MY PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGION

The classical definition of phenomenology that Husserl gives is that, Phenomenology is to let that which shows itself, be seen from itself the very way in which it shows itself from itself.

No doubt that drawing from this classical definition certain scholars developed the phenomenology of religion. Notable among them are Van der Luuve, Mircea Eliade, William Brede Kriestensen, Rudolf Otto, Waardenberg etc,. Each of them, following the phenomenological approach arrived at a phenomenology of religion, and tried to describe the phenomena of religion.

I was particularly influenced by the exposition of the sacred that Mircea Eliade does in his book The Sacred and the Profane. Instead of repeating what he has spoken, I would come straight to the point. The concept of Sacred Self particularly attracted my attention. Eliade speaks of sacred self only in relation to the rites of passage, initiation and death: a death to the old self and emerging to new life.

Reflecting rather seriously on the issue at hand, I would like to stress that even man is a phenomena of religion. My contention is based not so much on scholarly research or well quoted foot note but on my conviction. I strongly believe that man as a phenomenon of religion manifests the divine. Just as contemplating on the sky, stones and the cosmos in general point to the divine, contemplating on man would not go lesser, but point even higher to that very Divine Being. If sky manifests to the divine infinity and the stone permanence and strength, the phenomena of man points to the Being who is alive, real, active and the most intelligent Being.

At this juncture I would take the support of St. Thomas Aquinas who said that the intelligence, creativity and complexity of human brain do nothing but point out to the Supreme Intelligent Creator, who is Simple, devoid of composition.Further, dwelling on this topic we can go on enumerating many instances of divine manifestation through man. However, I would like to take the most obvious example of the Saints, who through their life and actions manifested the divine. Examples are available in galore, but let me limit myself by mentioning about our own contemporary, Bl. Mother Teresa of Kolkata. As an ordinary religious woman she spread the compassion of Christ. Whoever encountered her, encountered Christ and His compassionate love. Her words were God’ words, her love was God’s love and her touch was the Divine touch.

With this example of a simple woman I would like to reemphasize that man is a phenomena or religion; a glimpse of whom and an understanding of whom can direct us towards the divine. Then our experience would be that of St. Augustine who said “ I looked all around for you, O Beauty so ancient yet so new, but failed to see you indwelling within me. And my heart is restless until it finds rest in you.”

Just like some writers adopted the result of Anthropology and psychology to the study of religion; I would suggest the same enterprise to be undertaken for my phenomenology of religion. Schleiermacher spoke about the psychic faculty that is present in the religious subject. Mircea Eliade said that religion is just about man’s behavior. Putting these two pieces together I feel that getting deeper into the psychic faculty and behaviour of man, we can get the glimpse of the divine within this subject. However, I consciously avoid the danger of advocating the Vedantic concept of identity between the real self and the Ultimate Brahman.

I would unhesitatingly claim that studying the phenomenon of man and the way he manifests the Divine would be like doing “Depth Phenomenology of Religion.” By doing this depth phenomenology of religion, I am confident of an ascent from the immanent world to the transcendent, from the myths and ritualistic practices to a personal relationship.

Finally before I conclude I would like to give my definition of religion: “Religion is the deeper awareness of the divine self within the human self. It is also a means to establish a relationship with this divine self and the manifestation of this relationship to the external world through religious behaviour.”