as well. That could definitely make one embrace another religion.A major role in embracing a religion or spirituality has to do with internal motivation. Anger, fear, and/or hurt could motivate someone to seek out those unlike and uncomfortable feelings and find happiness, love, and security in religion. Someone could easily find a belief that gives him/her hope. “People in general define their god, not as a person, but as a force, a principle, . . .an integrating power that expresses the unity and the meaningfulness of a higher-being” (Maslow 1976). “Some recognition needs to be given to factors which are basic to an understanding of any religious experience. [Religious] attitudes in general are born of conditioning circumstances which have been more or less persistently present in the formation of the psycho-physical personality. Man gets his attitudes from longstanding associations with parents, social groups, intellectual constants; in short, with those environmental influences of longstanding” (Olt 1956). A second factor in religious experience is the acquired sentiments about religious things.External motivation could very well be the key for some people to turn to and extend their open arms to religion and/or spirituality. Maybe one person is in need of charity, and if that person goes to a certain church every week, then maybe they open up their food pantry to you. Or maybe, one’s parent is attempting to make his/her child attend synagogue, so they tell them that they will give them $5 every time they go.A type of external motivation could be the need for power. This could lead someone to start a cult. “[The nature of power] is a much misunderstood subject. One reason for the misunderstanding is that there are two kinds of power-political and spiritual. Political power is the capacity to coerce others, overtly or covertly, to do one’s will. This capacity resides in a posi...
