The Quest for Salvation

1
The Quest for Salvation

• The Sacred Quest, chapter 9

2
Why salvation?

• What is it?
• Tied to notion of sacred reality
• This informs sense of how things are vs. how
  things should be (ordinary experience vs. sacred
  reality)
• Could be religious or non-religious
• Latin root Salvus, to be well (Salve!)
• Alternative liberation
• In a sense, ultimate purpose of religion

3
Different types of salvation

• Who?
• Individual
• Group
• Where?
• This world
• Other world

4
Types of Salvation, cont.

• How?
• Truth (knowledge of sacred reality)
• Goodness (action in harmony with the sacred)
• Beauty (participation in sacred beauty)
• Gift (given by sacred)
• Submission to/Trust in the sacred

5
Patterns

• Individual This Worldly (within time) Salvation
• Search for Meaning (make a difference in the
  world)
• Desire to be Remembered (glory, fame, children,
  legacy)
• Completion (fulfillment of ones potential,
  harmony with the Tao, or release from false self)
• Individual Other Worldly (beyond time)
• Joining the Spirit World
• Release from Matter or Cycle of Death and Rebirth
• Judgmentgood are rewarded evil are punished

6
Patterns, cont.

• Group This Worldly (within time) Salvation
  through
• Participation in the continuing life of a people
• Maintaining a tradition or way of life of a
  people
• The kingdom of God transforming this world (cf.
  Marxism)
• Group Other Worldly (beyond time) Salvation
• Incorporation into an eternal community of the
  sacred (kingdom of God)
• Incorporation into an eternal community of the
  spirit world
• Combinations of the above
• e.g., a community of the sacred that is both this
  worldly and other worldly.