| Final |
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| Friday, 12:00~2:45pm 1. Name. JULIA U. NGUYEN 2. Username. [email protected] 3. List your attendance (how many classes missed? how many classes were you late to?). I missed 2 days for the whole semester. 4. List the titles to each of the two movies, along with a synopsis of their themes. I also want you to list the "format" that you used for your two films. My first movie was titled �Flowers�. I made this movie with all my flowers because I love it. I will tell you this, I plan so many different flowers around my house, and it is so beautiful. Nevertheless, I cannot live without it because when I am stressed out, the only thing to release it is taking care of them. I showed it on Friday 10/24/2003. I edited the movie by using power point, which I think it might be easier than other methods. I noticed that the most difficult part of making movie was to connect the song into each picture. My second movie was titled �Funeral�. This movie I just edited from my grandmother funeral. The basic idea of my movie was a new religion, which is �Cao Dai�, that you haven�t seen before. This religion, although, is not popular but some American people know about it. If you are interested, you can visit at http://www.caodai.org .All people that you saw in the movie, they are all volunteers. I edited it by using VHS, and then convert into mini DV. After I finished editing my movie, I transferred back to the VHS. 5. Did you read all 5 books? (fully? skip-read? looked at the cover? we had to read books?) I try to read the assigned textbooks as much as I could. I read 85% of Consilience, half of Meme Machine and World Religions in America, most of Malcolm X and One Taste. 6. Give me a retro link to your field trip so I can access it for reference. http://www.geocities.com/uyenlnguyen2002/fieldtrip.html 7. Also give me a retro link to your autobiography so I can cross-reference items if I need to. http://www.geocities.com/uyenlnguyen2002/Biography.html 8. What grade did you receive on the midterm? Grade: C+/B- 8. What grade do you deserve in this class? Substantiate your answer. For this class, I �m thinking about a �A�. Since I spend lots of time for all the requirements, and I really enjoy this class�s lectures, because you gave out many interesting points of view about religious that I have never think of. 9. List any extra credit or other circumstances that may help your overall grade. I didn�t do any extra credit. 10. Explain Malcolm X's vision of Islam and why he was inspired to convert to it. Malcolm X�s vision of Islam was molded of Elijah Muhammad. It started while in prison. Malcolm believed during his time in prison that blacks were being brainwashed by the white man. It was an explanation of how the white man was trying to keep the black man down. But, it was the black man, in Gods name Allah, should over take the white devils. He having lived a difficult young adulthood, the troubled Malcolm landed in a Massachusetts jail for burglary. In prison Elijah Muhammed, the leader of the Nation of Islam, influenced Malcolm. Malcolm converted to Islam and became one of its most prominent ministers, working for what he now believed. Being in jail, Malcolm X had no one else to turn to except his family. His whole family was converted to Islam through the teachings of Elijah Muhammad. Then Malcolm heard from his brother of Elijah Muhammads teachings of how history had been whitened when white men had written history books. The main inspiration Islam gave was the feeling of empowerment as an African American over the white oppression of his time. Malcolm became really close to Elijah Muhammed and began speaking out about racial injustice making him a political leader. His conversion was a result of his experience in Mecca where he witnessed a universal community that shared a common belief without judging color or race. 11. What are the three most significant factors motivating Malcom X's understanding of race relations (between blacks and whites)? Substantiate your answers. The first of most significant factor is Malcolm X understands of the political system in America motivated his knowledge of the relationship between blacks and whites. In order to be heard in America, a political voice must be heard by society and the only way to have that voice was to use the political arena as a stage of reason. He felt Blacks were not allowed to empower themselves to further achieve in society due to the lack of human rights for colored people. He and among others considered white people to be �white devils� based on the supposedly sacred stories from the Nation of Islam concerning the origin of whites. The second of most significant factor about he learned about the brainwashing of black Americans that Elijah Muhammad proposed, it angered him to realize that this had happened to him. He studied both inside and outside prison about the suppression blacks had suffered due to the separation of the races rather than unification or segregation. He believed that each race should live totally independent of each other for the good of both. The third of most significant factor about as he got older, his view about the white races became an absolute clear. While in prison, Malcolm became a follower of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of a small, urban prophet-cult, the nation of Islam. His conversion let him to greater literacy, immersion in the Quran, strict adherence to the nation of Islam's dietary laws, and what was to be a lifelong interest in ideas. The literacy from the Koran had changed the way Malcolm presents himself to white people. 