Tuesday, March 15, 2011

We are religious because we have imaginations

My new book is Islam: A Short History by Karen Armstrong. I've just read the intro and part of the chronology so far. Anyway, I thought this section from the intro was interesting.

"There is a symbiotic relationship between history and religion, therefore. It is, as the Buddha remarked, our perception that existence is awry that forces us to find an alternative which will prevent us from falling into despair.


"Perhaps the central paradox of the religious life is that it seeks transcendence, a dimension of existence that goes beyond our mundane lives, but that human beings can only experience this transcendent reality in earthly, physical phenomena. People have sensed the divine in rocks, mountains, temple buildings, law codes, written texts, or in other men and women. We never experience transcendence directly: our ecstasy is always 'earthed,' enshrined in something or someone here below. Religious people are trained to look beneath the unpromising surface to find the sacred within it. They have to use their creative imaginations. Jean-Paul Sartre defined the imagination as the ability to think of what is not present. Human beings are religious creatures because they are imaginative; they are so constituted that they are compelled to search for hidden meaning and to achieve an ecstasy that makes them feel fully alive. Each tradition encourages the faithful to focus their attention on an earthly symbol that is peculiarly its own, and to teach themselves to see the divine in it."

8 comments:

  1. "Religious people are trained to look beneath the unpromising surface to find the sacred within it."

    We are trained to see the silver lining on every cloud? Yes, interesting thoughts. I'm eager to read more notes on this if you find anything worth sharing. :)

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  2. We are trained to see the silver lining on every cloud?

    Then why are so many religious people all doom and gloom?

    So far I'm still in the chronology and it's making me sit back and think, 'well, they've been at war since the beginning'. Really. It's funny seeing it laid out like that. Battle battle raid take over conquer assassination.

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  3. Oh, I don't know. I was trying to prove Karen Armstrong's words,but even then sacred doesn't necessarily mean silver lining so fail for me. :)

    LOL @ your thoughts on the chronology. :)

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  4. That is a beautiful way of putting it. I think she's right. :)

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  5. Then why are so many religious people all doom and gloom?

    That made me think and want to add something to my first comment. I don't think she's quite right, because her word choice is far too broad. I don't think she describes here all people who claim or follow a religion, but a specific sub-group of religious people...My professor who specializes in the "spiritual-not-religious" movement would probably say shes is describing spirituality rather than religion.

    It is possible to very seriously and piously follow a religion without actually even having any beliefs about God. It's also possible to not claim any religion but engage in this process of imagination Armstrong describes. And it's possible to have both.

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  6. Oooh, I'm really interested in Karen Armstrong these days, so I'll look forward to reading more posts from you on this topic :)

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  7. sanil,

    I think your assessment of it as 'spiritual not religious' is spot on.

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  8. Becky,

    Well, the book itself is on the history of Islam, so I'm not sure how much of it is comprised of things like this. This was in the introduction, when she was explaining how history and religion are intertwined and how Muslims have been taught to look for God in history.

    We'll see though. I'm still in the chronology because I haven't had much time to read in the mornings. Stupid time change! Messes me all up and it takes a little while to adjust.

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