The concept of religion...!!

As far as "religion" is concerned all present societies are afflicted by the idea of religion. Societies have possessed beliefs that can be grouped under the term religion. The beliefs which are in focus may vary from society to society and culture to culture in a given time, but despite of these varieties we shall define religion as any set of attitudes, practices and beliefs pertaining to supernatural power. Whether that power be forces , gods, spirits, ghosts, or demons.

In many modern societies phenomena is often divided into natural and supernatural, but not all societies make such a tidy and neat distinction. The term supernatural is often related to powers that are non-human and does not follow the laws of nature. May be a belief which is considered supernatural in one society has nothing to do with supernatural powers in other and is often taken as a regular natural phenomenon. Actually the line between natural and supernatural varies in a society according to what people believe about the cause of things and events in the world they observe. May be a cause for an illness is just natural in a modern society with more complexity and with medical specialists but people of a primitive less complex society may create a mentality that the illness is due to some supernatural cause. Anything for which knowledge of people is limited they often regard it as supernatural.

It is true that religious beliefs and practices are seen in all known societies, but archaeologists think they have founded signs of religious beliefs associated with Homo sapiens who lived about 60,000 years ago. People of that time buried their dead, and many graves contain remains of food, tools, ornaments, and other objects. They were having a belief in "afterlife" and they think these objects are needed in the journey of afterlife. Prehistoric individuals often reflect a strong belief in some sought of religion and there cave paintings their artistic work can be somewhat related to the concept of religion. The idea that there are some specific gods of those people is still quite ambiguous. Now if we talk about historic times universality is observed in the concept of religion. This fact is enough to understand why the concept of religion is under wide research, theorizing and speculation.

After the worldwide and universal belief in religion we are here with a question that why religion is so important and how it varies in different cultures and societies? The appropriate and most believed answer is that people think that religion is created by humans in response to some universal needs and conditions. The explained reasons may be intellectual understanding which makes the whole society consistently together on some important views in which overall understanding and support is much needed. Natural and supernatural beliefs run parallel to each other but they are often related with one another. It has been seen in almost all societies that they tend to "anthropomorphism" of supernatural powers. That means they make the human like image of their gods, spirits and demons and at the same time make them different from humans. It generally facilitates d understanding of people about supernatural. If a society is having a common belief in some kind of supernatural then they would eventually stay together with the objects associated to supernatural activity.

One more possible explanation is that human have a tendency to revert to childhood memories and feelings when they are in stress and possibly a reason behind this concept is that from the childhood days when we are dependent on our parents we often see them as the world and as if they are most powerful and supreme. Whenever we are in some sought of trouble or we may invoked by a feeling of insecurity we rely on our parents for our care n we assume that they will ultimately solve our problems. So when we grow up and when we notice our parents are not that much powerful as they have thought to be in the childhood days and when a social belief make us feel that god who is supernatural and most powerful, we revert to our childhood feeling which were about our parents and when we are in trouble which we can't handle we rely on god to help us in stress situation. This created a belief that the god is almighty and our father and we all are his children and he will take care of us all. The belief set a parent-child relationship with the supernatural which make us feel more emotional about supernatural and we gain a more prominent belief in supernatural.

Anxiety and uncertainty is also thought to be a major explanation for the need of religion. In general it is believed that humans would turn towards religion at times of uncertainty. People in all known societies face anxieties and uncertainties. As they may have both knowledge and skill to take care of much of their needs, but knowledge is not sufficient to prevent illness, accidents and natural disasters. And the most frightening prospect of life is ultimate death as there is intense desire to be immortal. Religion is derived from the universal need to find comfort in inevitable times of stress. Through the religious belief, people make a conviction that death is neither real nor final truth of life and most people are endowed with a belief that personality persist even after death. In some religious practices people are thought to communicate with the people died. Some thought that religion can provide an answer to every unanswered question in a society and can satisfy anxiety but some believe it to be therapeutic. Religion provides a feeling of social union and is larger than oneself. It help people to resolve their internal conflicts and become more matured. It is also believed that religion provides a framework or values.

Last but not the least explanation for the need of religion is the need for the community. It is believed that religion in a society may serve social rather than psychological needs. Living in a society make humans feel pushed and pulled by other powerful forces which resist them to do what is considered wrong and pulled to do what is considered right. These forces may be of law, custom or public opinion. As these forces are invisible and unexplained people begun to think them as mysterious and eventually due to these mysterious forces come to believe in gods and spirits. Religion arises out of experience of living in social groups. Religious belief and practice affirm a person's place in society and enhance feeling of community. It is also believed that society is the object of worship in religion.

However there is no general agreement among scholars as to why there is a need for a religion and how gods, spirits and other supernatural forces and beliefs come into existence. Yet there is general variation is found in the details of religious belief and practices. Societies have different beliefs and kinds of supernatural beings or forces. They also differ in the structure of their hierarchy. There is also a wide range of beliefs over what happen to people after they die. Variations are also found in the ways these supernatural forces interact with humans.

Subsequently i will discuss about the types of supernatural beings and forces and about the type of their hierarchy in my second blog till then enjoy reading this stuff. I hope i made myself quite clear in explaining different aspect of religion in human life.............Tarun Joshi