Technology, Belief Systems and the Individual in Dune and Foundation

This paper has presented a definition of religion, as well as an examination of its parts to determine if the definition is adequate to apply appropriately. Secondly, this paper has examined several practices and experiences common to both major religions of the worlds, as well as indigenous religions. Lastly, the key critical issues of the study of religions and reasons for their consideration have been identified and discussed.

the structure of religions I’ve never acknowledged or been aware of. The author, James C.

From the destruction of a religion or belief system grows another. In Things Fall Apart the village of Umuofia’s culture includes an unnamed religion strongly based on spiritual beings. Their religion bears a strong resemblance to one in Christianity,

There are Messianic symbols, paradise, rituals, and commandments. The Fremen of Arrakis practiced a religion most commonly related to Hymn to Water which is a direct copy from the Orange Catholic Liturgical Manual, calling for rain clouds which Arrakis had never seen. There are five religious beliefs that were dominant within the Imperium and each had major events that shaped their beliefs. The first was The followers of the Fourteen Sages and whose views are expressed in the Commentaries and other literature produced by the Commision of Ecumencial Translators (Dune 811). The second was the Bene Gesserit which denied being a religion but the entire premise of the Bene Gesserit school was collectively a religion. The third was the agnostic ruling class which included the Guild. These people though of religion as a mere game to keep the populations obedient. These same people believed that all phenomena could be diminished to unconscious explanations. The fourth is the Ancient teachings that have been collectively gathered. An lastly the fifth being space travel. Space travel gave new ideas to Creation and the feeling of sacred was touched by the outer dark (Dune 813). The Commentaries had a quote about religion that is still applicable in modern day “Much that was called religion carries an unconscious attitude of hostility toward life. True religion must teach that life is filled with joys pleasing to the eye of God, that knowledge without action is empty. All men must see that the teaching of religion by rules and rote is largely a hoax. The proper teaching is recognized with ease. You can know it without fail because it awakens within you that sensation that tells you this is something you’ve always known” (Dune 818). One of the largest symbols of religion within the novel is the Muad’Dib which ended up being Paul Atreide. The Muad’Dib is essentially a prophet which was in accordance with the planets but

The anthropological studies of religion show that individuals use religion to serve different purposes, but they rarely note that these functions are different in some cultures. These religions involve both cosmological and transcendental which vary in their beliefs and practices. The transcendental religions view the existence of the universe as strong evidence for God’s presence. This religion assumes a Supreme God created the universe and that he still maintains its existence. Cosmology, on the contrary, is highly individualistic in both character and philosophical outlook and they resist any common doctrinal stance. While transcendentalists believe in ultimate power in supernatural powers, cosmological religions believe in ultimate power from the natural world. The essay will compare between two cosmological religions which include, archaic religion and the primitive religion as well as one transcendentalist religion of Christianity together with how disenchantment de-legitimize cosmological religions.

Religion has been a major focal point in any society and in any culture. Starting from the first civilizations in Sumer and Ur to the vast metropolitans of today like New York and London, religion has been around and played a key part in lives of people. Possibly two of the oldest religions in the world, Judaism and Zoroastrinism share distinct qualities that are still alive today. Both religions are practiced but Zoroastrianism is not as popular as it once was. Meanwhile, Judaism is one of the world’s largest religions. These two religions are similar in the way that they are designed and practiced throughout history.

Huston Smith -----The World's Religions Huston Smith first wrote this book The World’s Religions with the name The Man’s Religions in 1958. Since then the book has remained a renowned literary and religiously popular among the literary as well as the religious circles. The book provides a good source of nearly all the prominent religions of the world, gives us an understanding, and insight and the point of view of these religions. His first chapter of the book is Point of Departure. In this chapter, Huston explains his journey though various religions. Though it is just an overview of his thoughts and beliefs, it gives a premise of what lay ahead. In the fist paragraph of this chapter that reads: “Traditionally, When People Wanted Answers to life's ultimate questions -- Where are we? Why are we here? What does it all mean? What, if anything, are we supposed to do? -- they looked to their revealed texts; or to their ancestral myths if they were oral peoples (it comes to the same thing). Since the rise of modern science, however, they have turned increasingly to it for answers. This is understandable, for controlled experiments enable science to prove its theses; and with those theses it has remade the world. It is a signal feature of our century's close that we recognize that this turn to science was mistaken. Not entirely mistaken, for science (and its spin-off, technology) have their place. What was mistaken was to expect science to answer ultimate questions, for its

