A Philosophical approach to Understanding the Motivation of Free Will

Can Western Families Be Influenced By Religious Doctrines?
A philosophical approach to understanding the motivation of free will

Family life in America could be strengthened by attention and adherence to the doctrines and practices of Hinduism, and Islam. Western cultures tend to have an individualistic orientation and other cultures, a collectivist orientation. The differences between these two cultures seem to influence people’s attitudes. Eastern doctrine seems to promote obedience and western doctrine seems to endorse individualism and freedom. In my paper I will explore what Hinduism could contribute to families in the west. In addition, I will look at the difference between Islam and Christianity and pinpoint specific things that I think cause problems in today’s social settings in the west. I will also examine the possible disadvantages of religion as it relates to human existence. However, I would like to start with a few thoughts about how religion can effect personal development.
Does the phrase “we must get to know ourselves before we can know anyone else” have any legitimacy? If so you may also agree that to truly know oneself is to be able to control all reactions caused by ones emotions. Some types of emotions one could feel are depression, sorrow, fear, frustration, happiness, and jealousy. It seems that out of these emotions fear is the cause of jealousy, jealousy is the driver of depression and sorrow and frustration are the effects. In order to get out of a mind state in which depression is the dominating factor one may have to except the circumstances by which they are depressed about. By comparing the difference between what they do and what they don’t have one may be able to achieve this goal. These feelings of dejection can cause families to become unstable or dysfunctional. However, what if we could be conditioned overcome the fears that could create such emotions?
It seems that throughout western history religion and family have been two institutions linked together through relationships of dependency and control. Religious institutions depend on families to pass on the rituals and beliefs of its particular faith tradition. And in turn religions provided moral guidelines that shape those families practices, and the organization of their life. The difference between this lifestyle and the others seems to be the cause for conflict. If one were to make a notion that a family that follows a faith tradition is a “good family”, they must also say a family that doesn’t support a tradition is a “bad family” or simply is not a good family. Looking at these two families as it relates to Christianity, we can say that a family that has a conviction towards this faith might be less inclined to fear natural occurrences. Therefore, we may see a lower rate of depression within families of faith than in families without. With this, what happens to our communities?
As I stated in my second paragraph depression can alter the relationship that one has with their family, therefore, having a faith can be a benefit for their individual social settings. However, with this type of lifestyle one may not see that problems like pollution, litter, and homelessness are of their responsibility.
In addition, they may not be accepted among other social groups and groups of different faith. It may be true that introducing faith into family settings could enhance the relationship between the members; however, it could also rattle the relationship of humanity. What can be introduced into the west to balance this equation? I think that by adopting the 3rd pillar of Islam which is an obligation of Muslims to pay a small percentage of their wealth towards “Zakat”, which is used for the benefit of the needy and the poor is one step forward. This act exemplifies a means of social justice, order and respect for Gods creation. However, in order to maintain this principle we must add a regulation. It seems that nothing is more controlling than fear and all emotions are driven by fear.
Hinduisms may be the place to turn to. The principal of Karma may be a stepping stone that the west could use to complete the equation. We can think of it as immediate karma, for example, “what goes around comes around” (in this life) or we may also think of it like the Hindus did (your current life determines the path of you next life). Karma is based on the ideas of cause and effect. Therefore, anything one does in this life will affect your future or ones next life. Take for example the idea of homelessness. Are people homeless because they are paying a debt to karma? If so why should we help them? This seems to be the question posed about karma. Although it is hard to answer I would like to take as shot at it by saying this, in order for karma to be relevant, negative and positives notions of it must exist. With the idea of someone doing something negative (evil) you obtain bad karma. By looking at this I examine how karma could work. Karma is a positive energy field that attracts negative energy. It prevents positive energies from entering and negative energies from exiting. If this is true then goal is to make the energy field neutral, but how does one do that? It seems that the only way to do is by good deeds. If we do things out of heart with care and compassion we produce positive energy with in us. That energy is able push the negative energy out of us. In the process the surrounding negative energy builds up and as soon at it reaches an equilibrium point with the positive it the field becomes neutral. Therefore, by helping the homeless we are doing good deeds and maintaining a neutral energy field.
All religions have something to contribute to the fundamental values of human life. However, for the most part, they are convictions that tend to separate the ideas of different social groups; therefore, one may never be able to agree on beliefs and issues of another social group which could cause conflicts. However, if there was only one thing to believe in it seems that there would more skeptics than believers. It seems to me that the plan of God is to unite the creation with its creator. The only way to complete task seems to be to bring the creation together as one. How is this possible? To achieve this one needs to have a common notion “there is a God”, it seems that everything that leads up to “there is a God” is the hook used to make the catch. If one could use many different types of hooks to catch a fish, then is it possible that one could use many types of stairwells to get to God as well?