The term possession is widely accepted as being "influenced or controlled by something (as an evil spirit, a passion, or an idea)". (Merriam-Webster) There have been numerous cases of spiritual possessions that causes harm to peoples. According to the Spiritual Research Foundation, to be possessed by spirits means that "the physical, mental, intellectual or spiritual functioning of a person if affected or altered" by such spirits. In both definitions, there is a common ground that spirits take control of whatever they inhabit. Throughout history, there have been occurrences of spiritual possessions of mostly toys or humans. Due to the media's over exaggeration of these "true stories", our minds are warped into believing that we are paranoid over toys, mainly dolls and humans who act abnormally. These spirits still linger in our world because of their refusal to “crossover” to the otherworld. They are an enigma beyond our capability of controlling. We cannot see them, we can only feel their presence. Popular portrayals of spiritual possessions from media and literature are Chucky from Child’s Play, The Exorcist, Dead Silence, The Conjuring, and the Supernatural series. All of these forms of media share a commonality in which the spirits inflict violence towards people surrounding them. Evil spirits are commonly portrayed through the possession of a suitable vessel. These spirits are wicked and angry beings who try to return from the dead, causing chaos and mayhem. Whether it be possessing non-living objects or a body, we are afraid of these things due to our inability to take control over them. Our lack of control causes us to be vulnerable to threats from possessed objects. The more afraid we are, the stronger the spirit... ... middle of paper ... ...on secretly strikes at night when no one is noticing, because it is oblivious to think that a doll would be able to kill someone, even if that doll is able to talk. Ukon is another clear example of human's lack of control of spiritual possessed objects. People were unable to control Ukon, a mere puppet because he acts "under the radar". They were never able to convict him of anything throughout the series because they overlooked that maybe, Ukon was able to move. No, they assumed that because he was just a doll, his movements were only controlled through Tachibana. He is a doll with a keen eye in detecting evidence and was proved to be a crucial part of the detective team. However, they are unable to control him because they are yet to find out his true identity. Ukon is more powerful than they think, and when they do find out, he will be beyond their reach.
Religious Imagery in Flannery O'Connor's The Life You Save May Be Your Own. The religious imagery in Flannery O'Connor's The Life You Save May Be Your Own gives the story a cynical undertone along with a healthy dose of irony. O'Connor uses allusions to Jesus and Christianity to examine the hypocrisies of the religion and its adherents. Her character Tom T. Shiftlet is portrayed paradoxically as both the embodiment of Christ and an immoral, utterly selfish miscreant.
In the film “The Holy Ghost People,” right away we get individual accounts of what the “Holy Spirit” is to certain individuals. One woman says the Holy Ghost guides her and keeps her going. The people are very intense about their beliefs, which comes from the religion Pentecostalism, which has a hyper focus on personal experience with God and baptism with the Holy Spirit. We see them in their church, we hear the sermon, and see the ritualistic dances and the way the prayer overcomes them, and causes seizure like motions. We see and hear the prayers for the healing of one woman’s eyesight, and another woman’s back pain. One man, seemingly the pastor, says that “if God is not doing what they ask, people aren’t believing hard enough.” Later we get an account from a woman of how she was nursed back to health as a little girl brought her nutrients, and she believes it was
Speaking of courage is a story found in Tim O ' Brien's The Things They Carried about a solider named Norman Bowker who has returned home from the Vietnam War. As Bowker circles the town's "source of pride" he comes to realize that the town that he left so many years ago will never be the same. While his life was paused by the war, theirs weren't. He also comes to understand that while the people he once knew have changed that he has also changed. He has been consumed by a war and it will forever alter his being.
Mental health, what was once considered being possessed was considered the explanation of mental health problems and the solution was to put you in a prison for the rest of your life or to have an exorcism done on you.
Every cultural tradition and major religion has formed the idea of possession and has had the need for some form of exorcism. Catholics, Jews, Hindus, Islam’s, Buddhists and scientists all have different views on exorcism. Although these religions believe in the idea of exorcism, science proves to have different explanations to this phenomenon.
Possession: the indwelling of a demon inside a human person. After reading The Tragedy of Macbeth it is important to consider whether or not Lady Macbeth was possessed during a section of the story. There are three main scenes that directly deal with this possible possession: the convincement of Macbeth, the murder of Duncan, , and the suicide of Lady Macbeth. During these three scenes there can be much conjecture about the possession of Lady Macbeth. She was not possessed; it was all in her head.