12. Are there different versions of Islam? Detail your answers. Yes, there are different versions of Islam, such as Sunnis, Shiias, Ahmadiyya, Ismaili, etc. but there are different types of Islam beliefs all together. Islam in Arabic terms means, to turn oneself over to, to resign oneself, to submit. The Shi'ites place a great deal of emphasis on their individual leaders. Unlike the Sunni, the Shi�ites have acceptance of historical leaders, which they call caliphs. The Shi�ites feels a great deal of importance towards their clerical authority. They focus less on logic and focus more on free will, unlike the Sunni. In Sunni Islam anyone who is pious, well liked and accepted as a devout Muslim can potentially be a caliph, whereas the Shi'ites developed the belief that the descendant (Imam) who was their leader was saintly and divinely appointed. The Shi'ites and the Sunnis have the same Qur'an. However, the difference is that Sunnis take the Qur'an for meaning exactly what it says, whereas the Shi'ites often have very different interpretations of the text. 13. Why does Ken Wilber argue for a holistic or QUADRANT understanding of religion and spiritual life? Ken Wilber would argue for a holistic understanding to religion by first by saying that we live in an evolutionary universe and these things need to be accounted for. We need to understand the mind and how it works in order to fully grasp religion. Ken Wilber can argue how most things go through developmental stages to where they are now, but there are exceptions. Then like religion, our consciousness can lie into 4 different dimensions. It depends which stage we are in to help us further understand it. Understand it in terms of how it evolved through an individual and a culture. Each of these levels can be seen from the inside and outside in both individual and collective terms. Hence, there are four quadrants. To fully understand your own religion will come from an understanding of your own consciousness. It is just like evolution and how a religion can go through developmental stages then we can see how a person goes through these stages followed with the religion. The four quadrant follows as Upper-Left (Intentional), Upper-Right (Behavioral), Lower-Left (Cultural), and Lower Right (Social). Religion can be placed into the Lower-Left quadrant because it is a reflection upon a culture that has a main influence in which how a religion develops. Ken Wilber believes that consciousness is the key to understanding any religion. A person will go through these main stages: trans-rational, rational, mythical, magical, typhonic, pleromatically fused, uroboric, etc�They will go through these stages just like how they will go through life. Think about how you were at the age of 5, the world was magical. To skip these stages would be false because our minds take time to develop and process certain thoughts. It is through experience is when we start to mature and move along the stages. Experience comes with through age. Granted, some people may be forever stuck in a stage. Now going back to religion, it depends how the people created the religion, what level of psychology they were at when they created it and also what level you are it. Wilber would argue that religions fall within Mythical/Magical but they take it as super-rational. So being in that mind set you, the very religious one, believes that you are never wrong. Then, from another perspective being rational may give you the answer but there is no solution. Eventually, this will then lower down to one of the lower levels. 14. How would Edward O. Wilson critique Ken Wilber's transpersonal psychology? Ken Wilber�s transpersonal psychology is a source of reflection that concentrates on one�s level of spirituality and the world that surrounds it. Edward O. Wilson however would analyze it through his multiple levels of rational legitimacy. He is known for breaking down certain ideas and comparing them accordingly to academic fields in order to understand it from a narrow view such as physics to the broad sense such as sociology. With that in mind, Ken Wilber�s psychology would seemingly be considered very mythological since much of it is purely a mental state of being. The neurological reaction that is responsible for the individual�s determination for a spiritual enlightenment could be the causes of chemical and biological occurrences in the body. This form of psychology not only focuses on the positive spiritual attributes but also the disturbed states such as psychosis and depression. It is known that lack of serotonin will lead to these very negative states, which can be retraced back to the possible chemical imbalance of the individual. The answer derived from no other field then chemistry. When comparing Edward O. Wilson and Ken Wilber, there is an obvious difference between their trains of thought. Edward O. Wilson is more resourceful as he makes his claims according to science while Ken Wilber's ideas are more abstract and is yet proven theories. Wilson would discredit much of what Wilber finds as supported information. 15. How would a Wilberian purview critique the actions of Osama Bin Laden? Be sure to substantiate your answer. Ken Wilber�s critique of the actions of Osama Bin Laden would be identified as a representative of the extreme. He would make the reference to those similar to Rousseau who at his time was symbolic of recapturing �natural goodness� and innocence. Liberal notion is the idea that people start out as good citizens as early as in their childhood and are later affected by society through oppression which consequently disrupts their natural goodness thus leading to a liberation in order to �free� themselves again. Ken Wilber could draw similar traits between Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, and Osama Bin Laden who both share Rousseau�s habits of living in seclusion either by a hidden shack in the woods or a cave in the mountains of Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden�s purpose is to fight the restrictive institutions of America in order to someday see the fundamentals of life return again. His actions are viewed as half wrong and half right. Whether or not the destructive pathway is the appropriate method of restoring natural goodness is the reasoning behind the paradox. 16. How does the genealogical history of morality contribute to religious diversity? Genealogical history is the formal evidentiary tracing of the descendants of a person or family from all discoverable ancestors. As we all know, the first human being was sight in the continent of Africa. From there on the human species has migrated all over the earth in search for food to sustain life. As they move from one place to another, they have confronted many treacherous situations. The only thing they could do now is boost up their morals because that is the only reason to keep a pack alive. They also need rules and norms to govern around the implementing of moral. Soon they came up with the thought of religion because only religion includes the promises of happiness. There are a number of religions that branched off this to create a religious diversity. It is because the morals changed within the original religion to make them branch off. As time past, these ideas become a permanent print in today culture. Since there are many cultures, the world today comes to know as a massive place of religious diversity. 