Homo Religiosus by Karen Armstrong, p. 22-38 Essay

Homo Religiosus by Karen Armstrong, p. 22-38 - Essay Example It is essential to acknowledge that loss of self is desirable according to Armstrong’s arguments hence influencing homo religiosus. Firstly, Armstrong argues that loss of self is desirable since it enabled ancient societies to believe and worship idols in shrines hence they are aware that this is against God’s will. The ancient society believed that these labyrinths served as sacred places where they could perform all sorts of rituals. According to some historians’ arguments, the purpose of these labyrinths was generally pragmatic (Armstrong 22). Despite how deed these labyrinths were, the loss of self enabled them to enter although, it took lots of ours to reach the innermost core. However, loss of self seems desirable since these innermost cores were very dangerous, uneconomical, exhausting, and time-consuming. The consensus with the ancient communities was that these sacred caves served as sanctuaries, and similar to all temples, the caves’ iconography portrayed a vision, which was extremely different from the vision of the outside world (Armstrong 23). This showed how loss of self was de sirable. Although the ancient practices were extremely painful, difficult, and even traumatic, their loss of self seemed desirable as this enabled them to involve and practice some difficult rituals such as that of hunters. Animal sacrifice, for instance, which served as the central rite with all religious societies in antiquity, portrayed prehistoric hunting celebration and they continued to give honor to a beast that surrendered its life for humankind sake (Armstrong 24). The main aims of practicing these rituals were to bring to mind an anxiety in a way that ancient society must confront and take control of it. From the beginning, this shows that homo religiosus life was centered in the tragic facts that life focus upon destruction of these creatures. Some of the

Criminal Justice Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Criminal Justice - Assignment Example This essay argues that while both conflict and consensus are existent in the United States, the country tends towards the conflict perspective. While both formulations of these perspectives are problematic, the consensus perspective has seemingly overly optimistic slant. In essence, it’s arguing that the law functions outside of undue influence, in a completely equitable means of agreed upon functions. It seems this view completely ignores things, such as the overwhelming privileged inherent in attending law school, or that becoming a judge requires significant political acumen. While it acknowledges that there are diverse and competing interests within a cultural framework, it assumes that the social structure exists outside of them, created through some metaphysical objectivity; this is logically inconsistent, as it fails to take into account that the very people who constructed the legal system were influenced by these same pernicious motivations. Even so, most citizens and scholars recognize some truth to the consensus model. While the Supreme Court structure in American society is understood to be highly reliant on the personal backgrounds of the individual justices, society has objectively accounted for this and openly negotiates how personal bias will be used towards equitable means. While this may be a highly reductionist take on the process of law, as a conflict argument would be that even the democratic voting process is indicative of oppressive power structures, in these instances there is at least the social movement towards equitable democratic consensus. Conversely, the conflict paradigm aligns the social structure as a means for powerful entities to continue their social domination, and it is this perspective that is most predominant in the United States. Whereas the consensus perspective seems somewhat idealized, the conflict perspective is in contains a healthy