Karen Armstrong's Essay 'Homo Religiosus'

Internal forces can have great effects on human behavior, but how do the external forces influence human behavior? One could be influenced by internal forces such as morals and values, on the contrary, the external forces of society can also influence and shape human behavior in distinct ways. In “Homo Religiosus” by Karen Armstrong, the essay tries to show the relation of myth, religion, and art, and how they have changed over time with society. In “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan” by Ethan Watters, the essay talks about how pharmaceutical companies are trying to establish the disease of the depression in Japan, but they are not doing it for the needs of the others but rather for the benefit of themselves. In today’s technologically

advanced society, there are many factors that can affect human behavior, however, nothing is more influential than the external forces of the media; specifically how the news shapes today’s society and culture.
Society and culture change over time to adapt to the needs of the people of the current time. As Armstrong states, “But they did not discard religion altogether. Instead they developed a new set of myths and rituals….” (Armstrong 7). Armstrong conveys through her dictation that although the religion is old they do not get rid of it, but rather they develop new myths, similarly to how a culture in today’s society does not discard their customs or beliefs, but rather alter them and develop new ones to fit the present day. Watters acutely asserts, “In hopes of softening the connotations of the word, the marketers hit upon a metaphor that proved remarkably effective. Depression, they repeated in advertising and promotional material, was kokoro no kaze, like “a cold of the soul” (Watters 524). Watters implies that if this metaphor was not used, the Japanese people might think of the original definition of depression, which refers to a deadly mental disease. Although these are two contrasting essays and two different authors, they share one universal idea; as times passes and society changes, it changes culture to fit the needs of those people. Armstrong and Watters present two immense examples of this nonetheless, there are countless, classic examples. The media plays a gargantuan factor in this change because it embodies society and today’s culture. Today’s news channels change how people perceive the ideas of religions, myths, art, and the definition of depression, which results in the adoption of new myths and new definitions of depression in foreign countries such as Japan. The news tends to over exaggerate certain topics, just as the GlaxoSmithKline is over exaggerating the great need for antidepressants in Japan and altering the meaning of depression. Although the news has changed society’s perception of certain aspects in life, there are numerous other forms of media that also silhouette human behavior.
Belief in doctrines or documents has its flaws, due to the lack of authentic scientific proof to support it. Armstrong mentions in her writing, “Religion as defined by the great sages of India, China, and the Middle East was not a notional activity but a practical one; it did not require belief in a set of doctrines but rather hard, disciplined work, ….” (Armstrong 18). Armstrong insinuates that religion is not fully based on doctrines or a set of documents, rather it is based on the faith mankind has for religion and the hard and disciplined work it does for our religion. Watters mentions in her writing, “He also documented how the Western definition and symptom checklist for depression-thanks to the influence of the DSM [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders]….” (Watters 517). Watters illustrates that every document can be trusted in its entirety because people cannot use the DSM checklist created by Western standards on Japanese people, a completely different population, and culturally different people. Armstrong and Watters expound good examples of this because even though these are legitimate documents, the news will tend to persuade society to believe these documents although they may not always be true in every case. For example, the DSM is only based on Western standards and is trying to use those same results on Japanese people, but it does not work like that. That would be like using a DSM based off of Japanese standards and using the results on Western people. In other words, that resembles when the news tries to tell society a story but they do not present all the facts, or they leave out the important ones to sell a story. GlaxoSmithKline is trying to replicate the tactics attempted by the news to the Japanese people because the companies do not care about the people as long as they are making money. The idea of telling a myth could fit in these circumstances too because the idea of a myth is to put order to an otherwise utterly chaotic world where a myth could be told just to give people something to believe in and a sense of security, but lacking the physical evidence to prove the myth true. The ideas of Armstrong and Watters almost complement each other and prove that just like the news, doctrines, and documents can not always be believed because they could lack the evidence and truth needed.
In some ways the media tries to give the people a sense of hope and it boosts the morale of a society. Armstrong says, “A boy would not be expected to ‘believe’ in the Animal Masters before he entered the caves. But at the culmination of his ordeal, this image would have made a powerful impression; for hours he had, perhaps, fought his way through….” (Armstrong 6). Armstrong denotes that by entering the cave it gives the boys a sense of hope in believing in the Animal Master. Entering the caves helps the boy believe in the Animal Master as well as grow from adolescence to adulthood. Watters exclaims,
After the Kobe earthquake in Japan there was growing consensus in the country that the West, and the United States in particular, had a deeper scientific understanding of pathological emotional states such as PTSD and depression. Responding to this insecurity, the advertisements, websites, waiting room brochures, and other materials produced by the drug companies played up the idea that SSRIs represented the cutting edge of medical science. These drugs, which were said to rebalance the natural chemicals in the brain, would bring Japan up to date. (Watters 527)
Watters alludes that after this earthquake the GlaxoSmithKline tried even harder to advertise depression to the Japanese people.

