Name: _Balacuit, Mary Regine________ Year level: BSN1-A____ I grew up surrounded by people with an immense faith in God.

I grew up surrounded by people with an immense faith in God. My family embedded to us

youngster the core of our being, which is our Faith as a baptized Roman Catholic. Praying is a normal
Subject: GEC 1 routine for us and we do believe that God created everything and that there are also evil in this world
that surrounds us in this humane life.

UNIT 2: UNPACKING THE SELF My family as well believe that there are other entities in this world such as engkanto that may
be envious of the love that God gave to us, that is why they tend to destroy our faith by giving us a hard
time. Let me put it this way, whenever something strange happen in our house like a strange knock on
the door even when there is no one, we get sick when we play in our backyard under a mango tree and
MODULE 3 the list go on. It is one of my experiences with those celestial beings other than God. Up until this
moment I still believe that there is good and bad in this world and that there are angels and fallen
angels but above all I believe in the Triune God, Mary and Saints in Heaven and that God created
SUPERNATURALS: BELIEVE IT OR NOT!
everything and provided us with all our needs.

Objectives: DRAW:
o Identify various religious practices and beliefs.
o Understand the self in relation with religious beliefs. Make a poster about the instance or situation that made you believe in the existence of higher being.
o Explain ways of finding the meaning of life.

SUPERNATURALS: BELIEVE IT OR NOT!

▪ Spiritual self is one of the four constituents of the self “self” according to William James in his
book, The Principles of Psychology in 1890. The spiritual self is the most intimate, inner
subjective part of the self.
▪ The ability to use moral sensibility and conscience may been seen through the expressions of
religion, its beliefs and practices.

ACTIVITY 1: ART RECAL

RECALL:

When was the first time you realized that there is a higher being than yourself? How old were you then?
What made you believe that there is a higher being?

