What is characteristic of religious consciousness? On the peculiarities of public life

A person in the process of growing up tends to identify himself, to realize himself in society. Before him, the question arises, what is characteristic of religious consciousness. From childhood it becomes clear that there are different religions. There are those who do not believe in anything. How to determine the religious consciousness, how does it differ from the national one, for example? Let's figure it out.

Definition

Religious public consciousness exists as much as a person. The gods began to think up when, so to speak, they got off the branches. Of course, one should not understand what is characteristic of religious consciousness, relying only on the experience of the ancient world. But it is also impossible to reject the deep roots on which this consciousness is formed. The fact is that the process of self-realization of man is eternal. It is constantly developing and improving, relying on the knowledge gained. The depth of the problem was formulated by Jesus when he revealed the meaning of the temple. According to him, the church is a community of believers who share rituals. That is, a religious person builds around himself a certain reality in which certain rules operate. All his actions and thoughts are consistent with the latter. In order to understand what is characteristic of religious consciousness, it is necessary to disclose the meaning of the formation of the worldview of a person individually. It consists of traditions, rules, behavioral models adopted in a given society. Part of this world is religion. With her help, the personality learns to communicate with reality, which lies beyond the bounds of ordinary experience. There is a space in which we live, and the rules of behavior in it. Religious consciousness concerns the second, influencing man through the first.

Forms of religious consciousness

It should be noted that beliefs have changed in the course of the progressive development of mankind. In ancient times people deified phenomena and animals, water and sky. The directions of ancient beliefs are divided into fetishism, totemism, shamanism and others. Later, the so-called national religions began to emerge . They covered more people by uniting them. For example, Chinese, Greek, Indian religions. Each of them has its own peculiarities. The essence remained the same. Religion created certain behavioral rules, binding for all members of society. In this way, the understanding of one's place in the world was introduced into the human psyche. He seemed to rise above the half-animal existence. He opened a different reality, contributing to the development of intelligence, the creative process. Monotheism arose about two thousand years ago. It further limited the animal instincts of man, introducing to society the concepts of sin and conscience. It turns out that religious consciousness is an intellectual superstructure over the physical world, an artificially created reality with which the individual must coordinate his actions.

What is characteristic of religious consciousness

If you carefully look at all the beliefs known to us, then we can distinguish in them the general. They will be behavioral restrictions recognized by the community. That is, the religious consciousness is characterized by the perception of moral norms. These are unwritten rules recognized by all members of the community. They are so deeply rooted in the minds of people that breaking them is an outrageous act. Religious consciousness includes centuries of developing traditions, rules, norms, useful for the development of mankind. For example, the commandment "not to kill" is accepted by people, as it helps to increase the population. Let it look mundane, and not spiritually, but any religion worked out laws that contribute to preserving the society that it united. Otherwise, it was difficult to survive in antiquity. And even now, with the development of science and technology, moral norms have not lost their progressive meaning. Unfortunately, they undergo changes that are not always useful. An example is the recognition in the West of same-sex marriages. It is already artificially introduced into consciousness the attitude to the reproductive function, as unnecessary, not sacred.

Conclusion

Questions of religious consciousness are very complex and important for society. Without their comprehension, harmonious development of the personality is impossible. And let it exist in some unreal, mythical world, but it allows normal interaction between different people, avoiding confrontation and catastrophes.