Essay on Motivation and Religion - 1064 Words

Motivation and Religion According to Dr. David Elkins, Contemplation, meditation, prayer, rituals and other spiritual practices have the power to release the life force in the deepest levels of the human psyche, levels that secular interventions cannot reach (Elkins 1999). Spirituality may not just about one person healing. It may be about the look of wonder on a childs face or the love we feel for a family member. It could also be about finding the place that attaches one person to another. Its about seeing the sacred in our lives and opening the door to a life of passion and depth or even strength and power. There is no right or wrong answer. To each their own, but there must be something that motivates each and†¦show more content†¦That could definitely make one embrace another religion. A major role in embracing a religion or spirituality has to do with internal motivation. Anger, fear, and/or hurt could motivate someone to seek out those unlike and uncomfortable feelings and find happi ness, love, and security in religion. Someone could easily find a belief that gives him/her hope. People in general define their god, not as a person, but as a force, a principle, . . .an integrating power that expresses the unity and the meaningfulness of a higher-being (Maslow 1976). Some recognition needs to be given to factors which are basic to an understanding of any religious experience. [Religious] attitudes in general are born of conditioning circumstances which have been more or less persistently present in the formation of the psycho-physical personality. Man gets his attitudes from longstanding associations with parents, social groups, intellectual constants; in short, with those environmental influences of longstanding (Olt 1956). A second factor in religious experience is the acquired sentiments about religious things. External motivation could very well be the key for some people to turn to and extend their open arms to religion and/or spirituality. Maybe one pe rson is in need of charity, and if that person goes to a certainShow MoreRelatedWhat It Is For The Anthropology Of Religion957 Words   |  4 PagesGeertz described religion as ‘(1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of faculty that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic’ (Geertz, 1966 :4), a quote which Asad refers to as ‘perhaps the most influential, certainly the most accomplished, anthropological definition of religion to have appearedRead MoreClifford Geertz Religion As A Cultural System Summary1495 Words   |  6 PagesClifford Geertz, in his essay â€Å"Religion as a Cultural System†, presents what he considers to be the definition of religion. 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