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From: braune@inuxe.UUCP (S Braune)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Re: Why believe in religion?
Message-ID: <890@inuxe.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 15-Oct-86 08:55:07 EDT
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Posted: Wed Oct 15 08:55:07 1986
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In article <3726@umcp-cs.UUCP> mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate)
writes:

*In article <1174@cybvax0.UUCP> mrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz) writes:
*
*[In response to Mike Andrews's remarks on religion as a tool]
*>Having a tool doesn't guarantee that the tool is good for the claimed use.
*>By your analogy, every religion is a tool.  And I strongly doubt that you
*>would conceed the others are all good for their claimed uses.
*
*This is true, but I hardly see it as weakening the argument.  Indeed, it
*reinforces the point that the nature of religious belief is not necessarily
*arbitrary.

In response to the above discussion, I'd like to propose a fairly
"neutral language" and non-exclusive definition of religion.  I'm
interested in concerns, efforts, and experiences that lead people,
who have widely varying philosophies and opinions, down religious
pathways.  And while i think that a definition emphasizing the
tool-like nature of religion has implications for many topics of
discussion, in this posting i'm just presenting the definition with
some explanation.   Anyway, here's the definition:

religion - a practice-based, involving approach to living directed
           at resolving deeply felt, negatively perceived human
           conditions.

And here's the explanation:
Through the course of living, a person may discover within
him/herself the existence of a deeply felt, gut-level condition that
is experienced as a pervasive source of negative influence in
life's situations.  (An analogy here might be that the person
discovers a disease within.)  As awareness of this condition
increases (through its persistence, perhaps), the desire to resolve
the condition increases. The pervasiveness of the condition may
cause this desire for resolution to become the ultimate concern for
that person - all other concerns may be seen to be side-effects of
this one, and the person may feel that their very life somehow
hinges on this needed resolution.  Since the effects of the
condition seem to invade all or a great part of living in some way,
the person develops the feeling of personal responsibility for the
condition's existence - the tendency to blame specific people and
situations diminishes.  Descriptions may eventually be attached to
the condition.  Depending upon the person's background, environment,
previous choices, etc. words such as  sinfulness, suffering,
dissatisfaction, confusion, out-of-tune-ness, etc. may be used. 
Purely due to speculation or because the person may have experienced
a taste of what living without the condition is like ("what could
be"; a new and desired state; an experience of health in the
analogy), the condition may be represented by the person as being a
kind of separation from this ideal state.  Again, depending upon
influences, phrases such as separation from God (i.e. sinfulness),
separation from peace (i.e. suffering), separation from
understanding (i.e. confusion), etc., may be used.  

The condition may now contain a strong element of questioning (in
fact, the element of questioning may have always been there).
Expressed in words, the question  may take the form, "How can I
end this separation!?", where the desired experience of the
resolution of the condition contains (is) the "answer".  The words
used to describe the condition may (will) indicate an alignment
(whether understood by the "questioner" or not) to the models and
philosophies of some existing world view or religious system or
combination of systems.  This alignment may create an attraction to
the corresponding system.  The experience may be one of a kind of
"calling", "destiny", or "drawing-toward", or more simply as a
strong interest in a particular practice, style, or system for
living.  Some aligned questions include "How can I know God?", "Who
am I?", "What is Truth?", etc.  A system of practices (including
principles, methods, and thought-models) that "directs" (the right
word is system dependent here) the person toward resolving this
deeply felt condition (and therefore helps to answer the question)
is - if we accept this definition - a religion.

The alignment of the questioner's feelings and concepts about the
condition and desired state to those that are described or somehow
demonstrated by a religious system (through its philosophies, its
supporters and their actions, its institutions, etc.) may provide
the momentum to the questioner to accept some or all or the courses
of action described by the system.  Such a step by the questioner
may require a great deal of faith (in the system's
condition-resolving power, at least) and trust (that the system's 
designers and supporters are sincere and have made progress in
resolving the same or similar conditions).  At some point, choice
(to adopt the system, in part or whole) and commitment (to its
practices) may be necessary.  Certainly, action and involvement of
some kind (including purposeful non-action) will be necessary. 

A summary of the way of involvement for some people, then, is as
follows: 
1) recognition of a deeply felt, negatively perceived condition
2) strong desire to resolve condition
3) alignment to practice-based system
4) probably some combination of faith, trust, choice, and commitment
5) action
6) action
7) action
  .
  .
  .

The elements described above may overlap quite a bit.  For example,
the alignment may be coincident with the perception of the
condition.  In fact, practice systems themselves may attempt to
provide or increase awareness of these conditions.  Also, the
alignment may occur very slowly, or it may take place very suddenly,
as with a peak experience of some kind that immediately immerses the 
person into a particular thought-model.  During the process of
resolution that takes place with participation in the system, a
host of new conditions may evolve that require resolution.  The
process may be experienced as one of growth, with many stages of
condition/resolution.  As resolutions are experienced, new
possibilities/potentialities are opened up.  Depending upon the
depth of awareness of the condition(s), a resolution may be
experienced as a transformation/reorientation (again, this may occur
suddenly or slowly - probably produces a peak experience if
happening quickly).

Now, again, the definition: 
religion - a practice-based, involving approach to living directed
           at resolving deeply felt, negatively perceived human
           conditions.
The definition opens up the possibility for referring to typically
non-religious systems as religions.  But note that the "religious"
system must work in some sense ("...directed at resolving...") to
fit the definition.  And also note that within the context of a 
particular religious system, the notions of practices,
thought-models, etc. may actually be a hindrance to growth and may
not be considered valid.  If the definition has any use at all, it's
probably as a conceptual starting point for the personal choice of
some religious system.