RE 103 Notes - Lessons 1-8 PDF

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Lessons 1-8...

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RE 103

Religion Re103 at Wilfrid Laurier University - Online Flashcards, Study Guides and Notes  https://quizlet.com/jscot7200 - lesson flashcards Test 1 - Re103 Flashcards - test 1 flashcards https://quizlet.com/133621287/re-103-final-flash-cards/ - final exam flashcards  TERMINOLOGY Quiz #1 - 15 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS - Tinh - love with lots of heat and passion V -

Eros - comparable to Tinh f ull of passion and lust

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Nghia - puppy love

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Philia - friendship, loyalty, trust, = Parents love for a child

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Agape - love for God or Man in general “brotherly love for all humanity”

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Behaviorism - theory that love is a series of actions and preferences which is observable.

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Expressionist Love - considered an expression of love through language or behaviour Myth - fictional stories to explain phenomena prior to modern science

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Mythology - The study of myth

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Mythos - story or narrative.

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Sophia - greek goddess of wisdom Audiophile - person who loves high quality production of sound

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The Goddess - not an external transcendent being but an immanent being, within oneself and manifesting in nature The Sacred Marriage - centers on the Goddess, who takes a leading and active role in the ceremony, while the God is viewed as a consort. Handfasting - the couple face each other and hold their right hands and left hands, forming a figure eight, representing the infinity symbol

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Lesson 1:  WHAT IS LOVE?  Types of Love - Thich Nhat Hanh author of True Love - Two Vietnamese words for love with different meanings  Tinh ● Means to love with lots of heat and passion ● Similar to Eros; the love of “lovers”

● People are “face to face” staring deeply and longingly at one another somewhat oblivious to everything around them. ● Portrayed in pop culture - love songs, romance movies (rom-coms), sales pitches around Valentine’s Day.   Nghia ● Love that is “calmer, more understanding, more faithful” ● Comparable to Lewis’ notion of “affection” or the faithful love ● Parents’ love for children ● Pet owner’s love for their dog ● The purest form of love  Philosophy of Love (Reading 1) ● Examines nature of love and some ethical and political issues. ● Love plays an unavoidable role in several cultures. ● Philosophically - love has been a mainstay, producing theories that range from ○ materialistic conception of love as a purely physical phenomenon ○ an animalistic or genetic urge that dictates our behaviour ○ an intensely spiritual affair that permits us to touch divinity ● Historically - Plato’s Symposium presents the initiating text, for it provides us with ○ notion that love is characterized by a series of elevations ■ animalistic desire or base lust ■ more intellectual conception of love ■ theological vision of love ■ sensual attraction and mutuality ■ Plato’s student Aristotle has a more secular theory of true love reflecting ‘two bodies and one soul’  Variety of sub-disciplines ● epistemology ● metaphysics ● religion ● human nature ● politics ● ethics  It is often stated that love connects to one or all the central theories of philosophy and is often compared with sex & gender. Philosophy of love presents issues by drawing on relevant theories of human nature, desire, ethics etc.

 2. The nature of Love: Eros, Phillia, Agape ● questions concerning nature ● implying love has a “nature” ● opposed by the theory of love being irrational ● cannot be described rationally ● “love” is broadly defined therefore it is imprecise. ● The meaning of love is resolved to eros, phillia, a nd agape.  Eros ● part of love that is passionate ● often referred to as sexual desire, hence erotic ● In Plato’s writing - common desire that seeks beauty ○ the idea of true beauty existing ● Platonic-Socratic means love for beauty on earth will never be satisfied until death ○ ideal beauty becomes interchangeable between people and things ○ to love the platonic form of beauty and not a particular individual ○ Reciprocity is unnecessary ○ the desire is for the beauty and does not require any shared values ○ higher value than appetitive or physical desire ○ physical desire - animal kingdom ○ physical love of an object, an idea or person is not a proper form of love. Philia ● entails fondness and appreciation of the other ● philia - f riendship, loyalty, family etc ● distinctions are derived from love for another  TEACHERS NOTES ON ARTICLE  Philosophy of Love ● ethical and political ramifications ● constant theme (books, movies, songs) ● in philosophy ○ materialistic physical phenomenon ○ spiritual experience ○ Plato important because of shift between the two conceptions of love ■ Aristotle: two bodies one soul ■ friendship love