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the supernatural and the role they play in motivating characters is apparent throughout the duration of the play. The supernatural is what causes conflict in the play and the prophecies from the witches in act one scene three is the inciting action in the piece. The supernatural causes the future conflict by motivating Macbeth to kill Duncan so he could become king of Scotland. Through temptation, the supernatural motivates characters to think arrogantly and for their own benefit. The supernatural in Macbeth presents prophecies which tempt Macbeth and Banquo with the idea of power. This leads Macbeth to contradict his loyal and courageous personality by planning a treacherous murder on Duncan with the arrogant intention of becoming king and later killing other characters in the play with the only purpose of keeping his own powers. Both Macbeth and Banquo were also tempted by the original prophecies and showed clear motivation to act upon them. However, there is a clear contrast between the immediacy in which the two characters began taking actions and the logic put into their decisions.
The experience of evil possession persists as well, and eventually, the boundaries between “divine” and “evil” possession plausibly blends together within societies. Through the centuries, this uncontrollable event of possession increasingly became far-reaching. The spiritual comprehension of what exactly a person happen to be dealing with, whether good or bad, ultimately, became acceptable by acquiring large amounts of alcohol, drugs and various sources of stimulators, (as today). This control of a person by a god or deity could easily manifest itself through Apollo, Dionysus/Bacchus, the mother goddess, Cybele, the Muses, Eros, the nymphs, and others known for their abilities to possess. At the same time, on a somewhat obscure level, evolves
In The Sacred & The Profane: A Nature of Religion, Mircea Eliade attempts to define the sacred by stating it is “the opposite of the profane” (pg. 10). Through out the book he tries to explain this statement through the concept of hierophany (the idea that one can experience, sensorily, the manifestation of the holy/sacred), however his main explanation of the sacred being “the opposite of the profane” is the comparison of a modern religious man and a modern non-religious man (a profane man). Eliade compares the two by explaining how each would react to space, time, nature, and life. This essay will explain the idea of sacred space, how a religious and a profane man would experience it, and how the idea of sacred space might be applied to the study of medieval art and architecture.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on A Doll’s House”. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. SparkNotes.com. 20 Mar 2011. http://Sparknotes.com/lit/dollhouse/themes.html.
Though it is simple to follow, with little in the way of twists, the film is still very enjoyable. What the movie lacks in complexity is made up for in quality, as the story line intrigues the viewer from the start. The creation of the doll in the opening sequence sets the tone for the movie and creates a connection between the viewers and the characters. It holds the viewer’s attention by creating a sense of unease surrounding the different character’s motives and choices, leaving the audience with numerous questions. Though most are answered by the end of the movie, these questions help the viewer remain invested in the plot. The only complaint that the plot of the film may obtain is the pacing of the conclusion, which progresses almost too quickly to be
In British Literature religion plays a role in a vast majority of works. Even if the role is not explosively apparent, there are a generous amount of small inspirations and distortions in the texts. Some texts are theorized to have even been altered from their original state to reflect an amount of religion in them. Other texts are formatted as a result of religious influence. Religion has an elaborate and intricate influence in a variety of ways in many works throughout the development of British Literature.
The power of religion has greatly affected they way American literature was philosophized and written in the 1700s. It has greatly motivated and influenced the actions and mentalities of many travelers, as well as Native Americans. The enforcement of religion mainly arises from foreigners that travel from other countries to America. People such as William Bradford and Mary Rowlandson lived their lives and made decisions accordingly to their Christian religion. Overall, religion has shaped American literature by affecting earlier people’s actions, mentality, and the views people had on Native Americans . These narratives have helped us to better understand earlier civilization and their mindsets.
“Exorcism, ritual act of driving out evil demons or spirits from places, persons or things in which they are thought to dwell. (Exorcism.) If a person is possessed then they could start acting very different and start to do bad things and may hurt themselves or others. If a place has bad spirits in such as a house, they can also be exorcised. If they aren’t exorcised then someone could also get hurt. I think anyone could be possessed. Therefore, exorcisms are very important if a person or place is possessed with a bad spirit.
“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.” According to Buddha, everyone needs some form of spirituality to define his or her life and existence. Webster Dictionary defines spiritualism as “a system of beliefs or religious practices based on supposed communication with the spirits of the dead, often times through mediums.” Though this is one general definition of spiritualism, this concept is one that does not hold a conclusive meaning. Each and every single person has the ability and right to create and practice their own idea of spiritualism. From ancient times to present day, the term and practice of spirituality has transformed, particularly from region to region. Despite the discrepancies in practices and overall understanding of this idea, spirituality has had an effect and impact upon all of humanity since the creation of time. This religion that is believed to have been established in the early eighteen hundreds, after two little girls claimed to have the ability to talk to spirits, sparked interest in this spiritual movement, allowing it to spread rather rapidly over many geographical locations. Aside from being recognized as a religion, spiritualism is also believed to be a form of philosophy and a science in which spiritualists believe that there is life after death and try to demonstrate this through the ability of attempting to communicate with those that have passed on. Spiritualism was socially different from other religions in existence at the time because it presented followers with a more tolerant belief system that assimilated the principles and facts from a selection the world's religions. Spiritualism also made it acceptable for women to play a disti...