Modern Religious Experience: Personal Commemoration- Reflection #7

In Remembrance of James

James Sprake – a friend, brother, son. Merely eighteen years old this summer James left this world to leave to a better place. Eighteen years, not a long time, but I can say with certainty that James lived every single one of the days within these years, and whoever was around him at any time always felt a little more alive too. James was a boy of amazing character, but the greatest gift that he shared with anyone was his smile and laughter, this unbelievable contagiousness about it. No one could escape his aura of joy and ecstasy.

Even if we wanted to, it would simply be impossible for us to forget about James, he has touched too many lives, changed to many for the better, we’ve shared too many laughs. Setting an example that life is too short to be wasted he still makes us think and pray for him every day of our lives. However, in his honor, I believe that we will be celebrating his life every year on the day of his passing, on July 12. Somehow commemorating James every day of our life already, through prayer and thought and memories carried in pictures, a day completely and fully dedicated to him is the least that we owe him. I wish as many of his friends and family to be able to reunite, to come together as they were when James was still physically with us, and to talk about him, to remember days, events, jokes, laughs, and even fights and hardships they have had and shared with him. But most of all I see all these people coming together and amongst the tears they may be shedding, I want to see smiles. We cannot simply cry because James is no longer living in the same world as us, but we have to do him justice by being grateful for every moment we have had with him, and every moment I personally have had with him makes me smile infinitely even if it this smile is always accompanied by tears.

On this day, every single year, we remember James by making him come to life in our words, and by reuniting his friends and family, as he knew them. It does not matter where this is held as long as everyone is together, if not physically, then in spirit.

A small writing that a friend of James made up has become one of my favorites ever since. I think this would be a beautiful contribution in his remembrance:

James, you entered our lives like a comet and passed by so abruptly.

You always told us you’d go to all the better places before us…

What was all the hurry?

We will live your share of life and head to where you are.

Just don’t forget us and do what you want to do and wait for us along the way.

All of us will remember the bright image you portrayed.

God bless, and rest in peace.

Modern Religious Experience: The Morality of Greek Myths- Reflection #6

The Morality of Greek Myths – Jupiter

The skit that I took part in tells the story of Echo and Narcissus. Starting off with Jupiter’s cheating on his wife Juno, Echo, a beautiful and talkative nymph helps him to escape by distracting Juno with her chatter. Echo is punished by Juno herself, and left with no words but the repetition of others’ speech. Not much later, she falls in love with the self absorbed and beautiful man Narcissus whom she follows, ashamed of her lack of voice, and eventually gets her heart broken because his own is too cold for anyone else’s love. As a punishment, the prayer of several other nymphs lead to Narcissus’ death, which falls upon him after he becomes so obsessed with the image of himself in the reflection of water.

This myth is overall quite somber and depressing, but this is an important factor as it emphasizes its moral a lot more. Echo is punished because of her obsession with the sound of her beautiful voice; she herself cannot get enough of a feature that is part of her. This leads to the conclusion that the Greeks did not believe in egocentrism, it would only lead to bad things. Narcissus too is infatuated with himself only. His love for himself leads to the rejection of others, even people that are in love with him, and so, he rejects external love for internal, self-absorbed, and of course narcissistic love.

This myth puts in the foreground the importance of an open mind and heart. The most valuable things in life are those that we share, such as love, and by mistakes such as Echo’s, of having used up her voice she has lost the chance of ever being loved by another. Vanity will have its consequences, both these characters had to suffer the consequence of death. Of course this is only an exaggeration of this self-absorbed act, but the characters of Echo and Narcissus are a representation of the arrogance that humans express too often, and how this particular arrogance and egotism drive a wedge between each of us humans.

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #5: Bongwonsa Temple and Nature Walk

After spending the morning in nature and a beautiful Buddhist Temple in harmony with my friends and classmates this automatically made me think of the origin of our seeking of religion, or the answers to life. Some people dedicate decades to the search of answers, and some never even find some. But so often people manage to find themselves, and by practicing meditation and rituals of repeated prayer and bowing also find answers to some of these questions. But why look for answers anyway? I think that it is our fascination for nature and creation that leaves us speechless. We are overwhelmed by the perfection, and even though we can explain the function or role of elements in nature through our scientific knowledge, we cannot explain how these creations even started existing, and this exact lack of knowledge leads to our need to look for these answers.

So as in Buddhism, meditation is one of the keys to find some of these answers. Meditation is an individual journey to our soul, and to what lays behind it. We find out who we are, where we come from, and if we even manage to reach this stage in the first place, some are able to find out secrets of creation. This is a process that requires an immense amount of work and dedication, but in the end, personally I am not quite sure if it is worth it. While people spend so much time thinking about creation or where the beauty of nature and its mind-blowing creations come from, why don’t they rather interact with it? What better way to get as much out of it as to spend time with it, to live life to the fullest out in nature, in the creation of some upper being? However I really think that it is this fascination for nature and the things about it that we cannot explain that make people seek out religion, the fact that our human world does not contain enough might to create such captivating things, that we believe there must be a higher power.

