History And Religion In Eliade's The Myth Of The Eternal Return

One of the most outstanding characteristics of humans is that we have a moral conscience- the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, as well as understand the consequences of actions beforehand. Nonetheless, religion remains important to society because it helps to refine and provide a deeper understanding of humans’ moral responsibility. There are instances where either people ignore religious practices in favor of reason and logic or follow only religious teachings that suit a particular situation. Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a novella that typifies the failure of religion to unify people and provide a common course for understanding life. The story talks about Santiago’s fight against fate and the probability of escaping death that is foretold beforehand. The priest symbolizes religion in the novella and readers observe that his actions are similar to those of ordinary people. Ordinarily, we expect the priest to uphold religious practices and bring people together when society is divided on an issue.

Throughout time, history has been recorded from the perspective of the victors. It is this bias within the archives that shape the views and motives of the groups involved. As a result of this influence the general way of thinking, and recollection of historical events has been altered to a certain degree to conform to the conqueror’s ideals. Society turns a blind eye to the horrors of the past, preferring to plead ignorance than to face the reality of the cruelty humans are capable of. There are parts in history that conversely cannot be ignored, such as the genocide in Rwanda, 9-11, Terror in Paris and the most historical, the holocaust in World War II, where the true extent of human vindictiveness came to light. In spite

The Terror of History: On the Uncertainties of Life in Western Civilization by Dr. Teofilo R. Ruiz centers around the methods in which people cope with major historical tragedies comprising of the human condition. He categorizes these coping mechanisms into religion and the world to come, the world of matter and senses, and the lure of beauty and knowledge. To connect the reading with the History 2C course, the subjects of mysticism, heresy, and witchcraft are particular examples of how the masses utilized religion for the purpose of discovering life’s meaning and justifying the world’s destructive nature. Essentially, I agree with the practice

“As we learn in the story, being mired in the ‘eternal present’ carries with it dangerous and devastating consequences” (Theriot 59).

As Elie Wiesel was taken through the Holocaust as a result of being a Jew, he began to ask himself this: “Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because he caused thousands of children to burn in his mass graves...Praise be Thy Holy Name, for having chosen us to be slaughtered on Thine altar,” (45). As many enter into wars and horrific events stemming from wars, they begin with strong and unwavering faith. As the war continues and nothing is relieved, people begin to question their faith as they lose sight of all hope. This loss of faith results in a shift in one’s mindset and point of view. As danger and violence seem to increase in wars, so does the struggle to maintain faith. As people continue on in horrible conditions for so long, they eventually reach a breaking point, causing them to abandon all hope, pride, or spirituality they have; because if their world is falling apart, being shattered, and becoming what seems to be unamendable, why has a leadership or a higher being not intervened? As wars continue to be waged throughout history, is has become apparent that the struggle to maintain faith is a theme seen universally as a result of dancing with violence, unsafety, and death.

Religion and faith play numerous roles in people’s lives. From being a unifying factor to alienating people, and from comforting people to terrifying others, the roles of religion is vast and boundless. In The Crucible and “Upon the Burning of Our House”, it is evident that religion and faith play a subconscious role in the lives of people by acting as an inner conscience and by giving people a spiritual peace of mind.

Religion can be a delicate topic to deal with and can be dangerous when you have two large populations beleiving in religions with opposing beleifs. Religion has caused wars, divided countries in half, and divided populations into two. Although it has the capability to divide groups of people apart, religion also unites people. Religion gives

What truly defines the meaning of love? Whether it is two people who show affection for each other, or the bond of a father and son, love is able to mean many things. After all, love may vary for those of different religions or practices, and may be expressed in many ways. Religion and beliefs also change throughout the decades, causing different outlooks on love. Speech is a highly important part of love and religion, and certain qualities can either create an aggressive-energetic speech, or a dull lecture.

