Understanding

the Self:

The Spiritual Self

 Supernaturals:
Believe It or Not!
 Group Activity
In groups with 5-6 members,
answer the following
questions:
1. How do you define the
word “god”?
2. Is it important for one
person to believe on a
higher being? Why?

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 RELIGION
Rebecca Stein works on the 1. A belief in
definition of religion “as a anthropomorphic
set of cultural beliefs and supernatural being,
practices that usually such as spirits and
includes some or all of basic gods
characteristics. 2. A focus on the sacred
supernatural, where
These characteristics are: sacred refers to a
feeling of reverence
and awe
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 RELIGION
3. The presence of supernatural power or energy that
is found on supernatural beings as well as physical
beings and objects.

4. The performance of ritual activities that involves

the manipulation of sacred object to communicate to
supernatural beings and/or to influence or control
events

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 RELIGION
5. The articulation of worldview and moral codes through
narratives and other means

6. Provide the creation and maintenance of social bonds and

mechanism of social control within a community; provide
explanation for unknown and a sense of control for individuals.

An individual lives in a society where there are many practices

of religion. The choice lies within the spiritual self; however, it
could be influenced by the society and its culture.
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 RITUAL
Ritual is the performance of ceremonial acts
prescribed by a tradition or sacred law.

Ritual is specific, observable mode of behavior

exhibited by all known societies.

It is thus possible to view ritual as a way of defininfg

or describing humans.
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 RITUAL

Characteristics:
1. A feeling or emotion of respect, awe,
fascination, or dread in relation to the sacred
2. Dependence upon a belief system that is usually
expressed in the language of myth
3. Is symbolic in relation to its reference

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 RITUAL

 The self can be describe as a ritual being who

exhibits a striking parallel between their ritual
and verbal behavior.
 Rituals may be viewed as a system of symbolic
acts that is based upon arbitrary rules.
 Participation to rituals is expressions of
religious beliefs

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Some World Religious
Beliefs and Practices
 BUDDHISM
BELIEFS
 Buddhism believes that
life is not a bed of
roses; instead, there are
suffering, pain, and
frustrations.
 When people suffer,
they want to experience
the goodness of life and
avoid disappointments.

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 BUDDHISM
 The Reactive Cycle
The habit of wanting and hating,
like and dislike, and craving and
aversion.
This can be broken down through
the practice of meditation,
acquiring more wisdom and
deeper understanding, and
acceptance of things as they are

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 BUDDHISM
CUSTOMS AND PRACTICES
 Two types of meditation:
a. Samatha is practiced as
mindfulness of breathing
and development of loving-
kindness (Metta Bhavana)

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 BUDDHISM
CUSTOMS AND PRACTICES
 Two types of meditation:
b. Vipassana practices aim at
developing insight into reality.
Acquiring wisdom is studying
Buddha’s teaching, the Dharma.
Through this, buddhists can
achieve a deeper understanding
of life. They believe in non-
violence principle.

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 BUDDHISM
Major Celebrations:
February – Parinirvana Day
May – Buddha Day (Wesak)
July – Dharma Day
October – Padmasambhava Day
November – Sangha Day

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 CHRISTIANITY
BELIEFS
 Christians believe in
Trinitarian God. One God
in three personas: God
the Father (creator),
God the Son (savior),
and God the Holy Spirit
(sustainer)

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 CHRISTIANITY
BELIEFS
 Eternal life after death
is achieved through faith
in Jesus Christ.
 The Holy Bible is a
selection of books, which
is divided into two, the
Old Testament and the
New Testament

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 CHRISTIANITY
CUSTOMS AND PRACTICES
 Sacrament of Baptism (birth
to the Christian World) and
Communion (act of
remembrance of Christ’s
sacrificial love)
 Jesus Christ teaching in
unconditional love is
expressed in loving the poor,
oppressed and outcast of the
society
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 CHRISTIANITY
Major Celebrations
 Christmas (December 25th)
and Resurrection/Easter
(depends on the lunar calendar
– March/April)

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 HINDUISM
BELIEFS
• Hinduism covers a wide
range of traditional
beliefs and religious
groups.
• Existence is a cycle of
birth, death, and rebirth,
governed by Karma.

