Elements Of Traditional Religions

Rell/133

October 30, 2012
Daniel Kunkle
University Of Phoenix

Elements of Traditional Religions

Religion is an evolutionary development that has grown with humanity and plays an important role in our existence. The tradition of a religion is surrounded by the Central Myths of a specific belief. Central Myths are stories that express the beliefs of a group and are often renenacted and retold. For example, these stories are the major events in the life of the Hindu god Krishna, the ressurection of Jesus, the exodus of the Isrealites from the oppression in Egypt, as well as the enlightment experience of Buddha. These stories are not historically incorrect but are central to the religion. These ritual beliefs are enacted and brought to life through ceremonies. Ceremonies often include use of different language, clothing, and architecture. Religions also make use of physical objects such as statues, instruments, flowers, incense, paintings, and often musical compositions known as “Chants”. Religion also includes emotional experisnces such as gulit, dread, devotion, liberation, bliss, “rebirth”, and inner peace. Any form of religious teaching is a way to teach someone to live or suggest that they follow these rules and live by the words spoken to them. Forms of religious teachings could be through books, music, or even art. It is just a way to teach the people of that religion right from wrong. Within most religions there is a sacred text. Hindus follow a scripture that divides into two parts which are the revealed and the remembered. Hindus put the Vedas and the Upanishads on a pedestal and believes the scriptures hold all authority. Buddhism follows the sermon by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. The sermon was about the Four Noble Truths and these truths are suffering, anxiety, stress, and unsatisfactoriness. Also explains the causes and how problems can be overcome. Buddhism follows two texts which are the Pali Tipitaka and the Mahayana Sutras. So basically in all teachings of religion the sacred scriptures, doctrine, stories, and myths are teachings from what is called the divine in that religion and how the divine wants everyone to live. All of these religions are concerned with the deepest level of reality, and most religions believe that the origin of everything is mysterious and sacred. This originating holiness has many names such as , The Ultimate, The Divine, Great Mysterious, Ground of Divine, and most known The Holy. A familiar term that is used in religion for a sacred reality is God. The term God means , a divine being with will and intelligence who is compassionate and infinite in virtues. The term God is also known as “ having total power over the universe”. This God is believed to be pure spirit. tn some religions, the sacred reality is not percieved as having person attributes but is more of a mysterious power or energy. There is a tendency to speak of the universe not just having been created, but also a manifestation of nature itself. In the past as well as the present, some individuals tend to deny the existaence of any God. These people are known as Athiest. There is also Agnosticsm, which is to argue that the existence of God can not be proven, and Nontheism, which is to simply take no position. Religions have different views of reality and most speak of the sacred. Religions are also varied in their teachings and because of this reason, when they are taken at face value, they often conflict with those of other religions. Religions express truth symbolically. A symbol is something ordinary, and universal that can help human beings experience something of greater complexity. For example, water can represent many things like a spiritual cleansing, the sun, a mountain, strength, and eternity. Being a christian we use water ceremoniously to baptize those who believe in Christ and accept him as their personal lord ans savior. Symbols have played a long and important role in analyzing dreams. It was once normal as well as common to think of dreams as messages from a supernatural realm that provided an idea to how the future will go. Even though this belief is decreasing, most people still think that dreams are significant. For example, a dream of being lost can be interpreted as a person losing one’s sense of direction in life. In conclusion, There are many religious traditions through the world today. Many components make up these traditions. Religious traditions are made of what the tradition says in its teachings, texts, doctrine, stories, myths and many others. Religious traditions also include what the tradition does through worship, prayer, pilgrimage, and rituals.