Religion has been a part of life from the time one can remember. The number of people involved in a religion has decreased in the past years and generations, nonetheless in the 1930’s in the Holocaust era; it was very much a part of peoples life. Victims and survivors of the Holocaust which were Jewish people, believed that “ God is on leave” (8) as Simon Wiesenthal narrates in The Sunflower. The Jews had so much believe in their all mighty God, the only rationalization was that God was on leave, the only way he would allow such a horrific era. Religion plays a dramatic role in

Beginning with a little girl who lived in a world divided into two parts; Polotzk and Russia, who discovered and lived by the meaning of a cold world. The author demonstrates in detail how religion, race and power can allow the world to be torn based on elimination. The reader is taken back to a time where Jewish people was looked down upon due to a priest instilling in his followers that the Jews killed their God. The emphasis of the book emulates a profound meaning of life and what power and

Throughout history we have seen certain characteristics which are always present in human nature and are relevant and ongoing even today. We call these timeless themes, and they describe generalizations which fit into all of recorded history. One of the these timeless themes which has been seen in almost every, culture and nation is redemption, the change in a person for more desirable attributes and the righting past wrongdoings. Many groups in the past have included stories of redemption in their myths and folklore, as this provides a good narrative and people can identify with the ideas of making past sins right. In human existence, redemption has been a positive aspect of literature, however within the chronicles of history the main factor of redemption has

I believe historical atrocities are an extremley cruel and unusual way of punishing not only the people of today, but the future generations. It's a wicked act on something of great importance to the whole entire world. To think, a monument that has survived hundreds and thousands of years, just to be demolished in a matter of seconds with no second thoughts. I do agree with the essay that historical actrocities have a relationship with the present. Similar thoughts and actions of people from centuries ago relate to ISIS' today, very destructive minded ones. I also agree with Oswald when he states a contradiction, "Ancient history is impersonal and dispassionate. Material objects and events matter, but people don't, since there in a personal

Religion can invade, conquer, and rule masses of people far more effectively and efficiently than any empire or conqueror. This is not to spark a heated discussion about religions. Its purpose is, to say that, even though it is highly debatable whether religions are false or true, most of them serve a very basic purpose of establishing morals and values. Early religions were used as a source of power and economic growth. Even if one doesn’t believe in or agree with the teachings of any religion, history shows proof that it creates a sense of order. There are many religions in the past that have brought order and civilized conduct to large numbers of people, not through military conquest, but through the promise of reward or the fear of punishment. Religion is the glue that binds local communities into nationhood and creates common understandings and shared values that are essential to the growth of a civilization. No religion is fully formed at its start, so why did some religion play such a big role in growth of the Ancient Civilizations.

Religion has been a powerful force in human history. Mankind has longed and searched for the answers to its purpose, the reason for being and the possibility of life after physical death. They reasoned that an afterlife would be a place of accounting and reckoning for the life they lived on earth. Religious belief systems seemed to give the answers as to how to prepare for the afterlife. Religion became the means of giving answers to those basic yet deep-seated questions of both life and death. Religion provided a format of rules and laws for conduct and treatment toward others based on the desires and wishes of a god or gods that people envisioned, imagined or invented. Religious belief systems have been a powerful force for good and bad...good in the sense that it provided a measure of individual behavior and order in society for the wellbeing of the whole, but bad in the sense that men of ambition who craved power and control over others would often use religion as a tool of manipulation and fear. A casual glance of history tells us that complete civilizations have been built, grown and maintained around elaborate religious systems, ancient Egypt being a prime example.

Religion in the world has always been considered a rather important aspect of society. Although this is true, there are still people that question the existence of God. A survey done among 1000 people showed that 65 percent of Americans believe that religion is losing its influence on American life (Sheler, 8). Even so, Belief in a God is necessary for a moral society because since the beginning of history man has always made up some sort of role model to explain events and situations that seem inexplicable, God gives people a sense of comfort and hope to know they aren’t alone, and when a society believes in a God, there is a religion behind it that gives ethics and values that they must