cl0006's blog

In the last few weeks, I finished reading UD aka Unlikely Disciple then had discussions in class about pilgrimage and how it is applied to the UD. We also discussed… Well we actually went over the two models of religion; Eliade and Turner.

The Eliade model contained ideas that the Earth was like lunch meat or the peanut butter in the middle. Heaven and Hell are the bread pieces, moreover, the two are connected by Earth’s ladder. Furthermore, in the Eliade’s model we also went over what was an axis mundi, which is the center of the world, and also the highest point that was supposed to be the ladder to Heaven. The axis mundi was also a sacred place/thing and to live near the axis mundi would only ensure the person’s chances to get into Heaven. The further away a person is from the axis mundi, the less chance they get to enter Heaven, but they have an easier access to Hell. We also discussed about how sacrifices were made to keep the axis mundi sacred and that believers of that faith had to reenact the events that happened to keep chaos from destroying/damaging the axis mundi. An example of an axis mundi would be church steeples or the Native American’s totem poles.

The Turner model described pilgrimage as a journey to a sacred place to better understand the place the person came from. The journey starts with leaving the place of convention or a place one is comfortable in. Next, the person will experience limen or the transition from a single person phase to a group. Afterwards, the person will reach anti-structure and will start from nothing, then the person will join in another community/communita. Later, the person will have their metaphorical death because they are reborn a new person or they have discovered themselves. Finally they make their return to their original place and are a new person.

In my perspective, UD would fit in with the Turner model because Kevin Roose left Brown University to attend Liberty for a semester. At Liberty, Kevin got in a new clique, the Liberty clique, and he made friends there at the Liberty community. After many months at Liberty, Kevin changed and so did some of his past prejudice views of Liberty students. He basically metaphorically killed himself and was reborn as a new Kevin, and after a semester at Liberty he came back to Brown.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been learning about the axis mundi or the center point of the world. The axis mundi serves as the ladder to Heaven (where you want to be) or Hell (not the happiest place to be in) and we also discussed about the different religious centers around the world. Many people believed that if you live near the religious centers you have a higher chance or better access to Heaven. But, here’s the catch that’s what the people in that specific area of the country believe. According to the reading, Sacred Space not everyone in the world believe that a specific group or country is a religious center in the universe. Every country has their own “sacred space” and furthermore, they believe that their center is the actual center of the universe.

Yesterday, we had to draw pictures that explained parts of our reading, which was very difficult and interesting. I had a hard time thinking about what to draw, but I managed to pull out a teepee and J.C. as a descriptive image to my group’s assigned reading. I also discovered that everyone drew the Earth round, which at the time probably wasn’t. Since Prof. de Vega explained that they believed that the Earth was like a sandwich, Heaven was the top bread piece, Earth the goody in the middle, and Hell the bottom bread piece. It’s a funny way to describe it, but very accurate. I like to think that we all are the yummy peanut butter spread in between the bread because that makes us delicious.

School Counselor Needed

Qualifications include:

• Psych. D
• Experiences with children
• Recommendations
• Computer skills

Benefits:

• Health Insurance
• Flexible Hours
• Office (materials included)

Job Opening event opens on Sept. 15-22 at Morningside College in the Yockey Room. Pens will be provided. Please attend this event, there will be a wide variety of snacks and beverages to choose from at no cost. (Please note: Event will be closed in the morning on weekends.)

Times:

Sept. 15-22: 10am-7pm

Sept. 16-17: 12pm-8pm

Interviews maybe given on the spot at the job fair. If given an interview, please be prepared to gloss over anything not mention on the resume, possibly any internships or jobs that are related to the job you are applying.

My dream job would be a high school counselor, because I love to help people and help them through life. I would definitely need to go to grad school then hunt down any school that need high school counselors. I do agree with Alex on networking and looking for things to put on my resume for my first year. It would prepare me later and would give me time to focus on other things after freshmen year of college. I mean it wouldn’t look bad if I had done a lot of community service or maybe had ties with some of the people who work in my field of interest. I think it would benefit me and maybe make my chances of getting hired a little hire than if I had no connections at all or if I didn’t do anything worth mentioning. I would do anything to reach my goals, and if it means lots of hard work then I will do it.

In the past few weeks, we talked about pilgrimage “the universal quest for the self” and find the true definition of religion. We also had a very long in depth conversation about what religion was and four other theorist’s idea of what is religion. We also took notes over the four theorists idea, like Frazer’s idea that magic becomes religion and religion then becomes science or Durkheim’s theory of unified systems of belief or Freud’s which is over conflicting emotions and religion is an illusion, then there was Marx who was an economist and believed that religion was based on suppression of the poor people. I really thought that Marx’s theory was much better than Frazer and Freud’s idea but, Durkheim wasn’t that bad either. After all the discussions over religion and note-taking, I feel like I’m beginning to understand what religion is a little more.

Hughes chose narration for “Salvation” because it was an experience he had, moreover, he could express himself freely and readers could connect with him on how people lie because they felt the pressure from others and the strong feeling of disappointing peers, especially family. Besides, Hughes’ account on how he misled everyone at the church to believing he had seen the light and Jesus reaching out to him really struck up the question that is there really an omniscient being who overlooks people’s life choices and guiding them. Thus, making people curious whether miracles do happen or maybe it was just luck, it also causes people to do some research to expand their knowledge and to figure out whether this powerful being really existed or some whack job in the past decided to make it all up for unexplained events. Someone could actually make an argumentative essay with similar themes as to Hughes’ “Salvation” because religion is a big issue. People are always questioning does God really exist or are there such things as salvation for one’s sins? No one really knows but, the theme does give people a chance to argue for what they believe whether if it is God doesn’t exist and there are many ways to explain the supposedly “miracles” that happen. If someone did happen to write an argumentative essay using religion or morals as their theme, the title would probably be something like, “Religion vs. Conscience” or “What is Salvation?” or “Science Against Almighty Being”.