Good evening ladies and gentlemen. As I write this blog vast amounts of explosions have been reported around Donbas and Kiev in Ukraine. Its all a bit frightening. The world could light up into nuclear flames at the discretion of a few people, and here I will be rattling away at my PC.
Anyways, I think this whole Russia Ukraine ordeal is a great segway into GLOBAL AFFAIRS which I can now segway into GLOBAL RELIGION. What is global? What is religion? I’m not too sure but I know a great way to find out!
Lets imagine a hypothetical map if some alien decided to try and map out the world into 5 groups of “religions”. Actually lets not even use the word religion, instead lets assume the aliens decide to call these 5 different groups “The Ways of Man” or “Ways” for short. The 5 “Ways of Man” are not designed to be equal in population, wealth, or even land area; they are simply supposed to be like a toddler playing with a toy where they are fitting different shapes into the correct holes. So let us define our holes so to speak.
The first way of man is “Consume” and is defined by places where it seems the lust of currency and goods has almost substituted culture and even create d new ways of living never before seen by humans for its inhabitants. This group tends to live life with great excess in comparison to the other ways. The goal of these people are uncertain, the people of power tend to let individuals find goals for themselves instead of there being an overarching endgame that everyone is striving towards. “Consume” seems to be the most influential way at the time, and what happens in this way tends to affect the other ways in significant fashion. The second way of man is “Content” and is defined by places where although goods and services are available, it seems to not be the primary focus of the inhabitants lives. Most live very well by the standard of other ways. Much like “Consume, “Content” also seems to have a strong sense of individual goals in its people and the people in charge let individuals live their lives the way they would like. The third way of man is “Obey” and is defined and lands where the unifying factor is not goods or services, but instead how the person or group in charge tends to define a narrative for the country to follow. This can vary from a single man directing the lives of a whole nation, to a group of people who have revolutionized a land to follow their vision. Groups in the “Obey” category tend to not have as much individual freedom to pursue what they choose. “Obey” and “Consume” tend to seem at odds with each other quite often due to their very different styles of leadership. The fourth way is “Survive” and is defined as lands where the people’s primary goal tends to be getting to the next day. This way doesn’t seem to be one that is coveted by anyone in “Survive” or any of the other ways. This way is usually not chosen but instead comes about due to a number of factors. Whether it is the landscape being difficult to live in, wars that have devastated the people of this way, or battles for positions of power that lead everyone else to be trapped in this way. The other ways tend to use “Survive” as an example of what can happen if their various ways aren’t followed. The final way is “Improve” and is defined by groups who look up to the excess and extravagant living of “Consume” and want to have that level of prosperity. This way is greatly debated as some view this way as merely a transition to either “Consume” or “Content” but the division between the two still stands. Some even argue that “Consume”, “Content”, and “Improve” are all the same and should be condensed to one way, but these arguments have brought no change yet.
Obviously the aliens definition of “ways” seems very non concrete. In fact its so non concrete the even argue about it. So first of all these groups are VERY condensed, not everyone in these regions are able to be lumped into these categories, but just like the shape puzzle analogy I used earlier these holes in the puzzle are not perfect fits so sometimes you can put a piece into the wrong whole and get away with it. The lumping together of groups of people that shouldn’t be lumped together is in fact one thing that makes the aliens model somewhat similar to our current “world religions” model. All of the “ways” and “world religions” can be dissected into smaller sub groups that could be “ways” or “religions” themselves.
Anyways, best of wishes everyone.
P.S. The “Aliens” perspective was heavily inspired by our class discussion of what classifies as “religious”. I took that concept of religious vagueness and ran with it to include the state of current world governments as the defining factor of the “ways”.
Religious Studies I Suppose 