Homo Religiosus, By John Berger

Images are like a spinning wheel that is constantly changing as individuals experience the visual world around them. Since images assist individuals in creating a visual world unique to them, they create a limitless power of their own. These powers that the images possess can truly change the life of the individual who takes on the images within his or her mind. The language of images is the meaning behind the images that surround an individual in his or her life. These powers can exist through the personal, cultural, and political form. John Berger in his essay “Ways of Seeing.” discusses how the ways of seeing influence the connection people have to each other. Karen Armstrong’s “Homo Religiosus.” looks at the arts and disciplines of various

religions from the past. Oliver Sacks’ essay “The Mind’s Eye.” discusses how blind individuals were able to continue to see in their lives despite being blind. In his essay “The Power of Context.”, Malcolm Gladwell proposes that an individual’s behavior is based on his or her social context. Through these texts, there seems to be a distinct difference between the perception of how groups of people and individuals are supposed to act. Groups of people are expected to behave in uniformity which is the opposite of individuals who want to have freedom, independence, and diversity. People use the language of images to give power to individuals so they can make an attempt at self-actualization, but the language of images is also used to maintain conformity within groups of people.
People use the language of images by allowing for individuals to continue to achieve in their lives the goals and experiences that they desire. Everyone has aspirations and goals that they want to attain. People are “seeking to give meaning to our [their] lives, of trying to understand the history of which we can become the active agents” (Berger 72). People try to give meaning to their life through the goals that they expect them to achieve. Without a purpose in life, individuals won’t have the motivation to stay driven in their lifestyle. Nearly all of these people face constant obstacles and bumps along their way to achieving success. Many people in the face of these obstacles and bumps will lose hope, determination, and commitment. This will lead to the individual not achieving his or her goals. However, if an individual adapts to the circumstances of his or her situation, he or she can still succeed in achieving his or her goals. In the practices of past religions children were put through adulthood initiations and “If the initiation is properly conducted, a youth will be forced to reach for inner resources that he did not know he possessed.” (Armstrong 5) Individuals need to look to adapt through the various abilities that they possess and need to take advantage of all of the resources that they have. An Austrian psychologist named Zoltan Torey was able to adapt to his new life as a blind individual by using his ability to visualize his world. Torey “resolving [resolved] to develop instead his inner eye, his powers of visual imagery, to their greatest possible extent” (Sacks 332). By doing so, Torey was able to continue to perform activities that he loved like carpentry. When an individual goes through different situations within his or her life, he or she needs to constantly evolve and change to continue to succeed just like Torey. Torey continued to hold visual imagery to tasks such as carpentry and roof repair because “Torey’s adaptation was largely shaped by conscious motive, will, and purpose” (Sacks 337). Another blind person named Arlene Gordon was able to create visual images in her mind through verbal descriptions that allowed her to create visual images within her mind. This shows that “Language, that most human invention, can enable what, in principle, should not be possible. It can allow all of us, even the congenitally blind, to see with another person’s eyes.” (Sacks 345) Language is an ability that can be used to create a visual world of its own as powerful as the ability to see with eyes. It uses the images that are created through the words of the language to give the power of vision to the person interpreting the language. These blind individuals were able to use their diverse inner abilities to achieve success in achieving their goals. The language of images that they created within their mind allowed for them to attain their goals despite being blind.
People use the language of images to conserve the ability for political regimes to control the way individuals act within the political system that they exist in.