The Nature of Love ● Three types of love discussed in this article ○ Eros: Romantic, passionate love ○ Philia: Friendship love ○ Agape: Unconditional love of everyone, one's neighbor and stranger alike Further Conceptual Considerations ● How is love knowable? ● How to put experience into words [hmm possible connection with myth – my thoughts] ● Platonic Forms ○ in the cave and not completely able to be grasped (known) ○ hierarchy whereby only some Philosopher-Kings can grasp "love" while low- lives can only experience desire [wow! Pretty elitist this Plato dude – my thoughts] Romantic Love ● higher than just sexual attraction alone [you want a particular person, while there are many sexy people out there – my thoughts] ● "beauty" is important to Plato [I don't think he is just talking about being pretty here] ● knights and damsels in medieval times ● not to be consummated ● chivalry NOT reflection like Ovid Physical, Emotion, Spiritual Considerations ● behaviorists: love is just physical and completely observable [oh right! So this is why guys can completely see that I like them!] ● physicalists and geneticists: love is just physical because of sexual intercourse is gratifying ● physical determinists: chemical attraction, completely biological so DNA mating is controlling who we "fall" in love with ● expressionist: reflection of internal, emotional state – therefore soulmate/spiritual element [but state may change – fall out of love?] Love: Ethics and Politics ● moral appropriateness ○ love as an object; love everyone equally; love oneself; love transcends physical desires; love transcends appearances; same-sex love; sex and reproduction ● political ○ social dominance (gender issues)

  Love (reading 2)  Love as union  ● Love consists in the formation of (or the desire for) some significant kind of union, a ‘we’ ● Union views, by doing away with a clear distinction between your interests and mine, ● The union view claims that love consists in the formation of (or the desire to form) some significant kind of union, a “we.” ● Theorists task is to spell out just what such a “we” comes to—whether it is literally a new entity in the world somehow composed of the lover and the beloved, or whether it is merely metaphorical ● Scruton, writing in particular about romantic love, claims that love exists “just so soon as reciprocity becomes community: that is, just so soon as all distinction between my interests and your interests is overcome” ● The idea is that the union is a union of concern, so that when I act out of that concern it is not for my sake alone or for your sake alone but for our  sake ● Fisher (1990) holds a similar, but somewhat more moderate view, claiming that love is a partial  fusion of the lovers’ cares, concerns, emotional responses, and actions ● You should be concerned for your partner for their sake, not because you can benefit from it ● we need to explain how it is I can have concern for people other than myself, and the union view apparently does this by understanding your interests to be part of my own  Love as a robust concern  ● Caring about someone as a result of being motivated in certain ways ● As this criticism of the union view indicates, many find caring about your beloved for her sake to be a part of what it is to love her. The robust concern view of love takes this to be the central and defining feature of love ● the robust concern view rejects the idea, central to the union view, that love is to be understood in terms of the (literal or metaphorical) creation of a “we”: this concern for you is fundamentally my concern, even if it is for your sake and so not egoistic  Love as valuing ● A distinctive mode of valuing someone

● love to be a distinctive mode of valuing a person, there are at least two ways to construe this in terms of whether the lover values the beloved because she is valuable, or whether the beloved comes to be valuable to the lover as a result of her loving him.  Love as a appraisal of value ● Understanding love to be fundamentally a matter of acknowledging and responding in a distinctive way to the value of the beloved  Love as bestowal of value ● A matter of bestowing value on the beloved this meant to project a kind of intrinsic value onto him  An intermediate position ● A more deeper understanding of love  Emotion view ● Difficult to say love is an emotion when there are so many aspects to it ● emotions just are responses to objects that combine evaluation, motivation, and a kind of phenomenology, all central features of the attitude of love. ● Many accounts of love claim that it is an emotion  Love as an emotion proper ● Emotions are generally understood to have several jobs  Love as an emotion complex ● Understands love to be a complex emotional attitude towards another person emotional attitude towards another person, may initially seem to hold out great promise to overcome the problems of alternative types of views  Value and justification of love ● We love because what we get out of it  Myths and love ● What does it have to do with religion - religious traditions provide ethical and moral codes of conduct for their practitioners   Lesson 2: Canadian Aboriginal Traditions and Mythical Context Readings: Newbery “The Universe at Prayer” Video “Northern Lights:

