Brothers,
In his chapter on "Idealism," Emerson discusses religion with regard to humankind's identification with Nature. That said, I proffer my first question:
1. What is the value of religion or religious experience? Or, put another--perhaps more controversial--way: Is there value to revealed religion and its ritual practices? Draw on your own experience of God and Nature in answering the question.
In his chapter on "Spirit," Emerson ends with a rather poignant quote: "The poet finds something ridiculous in his delight, until he is out of the sight of men" (509). Wow! He's saying a lot with a short phrase. That said, I proffer my second question:
2. What the heck does Emerson mean by that saying? Be as rigid or as loose in your interpretation as you feel necessary!
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Ok. I am going to answer the first question. I do believe there is value in the practices of religion. I say this because even if i didnt quite believe in the religion, or had little faith, i would still practice it because in my mind there is nothing to lose. As i somewhat went into on my last discussion, i do believe that God is there for you. I believe that the being he is, is worthy of praise because of the many joys in life that he lets us have. As a believer in the Roman Catholic faith, i am glad to have faith in the possibility that there is always someone there for me in even the hardest of times. He is a constant guide for me during the low points and i am thankful to him during my high points.
I will answer the first question. I believe that there is great value in religion and its experiences. To me religous experineces can't do anything but bring joy to your life. Religion can help you to become closer to God. Religion can help you to become devoted to other aspects of your life. Through your dedication to God and prayer you can succeed during time of struggle. It can also help you find the path for your life if you are truly lost and do not know what you are doing in your life. To believe in God and religion is to believe in God because God created nature and all that is good about it. In nature you can find peace as you can by praying to God about your problems. God is your leader and he is there for you all the time when you need him. Religion and its experineces can do you no bad so why would you not believe the almighty God. God can help you to overcome life's obstacles and live your life the best you possibly can through religious prayer and devotion.
1. There is a value to relgion. In todays busy world, most people have no problem occupying themselves with something other than relgion, but for some less advanced countries, religion is the life of the people. It gives them something to live for. It gives them a purpose in life, which is becomeing more important as times get tougher. It is a humans nature to want to be loved, to feel special, and to want to do something. Religion centers oneself as important and tells people that God loves YOU. It gives people something to do and something to live for.
Religion also gives each individual a goal in life, most religions promise an afterlife in paradice, which is also a want built into the human nature, we want to live forever; and what better way to live forever than in paradice? By giving a human a goal, you are giving him a purpose in life and giving him direction and drive. People who have lost sight of this goal reject the need to live forever and start to make earthly conquests, in order to live forever in legend. It is this strive for legacy that has push people away from thier old religion to create their own, personal relgion.
I chose the first question on the values of religion. I think Reigion definately has a value. religion is something people can fall back on when times are tough, some people may even depend on religion. The people who fall back on religion know that God is there and will help them if they need it. After all by having faith and praying nothing bad can come out of it only good.
Emerson said"be as rigid or as loose in your interpretation as you feel necessary". I believe this means freedom of thought.Emerson is saying people have their own opinions,and they have thier own interpretations of certain things.I believe that Emerson is also stressing tolerance for one another.In saying be as rigid or as loose Emerson is telling us to think what we want without the fear of opposition.Be yourself nobody views something the same way.The Founding Fathers had ideas similar to what Emerson stated. Freedom of speach,of religion.If we all had the same interpretations on something the world would be a boring place to live in,and we would all be robots
I am going to answer the first question. In my opinion, there is a lot of value in the practices of religion and religious experiences. I value religous experiences because when something good happens as a result of prayer I realize how special it is. Because of these special occurrences, people can become closer to God and come to better understand Him. Also, when things in someone's life are not going as well as they would like, they can always talk/vent to God through prayer and He will listen. Because God is always there for us, even through the good and bad times, we are truly blessed by him love and guidance.
I chose questions number one. In my own personal opinion, there is a lot of value in the practices of religion and religious experiences. There are a lot of values in religious experiences, for example going to confession, when you leave confession he feeling you have inside of confessing all the sins you have committed is one of the best feelings. This is how all religious experiences are to me even a simple prayer makes you feel just that much better about yourself, that you can share your deepest feelings with someone else. In my opinion I don’t no why some people don’t practice religion as much as they possibly can, even if you don’t believe the feeling you get from just doing some of the practices makes you feel a lot better about yourself.
