Pointing out the need to transcend parochial religious sentiments
View(s):The Good Life: An Introduction to Religion and Consciousness by Iromi Dharmawardhane is a welcome addition to the scholarly writings on religion and philosophy as well as on the moral foundation and cultural values in the contemporary world.
The author extracts key moral and philosophical guidelines in four world religions, namely Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam, and presents these teachings side by side to show the commonalities that exist between them, and also in relation to social philosophies of visionary thinkers such as Socrates.
Even though this book has wider relevance in the light of the religious turn of social and political tension in the modern world, this work has special relevance to Sri Lanka, the author being Sri Lankan and the four world religions examined in this work guiding the pulse of Sri Lankan sensitivities.
Above all, this book points to the urgent need to transcend parochial ethnic or religious sentiments.
In the author’s own introductory words, “If we define ourselves by our ethnicity, religion, nationality, class, caste or any other dividing classification, we are working to separate ourselves from the connectedness of all conscious and sentient beings, and we are distancing ourselves from understanding the nature of existence.”
The book consists of 13 chapters. Titled “The Peace We Seek”, the first chapter stresses the point that all religions strive to cultivate inner peace and through it peaceful coexistence among individuals, groups and nations.
Chapters Two to Five are written on specific celebrations in each religion, namely Ramadan, Mahashivaratri, Good Friday and Phagguna Full Moon Uposatha (Poya) Day, to illustrate how their messages, practices and rituals help to overcome an individual’s desires and attachments as well as foster a common bond among people.
The next five chapters describe the meditation practices within the different religious traditions. In many ways these five chapters constitute the core of this book.
The book lays out how meditation runs deep in each religious tradition and how this reflective and introspective mode is closely tied to the path to liberation in each religion.
| Book launch The Good Life: An Introduction to Religion and Consciousness by Iromi Dharmawardhane will be launched on January 9 at 4.30 p.m. at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute, 24 Horton Place, Colombo 7. The launch is open to the public. The guest speakers will be Ven. Olande Ananda Thera and Prof. Kalinga Tudor Silva. The author will read from her work. |
The last three chapters of the book, though not organically linked with the preceding chapters, deal with important relevant themes. Chapter Eleven summarises the moral guidelines relating to the bond between husband and wife in different religions.
Chapter Twelve examines the similarities between Buddhist and Socratic Philosophies, and how these philosophies stand in opposition to Postmodern Philosophy. Finally, Chapter Thirteen points to the manner in which mediation of sexuality through the mass media, particularly pornography, contributes to the downfall of the individual and society, in ways that also convey the moral degradation in the contemporary world.
The book suggests that a life of morality enriched by the teachings of the great visionaries is essential for an individual’s development and the functioning of a just society.
In my view, this book is essential reading for the students of religion, philosophy and social sciences as well as the general public. Its translation into Sinhala and Tamil will obviously make it more accessible to the readership in Sri Lanka.
(Prof. Kalinga Tudor Silva is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Peradeniya)
| Book facts The Good Life: An Introduction to Religion and Consciousness by Iromi Dharmawardhane (Stamford Lake Publications 2016). |