World View PresentationComparing the Abrahamic Religious

World View with that of Eastern Religions

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The Abrahamic Religions are called this because they share a common ancestor. The Biblical patriarch Abraham is said to have produced three of the worlds major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The Abrahamic Religions:

Born in the Middle East, these three religions share several things besides the great patriarch. •Holy Scripture: although the Muslim community considers the Bible to be corrupted or incomplete, all three Abrahamic religions accept the Torah as sacred writings. •Holy Sites: Jerusalem is held sacred by all three religions.•View of Time: all three religions believe that time has a beginning and an end, and that revelation occurs in history.

The world was created by G-d/God/Allah Ex Nihilo. He created an ordered reality and can be revealed in its structure. The world is created materially good, and exists for the benefit of humanity.

A Shared View of Reality:

God transcends and maintains reality and the

created order alone. Humanity was given dominion over God’s

creation. Humanity does not fully understand reality as God does.

Reality is comprehensible and knowable by finite humanity, as the intricate design of nature demonstrates God’s existence…

…but…

…humanity cannot understand reality completely…

…or fully understand the true nature of God.

Humanity chooses to follow evil impulses, or to act against God’s will. In this way is sin

brought into the world.

G-d/God/Allah is revealed in

history. Time has a beginning and an end. The

world had a beginning and

will have an ending

according to divine will.

What Is the Nature of Reality?Abrahamic Religions: The world

was created ex nihilo by G-d/God/Allah. The world is materially good, and exists for the benefit of humanity, and God transcends and maintains the created order alone. Reality is comprehensible and knowable by finite humanity, as the intricate design of nature demonstrates God’s existence, but humanity cannot understand reality completely or fully understand the true nature of God. Humanity chooses to follow evil impulses, or to act against God’s will, and this brings sin into the world. Time is linear: it has a beginning and end, and God is revealed through history.

The Religions of the East• Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and

Sikhism share a common background. Born from the Indian subcontinent, they share ideas about karma, the cyclical nature of life, and the dualistic nature of reality.

• Taoism, and Confucianism. Born from the collapse of the feudal Chinese empire and willing to coincide with Buddhism, they appear more as different sides of the same coin than as completely different religious traditions.

Reality is cyclical, relative, and illusionary. The world is uncreated and

eternal, neither good nor evil.

Reality possess a dualistic nature. Everything is material or spiritual. Material reality is a

hindrance to enlightenment. The material world is representative of the Ego, desire, and disharmony.

Life is eternal. The goal of living is to overcome the endless cycle of rebirth.

Ignorance exists as the largest impediment to enlightenment.

Enlightenment comes when one can see reality for what it is.

Human ignorance results in disharmony and un-enlightenment.

• struggle against the Tao

• failure to meet responsibilities to others

• failure to complete dharma

• desire• attachments • the ego

Life is governed by karma

One’s actions and interactions carry enough weight to act as an anchor in the cycle of life, death, rebirth, and suffering.

The Eastern religious traditions emphasise• Benevolence and respect toward others.• The fulfillment of personal obligations based on social status and

relationships to others.• The impermanence of material desires in favor of spiritual asceticism.• the suppression of the ego which can assist one on the path to

enlightenment.• Personal alignment to natural forces as a means for spiritual harmony.

What Is the Nature of Reality? Eastern Religions: Reality is cyclical,

relative, and illusionary. Reality possesses a dualistic nature. The world is material and spiritual. Life is eternal. The goal of living is to overcome the endless cycle of rebirth. Ignorance exists as the largest impediment to enlightenment. Enlightenment comes when one can see reality for what it is. Human faults, resistance to truth (struggling against the Tao, failure to meet responsibilities, failure to achieve dharma, failure to release oneself from desire and attachments) results in disharmony and unenlightenment. Life is governed by karma, meaning one’s actions and interactions may carry enough weight to anchor one in the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, and possibly suffering. Benevolence and respect toward others, and the suppression of the ego can assist one on the path to enlightenment.

Shinto View of Reality

The word is a mixture of the material and the spiritual.

• It was created by the kami, which are spiritual beings that are found throughout reality. They are more than spirits, but less than Gods.

• Japan sits as the favored land of two important kami: Izanagi and his consort Isanami. They begat the rest of the kami who populate the world.

• The Japanese emperors have all decended from Amaterasu, the sun goddess.