About Religion

The analysis of the idea of religion shows that it is very complex, and rests on several fundamental concepts. It implies first of all the recognition or rejection of a divine person within and behind the forces of nature. In the highest religions, this supernatural Being is seen as a spirit, one and indivisible, everywhere present in nature, but distinct from it.

In the lower religions, the various phenomena of nature are associated with a number of distinct personalities, though it is rare that among these numerous nature-deities one is not honored as supreme. Ethical qualities corresponding to the prevailing ethical standards, are attributed by the different peoples to their respective deities.

All religions have three common aspects: creeds, codes and cults; theology, morality, and liturgy; beliefs, values and rites; words, works and worship. The first speaks mainly to the intellect, the second to the will, and the third to the feelings and imagination. (Handbook of Christian Apologetics, Kreeft and Taceli, InterVarsity Press, 1994, p. 380.)

A lifestyle is how a person or group of people live, and in particular the behavior of the person or group. A lifestyle may be influenced by personal experiences, beliefs or attitudes.

Folklore is literature passed down through generations by speech rather than in writing. Such spoken literature is an important part of many cultures. Examples of folklore include folk-tales, songs, riddles and proverbs.

Philosophy (from Philo = Love, Sophie = Wisdom) is the seeking of wisdom from truth and reality (see famous philosopher's quotes below). The subject of philosophy was first formalized by the Ancient Greeks, and as Bertrand Russell wrote, not much has been added to their knowledge in the 2,500 years which followed.

And those whose hearts are fixed on Reality itself deserve the title of Philosophers.

When the mind's eye rests on objects illuminated by truth and reality, it understands and comprehends them, and functions intelligently; but when it turns to the twilight world of change and decay, it can only form opinions, its vision is confused and its beliefs shifting, and it seems to lack intelligence.
What is at issue is the conversion of the mind from the twilight of error to the truth, that climb up into the real world which we shall call true philosophy.

The society we have described can never grow into a reality or see the light of day, and there will be no end to the troubles of states, or indeed, my dear Glaucon, of humanity itself, till philosophers are kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands. (Plato, Republic, 380BC)

Bradley, 1846-1924) We may agree, perhaps, to understand by Metaphysics an attempt to know reality as against mere appearance, or the study of first principles or ultimate truths, or again the effort to comprehend the universe, not simply piecemeal or by fragments, but somehow as a whole.

The word metaphysics is formed from the Greek meta ta phusika, a title which, about the year A.D. 70, was related by Andronicus of Rhodes to that collection of Aristotelean treatises which since then goes by the name of the "Metaphysics". Aristotle himself had referred to that portion of philosophy as "the theological science" (theologikê), because it culminated in the consideration of the nature of God, and as "first philosophy" (prôtê philosophia), both because it considered the first causes of things, and because, in his estimation, it is first in importance. The editor, however, overlooked both these titles, and, because he believed that that part of the Aristotelean corpus came naturally after the physical treatises, he entitled it "after the physics". This is the historical origin of the term. However, once the name was given, the commentators sought to find intrinsic reasons for its appropriateness. For instance, it was understood to mean "the science of the world beyond nature", that is, the science of the immaterial. Again, it was understood to refer to the chronological or pedagogical order among our philosophical studies, so that the "metaphysical sciences would mean, those which we study after having mastered the sciences which deal with the physical world" (St. Thomas, "In Lib, Boeth. de Trin.", V, 1). In the widespread, though erroneous, use of the term in current popular literature, there is a remnant of the notion that metaphysical means ultra physical: thus, "metaphysical healing" means healing by means of remedies which are not physical.