In the lecture of "What is Religion" by Dr. Hall, he defined religion using the Philosophic Investigation or PI definition of religion. This PI method takes similar characteristics and looks at patterns. In using this method, Dr. Hall described a charactertistic of most religions in having some sort of afterlife. He went on to talk about how this religious view of something existing beyond life differs from perhaps the non- secular perspective of life and a secular one.
I could never imagine a person living without the belief of an afterlife. The afterlife to me seems to be the driving force of a will to live and perform good deeds. It adds additional meaning to a person's life and even gives some people a reason to live. I couldn't imagine living a life without a purpose. Don't atheist ever question why they are here or why do good in the world? Having an afterlife would ultimately effect a person's behavior of living. In the example of Christianity, it is believed that one will be judged after death that will determine if they are to go to heaven or to hell. Even in those religions that believe in reincarnation, the life they live has the ultimate purpose of returning in a higher status of society.
I know that I sit here typing of how I cannot imagine someone living without some ultimate purpose or goal, yet I also sit here typing as a hypocrite. Though this year has been one of the greatest years since I have been at Good Counsel, it has also been one of the worse and stressful one's as well and it is during these times when I find myself questioning my life, its purpose and its meaning. I've noticed that I question myself and become a victim of these pessimistic thoughts when I am vulnerable. The vulnerablity has developed due to lack of sleep, stress, homework overload, soccer overload, volunteer overload, friendship drama, the oh-no-I'm-not-getting-into-college-because-my-SAT-socres-are-horrible, or basically just being a teenager. Being a teenager also has led to the question of where do I fit in; who am I really; its a constant discovery of oneself in questioning the person I am which ultimately leads to questioning my life and its purpose.
Many times when I get so overwhelmed, instead of growing stronger and asking God for His help, I instead grow hopeless and extremely doubtful, of myself, of my strengths, or overall, the person that I am. I question God asking Him, "Why am I here?" I know that He did not put me here to be upset. Like the Switchfoot song says, "We were meant to live for so much more." But what was it that I was living for? Was it myself? Was it for school grades? Was it for others? I realized that even though I wasn't sure who or what I was living life for I knew that it should have been God. Another song be CeCe Winans says:
"Do you sit by yourself and wonder what life is all about. If there's a purpose or a plan or does it happen by chance?
(Chorus)
For love alone, I live my life, and from this moment on I vow to never loose sight, if I ever doubt the reason why I'm here, I'll start questioning my fears and know it's for love alone."
Even though I know that it is for God that I should live my life and for the ultimate ending in hopes to spend eternity with Him, it is not easy to always remember this especially in times of doubt and frustration. I will always wonder why God has put me here but I do know that it is for some greater purpose that will make a difference in people's lives and that in some way my actions will determine my eternity.
Ort #2
In class, we spoke of Lonergan who was known as a systematic theologeon which is a person who believes that there is a system that can be applied to human religion. This idea of a system reminded me of some of the individuals that I learned about in my AP European class. Though it is a class that I am not a huge fan of, nor do I take much interest in any history, I somehow, through some miracle, still gained a lot out of it. I remember, one of the many days when I sat in the class wishing that it would end and thinking of all the countless activities that needed to be completed, that we learned about a period in European history when people were attempting to apply systems to everything. It was quite an extrodinary time, inventors and intellectuals such as Darwin and Adam Smith, took this idea of a system and applied to evolution or the economy.
I thought of these systematic approaches to undertanding the world as the human fear of not having control or an understanding of the world around them. I took this as a part of human nature. A constant search for understanding and knowledge of the world around them and the constant belief that everything happens in an orderly fashion. This is where laws began to come into play such as Newton's law of gravity or any laws of the universe or world around us. If everything is based on a law, there is some sort of system in which this law is found. It was amusing however, when Einstein defied some of these laws with his idea of Time Space Continuum (excuse me if this is inaccurate, but the basic point I am trying to get across is the fact that anamolys to the basic laws of nature came into existence later). These anamolies caused not only dissaproval but resulted in humans feeling scared and unsure of the world around them. It was as if after all that work, they had never truly come to understand the world around them. It was uncomfortable and being uncertain in such a big world was not the most reassuring thing.
It is interesting how humans fear the unknown. It could be in part of the quick judgement humans make on those things that they do not know. For example, if a human come across a snake, those that do not know anything about snakes would most likely try to kill it or run away because they think that it is harmful or poisonous. It could be the most harmless amphibian and though it is probably a good idea to not touch it and perhaps even a good idea to run away from it, it does not change the fact that it could have been completely harmless, but our fear of the unknown drives our actions. Being able to understand something in a complex and complicated world is an arduous task.
It also describes another human behavior in which humans strive to make explanations for those things that they do not understand. They will strive for answers and accept those answers that are easily understandable but most of all, those answers that make the most sense. If it doesn't make sense than it is usually not accepted. For example, around Colombus' time (excuse me again for not knowing exact dates, like I mentioned earlier, history is not my subject. Perhaps however, it is 1492, like the saying goes "In 1492, Colombus sailed the ocean blue." At least, that's what I believe it is.) people believed that the world was flat based on what they knew. And from what they saw, the world looked flat and they thought they would off the earth. It made perfect sense and it was rational so people believed it. However, Columbus proved them wrong when he sailed that ocean blue.
This one example says a lot about human nature. I don't always agree with the idea of systems being applied to all aspects of life and perhaps there is some basic system that does not have an anamoly. Being the person I am, my reason for almost everything is in some way related to God. So if we take anything related to the natural world my answer would most likely be "because God made it that way." And then I would probably move on. It's not that I do not strive for an understanding of the world around me or of myself, but sometimes I just like to accept the things the way they are in its most simplistic form, which is exactly how I have answered many questions. Of course I know that in order to progress in human developement, knowledge, and technology you must understand basics. It's just like math, before you can move onto a higher math, you must understand the basics or fundamentals. When it comes time to learn something of the world or myself that requires fundamentals, then I will of course apply myself to whatever that may be in order to grasp a deeper understanding, but until then, I would much rather just live life trying to understand it as best I can but also in its most simplistic form.