331407
REL 130
Dr. Haskett
4 November 2016
Religion Is Not Superstition
Before this class, I thought religion was superstition. Every time a person would talk about religion, all I could think about was superstition. According to Oxford English Dictionary, religion is an action indicating belief in reverence for a god or similar superhuman power, while superstition is an excessively credulous belief in and reverence for the supernatural. Also, superstition is commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck, prophecy, and certain spiritual beings. The reason that I think religion and superstition have the same concept is because both of them refer to some supernatural phenomena. The thoughts of religion and superstition are based on theism, in which there exist supernatural figures who have supernatural powers. However, after taking this class, the meaning of religion for me changed from the adoration of superstition to spiritual sustenance of people.
My family’s beliefs in superstitions have influenced my understanding about religion. I remember that my grandma told me a story of hers several years ago. She lived in the countryside when she was young, and she always got up very early in the morning in order to set up the stove in yard. One day in winter, my grandma set up the stove with fire as usual; however, she suddenly saw an old man with a long beard jumping up and down behind the fire like a ghost. She freaked out and ran back home quickly. Later in the day, she got seriously sick. Her mother found a witch in the village, who performed a ritual dance while saying an incartation. Magically, my grandma’s illness was cured the next day. That was the first time when I got in touch with superstition, or “religion” that I believed at that time.
Growing up, I heard lots of similar stories. People would get sick because they saw some supernatural phenomenon, and they would feel better because a witch came and offered help. In Chinese tradition, we refer to people who can deal with supernatural phenomenon as Shenpo, which can be translated to a healer or a witch. Since Shenpo makes people believe that their job is a form of religion, but they are making money off of someone’s beliefs. Therefore, I think the word witch more properly describes it. After my grandmother had been through that event, she always came and saw the witch when she moved to a new address, started a business, or even hired new employees. The witch, also as a fortune teller, used the “supernatural power” by predicting what things were good for her and what things were bad for her. As you can imagine, asking a witch for help is not free. If you would like to get suggestions from the witch or let her clear all obstacles that she predicted what you would encounter in the near future, you needed to pay her first with a considerable amount of money. My grandmother believed all the witch’s words and made decisions entirely based on what the witch said.
The way that I think how religion works before is similar to how the witch cured my grandmother’s illness. My grandmother believes in the witch because the witch has the ability to conquer supernatural beings and to explain supernatural phenomena. “Religion” makes her a utilitarian. She becomes opportunistic, and she believes that believing in the witch will give her quick success and instant benefit. By asking the witch for help, she can get a shortcut for everything. However, after taking this class, I realized that what I thought before was not religion, but superstition.
Religion and superstition have distinct characteristics, and the basic content of both is not the same. I think the essence of religion tells people to do good things and helps to improve people’s morals and ethics, whereas the essence of superstition deceives people. The purpose of superstition relies on earning money from people who believe in it. Superstition leads people to pray for immediate interests, and people who practice superstitious practices do not care whether the process of seeking personal gain may hurt others’ or not. Wizards and witches deceive and lure people who pursue immediate benefits, such as winning promotions, getting rich, having a good marriage, or having sons instead of daughters. However, religion tries not to seek immediate interests for people, earn money from people who believe in it, and make certain promises. Therefore, I realize that religion is not a superstition, and superstition does not belong in the domain of religion. The role of religion is more like the spiritual sustenance of people, instead of the adoration of superstition for economic benefits.
The academic article that I choose is a book review by Nathan Sivin[1]. The book that he reviews is called Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China by Pregadio Fabrizio, which fully examines the religious aspects of Chinese alchemy. Sivin summarizes Great Clarity by showing its relationship between Chinese alchemy and the elaborate body of doctrines and practices that Daoists built at that time, from which Daosim as we know it today evolved. “[Great Clarity] also clarifies the origins of Chinese alchemy and the respective roles of alchemy and meditation in self-cultivation practices,” states Sivin. During class, I learned that Daoism accepts a number of immortals, or celestial divine figures; additionally, immortality is a goal for Daoists. It is achieved through various bodily practices, and one of them is alchemy.