Today in class we started talking about Non-Western Religions, or Eastern Religions. Like Western Religions, I didn’t know anything about Non-Western Religions so going into today I was excited to learn about Non-Western Religions. The first major topic we learned about was the religions that are within Non-Western Religions, which are Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, Towism, and Confucianism. There are 3 major points in Non-Western religions which are monistic, nonlinear, and praxis. Monistic means there is one, non personal reality. Monistic means that everything is one, the same thing. Nonlinear means that Non-Western Religions see life as a circle. And praxis means the religions focus on behavior. This point isn’t focused on what you believe but how you behave. These were just the three main points of the day but it was interesting to learn about another set of religions.
Recent Comments
- Joel on Elvis Pilgrimage
- Kimmi on Elvis Pilgrimage
- Sarah on Pilgrimage to Varanasi/Benares
- Haylee on Religion in new terms
- Callie on Non-Western Religions (Eastern Religions)
Archives
Categories
Meta
I agree that learning about another set of religions is definitely interesting. It was cool discussing how Non-Western religions compared to Western religions. I liked how we were able to discuss the specific differences between the two specifically what you stated above about being monistic, nonlinear, and praxis. I also think it’s pretty sweet how they view life as a circle and it is never ending.
When beginning to learn about Non-Western Religions I knew nothing as well. I was excited though, because we often hear about Hinduism and Buddhism in the media. We hear about these, and yet, as Americans know almost nothing about their religion and backgrounds. I found it interesting that they believe in a circular worldview. Do you think your life could relate to a circular worldview? They also have praxis that differ from what practices we believe in. Can you think about changing the way you behave in order to fit into a religion?
I really feel that learning about these different/eastern religions is very beneficial because you learn to be more accepting and not ignorant about people who have different beliefs than you do. Which would help in any workplace or social setting. Although it would be very difficult for me to start believing some of the concepts of eastern religions, I am starting to understand why they believe what they do. It’s very interesting because I haven’t really known about a lot of the things that were learning.