Zoroastrianism was a huge influence on the formation of Christianity. There are multiple links between the two religions while Zoroastrianism pre-dates Christianity by hundreds of years. The evidence found through archaeological discovery and from the beliefs of present day Zoroastrianists points to one conclusion: that although Christianity and Zoroastrianism are seen as two very different religions, their cosmologies are so intertwined that is hard to tell which came first until looking at the physical evidence. The core beliefs are similar and how each religion predicts what will happen at the end of time are, as well. For some Christians, it hard to look at the evidence without it shaking their beliefs, but by taking an outsider’s perspective, one can begin see that religions are evolving throughout the millennia. Three main topics arise when comparing the two religions: the creation story, the story of the savior, and the revelation story. The relationships between these two religions shows that religions may not only be divinely inspired, but also inspired from past religions. This gives people the idea that faith evolves through the ages to better suit the current culture or state of society.

In conclusion religion has many forms and types throughout history. While technology changes religion changes with it. When people in the paleolithic time needed organization and religion to pull their groups together, they had polytheism. Later on when cities and groups were more advanced people had monotheism. Finally, when people were at the most advanced state of mind and technology they had atheism to prove science and facts based off of the universe. This was the final state of religion through time and technology changes it through

I felt that science would be the way to achieve my ultimate goal because it allows you to create everything about the people, and this way I was assured that they would never try to overthrow my empire. In both of the books, they have a leader that they look up to and don’t have a religion, which is how I designed my empire to be through their genetics. I felt that a religion was pointless because they don’t even have real conscience worldly thoughts, only thoughts of science.

Religion has been prevalent in society since the establishment of human civilization; not only does it provide ideals and beliefs for people, but religion impacts the behavior and mindset of individuals. Evidence of the effect of religion on the lives of today’s ancestors is documented through writings that were translated and passed down to modern day society. These writings contain values and principles to live by, such as treating others with respect and being truthful, that continue to persist today. The belief of there being a higher being, such as a god(s), is also mentioned in the readings to portray how groups of people revolved their lives around the rule of whom they viewed as their superior. Varieties of texts exist to demonstrate the influences of religion on society, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Holy Bible, and Laozi’s Daodejing.

Since science is growing and more research and discoveries are made each day there is a divide. A divide between believing in the hard facts of science where everything can be proved to you, like how we got here. Or stay or go to religion and believe in that that religion believes in. But with religion comes imagination, so it is important for the religions that people use their imagination a mind. Others might go against the teaching of the religion or the followers of the religion. So, it is important that they stay faithful to what they believe in because of what they imagine happened and will happen. Religious imagination is relevant because there are a lot of religions and new ones being created. For their religions to have followers or get followers people need to have this religious imagination mind set. Religious ethics and religious imagination are connected in many ways. For religious imagination to take place there has to be religious ethics where rules have to be there to tell what is right or wrong in that said religion. Religious ethics guides the religion and so you cannot have imagination without these

As long as there have been people in this world, technology and science have existed. Technology is a powerful force which helped in the development of civilization and is a part of our system of culture that reflects its values. Technology has become very complex over the years and today it is known to be a social enterprise that includes all aspects such as research, design, finance, manufacturing, labor etc.

On this vast planet religions are becoming more prevalent and are being studied more frequently in recent times. Many individuals want to study and learn about the origins of some religions, on where they were developed and what was the cause of this glorification of a divine. The art of religion is processed by many ideologies, background, beliefs, myths, and rituals. The five major religions of the world include: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism are solely based on these ideologies, and ultimately leads to one goal, to follow the path of god, or to seek a euphoric state of salvation. In spite of all the differences among the world’s five major religions, they have very similar ethical constructs, which should encourage more mutual respect among them.

Religion has been around for as long as human have been alive. Religion has played a big role in peoples, cultures, the way some people live, people’s decisions and the way they act and our society. Religions has played a role in our civilization for the good and there are some for the bad or as others may refer as controversial. Technology is something people have had for quite some time now and we have used it to communicate and spread information and our ideas. Technology has played a role in religion for the good and for the bad.