Religion
Religion is a complicated and flexible human institution typically setup by members of the Accumulating Class (think Roman Emperor Constantine), ostensibly to meet Essential Needs and Non-essential Needs, but more likely to be part of the Regime of Accumulation's Mechanisms of Compliance.
Subclasses
Religion > Authentic Religion, Elite Religion
Syncretic Terms
Religion > Comprehensive Framework
Related LP Terms
Religion > Boundary Fetish, Boundary Problem, Narrative, Sacrilization
Non-LP Related Terms
Religion > Boundary Fetish, Boundary Problem, Narrative, Sacrilization
Notes
A typical religious institution consists of social, ritual/practical, experiential, narrative/mythic, doctrinal, ethical/legal, material, and healing dimensions all geared toward the satisfaction of various human needs.[1]
Religion is often co-opted and controlled by members of the Accumulating Class. In this case, religion functions, in addition to an institution which meets various human needs, as an Ideological Institution (and sometimes Symbol Factory designed to help propagate a specific Existential Narrative.
Religion may be broken down into two sub-classes, Elite Religion and Authentic Religion. Elite religion prioritizes the needs of the Accumulating Class while Authentic Religion prioritizes Healing, Connection, and the Seven Essential Needs of humanity.
Religion is a notoriously difficult concept to pin down and, frankly, scholars have said some really stupid shit about it over the years, Sigmund Freud being a classic example. Freud believed that religion arises as a consequence of
- an expression of the son-father relationship (see totem and taboo, related to religions where "totem animals" become sacred)[2]
- the need to defend oneself against the "crushingly superior force of nature."[3]
- The "urge to rectify the shortcoming of civilization..."[4]
Other Definitions
"Religion tends to be conceptualized as an external, community-based phenomena in which a particular organized set of beliefs, behaviors, and rituals are institutionalized by individuals sharing similar spiritualities."[5]
Quotes
"Every fully developed religion exists simultaneously on several different levels. It exists as a set of abstract concepts about the world and its governance. It exists as a set of rites and sacraments, as a traditional method for manipulating the symbols, by means of which beliefs about the cosmic order are expressed. It exists as the feelings of love, fear and devotion evoked by this manipulation of symbols.
And finally it exists as a special kind of feeling or intuition—a sense of the oneness of all things in their divine principle, a realization (to use the language of Hindu theology) that “thou art That,” a mystical experience of what seems self-evidently to be union with God."[6]
Footnotes
- ↑ Mike Sosteric, “What Is Religion” 2022, https://www.academia.edu/80934448/What_is_Religion
- ↑ Freud, Sigmund. The Future of an Illusion. New York: Anchor Books, 1961. p. 21
- ↑ Freud, Sigmund. The Future of an Illusion. New York: Anchor Books, 1961. p. 21
- ↑ Freud, Sigmund. The Future of an Illusion. New York: Anchor Books, 1961. p. 21
- ↑ Hodge, David R. “The Intrinsic Spirituality Scale: A New Six-Item Instrument for Assessing the Salience of Spirituality as a Motivational Construct.” Journal of Social Service Research 30, no. 1 (January 1, 2003): 41–61. https://doi.org/10.1300/J079v30n01_03. 42
- ↑ Aldous Huxley, “Chapter Twenty-Four: 1961 Letters,” in Moksha (Rochester, Vermont: Park Street Press, 1999).
