Where is Self-Discovery?
Probably Not in an Introductory Text (14:43 ADT, The ShanMonster) Where is self-discovery to be found? Not surprisingly enough, it doesn’t appear to be in the introductory religious studies texts. Quite a few odd things were discovered by members of my religious studies class, but a clear path of self-discovery in any religious tradition isn’t one of them. A few of my colleagues did find what might be considered a path to self-discovery. For instance, James Bowles writes of the polytheistic religion of the ancient Egyptians, “self-discovery is not limited to life, and in fact, to be achieved, death must be experienced, and properly prepared for.” Something tells me this path won’t do the trick for most folks, nowadays. Part of the problem the class had in readily identifying a set path of self-discovery in a religious tradition may be due to the simple fact that some students didn’t understand the exercise. Several didn’t choose introductory religious studies texts from which to glean
