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Back to Subjects - Religion

Motivation and Religion

Motivation and Religion According to Dr. David Elkins, “Contemplation, meditation, prayer, rituals and other spiritual practices have the power to release the "life force" in the deepest levels of the human psyche, levels that secular interventions cannot reach” (Elkins 1999). Spirituality may not just about one person healing. It may be about the look of wonder on a child's face or the love we feel for a family member. It could also be about finding the place that attaches one person to another. It's about seeing the sacred in our lives and opening the door to a life of passion and depth or even strength and power. There is no right or wrong answer. To each their own, but there must be something that motivates each and every person to religion and/or spirituality. As a religious and spiritual person, I have purely internal motivations for what I do and why I do it. What I want to research is what motivates people in general to seek spirituality and/or religion. Religion could very well fulfill a need for affiliation. Would one person become a Christian, just to say that they are a Christian? Christianity is a world-recognized religion. Is it possible that one would become a Christian to feel a part of such a large group? Christianity has many aspects and standards that have to be upheld. Would someone become and Christian, uphold all standards, and become a devout follower, just to fulfill a need for affiliation? Another reason for turning to religion could very well possibly be for an internalization of values. This would be maybe an instance of inter-faith marriages or relationships. Someone who is Jewish, could marry someone who is Christian, and one of the individuals could take on the religion of the other, because they know it is important to the other person. When one person loves another person, and one of them holds something very close and dear to their heart, the other individual is bound to hold the very same issues close to their heart 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 position, such as kingship or presidency, or else in money. Consequently, political power is unrelated to goodness or wisdom” (Peck 1978). This kind of power, political power, is a frightful type of power. Although we need leaders, one person can create a cult and solely for the promotion of themselves and /or the recognition of their theories. Because spiritual power is the ability to make decisions with maximum awareness, spiritual power is an internal motive. Reaching complete consciousness is an internal motive that could drive any person to better himself or herself. On the contrary, forming a cult is purely an external motive. According to the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, “a cult has been defined as a group that follows a leader who claims to be or is regarded be followers as infallible and divine” (GAP 1992). “Classically, the term “cult” has applied to various eccentric forms of religious forms of religious worship and the groups that practice them. During the past 20 years, however, the word has taken on a pejorative meaning and generally implies that the group is suspect. Critics use the term to describe groups they regard as false, dishonorable, and predatory, and apply it to nonreligious groups that are seen as doctrinaire and extreme” (GAP 1992). In order to test my cases, I would administer a self-report. Because religion and spirituality are so private and personal, I feel that this would be the most accurate way of collecting data. I want to administer 1,000 self-reports, spread out along four regions in the United States. I will limit the participants to 18 years or older, due to the fact that more youngsters take on the religion of a parent and then when they start leading a life of their own, they either keep their conditioned religion or turn to something different. But, I would need to do some traveling, to insure that I do not only cover one portion of the US. For example, many individuals living in the Southeast portion of the US are a part of the Bible belt. My heading on the self-report would state: ‘Please be very truthful and extremely specific when answering these questions. There are no right or wrong answers.’ These questionnaires will contain only 1 yes/no question and 2 open-ended questions. The first question will be: Do you have faith in a higher being or do you believe in spirituality? The second question will be: If you answered yes to question 1, then please state what it is you believe in. The third question will be: Please explain in detail why you believe in what you do and what happened in your life that caused you to maintain your beliefs. After collecting all the self-reports, I will place the data on bar graphs and pie charts to effectively show all the data collected. I understand that administering only 1,000 tests could very well breed 1,000 different motives and/or 1,000 beliefs. I want to be able to compare the motivation for all the participants to turn to religion or spirituality. At that time, if I feel I need to administer more self-reports, I will do so. In conclusion, I will summarize the study of what motivates people to turn to religion and/or a spiritual aspect. I began by trying to identify patterns and grounds of motivation. Secondly, I administered a very specific self-report to 1,000 individuals over the age of 18. These tests are very specific and are aimed at only reaching the truth. Although there are risks with self-reports, there are always risks with everything. Then, I’ll display the data on charts that make the motives evident and easy to identify. This study suggests that the data complied here may be useful for both tying together existing lines of research and/or generating new lines of research in the future. Bibliography: References Elkins, David N. (1999, September). Spirituality. Psychology Today volume. 32, Number 5. 45-48. Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. (1992). Leaders and Followers. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc. Maslow, Abraham H. (1970). Religions, Values, and Peak-Experiences. New York, New York: Penguin Books. Olt, Russell. (1956). An Approach to the Psychology of Religion. Boston, MA: The Christopher Publishing House. Peck, M. Scott. (1978). The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc.

Word Count: 1291