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 HINDUISM
BELIEFS
• Karma is a concept where the
reincarnated life will depend
on how the past life was spent.
• Hindus believe that the soul
passes through a cycle of
successive lives and its next
incarnation is always
dependent on how the previous
life was lived.

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 HINDUISM

BELIEFS
• Mahabharata and Ramayana
are two other important
text of the Hindus.

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 HINDUISM

CUSTOMS AND PRACTICES

• Diwali (Festival of Lights)
and Navrati (Festival of
Nine Nights, celebrating the
triumph of good and evil)
are the most celebrated
festivals of the Hindus.

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 ISLAM

BELIEFS
• Muslims believe in Allah who
is their “One God”.
• They believe in the unity
and universality of God.
• They have a strong sense of
community “ummah” and an
awareness of their
solidarity.
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 ISLAM

BELIEFS
• Islam means “willing
submission to God”.
• Mohammed is the last and
final prophet born in Mecca
in 570 CE and received
revelation from God
through the Angel Gabriel
over a period of 23 years.

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 ISLAM

BELIEFS
• The Holy Book of Islam is
called the Quoran, which
was taught to be recited in
Arabic because any
translation is seen as
inadequate.

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 ISLAM

CUSTOMS and PRACTICES

• Five Pillars of Islam
1. Shahadah – statement of faith: “There is no God
but the one true God and Mohammed is his
messenger.”
2. Salat – the prater that is practices five times a
day

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 ISLAM

CUSTOMS and PRACTICES

• Five Pillars of Islam
3. Zakat – the monetary offering for the benefit
of the poor. It comprises the 2.5% of a Muslim’s
assests.
4. Hajj – the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca. Muslims
who can afford are asked to do pilgrimage at
least once in their lifetime.
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 ISLAM

CUSTOMS and PRACTICES

• Five Pillars of Islam
5. Sawm – the fasting. Muslims do fasting, from
food, drink, and sexual act, during the
celebration of Ramadan. Ramadan is the ninth
month of the Islamic lunar calendar. The fast is
from dawn to sunset.

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 ISLAM

CUSTOMS and PRACTICES

• Two major festivals in Islam:

Eidul-Fitr (celebration at the end of Ramadan)

Eidul-Adha (celebrated within the completetion of
the Pilgrimage)

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 JUDAISM

BELIEFS
• The Jews believe in the God
of Abraham, the same God
that liberated the Hebrew
slaves from Egypt to
Canaan, the Promised Land
through the leadership of
Moses and later, Joshua.

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 JUDAISM
BELIEFS
• The Jews believe in the
coming of Messiah, the
Savior.
• The sacred scripture of the
Jews is called the Torah or
the Law.
• The Torah is the guide to
Jewish living.

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 JUDAISM
CUSTOMS AND PRACTICES
• Five Major Festivals
1. Rosh Hashanah – the New Year
2. Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement
3. Pesach – Passover
4. Shavuot – Pentecost
5. Sukkot – Tabernacles. The Jewish Sabbath begins on
Friday evening at sunset and is an important time when
families gather for the Shabbat meal.

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> Religious beliefs, rituals, practices, and customs
are all part of the expression of the spiritual
self.
> What to believe and how to manifest the belief is
entirely dependent on the individual, to the self.
> Religious beliefs and practices, therefore, are
formed relative to its context and culture.

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 Finding and Creating the Meaning of Life
• Dr. Viktor E. Frankl
- Born on March 26, 1905 in Vienna and died in 1997
- He wrote a short paper to Freud which was
published after 3 years.
- Graduated with a medical degree from the
University of Vienna in 1930.
- Assigned in Vienna Hospital suicide ward and
headed to Rothschild Hospital eight years later
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 Finding and Creating the Meaning of Life
• Dr. Viktor E. Frankl
- He published a book about logotherapy
- In 1959, the books was translated to English and
was revised in 1963 as The Doctor and the Soul:
An Introduction to Logotherapy.
- His book, Man’s Search for Meaning, has been
used as a textbook in high school and college
courses
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 LOGOTHERAPY

 Logotherapy is a psychotherapy introduced by Dr.

