The Last Blog!

While reading through the works of famous philosophers, I have finally had the opportunity to reflect on my personal take on religion...

I went to Catholic school my whole life. I was baptized, received communion, confirmed, the works. As a child I loved going to church and my two A's on my report card were always in P.E and religion. As I grew older, I finally started to question the concept of religion. Prior to high school, they made religion seem so straight forward and uncomplicated. In high school my doubt got the best of me and I stopped going to church all together. I made other things my priorities and completely ignored the religious part of me because I grew frustrated with the church teachings. I had taken world religions and just about every religious class but I never taken a philosophical religious course.

Throughout the course of the semester, I realized this class was just what I needed. It was interesting to read about what other famous philosophers thought about religion. Listening to their theories helped me to analyze and reflect on my beliefs. I realized all throughout my life I never had a strong sense of faith and I had replaced that with doubt. I need proof and evidence before I can fully commit and understand something.

I found this class to be very challenging for me but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I struggled understanding Phillips and honestly without you I'm not sure I could decode his language or referencing. I really liked the dynamic in the classroom and found the discussions to open my eyes to things I had never thought about.

E.E

Evans-Pritchard discusses how people approach the study of religion in various ways (hermeneutics of religion). He claimed that non-believers would often turn to science to prove the invalidity of religion and its beliefs whereas the believers explained religion to be a method of understanding or comprehending reality.

Mirror Mirror on Wittgenstein's Wall...

"It is important to distinguish between religion and superstition: 'Religious faith and superstition are quite different. One of them results from fear and is a sort of false science. The other is a trusting.'"

... which is which?

Superstition is defined as "a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge." "To believe in something with or without evidence." "To believe in the supernatural."

Faith is "a belief in the trustworthiness of an idea."

These definitions I realize are rather broad but so are the concepts. When it states that superstition is not based on knowledge or reason, one might argue that faith doesn't either. Sure faith is a belief in the trustworthiness of an idea but then again isn't superstition? After looking up definitions of both terms I do find it hard to distinguish between the two.

Full Moon...

In my first blog I discussed Freud and his concept of the unconscious...

I stated that I would purchase a dream dictionary to help decode my dreams & find a key into my unconscious. Well I finally put my Borders gift certificate to good use!

Last night I dreamt that I was in a jacuzzi with my best friend and it was a full moon.

According to my dream dictionary:
"To see the moon in your your dream, represents something hidden, mystery and the feminine aspect of your self. In particular, a full moon signifies completion, whereas a new moon symbolizes new beginnings."

This is a fairly accurate portrayal of my life as of now. I am nearing the end of my semester at school and soon to be embarking on new beginnings as a Junior and Environmental Studies major :)

"Im in love, I'm a believer"... or am I?