The Great Questions

by William Portier
I. The Presence of Religions II. Two Types of Experiences A. Ordinary Human Experience 1. What? Experiences that does not require serious thought 2. Ex: taking a bath, toothbrush, getting ready for school, eating B. Extraordinary Experience 1. What? experiences that break the routine of ordinary experience force us to think more deeply at a different level they happen to everyone in different times 2. Four Examples i. Birth What would you feel if you have sired/given birth to a son/daughter Birth represents a renewal and affirmation of life. Awe and wonder at the miracle of birth. Sigmund Freud's views: Makes us reflect: what is the future of this new being. it is merely a product of the mind, These babies invade our lives. an illusion. ii. Death religion is wish-fulfilment What would you feel if an immediate family member has passed away? a reversion to childish patterns of What would you feel if you are given a month to live? thought in response to feelings of If death puts an end to existence, it raises the deepest and most disturbing questions about helplessness and guilt the possible meaning of human or absurdity of human life. Why are we born when it will only We feel a need for security and come to this? forgiveness, and so invent a What is the meaning of my career, my family? source of security and Why was I given life when it will end anyway? forgiveness: God. iii. Love seen as a childish delusion, and the human capacity for selfless behavior atheism as a grown-up realism Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, Ondoy hero Muelmar Magallanes Whether we are for or against it, If you were one of those saved, how would you feel? religion makes its presence felt. Why is the human being capable of heroic self-sacrifice? It has appeal, persistence, and Why human beings can really love us unselfishly? transforming power. We are awed by the genuine human goodness we encounter. What is there about human beings that iv. Evil open them to religious claims about Why is the human capable of cruelty, inhumanity, violence? things unseen? Why human beings inflict pain and suffering on other people? Why is there religion? teasing, racism Where does religion come from? What would you have felt if you were a black man being lynched simply for being black? There is a depth-dimension of What would you have felt if you were a Jew being experimented upon or incinerated simply human experience that draws us for being a Jew? to believe in something.

Summary Characteristics of Extraordinary Experiences 1. different from routine/ordinary experiences as they break the patterns of our experience in dramatic ways 2. they are ambiguous admitting of more than one possible explanation 3. Extraordinary experiences exert powerful influences on the direction of our lives. 4. they lead us to think seriously about the meaning and direction of our lives.
The Question of Ultimate Meaning Marcel: "Life is not a problem that can be solved but a mystery that can only be lived." This is because the great questions involve us human beings personally.

The Positive Role of Tradition in Questioning

Ways in finding answers to our questions: 1. solo seeking answers by ones self, detached from any context image: alone in the dark room, writing on a blank sheet of paper without any bias 2. within tradition finding answers within a particular context acknowledging ones situatedness in the world: one is always given a particular context, a particular family, a particular notion, a particular church with bias the inescapability of tradition/ context we are contextual beings no particular point in our lives when we are not biased Thus, we find answers to our questions within our own situatedness in the world. We are all contextual beings. Our understanding is always affected by our history.

Pope John Paul II: From this open search for truth, which is renewed in every generation, the culture of a nation derives its character. Indeed, the heritage of values which has been received and handed down is always challenged by the young. To challenge does not necessarily mean to destroy or reject a priori, but above all to put these values to the test in ones life, and through this existential verification to make them more real, relevant and personal, distinguishing the valid elements in the tradition from false and erroneous ones, or from obsolete forms which can be usefully replaced by other more suited to the times. Centesimus Annus, 1991, par. 50

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