Viktor Frankl
 The main belief of logotherapy is that “man’s
primary motivational force is search for
meaning:
 Logotherapy aids individuals to find personal
meaning of life, whatever life situation may be.

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 LOGOTHERAPY
 In logotherapy, meaning can be discovered by creating work
or doing a dead, experiencing something or encountering
someone and the attitude toward unavoidable suffering.
 It uses the philosophy of optimism in the face of tragedy,
where people are capable of “turning suffering into human
achievement and accomplishment; deriving from guilt the
opportunity to change oneself for the better, and deriving
from life’s transitoriness an incentive to take responsible
action

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 Basic Concepts of Franklian Psychology
 Three Basic Concepts
1. Life has meaning under all circumstances
2. Main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in
life
3. Freedom to find meaning
Franklin Psychology aims to: (1) become aware of spiritual
resources, (2) make conscious spiritual resources, and (3) use
“defiant power of human spirit” and stand up against adversity

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 LOGOTHERAPY ASSUMPTIONS

All psychotherapies make philosophical assumptions

about the human person that cannot be proved with
certainty.
1. The human being is an entity consisting of body,
mind, and spirit.
This first assumption deals with the body(soma),
mind(psyche), and spirit(noos). The body and mind
are what we have and the spirit is what we are.
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 LOGOTHERAPY ASSUMPTIONS

2. Life has meaning under all circumstances.

Assumption two is “ultimate meaning” . This is

difficult to grasp but it is something that everyone
experiences and it represents an order in a world
with laws that go beyond human laws.

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 LOGOTHERAPY ASSUMPTIONS

3. People have a will to meaning.

The third assumption is seen as our main motivation

for living and acting. When we see meaning, we are
ready for any type of suffering. This is considered
to be different than our will to achieve power and
pleasure.

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 LOGOTHERAPY ASSUMPTIONS

4. People have freedom under all circumstances to

activate the will to find meaning.

We are free to activate our will to find meaning, and

this can be done under any circumstances. This deals
with change of attitudes about unavoidable fate.
Frankl was able to test the first four assumptions
when he was confined in the concentration camps.
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 LOGOTHERAPY ASSUMPTIONS

5. Life has a demand quality to which people must

respond if decisions are to be meaningful.

The meaning of the moment, is more practical in

daily living than ultimate meaning. Unlike ultimate
meaning, this meaning can be found and fulfilled.
This can be done by following the values of society
or by following the voice of our conscience.
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 LOGOTHERAPY ASSUMPTIONS

6. The individual is unique.

The sixth assumption deals with one’s sense of

meaning. This is enhanced by the realization that we
are irreplaceable.

In essence, all humans are unique with an entity of

body, mind, and spirit.
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 FRANKL’S SOURCE OF MEANING

There are 3 possible sources of the meaning of life:

1. Purposeful Work

To find the meaning of life starts with holding a future goal.

Each individual has each own future goal to achieve or a task to
perform. That task or goal to fulfill becomes the meaning of
their life. Therefore, meaning of life is unique to every
individual.

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 FRANKL’S SOURCE OF MEANING

2. Courage in the Face of Difficulty

A meaningful life is a life with suffering, suffering

is inevitable part of life. To find meaning of life is
to recognize suffering, pain, and death as part of
life and to have the courage to face these life
difficulties.

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 FRANKL’S SOURCE OF MEANING

3. Love

“Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the

innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully
aware of the very essence to see the essential traits and
features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that
which is potential in him.”
The ultimate secret on the spiritual foundation of life is that
love is salvation and joy eternity.
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 homework

On a piece of yellow paper, answer the following

questions (10 points each)

1. How does religion affect the spiritual aspect of a

person?
2. What do you think is the meaning of your life?

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