Term Paper on "World Religions Religious Experience Is a Foundational"
Term Paper 8 pages (2610 words) Sources: 3 Style: Chicago
[EXCERPT] . . . .
World ReligionsReligious experience is a foundational aspect of human development and various people around the world have different and yet similar religious and spiritual experiences that make them a part of humanity. Many profound works of intimate individual experiences have been written that anecdotally express the experience of spirituality, across world religions and cultures. Regardless of the diversity of the person experiencing spiritual understanding, even if it is significantly different than your own a reader can find universal ideals and messages. In the three works, Gandhi's Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, by Mahatma Gandhi, Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux by John Neihardt, and the Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom are three completely different cultures, representing three separate regions and faiths in the world, all with frequently divergent dogmatic expression but all with similar messages of hope and redemption. Each work expresses humility as a personal standard, faith as a steadfast individual character trait, express belief in the inherent good of humanity, and the need to make personal sacrifices for the good of others. This work will analyze, through the words of these three writers the universality of these character traits across their faiths and regions.
Each of these works requires at least a brief introduction. Gandhi's Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, is the profound story of the struggles and endurance of the famed resistance leader Mahatma Gandhi who strove to unite his native culture, despite their differences. Gandhi was a student of the Hindu faith and stre
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Contrast:
As a point of entry into the topic it is important to understand that the flow of each of these works is entirely different, each uses a completely different style and language structure and of coarse each is reflective of a different religion and culture. Gandhi's Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth reads as a narrative history, straightforward and expressive of facts, as they were seen by the primary character.
Much as I wish that I had not to write this chapter, I know that I shall have to swallow many such bitter draughts in the course of this narrative. And I cannot do otherwise, if I claim to be a worshipper of Truth. It is my painful duty to have to record here my marriage at the age of thirteen. As I see the youngsters of the same age about me who are under my care, and think of my own marriage, I am inclined to pity myself and to congratulate them on having escaped my lot. I can see no moral argument in support of such a preposterously early marriage.
Though the work is clearly peppered with messages of social reform and humanity it is also demonstrative of a book of historical facts, wound through the context of Gandhi's colorful, yet ordinary life. Gandhi, in the passage above speaks of the fact that there are things in the lives of every person that they are not proud to have known and yet he contends that he is a messenger of truth and therefore he must express just that. His work is reflective of his spiritual beliefs in tone as well as in style and this makes the work flow differently than the other two works.
Comparatively, Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux is filled with language and ceremony that represents the ideas and the life of Black Elk. In one of the opening scenes of the work, as Black Elk agrees to tell his story to Neihardt the tone of the work can be gleaned:
So I know that it is a good thing I am going to do; and because no good thing can be done by any man alone, I will first make an offering and send a voice to the Spirit of the World, that it may help me to be true. See, I fill this sacred pipe with the bark of the red willow; but before we smoke it, you must see how it is made and what it means. These four ribbons hanging here on the stem are the four quarters of the universe. The black one is for the west where the thunder beings live to send us rain; the white one for the north, whence comes the great white cleansing wind; the red one for the east, whence springs the light and where the morning star lives to give men wisdom; the yellow for the south, whence come the summer and the power to grow.
The work is a reiteration of the stilted and yet moving words of Black Elk as he transmits his life story through the oral tradition to Neihardt and it has a completely different feel than the other two works as a result.
The last work to be discussed the Hiding Place, represents a book that reads as much like a novel as a biography. The work opens on a very auspicious day, the hundred year anniversary of the watch store that the Ten Boom family owns in Holland. The writer Corrie walks the reader through the day, as she and her now small family prepare for the party, foretelling the events of her and her family's near future with one simple statement.
It was a day for memories. A day for calling up the past. How could we have guessed as we sat there-two middle aged spinsters and an old man -- that in place of memories we were about to be given adventure such as we had never dreamed of? Adventure and anguish, horror and heaven were just around the corner, and we did not know.
The ordinary tone of the work, as Corrie discusses the memories of her family, the color of the dress she chose for the party, the manner her father used when he walked into the dining room every morning at 8:10 AM is foundational to the very narrative nature of the loving and tender story she tells. The foreshadowing of the intensity of her future lived experiences, even from the viewpoint of a woman looking back at a tragedy does not harbor anger, and only a minimal amount of regret. Ten Boom writes as if she is recalling the providence of a miraculous group of events that occurred as a result of the actions of an ordinary family. Corrie asks, "Was it possible that this-all of this that seemed so wasteful and so needless-this war, Scheveningen prison, this very cell, none of it was unforeseen or accidental?" And she asks the Lord to protect her loved ones. "Those I love, Lord," I would say. "You know them. You see them. Oh-bless them all!" Living the life now of an incarcerated enemy of the state, she spent her time thinking of her faith and expressing it through her narrative words.
Comparison:
Gandhi's Autobiography demonstrates the ideals of humility through its frank expression of Gandhi, expressing the nature of mistakes he had made through his life. He discusses the nature of tragedy and how his own actions and choices contributed to tragedy.
This latter friendship I regard as a tragedy in my life....I knew his weaknesses, but I regarded him as a faithful friend. My mother, my eldest brother, and my wife warned me that I was… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "World Religions Religious Experience Is a Foundational" Assignment:
People from different cultures, geographical locations, families, countries, etc. have had religious experiences. Compare and contrast the various experiences, values, and sources of these people. I will list a set of books below. Please choose any three you prefer. From these few books, what conclusions can you come to about religion around the world? Double space, normal margins (1 inch). No double spaces between paragraphs. The title page does not count as a page. Write a rough draft and have the writing center or someone who knows how to write proofread it. Normal paper format: Intro, body, conclusion. Sources should be referenced. Sources can be footnotes or endnotes. Bibliography should go at the end. It is to be double spaced with footnotes or endnotes in either MLA or Chicago style. For this paper, please choose at least three of the following books. Each of the books describes the religious experiences of an individual from a particular tradition. In the paper please compare and contrast the beliefs and experiences of the characters. Point out how they are examples of the tradition of which they are a part.
Please choose at least three of these books:
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok;
The Cloistered Walk by Kath***** Norris;
Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt;
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse.
Gandhi; Autobiography
Muhammed: A Biography of the Prophet by Karen Armstrong;
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom;
Biography of Father Walter Ciszek.
How to Reference "World Religions Religious Experience Is a Foundational" Term Paper in a Bibliography
“World Religions Religious Experience Is a Foundational.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2007, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/world-religions-religious-experience/440520. Accessed 6 Jul 2024.
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