I, yes I, am choosing to answer number 2. I think that Emerson means that you can basically say what you feel like saying about it, or you can just stay neutral on the topic. I think that he means it is an opinionated answer. He means to say that you should say what you want about a topic, "rigid" being neutral, and "loose" being however you want to state what you really want to say.
Over and Out
Jeg, ja jeg, velger svare antall 2. Jeg tror den Emerson mulighet at De i grunnen sier hva De føler seg som ordspråk om det, eller De kan akkurat blir nøytral på emnet. Jeg tror at han betyr det er en stri svar. Han betyr si at De sier hva De vil ha om en emne, «rigid» være nøytral, og «løsner» være men De angir hva De virkelig sier.
Over og Ut
Ik, ja ik, kies nummer 2 te beantwoorden. Ik denk dat Emerson betekent dat u eigenlijk kan zeggen wat u voel alsof daarvan het zeggen of u kan slechts neutraal op het onderwerp blijven. Ik denk dat hij betekent dat het een eigenzinnig antwoord is. Hij betekent te zeggen dat u zou moeten zeggen wat u over een onderwerp wil, "onbuigzaam" zijnd neutraal en "los" zijnd echter u wil verklaren wat u echt zeggen wil.
Over en Uit
I am going to choose the 1st question. There is more value in revealed religion than ritual religion. Revealed Religion has more value because the worshiper has someone to look up to and has to practice and profess his or her teachings. During ritual religion the worshiper would only practice religion only when it’s needed not every weekend or day. When you perform ritual religion you’re not as focused as revealed religion, you only do it every so often.
1)
I believe there is some value to revealed religion and its practices, ritualistic as they are, but this value is diminishing over time due to the amount of rituals involved and the zombielike state of following some people are maintaining.
In the heyday of the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages but before the protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church was, besides being corrupted, an extremely ritualistic religion. Due to the lack of knowledge about the world or about the bible held by the average churchgoer, the rituals were all that the people had to follow God, and a fear was instilled in them by the priest to "follow the commandments or burn in hell". This led to fearful but altogether zealous peasants working for the church.
Today, the church is almost always a second thought. Most so-called Christians are not practicing, and almost nobody has the right ideals about their lives and God, myself included. 'Bi-Annual Catholics' are becoming more and more common, and true believers are becoming fewer and farther between. Many of those who do make it to church are only there because they feel they have to.
This being said, I believe that today, ritual practices in religion are becoming more of a burden than a blessing. Religion needs a more adaptive approach that still proclaims the messages of God in order to stress the importance of God to those who become bored by the current rituals of the church today. We need to add some liberal thought to a severely conservative foundation.
My answer to the first question is that religion is a very important factor in shaping person's life. They learn how to live their lives according to their faith. In the first years of Catholic gradeschool, we are taught the Law of Love and other simple rules that help shape us into the person we wil be for the rest of our lives. There definitely is some value in religion. Religion is also a place for someone to go when they are troubled or in distress. It's a safe haven for you to speak to God alone in prayer where you won't be interrupted. My brother served in the Peace Corps last year in a village in Kenya for 10 months teaching poor high school kids math. Most of the people in the village were Islamic and their religion and faith was very important to them because it was one of the only things they had. In the US, religion is not practiced as deeply or as faithfully because of peoples's busy lives. There is a definite value in religion in peoples's lives.
I am choosing to answer number 1. The value of religion or religious experience is simple: that it gives us morals to look on. Sure some religions have some wacked up ideas, but it still teaches good moral values. Religion is a part of my life even though I only go to Church once in awhile. I dont "practice" my Roman Catholic faith very well. Though I do believe in a Heaven, Hell, purgatory, the devil, God, and the toothfairy. Just kidding on the last name. Anyways, I do believe in God, but I dont feel God being there in my times of trouble. Ill conclude my comment and say that I think that religion gives us morals.
Those of you who read this before posting... I believe that in question 2 Brother Rob is asking us to answer for the above quote ("The poet finds something ridiculous in his delight, until he is out of the sight of men") , not the "be as rigid or as loose" statement.
The "be as rigid or as loose" was made by Bro. Rob to allow variance in answers.
