Religions of Man – Huston Smith All people have a sense that something is not quite right with the...
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Transcript of Religions of Man – Huston Smith All people have a sense that something is not quite right with the...
• Religions of Man – Huston Smith• All people have a sense that
something is not quite right with the world.
• Something is missing, there is a void in life.
• Religion is man’s attempt to answer the fundamental questions of life.
Five Aspects:1) Cosmology2) Worship Forms3) Deities4) Practice5) Mythology
• What is “Cosmology”?• Cosmology is what people
believe about the nature of the universe and reality in which they live.
• To the Sumerians, the earth was a flat round disk.
• Over this disk, like an inverted bowl was heaven.
• The bowl of heaven was thought to be made of tin.
• They believed that the sun, moon, and stars were made of glowing air.
• The sun visited the underworld every night, but the moon only went there once a month.
• This is how the Sumerians explained the universe and the cycles of nature.
• The Sumerians maintained a rather pessimistic world-view.
• They felt that the world was unpredictable and that they were at the mercy of the gods.
• Some historians believe that this sense of pessimism that the Sumerians felt, may have originated in the unpredictable flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
• This view is reflected in many Sumerian proverbs.
“The destruction is from his own personal god; he knows no savior.”
“Wealth is hard to come by, but poverty is always at hand.”
“He who drinks too much beer must drink water.”
• The Sumerians did not have a very developed concept of afterlife.
• The Sumerians believed that regardless of what kind of life a person lived, everyone would end up in a shadowy underworld where the dead would eat clay and dust.
• The Sumerians believed extensively in a spiritual world, filled with both gods and demons.
• The Egyptians viewed the components of reality as separate gods and goddesses.
• The dome of the starry night sky was believed to be a goddess, Nut.
• The earth that stretched out below her was the god, Geb.
• In contrast with the Sumerians, the Egyptians maintained a rather optimistic world view.
• Some scholars believe that this was due to the predictable, and life giving, flood cycle of the Nile River.
• Another contributing factor could be the natural barriers that protected Egyptian civilization from invasion. (Natural barriers included deserts, cataracts, and bodies of water.)
• Dress-up a stick and you get a doll.
• If your friend is like honey, then don't lick all of it!
• The skilful spinster spins with the leg of a donkey
• The Egyptians had a very developed concept of Afterlife.
• During the Old Kingdom, only the Pharaoh had the possibility of achieving an afterlife.
• Later, the possibility was extended to common people.
• The Egyptians believed that a person had to pass a test known as “Weighing of the Heart” before entry to the Afterlife was granted.
• The Afterlife was a glorified version of a person’s actual life.
• Much of the information pertaining to Egyptian views of the Afterlife come from the Book of the Dead, Coffin Texts, and Pyramid Texts.
• Weighing of the Heart
• The question we must ask ourselves:
• How do a particular group of people express worship and adoration of the divine?
• Both the Sumerians and Egyptians wrote songs/poems of praise to their deities.
• Hymn to Utu (Sumerian sun-god)
• Hymn to Ra (Egyptian sun-god)
• At your place of calling upon Utu, at your oven bringing bread to eat, on your ziqqurat, a magnificent shrine stretching toward
• heaven, at your great oven rivalling the great banqueting hall, your prince, the prince of heaven and earth ...... can never be changed,
• the ......, the creator, the ......, the wise one ……
• Homage to thee, O thou who dwellest in thy Boat. Thou rollest on,
• thou rollest on, thou sendest forth light, thou sendest forth light. Thou decreest rejoicing for [every] man for millions of years
• unto those who love him. Thou givest [thy] face to the Hememet spirits, thou god Khepera who dwellest in thy Boat. Thou hast
• overthrown the Fiend Aapep.
• By studying what a culture considers to be divine, one can gain insights into its values and world-view.
• There exist some similarities among Sumerian & Egyptian deities.
• Utu / Ra sun-gods• Enlil / Shu air-gods• Dumuzi / Osiris fertility-gods• Inanna / Isis fertility/love/magic
goddesses
• Utu was the Sumerian god of the sun.
• The Sumerians believed that every evening he descended to the underworld to judge the fate of the dead.
• Ra was the Egyptian sun-god.• Many Egyptians believed that
Ra was responsible for creation.
• Most Egyptians believed that Ra sailed across the sky in his barge, only to enter the underworld (Duat) at sunset.
• Enlil was the Sumerian air-god.• The Sumerians believed that
Enlil was responsible for the creation of life.
• They believed that Enlil separated the sky and the earth to make room for life.
• Shu was the Egyptian god of air.
• The Egyptians believed that Shu separated Nut (sky goddess) from Geb (earth-god) to life on earth possible.
• Dumuzi was a Sumerian fertility-god.• The Sumerians believed that he was
married to Inanna, the goddess of love. • Mesopotamian religious texts describe
Dumuzi’s death at the hands of demons from the underworld. (Explanation of seasonal cycles)
• Dumuzi is temporarily resurrected by his wife Inanna
• Osiris was the Egyptian god of the underworld and fertility.
• His wife was Isis, the goddess of magic and fertility.
• Osiris was murdered by his evil brother Set.
• Later, he was resurrected by Isis, but remained in the underworld.
• Sumerian and Egyptian religion differed in practice.
• The Sumerian religion was based on ritual.
• If the proper rituals and festivals were observed, then the gods would be appeased.
• If not, the gods might unleash their wrath in the form of war, floods, plague, or personal misfortune.
• The Egyptian religion was ritualistic, but also ethical.
• Following the proper rituals was not enough to ensure a happy afterlife, ethical living was also required.
• Even pharaohs were expected to follow the principles of Ma’at (world-order).
• Individuals were believed to be judged, following death, according to Ma’at.
• Many Sumerian and Egyptian myths bear some similarity.
• Myth of Enlil and the creation of life.• Myth of Shu and the separation of
sky and earth• Myth of Dumuzi (Fertility and
Resurrection)• Myth of Osiris (Resurrection)