These companies made it seem like they were there to help. That is one thing that both Armstrong and Watters share in common; the fact that in both cases the stories would bring a sense of hope to people. Although they share this conventional idea, the sense of hope given deviates between arguments. Armstrong’s argument brings about a good sense of hope allowing boys to believe in their religion and their greater Being. Adversely, Watters argument is more like what the new does when they try to spread hope, with the intent to deceive the people. In Watters argument, the pharmaceutical companies do not care about giving the Japanese people hope, but rather just selling their medicine and making money for themselves. The news on the other hand, can take into account both what Armstrong and Watters say. The news can spread a good sense of hope sometimes, but most of the time the news tends to fall in line with what GlaxoSmithKline is doing to the Japanese people. Armstrong and Watters share common-ground on certain ideas, although they have two different meanings; conversely, the news can mean both ideas, but it tends to take the meaning of a false sense of hope in order to make money or sell a

story.
Today’s modern approach is not always the greatest and the news is a prime example of this.

Armstrong states, “today people who no longer find it in a religious setting resort to other outlets: music, dance, art, sex, drugs, or sports” (Armstrong 7). Armstrong suggests that people today do not find the need nor the ability to use the traditional means of religion,but instead they rely on other outlets to suffice this sense of religious meaning. For example, the news can not just tell the people the news anymore. They have to twist the truth just to sell the story instead of telling the people what actually happened. Watters states, “The American market, with it’s the brand recognition, high rates of prescriptions… and free market pricing, was seen as the most modern and advanced of markets. Japan was fifteen years behind the United States, executives would say. Or China was five years behind Japan” (Watters 528). Watters insinuates that GlaxoSmithKline is trying to impose the dominance of the American market on the Japanese people because they are so technologically deprived. Although the United States is technologically advanced, it can sometimes be harmful and the Japanese and Chinese are better off technically deprived. China and Japan are both at least fifteen years behind the United States, but yet they are still dominant powers considering their so-called lack of technological advancements. The news should have stayed back in the technologically deprived

era and not have advanced as much as they did because nowadays they overplay and over-hype all their stories, even when some of the information is not a hundred percent accurate. This would allow for less outbreaks of riots and protests and probably prevent people from overreacting as much as they do nowadays. Following in line with both Armstrong and Watters arguments, the modern society is not necessarily the best, actually the old might be just as good or even better in some cases. Due to today’s technological advancements, it allows people to believe in many different things especially when the news twists the truth just to make money. Consequently that is exactly what GlaxoSmithKline is doing to the people in Japan. When there is less advancements, society is a lot simpler and there is less of a chance of confusion or misunderstanding. Today’s modern approach may not be the best approach to answering questions or even shaping human behavior.
Today’s society is so technologically advanced that there are so many factors that can contribute to the shaping of human behavior, but none more than today’s media and in particular the news. The news can really shape human behavior by giving humans a sense of hope or false hope and showing that things change over time in society especially as society gets more technologically advanced. Doctrines and Documents tend to externally affect and shape our human behavior, but like Armstrong, Watters, and the news, it shows that all these sources are not always accurate and should not always be trusted.