Healing research: religion and healing

The word religion could be traced back to old Latin, 'religare', which literally means 'to bind', and I find these concepts really close to idea of healing from the beginning of the civilization to the modern era. Hence, I want to research them to acknowledge the human desire from healing and how it could relate to religion.

The idea of religion is very hard to trace in early history. Many historians and philosophers believe that religions and worships come from a constant fear encountered in personal experiences. Historian Maria-Gabriele Wosien states that religions and worships appear when a man is 'faced with the chaos of experience and with his own powerlessness' , and hence in order to apprehend the laws regarding man's manifestation, people develop a bond with the power source, which could be anything, like thunder, natural fire, earthquakes etc. This fundamental and primitive purpose behind religion fits perfectly with the literal meaning of the word, which backs up with the purpose. This form of religion, we often refer it as 'primitive' religion. In Siberian regions such as Buryatia and outer Mongol regions are referenced as 'shamanism'. In Japan we could treat Shinto as a form of primitive religion, as people still worship various metazoans which represent natural powers and landscapes. One thing that is different is, that due to the lack of physical space, the natural powers are often replaced by natural landforms such as mountains and lakes. In Africa and Middle East, we sometimes can see these religions preserved in some of their purest forms. In India and China, things become more interesting. Being culturally dominant in the history, the culture integration and assimilation shifts the primitive religions with the more popular monotheism like the Buddhism. In China in particular, I find sometimes primitive religions integrated into one idea of philosophy. Many aspects in Confucian philosophy shows the fear and respect towards natural powers which can be seen as the trace of primitive religion's existence. This can be found in many traditional Chinese paintings as well. I want to perhaps integrate some of the Eastern or Chinese philosophical ideas into my work to show a more subtle link with the mental healing. Generally speaking, for these religions, they provide man with a basic form of self-appreciation and self-evaluation. Through connecting with natural powers, the man transforms fears into understandings and gratifications towards himself, hence it can be seen as a mental form of healing. To me, these primitive religions are hugely important as I believe this raw, rural yet straight-forward form of facing own fear and temptations a really useful way of healing and raising self consciousness.

However, now there is a question whether these religions need to be called as 'primitive'. The anthropologist Alice Kehoe criticized heavily regarding the idea of 'shamanism' and the whole idea of so-called 'primitive' religion. This could link with the notion of cultural appropriation, that these cultures and religions are just misinterpreted by Western dominating cultures. But this content is for another time to discuss in depth.

As religion progresses, monotheism began to replace the polytheism. The Rome Empire is a great example and witness for this revolution. The Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity as the national religion in 313 AD to replace the mutant from Greek mythological system. Similarly, in India and Middle East, Buddhism and Islam took over the role of other primitive religions. Note here that these religions are heavily involved with politics. Including the Romans, many European countries and cultures like the West Goths, Franks and Anglo-saxons use Christianity accompanied with feudal authorities. Similarly and yet more emphasised, in Middle East, the prophet in Islam, Muhammad created the Islamic Empire that lasted for centuries. More interestingly, they all proclaim a slower, later spiritual healing compare to primitive religions. In Christianity, the idea of past life is highly similar to Buddhism's karma, as they both present better afterlife caused by constant working and praying. In islam, the idea of Jihad proclaims a utopian-styled heaven for the believers to enjoy themselves as a price. This could perhaps be the earliest form of delayed gratification. People here are often gratified once in the life time, unlike in primitive religions, gratifications almost come at a daily basis. This could refer to the alienation of healing. As societies start to alienate and differentiate between physical and spiritual form of healing. As medicines and surgeries take up the physical form, and start to speed up this gratification process, religion in another way slows it down. This is particularly interesting for me, as this means a purely quick gratification in healing would be a use of modern medicines with traditional religious practices. Here time and space collapse to form a very interesting entity, with contrasting yet complementary ideas for me to explore.

part 3 research

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