Buddhist Meditation

After receiving the task of meditating for 20 minutes in a quiet spot I wondered how this was going to get me to understand the truths or life or attain a state in which I think of nothing at all. I have never really meditated before, the closest to it are moments where I leave the house to just be a little farther away from school work and stress, and a little closer to nature and myself. I think this can be called mediation in one way or another, I reach a state that I cannot be in when I am with other people and I simply have time for myself and to think about what I care about, love, want, do not want, get frustrated with or anything else. 
But these 20 minutes were different than my previous 'meditations'. Being assigned not to think about anything was incredibly tough. First, I had to relax from all the stress, especially since this week has been one of the most homework packed in my entire high school career I think. I tried to forget all about the sleepless nights and the countless essays, charts, numbers and researches I had written or put together and managed quite well, I soon felt a lot more relieved. Now that the major obstacle to relaxing was out of the way, I still had a million other things in my mind. Current things going on with my friends, their troubles, their successes, ours together. I thought about laughs of the day and some worries too, things I had discussed with my friends, planned, smiled at, simply the little things of the day, those that seem not to matter but make a huge difference in the way I feel at the end of the day. Realizing that I could not get my mind empty, I forced myself to think about the truths of life. "The origin of suffering is attachement". I realized that this truth was indeed one, but it is so easily opposed with a counter-argument: The origin of happiness is attachement. As I had just thought about the relationship of myself and my friends I connected this thought to the truth of life. Without friends and family, the people I am attached to, would I still be laughing as much? What would I be living for? It is obvious to have to bargain some suffering in order to experience happiness, but I think that is a worthy price to pay. Alot of people around me tell me that I laugh alot, even at the simplest things, and I like this idea of enjoying little things. So what if I have to let go of some of these sooner or later, those laughs and moments of happiness were worth it. There is suffering in life, but we don't live for that, we live life for the moments that make us smile, and I think that is what buddhism doesn't acknowledge as much as I believe it should. Attachement is risky, but in the end, I would chose that over detachment any day. 
I thought about this aspect for a long time and resulted in thankfulness, for everything around me. I think this thought only got me to hang on to what I am attached to already even closer, because I realize the positive impact and huge happiness it all throws upon me. So why let go of it? 

Gandhi – Hindu and Activist

Gandhi was a Hindu, but exactly this showed us that a Hindu was never only a Hindu. Gandhi’s own words were that he is a Hindu, Christian, Jew, Muslim, and a man of any other religion. His mind was open and accepting to all religions of the world, just because a religion differed does not mean the mindset on the world of a man would differ, his intentions, his morals could be identical. Gandhi emphasizes this idea with his strong opposition to the split of the Indian population and the move of all the Muslims to Pakistan. His will to keep India united is stronger than anything and his belief that men of all religions are equal proves his own feeling that he has failed by not keeping Muslims and Hindus in the same country of India.

Gandhi once said, “A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.” This quote shortly and efficiently sums up Gandhi’s life perfectly. His belief was that if he wanted to really help the people around him, he would have to sacrifice anything he had. And so he did, detaching himself from everything around him, including his children. Giving up precious aspects of one’s life would make someone see the needs in the lives of those around one, and only once this sacrifice had been made, they could be helped. As the quote also says, it was a completely ‘innocent’ man that offered himself, this being an example for Gandhi strictly living after his own set of rules, never breaking them, always believing that non-violence was the best solution for any problem, and trying to inspire others of this. Gandhi was prepared to suffer abuse by those that stood in his way to peace, only to achieve it, and was not afraid of what the consequences of their dislike were. To achieve what he truly believed in he let go of everything he loved, and was trying to inspire the world around him with the message that by gaining something good, good things have to be sacrificed. 

Cavepainting - Scene of Tenderness

My hands are shaking as I dip the brush

Into the fresh paint.

Maybe because of the cold inside the cave,

But it’s the fright of making a mistake that keeps me alert.

The painting needs to be perfect,

The tenderness must be grasping,

After all, these animals represent my tribe’s life.

Without their being, where would ours be?

Our source, of not only of food, but life,

Comfort, clothing, from their fur.

What a magical circle of life,

Where we are the most blessed with gifts.

The paint moves smoothly along the features

Of the reindeers’ body,

And I wonder about what must be so perfect,

To possess the ability to create such perfection. 

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection Question #1

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection Question #1: "According to Mircea Eliade religion has 'not vanished without a trace; [it] has contributed toward making us what we are today and so, after..."

My family has been religious for generation after generation and it has always been an important matter in our lives, even if not the center of it. Catholicism has been our specific religious system and as just mentioned, despite the fact that we do not base our entire lives around this religion its moral code is essential to our lifestyle. Also, growing up in a french-german household, I've become somewhat of a linguist, exploring my religion through 3 different languages, even if this is not a crucial aspect of history - as in prehistoric times there was little connection between words and religion, evidence lay rather in imagery or acts of sacrifice - I do think it has broadened my view on my personal view on religion.

In my family, when we come to discussing religion once in a while, we each still have small differing opinions on certain aspects, which I believe is exactly the way it should be, because even if we all believe in the one God, our opinions on the world can, and should differ, hence our postulating new ideas. Accepting those of other religions also strengthens my own I think, because I see and sometimes understand other opinions and minds, which means sharing religions between one another should never be a taboo, which, in fact, has rarely been a taboo as already in the time of our primitive people differences in belief lead to battles or segregation, proving transcultural affairs did in some cases, and in others not succeed, and the mores pulling those individual cultures together even closer together.