Provide reverence for the past, hope for the future; delineate society’s cultural ideals

MYTH AND HISTORY

HISTORY = factual description and interpretation of past peoples, places, events.

KEY QUESTION?? = "Is history ever completely detached from myth?"

MYTH AND HISTORY
…origins???

…food for thought……

Latter Day Saints
Nation of Islam
Ramtha School of Enlightenment
Branch Davidians
Buddhism
Christianity???

BUDDHISM…alternative spirituality in America

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS:

1. Life is suffering = dukkha

trauma of birth
sickness
old age and decrepitude
disease and death
addictions; separation from something of someone we love

BUDDHISM…the Four Noble Truths

2. The Cause of Suffering = tanha

desire = pulling apart from life; a sense of incompleteness

clinging = ego-consciousness; the pervasive sense of separate selfhood
craving = lack of fulfillment in the material world; soullessness

BUDDHISM…The Four Noble Truths

3. Tanha must be extinguished

4. The way to extinguish tanha and end dukkha (suffering) is to follow the NOBLE EIGHT-FOLD PATH

leads to the realization that nirvana and samsara are one!!

THE EIGHT-FOLD PATH IN BUDDHISM

1. Right Belief

2. Right Purpose

These involve the acceptance of the Four Noble Truths and the determination to effect change in ones life; Buddhism is a religion of doing not just believing

THE EIGHT-FOLD PATH IN BUDDHISM

Basic Ethical Requirements:

3. Right Livelihood - making a living according to Buddhist principles

4. Right Speech - avoidance of anger, gossiping, boasting, etc.

5. Right Conduct - "10 Commandments of Buddhism" = no killing, stealing, adultery, etc.

THE EIGHT-FOLD PATH IN BUDDHISM

Meditation = dhyana = right practice

6. Right Effort

7. Right Mindfulness

8. Right Meditation

KEY BUDDHIST INSIGHTS

Life is Suffering; humans suffer because they seek permanence in a constantly changing world.

No Self = egolessness

Dependent origination = the self (ego) only exists in relationship to ceaseless encounters with the other; that which is "not self."

BUDDHISM

…a major alternative religion/spirituality in America

Three main variations develop by the 13th century:

1. Theravada Buddhism - closest to the original teaching; concentration on meditation; the Buddha is a great sage, not a deity

BUDDHISM

2. Mahayana Buddhism:

the Buddha becomes personified
Bodhisattvas - enlightened beings who chose to deny nirvana and stay on earth to help others

Zen Buddhism - Japanese; strict meditation; teacher-student dialogue

MAHAYANA BUDDHISM

Rinzai school of Zen = koans; "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"

Soka Gakkai = chanting, "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo" to achieve happiness and material well-being

Tibetan Buddhism = Vajrayana, "the diamond vehicle" - Dalai Lama; Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

BUDDHIST GLOSSARY

1. Dharma = the cosmic law underlying all existence; a) the Buddha; b) the Sangha (the community of believers; c) the Dharma = the 3 Treasures of the faith.

2. Karma = universal law of cause and effect that governs all physical manifestation including rebirth.

BUDDHIST GLOSSARY

3. Enlightenment = an awakening to the true nature of reality; the end of desire and the illusion of separate selfhood.

4. Nirvana = the cessation of desire and liberation from the cycle of rebirth; the goal of Buddhist spiritual practice.

BUDDHIST GLOSSARY

5. Samsara = the cycle of birth, death and reincarnation that Buddhists seek to escape

6. Sunyata = egolessness; the belief that all phenomena are dependent on and caused by other phenomena, thus without intrinsic essence = dependent origination/selflessness

BUDDHIST GLOSSARY

7. Tanha = "desire, clinging, ego-consciousness, etc." - the cause of suffering; the mind’s habit of seeing everything through the prism of the "ego" and its well-being.

8. Vajra = sanskrit for lightening, a symbol of Tibetan Vajrayana rituals.