Unit 10 Assignment 1-Comparing Eastern & Western Religions
HUM3300 Global Multiculturalism & Religions
Capella University
Professor John Benson
Antoinette Leidy
September 11, 2013

Metanarrative- Eastern Religions can draw some common threads in both the Myths of Nature and the Myths of Harmony. The Myths of Nature center from those religions coming out of India where as the Myths of Harmony would be more China based. The idea is that our souls come from a home or a place of paradise in which we are content. Our souls are immortal and happy. Something then occurs that changes and removes our souls from this state. Our souls begin to want something they can only get from a material world and a physical body. So we are now put into bodies and forced to make our own choices between good and evil. These decisions will force our souls to deal with their own karma. It is believed that if our souls follow the Dharma, which is a structure of good and bad, they can learn to improve their state for rebirth and will enjoy that in lives to come. The goal of each journey is moksha which will bring Nirvana.
Western Religions are tied together because the share a Myth of Liberation with the story of Exodus. The story is told in both the Old Testament of the Bible as well as in the Hebrew Bible and Qur’an. This story depicts the people of Israel, who were descendants of Abraham, being held in slavery by the Egyptians. It is described in the story that God helped the prophet Moses free the Israelite’s from the Egyptians and to Canaan, which was the promised land.
It is clear that some of the details differ within the three different books of these religions but there are many similarities. Among them we learn how God began by sending down plagues to warn the Egyptians that they should free the people of Isreal. Secondly they each tell about