 Hasiba: Hultkrantz’ “Myths in Native North American Religion,”  ● folktale is flighty, fantastic, migratory, and the legend local-bound, close to history, whereas the myth portrays gods and supernatural animals and all kinds of metamorphoses ● (1) The myth. It takes place at the beginning of time, its acting personages are gods and mythic beings like the culture hero, primeval man and the prototypes of animals, and the scene for action is the supernatural world. The myth has a fixed pattern of events, and actions are often repeated four times in North American texts ● (2) The legend. It takes place in historical and recent times, its acting personages are human beings in their encounters with representatives of a supernatural world—spirits, ghosts, monsters—, and the scene for action is this world or the supernatural world. ● (3) The fictional tale. It belongs to any time and any place, but it is always framed in a world of wonder. Its characters are fictitious persons, in North America mostly supernaturals from European tales. The form of the tale may reveal the same European provenience. ● North American myths are not always sacred ● Myths, or at least mythical patterns, may be integrated with legends, just as legends may be reinterpreted into myths ● The North American Indian myths may conveniently be divided into sacred myths and myths of entertainment or—if that term is preferred—mythological tales ● (1) Cosmological myths are sacred myths that describe the cosmos and the interrelations of its phenomena by anchoring them in a series of supernatural events in primordial time. ● (2) Institutional myths relate how cultural and religious institutions were established in primordial times. ● (3) Ritual myths' are cosmological myths that serve as "texts" for ritual performances. ● (4) Myths of entertainment, or mythological tales, are myths that have been elaborated by the raconteur and thus lost their sacredness, but are nevertheless considered as basically true.  Lesson 2 1. Mythos ● Concepts, ideas, and feelings, like love, are some areas that myths explore ● We refer to these ancient “fictional” stories as myths 2. Logos ● Logos, or “a ground” had been a similar way to describe an account, a story that is recounted. ● logos situated people in the context of space and time, giving voice to their experiences and ways of making sense of the world

● Logos was then associated with truth and accurate accounts White Buffalo Calf Woman and the Sacred Pipe: A Myth about Love ● Respectful love is different than sexual relations for indigenous tribes ● Sex was an enjoyable activity of getting to know one another, part of healing rituals, or an issue of fertility but not exclusively connected to marriage or feelings of love ● This is an imperative myth for the Sioux people ● It is important to note that myths do not remain isolated within one community  Sacred Pipe Ceremony as the Universe at Prayer ● importance as religious expression ● 1. rather than a set time, the ceremony is performed when it is needed ○ give thanks, ask for help, etc ○ contact point between this world and spirit world ○ anyone can request the ceremony ○ You inhale tobacco and as you exhale this is the earth letting you know it is healing you ○ The request cannot be refused nor can those who are invited decline except for the soundest reasons. ● 2. The gathering ○ the time is right when everything and everyone is ready, it may be set at a specific time, but that does not mean that is the set time it starts ○ Can be held in a tipi, an open space, tent or room of a house ○ circle, oriented to the east (feather was placed on door to indicate east) ○ ritual moves clockwise ○ at times it is counter-clockwise to “unwind” with an eye to renewal ● 3. preparation ○ Altar is placed at the western doorway of the circle ○ fire in centre of circle that represents powers of the spirit to attracts and repel which is a perfect balance in which creates their sacred hoop ○ shoes off, moccasins on; remove items of outside world; sometimes they are invited to lay upon altar to renew power ○ eagle feather fans used to fan fire and spread the smoke of the sweet grass for purification ○ eagle bone whistle and rattle places in front of officiant ○ four folds of cloth (red, blk, yellow, and white = four races of the earth) ■ ties to peace and unity ○ Ojibwa megis shell is placed on the 4 coloured cloths – leadership

