May 20th Presentations

How People Experience Religion

Phenomena
o The study of human consciousness as seeing peoples
interaction with phenomena
o Over lap with other disciplines
o Acknowledgement and limitation
o Sympathetic description
Phenomenology and Psychology
o Hegels phenomenology of spirit
o Carl Jungs psychology and religion
o Phenomenologists final claim
Phenomenologists
o F. Max Muller (1823-1900)
o Rudolf Otto (1869-1937)
o Mircea Eliade (1907-1986)
Psychological approach
o Sigmund Freuds approach
Religion as a illusory wish fulfillment.
Science displaces religion as civilizations mature
Criticisms Focus on individual instead of integrating
the whole society
o Carl Jung
Religion as imperfect therapy
Universal archetypes
Religion unconsciously balance the imbalance in the
consciousness

William James
Importance of immediate personal religious experience
The original pattern-setting: experience
The visible world and spiritual universe
Comparing Approaches
o

On Dreams Chapter VIII to XIII

Relation of Dreams
o Dreams are the first recognition of the processes within the
human mind
Three classes of Dreams
o Non-repressed
o Repressed desired in veiled form
o Repressed desired without
Why Dream Disguises the Desires
o 2 procedures for the construction of thoughts
one finds an open path to conscious
the second can only arrive at the consciousness through
the use of the first
o Dream Guardian of Sleep
Dreams fulfill internal desire and psychological needs,
allowing people to sleep
Applies more to children because adults realize
there are other methods to achieve desires
o Dream symbolism
Symbols
Allusions
Suggestions
Indirect means that cant be directly understood
o Elements Common to Psychology
Dream thoughts are a valuable foundation to study
psychological construction
Relationship of unconscious dream idea to conscious.