Razor's Edge

1009 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Christianity impact on literature

In Razor’s Edge, Larry sets off on an intellectual path in the pursuit of answers concerning human existence. Throughout his journey, he engages in unconventional experiences that allow him to uncover his personal answers to his initial metaphysical questions. Larry ultimately concludes that the traditional Christian God does not exist, that an afterlife only exists through the transmigration of the soul, and that evil exists as an inevitable part of the world. During his time at a monastery with Father Ensheim, Larry comes to the realization that the traditional Christian God does not make sense and thus does not exist. He reasons, “if an all-good and all-powerful God created the world, why did He create evil? The monks said, so that man …show more content…

Eventually, he settles in Ashrama where he learns from Shri Ganesha, a Hindu yogi. He also occasionally stays in the hut of the forestry service up in the mountains. One of his experiences there reaffirms his belief in the faith, “I had a strange sensation, a tingling that arose in my feet and travelled up to my head, and I felt as though I were suddenly released from my body and as pure spirit partook of a loveliness I had never conceived. I had a sense that a knowledge more than human possessed me, so that everything that had been confused was clear and everything that had perplexed me was explained… If I was for a moment one with the Absolute or if it was an inrush from the subconscious of an affinity with the universal spirit which is latent in all of us, I wouldn’t know. [276]” His spiritual interpretation of the events to involve the Absolute suggests his acceptance of the main principles of Hinduism. Another major belief of the religion is reincarnation or the transmigration of souls. Larry reveals, “I wanted to live again and again. I was willing to accept every sort of life, no matter what its pain and sorrow; I felt that only life after life, life after life could satisfy my eagerness, my vigour, and my curiosity. [278 - 279]” Hence, an afterlife does exist since he believes in reincarnation. The afterlife exists simply as another life in a different physical

Show More
Related

  • Mockumentary Religulous Made by Bill Maher

    1233 Words  | 3 Pages

    be uncertain where he is going when he dies because he decided to be unaccepting to any religion, that

    Read More

  • Analysis Of God Behaving Badly By David Lamb

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the first chapter of God Behaving Badly, David Lamb argues that God is unfairly given a bad reputation. He claims these negative perceptions are fueled by pop culture and lead many to believe the lie that the God of the Old Testament is angry, sexist, racist, violent, legalistic, rigid, and distant. These negative perceptions, in turn, affect our faith. Ultimately, Lamb seeks to demonstrate that historical context disproves the presumptuous aforementioned. In addition, he defends his position by citing patterns of descriptions that characterize God throughout the Old Testament. “Our image of God will directly affect how we either pursue or avoid God. If we believe that the God of the Old Testament is really harsh, unfair and cruel, we won’t want anything to do with him” (Lamb 22). Clearly, they way Christians choose to see God will shape their relationship with Him.

    Read More

  • The Problem of Evil in the Judeo-Christian Tradition Depicted in Hicks' Philosophy of Religion

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    It appears that the problem of evil is a substantial one. While arguments exist that can challenge assumptions of the problem, it sometimes requires some definition contorting and does not answer all the challenges evil presents. The greater good defense presents some key insights into how we must perceive God’s actions but does not completely defend against the presented problems of evil. Therefore, a more plausible defense is needed to eliminate the problems evil creates with the Judeo-Christian concept of God.

    Read More

  • John Hick And Richard Swinburne: The Problem Of Evil Argument

    1651 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the world, most people believe in some type of god or gods, and the majority of them understand God as all-good, all-knowing (omniscient), and all-powerful (omnipotent). However, there is a major objection to the latter belief: the “problem of evil” (P.O.E.) argument. According to this theory, God’s existence is unlikely, if not illogical, because a good, omniscient, and omnipotent being would not allow unnecessary suffering, of which there are enormous amounts.

    Read More

  • Debate on Personal Immortality: Weirob and Miller's Insights

    1210 Words  | 3 Pages

    Personal immortality seems to be a paradox that many people address and distinguish in different ways. Through outlets such as religion, science, or personal belief this topic is often argued and habitually facilitates strong arguments. Weirob and Miller explicitly explain their dualist/physicalist outlooks on personal immortality as they have a conversation at the hospital where Weirob slowly succumbs to her injuries received in a motorcycle accident. As Weirob patiently awaits death, Miller explains how due to Weirobs realist view on life he will not try to “comfort [her] with the prospect of life after death” (Perry, pg. 65). Due to Weirobs state of unavoidable demise she asks Miller to entertain her with the argument for life after death,

    Read More

  • A Tibetan Perspective on Birth and Death

    1436 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many religions and philosophies attempt to answer the question, what happens after a person dies? Some religions such as Christianity and Islam believe there is an afterlife. They believe that good and moral people enter Heaven or paradise and that bad and immoral people go to Hell. Other religions and cultures believe that death is final, and that nothing happens after a person dies. Buddhism and Hinduism have a different idea about death. Both of these religions originated in India. Buddhists and Hindus believe that death is not final. They believe that a person comes back after he or she dies. This process is known as reincarnation, and it provides opportunities for people to enter the world multiple times in different forms. Buddhists and Hindus want to reenter the world as humans, and they want to improve their status through reincarnation. In ancient India, many members of lower casts wanted to come back as members of higher casts. While this is an important goal of reincarnation, the main goal is to reach either moksha (Hinduism) or nirvana (Buddhism). In other words, the goal is to reach a point of spiritual enlightenment that removes the person from the reincarnation process. Geoff Childs, an anthropologist examines the views of the Buddhist religion by studying the lives of the people in Tibetan villages. He looks at issues that adversely affect these people such as infant mortality. He carefully looks at the lives of people who have been left behind by deceased loved ones, and he pays careful attention to customs and traditions surrounding death. Tibetan Buddhists view death as a means of reaching spiritual perfection, and they seek to reach this level of spiritual perfection through living spiritually meaningful lives....

