Katrina Thralls-Technology as Stereotypically Gendered

It’s interesting to me that the stereotypes of men and women relate to a literate and oral society respectively. Men are considered on the cusp of technology, which is why most of the engineers in this country are men. Women, on the other hand, are considered to be excellent at communicating orally, which is part of why you see so many women in the humanities. Women are also seen as the nurturers and seen as more spiritual, which are things that are focused on in primal cultures. Of course, these are only generalizations which say nothing about an individual’s ability in either capacity, but these are images you see in society.

Katrina Thralls-Ways to Eat

Helping to create bread made me stop and think about the fact that there’s a lot of different ways people eat:

There’s the average American, who eats mostly over-portioned, greasy, high-sodium fast food prepared by other people.

There are pescetarians, who exclude meat except for fish.

There are vegetarians, who exclude all meat.

There are vegans, who exclude all animal products.

There are fruitarians, who exclude animal products, vegetables, and grains.

There are raw foodists, who eat food in its natural, raw state.

There are those who eat what they make themselves.

Now this last type flourished when the economy hit rock bottom, when people started making their own fruit and vegetable gardens. This is nothing compared to those who do so in primal cultures, where one must do every part of any sort of processing needed. If it’s an animal, that includes killing it. You have to be very connected with your food in a way that even most fruitarians and raw foodists are not.

Katrina Thralls-Rituals

Mol, Hans. Meaning and Place: an Introduction to the Social Scientific Study of Religion. New York: Pilgrim, 1983. Print.

“Yet ‘ritual’ is not confined just to the transcendent. Down-to-earth habits can have a similar effect on personal well-being or sense of integrity. If ritual deals with the reenactment of sameness and wholeness, one can find it in such worldly acts as having a cup of tea every afternoon at three o’clock, getting up every morning at seven, the Sunday afternoon ride in the car with an ice cream cone at the end, or the wifely kiss on return from work” (54-55).

Normally we tend to think of rituals as far away ceremonies that primitive people do for gods we don’t understand, but this puts ritual much closer to home. Thinking of it this way, many things in our daily lives are rituals. My nightly cup of hot cider is not just a way for me to fall asleep; it is a ritual that gives me peace.

Not only that, but my daily procrastinations are a ritual, in a way. Doing other things instead of my work makes me happier for the time being, and it gives me a routine. I always end up doing certain work at certain times on certain days because it is the point at which I can no longer procrastinate. It is almost as if the whole process is a ritual, a repeated dance—first I procrastinate, then I do the work, then I feel relieved because it’s done, then I receive another assignment, and I begin the motions again.

Katrina Thralls-Idea of the Good

Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy. Trans. John W. Harvey. London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1958.

“Plato did indeed make a powerful contribution towards the rationalization of his religion, for according to his philosophy the deity had to become identical with the ‘Idea of the Good’, and consequently something wholly rational and conceivable. But the most remarkable characteristic of Plato’s thought is just that he himself finds science and philosophy too narrow to comprise the whole of man’s mental life” (94-95).

I love this quote, because I love the idea that the diety had to become identical with the “Idea of the Good.” Even if you do not buy into god being something rational and conceivable, even if you think that the essence of god is exactly the opposite of that, I think that most people around the world can buy into the “Idea of the Good.”

The most popular religion in the world by size is Christianity, with 2.1 billion as of 2005. They believe in an all-loving, all-powerful God who is both transcendent and imminent. To me, this speaks to an “Idea of the Good.” The same goes for Islam (1.5 billion). The next largest group are non-religious individuals (1.1 billion), but this includes secular humanists, theists, and atheists, who can probably see the “Idea of the Good” either in this world or another. Finally, Hinduism (900 million) has many gods with humanlike characteristics and faults, some of whom are dark and murderous, but Hindus see the good in them and worship even the destroyers devotedly, and they especially see the “Idea of the Good” in Brahman, their Ultimate.

I had one unanswered question: if science and philosophy are too narrow to comprise the whole of man’s mental life, what is there to fill the gaps?

Katrina Thralls-Awakening as Salvation

Eliade, Mircea. Myth and Reality. Trans. Willard R. Trask. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1975.

“Since Hypnos is a brother to Thanatos, we see why, in Greece as in India and in Gnosticism, the act of ‘awakening’ had a ‘soteriological’ meaning (in the broadest sense of the word). Socrates awakens those who will talk with him, even though against their will” (126).

It is interesting to connect an awakening to a concept such as salvation. Certainly, the imagery and metaphor are there in the background of our collective mind. In the case of Socrates, he gave others salvation by awakening them from their own closed-off perceptions through his arguments. Another way this could be interpreted, however, is that every time we awaken, we are saved, and given another chance and a new day and a clean spirit. This means, that with the start of a new day, people are fundamentally good and have the potential to do good for one another on a huge scale. I think is an interesting philosophy that is rarely explored.

Katrina Thralls-Ministry Survey

Berger, Peter L. A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural. New York: Anchor Books, 1969.

“[A minister] decides to do a little do-it-yourself sociological research and hands out a questionnaire. The answers come back and show that the greater part of the congregation do not seem to have heard his preaching at all. They agree and disagree, on the questionnaire, with things he never said” (41).

As a future minister myself, reading this particular passage was difficult. Imagine, finding out that everything you think you do, day in and day out, was not actually getting accomplished. Imagine that you stood up in front of people, week after week, bearing your soul, only to find out that you were ignored.

It strikes me that this would be no issue in a primal culture. A shaman is held in the highest of respects and is needed for rituals in everyday life. Of course, in a primarily oral culture, this sort of honest blind survey could not exist, because the writing is what enables the identities to be concealed. Without complete anonymity, congregants might feel pressured to agree with every question asked, because a minister is an authority figure.

With technology comes increasing distractions. Our minds have to work differently with new technology, and to some extent, I think it might be to blame for this minister’s shocking discovery. Perhaps quieter, more focused minds with nothing to worry about at that moment except what their minister was trying to give them would be able to better listen and that would reflect better in the survey.

Katrina Thralls-The Eternal Thou

Buber, Martin. I and Thou. Comp. Gary E. Kessler. Philosophy of Religion: toward a Global Perspective. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub., 1999. 171-76. Print.

“Every particular Thou is a glimpse through to the eternal Thou; by means of every particular Thou, the primary word addresses the eternal Thou” (173).

If everyone participated in I-Thou relationships and related through encounters and not just experiences, I think the entire system of living as we know it would change. First, the obvious, there would be no wars, because you cannot kill someone you relate to on that deep level. That could easily extend downwards in scale far enough to mean that there would be no abuse.

On a more complicated level, I think it would change the entire system of education that exists here in the United States, because I think that glimpsing “the eternal Thou” in each encounter with a child would make it hard to judge them as “below average.” Instead, there would be interpersonal dialogue to teach what the child is missing while respecting their strengths.

Each religion could stay basically the same with the key obvious difference that they would have a much more humanist view of this world through glimpsing god in every person. Alternatively, this viewpoint could make religions much more connected.