World Religions: the Spirit Searching

Humans across the globe and throughout millennia have searched for answers to questions like, “why are we here?” or “what am I supposed to do with my life?” And the answers people have found, or created, or chosen, have varied as widely as the cultures and people themselves.  Some people focus on rules.  Some focus on afterlives.  Some look to become whole.  Some seek adventure and learning. So this text, while full of various ways that people have searched and discovered and created, is only touching a few of the bigger traditions in our world.  Hopefully each chapter will introduce the reader to some ideas from that specific tradition that enlighten them as to how a specific group of people think, believe, and live. This text is set up to be an ebook.  The various videos, links and resources will only really work if the user keeps to the digital format.  Read this book on a device–it will be a much more rewarding experience!

Introduction

The human spirit seems to search for meaning in a whole variety of ways. Some people use science to help them search. Some practice physical disciplines. Some find a leader to follow. Some study various philosophies. And many use some variety of religious tradition or spiritual expression to order their search, to name their lives’ meaning, to structure their lives’ activities. This text is a compilation of materials that talk about just a few of the many ways that more recent human groups have created religion and religious practice. There are indications that truly ancient groups of people also had religious traditions, but we are going to start, in this text, with materials found within the last 4,000 years or so. Religions continue to evolve, of course, but these given traditions in the text will have some basic information about their histories, their belief, and their structure, that can help the student of religion understand them– at least at a basic level.

The text is set up, in part, geographically. Religious traditions all begin somewhere, and it is the places of origin that set a tone and feel for each of those traditions. There will be chapters indicating specific faiths, and with each geographic section containing, as well, a whole set of links to interesting outside resources, many that could provide additional activities, information, or assignments.There will be traditions that are not included here. Truthfully, the study of humans and religion, spiritual quests and faith is enormous. One could not possibly cover it all. But knowing something about various large and global traditions is essential in our increasingly mobile and interactive world.