Not trying to be uptight, just trying to help.
i am also answering question 1. i think revealed religion is more believable for skeptics because they have a physical being to look up to and to worship. Ritual religions i believe require much more just blind faith and trust in your choices. Either way religious practices can help many people become more in tune with nature and the world around them. Religion allows many people to open up and be a better person and it influences them to do the right thing according to belief and custom.
I am going to answer the first question. There is a value to religion. By believing in something it makes you feel good about yourself and that there is always hope in good times or bad. This is the value of religion, no matter what faith you are most still believe in a higher being. It is relaxing to know that your god does care for you when you need it. The other value is the celebration or ritual performed to show your faith . At the celebration everyone is proclaming to all those present that you believe in your god and that he will protect you and help you. So there is a value to practicing religion and its rituals.
To me, Religion and the religious experience are of great value. Revealed religion and ritual practice give me a sense of a beginning and an end to our existence. The revealed religion and rituals help me keep faith and gain knowledge. Another aspect about religion is that God is always there, ready to help and listen to anyone who wants to talk to Him. We are taught about the history of our religions and how they are practiced but the truth of religion is finding God in ourselves and realizing our true identity. Many people, including myself, consider religion and the religious expirence to have great value in their lives.
I have chosen to answer question number 2 because almost everyone answered number 1 and thats how I roll. Byah! In Emerson's time nature was much more prominent in the New World, America. It was easier for a person like Emerson to go out into nature and not see any signs of people or industrialization. Emerson in his transcendental beliefs believed that nature was like a deity. Much like a member of the Green Party or someone who drives a Prius. When other people are around or there are signs of people around it is hard for man to really enjoy the beauty of nature. Much in the same way someone gets stage fright and feels embarrassed to do something when people are looking or listening. So when people are around "the poet" cannot feel the true effect of nature and plays it off as more of a joke. Once people are out of sight and mind though one can give their full mind to nature, and really begin to understand although Waldo says people are as alien to Nature as they are to God. So one must really find solitude to do their best thinking like Invisible Boy from Mystery Men who could only become invisible when no one was looking. So Nature is like a second deity next to God, like Tenacious D next to Led Zeppelin, and one needs to be alone and focus fully on Nature to see its beauty.
I choose to answer the first question. I do believe that there is value in revealed religion and it rituals mostly because it is the words and beliefs of God. As a whole, a large percentage of Catholicism is revealed religion and its traditions, through the actions of Jesus. Rituals within the reigion can be used to cleanse and purify those who believe. One example of a ritual in Catholicism is the Eucharist, which brings us closer to God by taking in his body and blood. In Reconciliation, GOd cleanses us of our sins and this is not only a weight off of our shoulders physically, but also spiritually. Finally, in Confirmation children are transformed spiritually from children to adults so that they can also be closer to God. Through these rituals we are brought closer to God and cleansed so that we can feel and act as better human beings. In this way I feel that there is value in revealed religion.
1.
I think modern day religion does have value. While some of the ritual practices may not possess much value, religion gives many people standards by which to live and therefore controls much of the turmoil in society. By defining what is right and wrong and consequences (heaven and hell), the world becomes a much better place. Many rituals today do not increase spirituality and faith, but rather are blindly followed without any thought as to the religious values behind them that can be learned.
I am choosing to answer the second question. i think that Emerson is trying to say that the spirit is so uncomprehendable that it is rediculous. I think that he is correct in this sense and that the human mind cannot comprehend certain things such as the spirit, the amount of space taken up by infinity and the absolute emptyness of nothing. People use these words in trying to convey an emotion or belief that they are unable to portray with other words because their meaning is not as great or powerful.
Rob Gill said...
1.) I think that the values of religion and religious experience stem from what we are taught about religion. The values of religion are that it is always a "safe place" to return to if all else fails. God will never just ignore us because we are his children, and I'm sure your father or mother would never just ignore you. the religious experience is really how much we get involved into our religion. How much we put into learning it and living it is how much we as Christians will get out of our faith.
Tom Rose said...
The value of religious experience is that whenver you're in doubt about naything you can fall back on god. If you need somethign you can pray to god in hopes for the best. whenever you're feeling down and feel that no one lovves you, you can remember that God will always love you. the best part about religion, though, is how there's just this overall godly love that's shed upon you.
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