    Read More

  • God’s Existence and the importance of the resurrection to Christianity

    1285 Words  | 3 Pages

    Opponents of God’s existence argue if an all-knowing and good god exists, why is there such an abundance of evil in the world.

    Read More

  • Essay On Why Death Is Bad By Thomas Nagel

    1091 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... it’s just as possible that there’s a possibility that there is an afterlife as there is that there isn’t. He does not consider this problem. This is a very big point one should consider because for a lot of people, the possibility of an afterlife is what makes death a little less scary and shows that it can be a good thing. If there is an afterlife, this means that we never really die. We die in the physical sense that our bodies are no longer functioning, but in a way our consciousness still exists. We are “alive” even though we are dead. Suppose that the concept of immortality is the concept of living sometime, but never dying. Consider a living thing that goes into eternal suspended animation. It never dies, but this sort of immortality is hardly better than death. It is just like living forever, therefore it does not matter on the desirability of eternal life.

    Read More

  • Moral Evil Research Paper

    2001 Words  | 5 Pages

    Philosophers of the Medieval period struggled with the problem of evil - specifically, the existence of evil brought a question to the fore: if the world was created by an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God, then how was it that evil existed? To further complicate the matter, a second question branched off of the first as individuals pondered over whether or not God was ultimately the cause of evil. If God created everything, and evil exists as part of everything, then God, logically, had created evil. But this presented yet another issue, in that if God had knowingly created evil, then he could not truly be all-good. And it is these concerns that philosophers addressed.

    Read More

  • On Free Choice of the Will

    1445 Words  | 3 Pages

    God is the source of evil. He created natural evil, and gave humans the ability to do moral evil by giving them a free will. However, had he not given people free will, then their actions would not be good or evil; nor could God reward or punish man for his actions since they had no choice in what to do. Therefore, by giving humans choice and free will, God allowed humanity to decide whether to reward themselves with temporary physical goods, and suffer in the long run from unhappiness, or forsake bodily pleasures for eternal happiness.

    Read More

  • Moral Evils, Evil, And Evil In Non-Believers

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    The question of evil is a common topic among non-believers. Evil has existed since the beginning of time. In today’s society people have become so desensitized to evil, the true origins become hard to understand. God gave us each the free will and ability to choose right from wrong, although many of God’s creation continue to choose sin. The Holy Bible explains to us the nature and root of sin. This explanation helps us understand why bad things happen and how it might affect our relationships with the Most High.

    Read More

  • Hinduism and Death

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is much to be said of the Hindu insights on death, and only a fraction of it fit into the four pages you will find at the center of this issue. We intend to do more in the future and welcome readers' contributions. Our objective is to share the message of the awakened ones who conquered death and knew the body's dissolution as freedom from bondage, as liberation into the Light, as a flowing of the finite into the Infinite. They asked us to think fearlessly about death, to fathom its meaning. They urged us in exiting life to let go of the ego and be the immortal Self which time and again shrugs off the shackles of sorrow.

    Read More

  • Death from a Buddhist and Christian Point of View

    1091 Words  | 3 Pages

    “You will be with me today in paradise,” Jesus Christ told this to the thief on the cross while they were dying. However, can people believe that there is truly life after death? In many different religions there are different perceptions of life after death. For example in the Buddhist religion, the Buddhist people believe that life is practice for death. Professor Brown, of California State University of Northridge stated, “The Buddhist people cultivate positive, happy virtuous states of mind and abandoning non-virtuous, harmful, suffering states of mind.” This teaching is mirrored by Christianity teachings as well. Professor Brown also stated, “Death is an opportunity for great spiritual achievement if one is prepared and remembers one’s spiritual practices and beliefs and understandings during the death process.”

    Read More

  • The Argument of Evil for the Existence of God

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    This thus causes difficulty for the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God who possess both qualities of being all-loving and omnipotent. David Hume is a proponent of this view and argues that the sheer amount of evil, which may outweigh the good, in the world makes dubious that a deity exists. The main response to this kind of an argument is known as the free-will defense. It is based on the premise that for God to create self-directly and independent agents like humans, he had to grant a certain amount of freedom to them, and this freedom would inevitably result in human-to-human evil.

    Read More

  • Reflection Paper On Hinduism

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    I thought that, like many other religions, there was a desirable and undesirable place to go to after death. Hindus do not believe in a heaven or hell. They believe in rebirth and this happens depending on their karma. Karma is the computation of a person’s actions. An individual’s karma will decide on what they will be reincarnated as in their next life. Their goal in life is to become one with Brhaman and this happens when there is no more karma. There is no more rebirth and karma has equalized, meaning it has balanced. The person is immersed into Brahma and they are forever with the ultimate. An example of this is how a river flows into an ocean. This stage is called Moksha and that is the ultimate

    Read More

More about Razor's Edge

Open Document