SUPERNATURALS

Reporter: Mark June C. Amba

• Spiritual self is one of the four constituents of the “self “
according to William James
• The spiritual self is the most intimate, inner subjective
part of self.

Introduction
• A set of cultural beliefs and practices that usually includes some or all of basic
characteristics.
These characteristics are:
1. A belief in anthropomorphic supernatural being, such as spirit and Gods.
2. A focus on the sacred supernatural, where sacred refers to a feeling of
reverence and awe
3. The presence of supernatural power or energy that is found on supernatural
beings as well as physical beings and objects
4. The performance of ritual activities that involves that manipulation of sacred
object to communicate to supernatural being and/or to influence or control
events
5. The articulation of worldview and moral codes through narratives and other
means
6. Provide the creation and maintenance of social bonds and mechanism of social
control within a community; provide explanation for unknown and a sense of
control for individuals.

Religion
• Ritual is the performance of ceremonial acts prescribed by a
tradition or sacred law
• Ritual is a specific, observable mode of behavior exhibited
by all known societies.
• According to Peener, ritual has 3 characteristics:
1. a feeling or emotion of respect, awe, fascination, or dread
in relation to the sacred
2. dependence upon a belief system that is usually
expressed in the language of myth
3. symbolic in relation to its reference

Ritual
• There are different religions with different beliefs and
practices.

Some World Religious

Beliefs and Practices
• Beliefs
- Buddhism believes that life is not a bed of roses.
Instead, there are suffering, pain, and frustration.
- When people suffer, they want to experience the goodness of
life and avoid disappointments
• Customs and practices
There are two types of practices:
1. Samatha – is practiced as mindfulness of breathing and
development of loving-kindness
2. Vipassana - practices aim at developing insight into reality.

Buddhism
• Parinirvana Day – February
• Buddha Day (Wesak) – may
• Dharma Day – July
• Padmasambhava Day – October
• Shangha Day - November

Major Buddhist Celebration

• Beliefs
- Christians believe in Trinitarian God.
- One God in three personas: God the Father (Creator); God the Son (Savior): God the
Holy Spirit (Sustainer)
- Eternal life after death will be achieved through faith in Jesus Christ.
- Jesus Christ is, God the Son, who came into flesh, to spread the God News of Salvation.
- He died on the Cross for the sin of the humanity but resurrected from the death, so that
anyone who believes in Him will be saved and have eternal life.
- The Holy Bible is a selection of books, which is divided into two, the Old testament and
New Testament.

• Custom and Practices

- Sacrament of Baptism and sacrament of Communion are practiced by Christian churches.
- The sacrament of baptism symbolizes the birth in Christian World, while the Sacrament
of Communion is an act of remembrance of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial love. Jesus Christ
teaching in unconditional love than is expressed in loving the poor, oppressed, and outcast
of the society.

Christianity
• Christmas and Resurrection ( Easter) are the two major
celebrations in Christianity.
1. Christmas – usually on December 25, commemorates
the birth of Jesus Christ
2. resurrection Sunday (depends on the lunar calendar,
sometime in March or April) celebrates the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from death.

Christianity
• Beliefs
- Hinduism covers a wide range of traditional beliefs and religious groups; thus,
there is no single founder or leader.
- Hindus believe that existence is a cycle of birth, death and rebirth, governed by
Karma.
Karma – is a concept where the reincarnated life will depend on how the past life
was spent.
- Hindus believe that the souls passes through a cycle of successive lives and its
next incarnation is always dependent on how the previous life was lived.
• There are two important text in Hindu:
- Mahabarata
- Ramayana
• Vedas are sacred scriptures of Hindus.

Hinduism
• Customs and Practices
1. Diwali – the festival of the lights
2. Navrati – the festival of nine nights, which celebrate
the triumph of God over evil.

Hindus have set dates to honor particular manifestation of

God

Hinduism
• Beliefs
- Muslims believe in Allah, who is their “One God.”
They believe in the unity and university of God.
- Muslims have strong sense of community or “ummah”
and an awareness of their solidarity with all Muslims
worldwide.
Islam mean “willing submission to God.”
- Muslims believe that Mohammed is the last and final
prophet sent by God. Mohammed was born in Mecca in
570 CE and received revelations from God through Angel
Gabriel over a period of 23 years.
- The Holy Book of Islam is called Quran

Islam
• Customs and Practices
- Muslims believe in the five pillars of Islam, which are the foundation of Muslim
Life:
1. Shahadah – statement of Faith: “There is no God but the one true God and
Mohammed is his messenger.”
2. Salat – the prayer that is practiced five times a day.
3. Zakat - he monetary offering for the benefit of the poor. It comprises the 25% of
Muslim’s assets.
4. Hajj – the yearly pilgrimage to mecca. Muslims who can afford are asked to do the
pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime.
5. Sawm – the fasting. Muslims do fasting, from food, drink, and sexual act, during
the celebration of Ramadan. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic Lunar
calendar. The fast is from dawn to sunset.
The two major festivals in Islam are Eidul-Fitr (the celebration at the end of Ramadan)
and Eidul-Adha (celebrated within the completion of the Pilgrimage, the Hajj.

Islam
• Belief
- The Jews believe in the God of Abraham, the same God that liberated the Hebrew
slaves from Egypt to Canaan, the Promised Land through the leadership of Moses and
later, Joshua.
- The Jews believe in the coming of Messiah, the savior. The sacred scripture of the
Jews is called the Torah or the Law. The Torah is the Guide of the Jewish living. The
study and interpretation of Torah is part of the Jewish culture.

• Custom and Practices

There are five major festivals observed by the Jews:
1. Rosh Hashanah – the New Year
2. Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement
3. Pesach – Pass over
4. Shavout - Pentecost

Judaism
• Religious beliefs, rituals, practices and customs are all
part if the expression of the spiritual self. What to
believe and how to manifest the beliefs is entirely
dependent on the individual, to the self.
• A person might believe that there is higher being, a
supernatural being, usually termed as God, but not
necessarily wants to be affiliated or identified with a
certain religious group.
• Religious beliefs and practices, therefore, are formed
relative to its context and culture.

Religious
• Dr. Viktor E. Frankl – a psychiatrist conducted another
extensive study of self can be found.

Finding and Creating

Meaning of Life
• A psychotherapy introduced by Dr. Viktor Frankl who is
the father of Logotherapy.
• The main belief of Logotherapy is that “man’s primary
motivational force is search for meaning.”
• Logotherapy, meaning can be discovered by creating a
work or doing a deed, experiencing something or
encountering someone and the attitude toward
unavoidable suufering.

Logotheraphy
• The Franklian Psychology has the basic concepts. These are the
following:
• Life has meaning under all circumstances
• Main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life
• Freedom to find meaning

• Franklian Psychology aims to:

1. Become aware of spiritual resources
2. Make conscious spiritual resources
3. Use”defiant power of the human spirit” and stand up against
adversity.

Basic concepts of
Franklian Psychology
• The Assumptions of Logotherapy are:
1. The human being is an entity consisting of body, mind
and spirit.
2. Life has meaning under all circumstances
3. People have a will to meaning
4. People have freedom under all circumstances to activate
the will to find meaning
5. Life has a demand quality to which people must
respond if decisions are to be meaningful
6. The individual is unique.

Logotherapy Assumption
• These are the three possible sources of the meaning of
life:
1. Purposeful Work – to find the meaning of life starts
with holding a future goal.
2. Courage in the Face of Difficulty – A maeningful life is
a life with suffering
3. Love – love is the only way to grasp another human
being unless he loves him.

Sources of Meaning of Life