Religions Conditioned Dimension
In Tillich’s writing entitled “The Lost Dimension in Religion” he raises awareness on understanding and perceiving religion. He believes the predicament of man in this period displays the predicament of man in general. The main problem of Western man during this period is the loss of dimension of depth which he defines as being “grasped by an infinite concern”, meaning the inability to question the meaning of life. Tillich is that of a philosopher, attempting to find a comprehensive interpretation of the religious dimension of life. Religion is a form of classical conditioning to society from a young age to believe what they are told, think, and react a certain way in life.
The objective of being conditioned by religion is to produce positive results for society, to lead a good and prosperous life in the future. Unfortunately conditioning the mind can go two ways. One offers guidance and certain limits on extremities of a wreck less and dangerous life. The other would be displaying superiority. Some problems of conditioning religion are caused by the media, science, culture, morals and ethics.
Religion can be defined as a notion of the transcendence, often, but not always, in the form of theism. “We never really experience transcendence: our ecstasy is always “earthed”, enshrined in something or someone here below.” (138). Armstrong reminds us that we seek solitude with earthly matters such as mountains, written texts and sacred temples. Transcendence is a dimension of existence in our parallel lives. It is a source of creative imagination. We need to fill the answers to the meaning of our existence using imagination.
Being religious today probably means going to church weekly, attending mass, praying and volunteering the needy. It questions the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers. Tillich argues that people that do not attend church are as religious to people that do attend.
Media is an...