The Function of Religion美国普林斯顿大学
There is but ONE Eternal Truth, one universal, infinite and changeless Spirit of Love, Truth and Wisdom, impersonal, therefore bearing a different name with every nation, one Light for all, in which the whole Humanity lives and moves, and has its being. Like the spectrum in optics, giving multicolored valintineand various rays, which are yet caud by one and the same sun, so theologies and sacerdotal systems are many. But the Universal religion can only be one, if we accept the real, primitive meaning of the root of that word. We, Theosophists, so accept it; and therefore say, "We are all brothers—by the laws of Nature, of birth, and death, as also by the laws of our utter helplessness from birth to death in this world of sorrow and deceptive illusions. Let us, then, love, help, and mutually defend each other against this spirit of deception; and while holding to that which each of us accepts as his ideal of truth and reality—i.e., to the religion which suits each of us best—let us unite ourlves to form a practical nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity WITHOUT DISTINCTION OF RACE, CREED, OR COLOUR.
—H. P. Blavatsky (Lucifer, April 1888)
拘束的意思What is the function of religion? Most People think that "religion" prepares an individual for some future existence. Some religions are considered to have arin as the result of reform to the existing religious system by a prophet-reformer, while some are claimed to be revelations of a Supreme Being. There are many religions and people of each religion have occupy是什么意思their own 翻译网站God and their own ideas of God. Crusades have been fought in the name of religion—often between two groups of people belonging to the same religion—each praying to the same God to vanquish the other.
soon什么意思Religion, as it is generally understood, is oppod to the spirit of science—which is one of inquiry and investigation. However, scientific method is empirical while that of religion is dogmatic. Science does not depend on external authority such as a Pope or 四级 答案Pundit, but appeals to some reasonable evidence that an intelligent mind can understand. A true scientist does not take refuge in dogmatism.
Each religion claims that its scriptures are unique becau they are the utterances of God and hence infallible. Nowadays, literal infallibility is not so much insisted upon except by a 月份的英语单词
few fundamentalists. To divest religion of dogmas, tradition and myths is to make it empty. Hence religious authorities condemn all attempts that undermine their belief in scriptures. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan points out the failure of the religions to perform their real function, thus:
The inadequacy of religion is evident from the disparity between outward allegiance and inward betrayal. Religion is confud with the mechanical participation in the rites or passive acquiescence in the dogmas. Many of tho who obrve the forms do not model their lives on the precepts We must live religion in truth and deed and not merely profess it in words.
腈纶英文
Unfortunately religions tend to keep people apart. Humanity is broken up into a number of parate worlds each with its particular religious tradition. To sustain a world community, we need unity, if not identity of spiritual outlook and aspiration. The root meaning of the word "religion" suggests that it should be a binding force. (Recovery of Faith, pp. 21-22 and 30)
文科综合Every creed discourages its followers from inquiring into the rationality of the belief they hold sacred. Many eminent scientists blindly follow their creed. When it comes to religion they forfeit the u of their minds, which is the prerogative of man.
When a person, who has the power to inquire, to think, to investigate and analyze, believes in ctarian and religious beliefs and dogmas, he actually forfeits his faculty of thinking. It is his duty to find out whether the belief is universal, impersonal and eternal or not. If not, never accept it. One should have a scientific mind and readiness to accept the truth from whichever quarter it may come. H.P.B. writes:
He who believes his own religion on faith, will regard that of every other man as a lie, and hate it on that same faith. Moreover, unless it fetters reason and entirely blinds our perceptions of anything outside our own particular faith, the latter is no faith at all, but a temporary belief, the delusion we labour under, at some particular time of life. Moreover, "faith without principles is but a flattering phra for willful positiveness or fanatical bodily nsations," in Coleridge's (U.L.T. Pamphlet No. 1, p. 2)
People following different creeds have their beliefs that are not logical. Most people feel that religion is determined by birth in a particular family or the community to which one belongs. It is the duty of man to understand the meaning of life, of religious beliefs and customs, and if they appeal to his mind, learn to apply them in life.