○ Shell is also placed with a bowl of water and tobacco ○ pipe purified in sweet grass, assembled, loaded with sacred tobacco ○ he stem of the pipe and its bowl are carefully passed through the smoke especially their junction points since this is the point where the bowl-altar in which the sacrifice of prayer is offered up and the worshipper with the stem in his mouth,come together ○ Officiant now takes a pinch of tobacco, passes it through the sweetgrass smoke and its offered to the north south east and west of circle and touched to the breast of officiant and touched to the earth ○ The seven gestures in charging the pipe recognize the three, four, six and seven grandfathers or power places of the universe which soon are involved in the prayers ○ The seven gestures in charging the pipe recognize the 7 ‘grandfathers ■ These will soon be involved in the prayers ■ The four directions, ■ The four winds ■ Seasons ■ Classes of both human and other human in which the world is divided ■ The six directions of space (the 4 horizontal plane plus heaven and earth) ■ The three worlds (the heaven, the 4 direction, the horizontal plane) ■ And the seven that is the six plus one the one point they intersect ○ When the pipe has been thus charged, it is again passed through the cleansing smoke from each of the four directions and laid upon the blanket ○ The attendant now takes up the smoking braid of sweetgrass and offers it from left to right one by one to the worshipers, fanning the smoke towards each one with the eagle feather 2 ○ If your on your period or drank alcohol or contaminated themselves they can not be in the circle

 ● teaching ○ use of teaching wand may be used before the gathering and teach about the universe of the seven powers ○ invoke the four powers, heavenly powers, and spirit powers ○ use of medicine wheel    ● invocation ○ whistle is blown that alerts the heavens and the earth and all that is in them ○ invocations are sung – tell of creative acts, traditions, and re-enact and re-new Examples ○ Invocations of the six grandfathers, the six great powers is sung ○ with restoration, now prayer can be made ● The pipe prayer ○ People are invited to tell their concerns they have brought into the gathering ○ The voicing of these concerns moves from the officiants' left sunwise about the circle ○ pipe lifted up – smoke rises, sacred tobacco offering

○ The worshiper smokes the tobacco and exhales , he then identifies himself, his own life with his brothers and sisters and with the great universe of creatures and powers here gathered and linked together. ○ The pipe is ignited from cole from the fire , carried by attendant and is passed from mouth to mouth ○ After the pipe has been offered to and smoked by each suppliant, it is rotated or circled through all the directions thus to offer it also to all the powers, all the creatures and all the times ○ When the pipe completes its cycle , drum and rattle – highly ecstatic with spirit presence sensed ■ communal, interconnected with each other, deep bonds of love are formed ● Closing  ○ Invites someone to give thanks for water and food – meal is shared ○ closeness to the earth is emphasized ○ some make private tobacco and cigarette offerings and requests ○ pipe separated, ending the ceremony ○ With the pipe, the native traditions are considered to be connected with humans and non-humans, the sacred hoop redistributes what is needed by the individuals in the community. 3.1 Love and Relationships: Sexuality, Marriage, and Divorce ● indigenous people had cultural norms that differed from Europeans ● Most indigenous cultures were matrilineal, meaning that after marriage the new couple lived within the family dwelling of the bride ● In 1985, the Canadian government passed Bill C-31 which amended the Indian Act so that indigenous women no longer "lost" their status. ● Spanish and French explorers brought missionaries to convert the aboriginal peoples of the Americas to Roman Catholicism ● In the case of the Wyandot/Huron, it was social arrangements between families ● The myth of the sacred pipe being delivered by the White Buffalo Calf Woman has variations among different indigenous nations (Love and relationship are the two primary messages that are at the heart of this myth)    Hillei: Newbery, J.W.E. “The Universe at Prayer.” Native Religious Traditions  3.2 Relationship with Nature and Importance of the Buffalo

● The Plains Indians consist of many groups such as the Arapaho, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Comanche, Crow, Osage, Pawnee, Wichita, and the Dakota or Sioux. There are various communities within the Sioux, one of them is the Lakota. ●  ● This group of indigenous people was one of the first to  use horses after the Europeans brought them to North America. Buffaloes were an integral part of their lifestyle and an important source for food, clothing, and materials for constructing their tipis that were essential in their nomadic lifestyle. ● Traditionally, Indigenous peoples’ lives were tightly woven within their environment. in the North Lights video when various Indigenous communities from the Polar Regions spoke of their relation...