The political institutions that exist around the globe set up a system in which the citizens of that area are expected to adhere to. This system that is created consists of a set of rules and laws that citizens must follow. These rules are instituted because the leaders of government want to hold a firm control in their ruling of the people. The political systems want people to conform to the expectations put on them. Additionally, political systems are created to ensure that the country is fully functioning and need the cooperation of the people to do so. However, it is not always easy for political leaders to establish strong control since citizens may go against the rules that are put upon them. Malcolm Gladwell explains the prominence of crime by the idea that “If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge.” (141) People will take on a perspective based on what they see and what they think what they see represents. The act of committing crimes works in a imitative form because “The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe.” (Berger 50) People will commit crimes if they see that their is no punishment or repercussions for their actions similar to a cascading effect. If images of crimes like graffiti are associated with punishment, people simply won’t commit the crime. However, political systems can change this by the way they mold their regulation of the public. Political systems show that “an epidemic can be reversed, can be tipped, by tinkering with the smallest details of the immediate environment” (Gladwell 146). This is all a part of political systems controlling the public through the language of images. Political leaders like the ones in New York City described by Gladwell tried to get the public to

conform to the laws by associating minor crimes with punishment. The political systems are controlling the behaviors of the people based on the type of images they expose to the public like associating a crime with punishment.
The language of images is used to conform people to the principles of religious arts and disciplines from the past. Religion gets people to act in a uniform way through its guiding principles. Religion sets up principles on how people should behave, how they should think, and what they should believe because “The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe.” (Berger 50) Religion creates a set of knowledge within the follower. Since their are millions of followers of several religions, individuals develop a natural inclination to conform. Religions of the past were “based on what has been called the perennial philosophy, because it was present in some form in so many premodern cultures” (Armstrong 4). Religion is a repetitive form that remains constant throughout its history. Its practices of the past are still seen today as “This type of initiation was crucial in ancient religion and is practiced in traditional societies today.” (Armstrong 5) Its practices are done the same way as a part of a traditional history and in this way creates conformity within the behaviors and thoughts of religious followers. Religion has created its permanent mark on people because “Religion was not something tacked on to the human condition, an optional extra imposed on people by unscrupulous priests.” (Armstrong 6) Since religion works in this way, it allures people into becoming the same as a way of meeting the expectations of religion. Religion indicates that people should “not cling to our selfhood” (Armstrong 12). Religion calls for people to lose their individualism and removes the diversity that exists within the population. Religion wants people to become dedicated to the principles of religion not to the desires of the individual. Therefore, religion promotes conformity within its followers.
People use the language of images to form different thought processes between the groups of the past and ongoing present groups who experience the environment around them. Individuals from the past and the ongoing present have a created a different visual world from each other through the way they see and live in the world around them. It is believed that the “The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe.” (Berger 50) People from different generations, have known their visual world in a different sense because their knowledge is different, their resources are different, and their environment is different. The images that people use to create a visual world in which “every image embodies a way of seeing, our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing.” (Berger 52) The language of images holds a different value to individuals based on the time period that they come from. Each time period has its own unique way of seeing. In “the Middle Ages when men believed in the physical existence of Hell the sight of fire must have meant something different from what it means today. Nevertheless their idea of Hell owed a lot to the sight of fire consuming and the ashes remaining- as well as to their experiences of the pain of burns” (Berger 50). People from different time periods gave the sight of fire a different meaning, because their knowledge was different. People from different generations will think of Figure 1 (Berger 71) differently based on the time period that they come from. Older generations will make the assumption that the woman is doing her household duties as she is expected to do as a female. Today, people are much more sensitive to gender stereotypes and are more hesitant to make the assumption that a woman is just carrying out her role in the household. Now a days, people understand that men and woman can truly become whoever they want to be. Even though different generations think of their environment in different mental ways, they still illustrate conformity within the groups that they exist in. Each generation will have the same thought processes because they come from the same time period.
With the language of images, individuals can become who they truly want to be but the language of images is also used to maintain conformity within groups of people. In my life, I have seen that the language of images gives me the power to succeed in my goals. In my education, I am constantly facing obstacles and these obstacles have the ability to get in the way of my path to success within my education. However, I am able to use the language of images to form a visual world around me to get over these obstacles within my education. For instance, if I get a poor grade on my Advanced Placement Biology test I recover from this grade by looking at the images around me and interpreting these images into potential resources to achieve a better grade on the next examination. Since I do this constantly in my education, I can attain educational success.