Religion and Mead

Throughout the essay Mead expresses thoughts that bring about her values and beliefs that superstition plays a pivotal role in our lives. In one passage, Mead writes, ”…. transitional objects that help people pass through the areas of life such as where what happens to be accepted without proof and the areas where sequences of events are explicable in terms of cause and effect, based on knowledge”(630). Here we see that in life there are difficulties that are hard to overcome.

Superstitions allow people to feel better and explain what is hard to understand providing a sense of comfort. Mead expresses emotional response when she refers to childhood memories. This implies a self-definition of having faith and hope in the manifest idea of luck and chance. Mead reports “Even in the most sophisticated home, something is likely to happen that evokes the memory of some old folk belief” (629). Whether you fully believe in the idea of superstitions or not, it seems to still leave a lingering thought of “what-if. Meads implementation of a self-definition and her emotional responses ultimately provides support in account that on a personal level she can relate to having experiences naturally making expressive the essay’s main purpose. The essays main pattern seems to be descriptive although the pattern illustration is evident in the many examples she provides. Throughout the essay Mead uses the pattern description to create a dominant impression because religion and beliefs in a higher power invoke strong feelings.

According to Mead,” The point in contrast here is not between a scientific and magical view…but between the clearly, theologically defensible religious belief of members of civilized societies and what we regard as the false and childish views of the heathen…” (630) Basically, Mead is saying we dismiss others religious beliefs because it doesn’t play into our point of view or ideas. We consider these people to be uneducated because scientifically if you cannot prove something with facts it is not actual or real. She points out in another section, “Civilized peoples are not alone in having grasped the idea of superstitions- beliefs and practices that are superseded but that still may evoke compliance. ” (631) In other words primitive to more educated individuals grasp the idea that superstition plays a role in society and is the basis of all religions and beliefs. Across the lines in many different cultures and societies people have beliefs and social norms they abide by on a day to day basis.

If you investigate where these thoughts and beliefs stem from you will notice that a universal belief in a higher being or idea other than self. Throughout the essay, she provides support by viewing superstition both religiously, scientifically, and from a secular point of view. Basically Mead is saying whatever you choose to base your hopes, dreams, and prayers on, it all seems to stem from utilizing a higher power or idea of something out there to help you in times of discomfort.

The entirety of this essay is to inform that superstition provides coherence in our lives when other forms of belief and thought aren’t sufficient. From our early years we have the beliefs instilled in us to put faith in objects we can neither see nor feel. As we grow older we use old rituals and invent new ones to help us along our journey. Superstition is viewed many different ways whether positive or negative it has been noted they assist along the way.