17. Given America's religious melting pot, what do YOU think is the best way to approach American religious diversity? Explain your reasoning. There are many variety kinds of religions that existed on American like Christianity, Bud dish, Islam, Muslim, Quaker and so on. America�s diversity is enormous and growing. With people migrating to this country, different cultures, experiences and religions are coming along. I think the best way to approach American religious diversity is approaching with an open mind and listen to what people have to say about their religion before judgments are made. Those that are quick to judge what they know nothing about are the quickest to reveal their ignorance. In general, we may not prove about the actual validity of each religion. In special, every religion has an extension from other earlier religion so that there are the different between the truth and belief later on. In order to solve those misunderstand, we must celebrate many free conferences every year about the religion that it helps us to learn and share with the common ideas of belief and worship of all various kinds of religion in America. 18. Explain why religion will not disappear, even as we become more scientifically oriented? Religions will never disappear. Religion gives us answers that science may not be able to give us or the answers science hands to us, we are reluctant to hear. Religion gives marvelous answers to life questions. Sometimes, science does not explain or solve all of our troubles in life. And we often think about the magic world; for instance, we often pray the God who can give us the special strength for helping to solve those problems. Actually, all of us have keep on the mysticism and magic tendencies, which inherited from many generations. Our thoughts are very logical, and are extremely rational but we have remain some thoughts about unreal world as well as some desire about theological perspectives. It means that we have the sense of belonging to uncertain belief and our desires related to method logical field. So, it is the main reason why the religion never disappears, or the religion always influence on all aspects of our lives. It is not matter that the technology is developing so fast every day, we often tend to prayed and respected about our creation as God. Religion also provides people with comfort, peace, and gives them hope for better things to come, and everlasting life. Human need religion to make them feel is greater than they are to turn to in times of sorrow, happiness, and when problems of life become too great to deal with alone. 19. How would Ken Wilber argue against Wilson's intertheoretic reductionism? According to Ken Wilber, inter-theoretic reductionism is a threat to the genuine spiritual studies. The conflict is derived from the difficulty of distinguishing what is non rational and pre-rational. Ken Wilber believes that some things cannot be explained by science and that we need to look within the person. Science revolves around facts and there are many issues that facts cannot explain yet or even may never be able to explain. Wilber believes that science is being too specific and certain things are so complex that we could not just reduce it down to one level. Wilber will argue that human spirituality is something that is developed through experiences of the mind, body and, soul. As a result, an understanding of the human spirituality through reductionism will be too complex to break down to the lowest parts. 20. What was the most valuable thing you learned this semester? The valuable things I�ve learned from this semester that about computer information, work on Internet, how to make movies and especially religion. I�m interested in your lecture in class with some useful information about the various religions that it makes me easy to understand the lecture. So, the most valuable thing that I have learned is to know my religion better than before by knowing many others religions in this world and diversity religions in America particularly. I thought my religion is the only pure religion and true in this world, but now I have learned that I have to adjust my thought in order to learn, understand and respect other religions as well. I would not know my religion well, if I don't dig more into it. It does help me change my fixed narrowing point of views about religion. 21. According to Stephen Jay Gould, why is it so difficult to know the evolutionary "function" of religious belief? Hint: think of "spandrels" (or unintended secondary effects). It is difficult to know evolutionary �function� of religious beliefs because it�s difficult to predict evolution all together. Evolution is the thing that holds this class together. We seek to understand religion through the evolution of how it evolved. Ken Wilber will attempt to inflate. In contrast, Edward O. Wilson will attempt to deflate. Then comes Stephen Jay Gould, who will say that it is difficult to understand the evolutionary function of religious beliefs. Spandrels are unintended consequences that result. With this in mind its hard to say if today�s religions where really intended to turn out the way they did. We seek to understand religion through the evolution of how it evolved. According to Stephen Jay Gould science and religion are not in conflict, for their teachings occupy distinctly different domains. As a result, we hardly know the evolutionary function of religious belief since we cannot use science, as the only tool we have, to explore the truth. So what Gould was trying to help us understand is that maybe many of the things we think are explainable are in fact, not explainable. Some things can just be there by chance. Therefore, we should not try to rationalize and analyze everything. Just like how we should not interpret everything that we want to know about religion through evolution. |