1

ABSTRACTION:
Rebecca Stein (Stein 2011) works on the definition of a religion “as a ste of cultural beliefs and
practices that usually includes some or all of basic characteristics. These characteristics are:
1. A belief in anthropomorphic supernatural being, such as spirit and gods.
2. A focus on the sacred supernatural, where sacred refers to a feeling of reverence and awe.
3. The presence of supernatural power or energy that is found on supernatural being as well as
physical beings and objects.
4. The performance of ritual activities that involves the manipulation of sacred object to
communicate to supernatural beings and/or to influence or control events.
5. The articulation of worldview and moral codes through narratives and other means.
6. Provide the creation and maintenance of social bonds and mechanism of social control within
a community; provide explanation for unknown and a sense of control for individuals.
Ritual
▪ Ritual is the performance of ceremonial acts as prescribed by a tradition or sacred law
(Britannica 2017). Ritual is a specific, observable mode of behavior exhibited by all known
societies. It is thus possible to view ritual as a way of defining or describing humans.
▪ There are three fundamentals characteristics of ritual according to Penner (Britannica 2017)
Ritual has the characteristics of:
1. A feeling or emotion of respect, awe, fascination, or dead in relation to the sacred
2. Dependence upon a belief system that is usually expressed in the language of myth.
3. Is symbolic in relation to its reference.
Some World Religious Beliefs and Practices
Buddhism
Beliefs
▪ Believes that life is not a bed of roses. Instead, there are suffering, pain, and
frustrations. When people suffer, they want to experience the goodness of life and
void disappointments.
Customs and Practices
▪ There are two types of meditation practices: samatha and vipassana
▪ Samatha – is practice as mindfulness of breathing and development of loving
kindness (Metta Bhavana)
▪ Vipassana – practices aim at developing insight into reality.
▪ Buddhists can achieve a deeper understanding of life.
▪ Buddhists believe in non-violence principle.
▪ Major Buddhists celebrations are Parinirvana Day in February; Buddha Day (Wesak)
in May; Dharma Day in July; Padmasambhava Day in October; and Sangha Day in
November
Christianity
Beliefs
▪ Believe in Trinitarian God. One God in three personas: God the Father (Creator), God
the Son (Savior), and God the Holy Spirit (sustainer).
▪ Eternal life after death will be achieved through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ os,
God the Son, who came to flesh, to spread the Good News of Salvation.
▪ The Holy Bible is a selection of books, which is divided into two, the Old Testament
and New Testament.
Customs and Practices
▪ Sacrament of Baptism and Sacrament of Communion are practiced by Christian
churches. The Sacrament of Baptism symbolizes the birth in Christian World, while
the Sacrament of Communion is an act of rememberance of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial
love. Jesus Christ teaching is unconditional love that is expressed in loving the poor,
oppressed, and outcast of the society.
▪ Christ and Resurrection (Easter) are the two major celebrations in Christianity.
Hinduism
Beliefs
▪ Covers a wide range of traditional beliefs and religious groups; thus, there is no single founder
or leader.
▪ Hindus believe that existence is a cycle of birth, death and rebirth governed by Karma.
▪ Karma is a concept where the reincarnated life will depend on how the past life was spent.
2
 ▪ Hindus believe that the soul passes through the cycle of successive lives and its next
incarnation is always dependent on how the previous life was lived.
▪ Vedas – are sacred scriptures of Hindus.
▪ Mahabhrata and Ramayana – are two other important texts of the Hindus.
Customs and Practices
▪ Diwali, and Navrati are the most celebrated festivals of the Hindus. Diwali is the Festival of
Lights while Navrati is the festival of nine nights, which we celebrate the triumph of good over
evil. Hindus have set dates to honor particular manifestations of God.
Islam
Beliefs
▪ Muslim believe in Allah, who is their “One God” They believe in the unity and universality of
God. Muslims also have a strong sense of community of “ummah” and an awareness of their
solidarity with all Muslims worldwide. Islam memans “willing submission to God.”
▪ Muslims believe that Mohammed is the last and final prophet sent by God. Mohammed was
born in Mecca in 570 CE and received revelations from God through the Angel Gabriel over
period of 23 years.
▪ The Holy Book of Islam is called the Quran, which was taught to be recited in Arabic because
any translation is seen as inadequate.
Customs and Practices
▪ Muslims believe in the five pillars of Islam, which are the foundation of Muslim life:
1. Shahadah – statement of faith: “There is no God but the one true God and Mohammed is
his messenger.”
2. Salat – the prayer that is practiced five times a day.
3. Zakat – the monetary offering for the benefit of the poor. It comprises the 2.5% of a
Muslim’s assets.
4. Haji – the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca. Muslims who can afford are asked to do the
pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime.
5. Sawm – the fasting. Muslims do fasting, from food, drink, and sexual act, during the
celebration of Ramdan. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. The
fast is from dawn to sunset.
▪ Two of major festivals in Islam are Eidul-Fitr and Eidul-Adha.
▪ Eidul-Fitr – is the celebration at the end of Ramadan
▪ Eidul-Adha is celebrated within the completion of the Pilgrimage, the Haji
Judaism
Beliefs
▪ The Jews believe in the God of Abraham, the same God that liberated the Hebrews slaves
from Egypt to Canaan, the Promised Land through the leadership of Moses and later, Joshua.
▪ The Jews believe in the coming of Messiah, the Savior. The sacred scripture of the Jews is
called the Torah of the Law. The Torah is the guide of the Jewish living. The study and
interpretation of Torah is part of the Jewish culture.
Customs and Practices
There are five major festivals observed by the Jews:
1. Rosh Hashanah – the New Year
2. Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement
3. Pesach – Passover
4. Shavuot – Pentecost
5. Sukkot – Tabernacles. The Jewish Sabbath begins on Friday evening at sunset and is an
important time when families gather for the Shabbat
Finding and Creating Meaning of Life
▪ Another extensive study of self can be found in the works of Dr. Viktor E. Frankl.
▪ Viktor Frankl Institute in Vienna was created in 1992.
The Psychiatrist
▪ Dr. Viktor E. Frankl was born on March 26, 1905 in Vienna, Austria where famous psychiatrists
Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler live.
▪ A survivor of the Holocaust, Dr. Frankl published a book about logotherapy. In 1959, the book
was translated to English and was revised in 1963 as the Doctor and the Soul: An Introduction
to Logotherapy .
Logotherapy – is a psychotherapy introduced by Dr. Viktor Frankl, who is considered the
Father of Logotherapy. The main belief of logotherapy is that “man’s primary motivational force
is search for meaning.” Logotherapy aids individuals to find personal meaning of life, whatever
life situation they may be.
3
 go back to where it all started and continue on what we believe is our purpose. Finding purpose in our
Basic Concepts of Franklin Psychology life is not complete when we do not feel love. When our sacrifices are put into waste or when we are
just disregarded like a piece of trash. Everyone seeks love and attention and it is a fulfillment and a joy
▪ Life has meaning under all circumstances. when we have this love for ourselves and we receive love from others.
▪ Main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life.
▪ Freedom to find meaning.

Franklian Psychology aims to:

1. Become aware of spiritual resources
2. Make conscious spiritual resources
3. Use “defiant power of the human spirit” and stand up against adversity.
References:
Logotherapy Assumptions
1. The human being is an entity consisting of body, mind, and spirit. Alata, Caslib, Jr., Serafica, Pawilen, Understanding the Self, c2018
2. Life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most miserable.
3. People have a will to meaning.
4. People have freedom under all circumstances to activate the will to find meaning.
5. Life has a demand quality to which people must respond if decisions are to be meaningful.
6. The individual is unique.

Frankl’s Sources of Meaning

1. Purposeful Work
2. Courage in the Face of Difficulty
3. Love

REFLECTION:

▪ Reflect on Viktor Frankl’s sources of the meaning of life.

We all agree that a life without meaning is life without purpose. It is innate to us that we seek our
meaning for us to have purpose in our life and it is completely rooted with our thought that we must
provide for ourselves and our family. We tend to go to school, finish a degree and go on with our dream
job, earn money and sustain our needs and when difficulties arise in times of trouble wherein we need
to have the courage to face it. We need to be tough and wise so when these difficulties subside, we can