LESSON 4

THE SPIRITUAL SELF

 THE PRACTICE OF RELIGION: BELIEF IN
SUPERNATURAL BEING AND POWER
• BELIEF IN SUPERNATURAL BEING – is one of
the basic characteristics of religion
• SUPERNATURAL BEING – a being better than
and powerful than any creature in the natural
world.
 THE PRACTICE OF RELIGION: BELIEF IN
SUPERNATURAL BEING AND POWER
• SUPERNATURAL /ABOVE NATURAL – includes
all that cannot be explained by the laws of
nature, things characteristic of or relating to
ghosts, gods, or other types of spirits and
other non-material beings, or to things
beyond nature
 THE CONCEPT OF “DUNGAN”
(SPIRIT OR SOUL)
• ANIMISM – one of the oldest beliefs (Latin –
anima meaning breath or soul
• The belief that everything in nature – living
things like trees, plants and even non-living
rocks or streams – have their own spirit or
divinity
• ANIMISTIC BELIEF – still present, accepted and
never entirely disappeared
 ‘SOUL’ OR SPIRIT IN DIFFERENT REGIONS OF
THE PHILIPPINES
SOUL OR SPIRIT REGIONS OF THE
PHILIPPINES
Kaluluwa Tagalogs
Gimukod Bagobos
Makatu Bukidnons
Dungan – when alive Ilonggos
Kalag (detached, free) - when dead Bisaya
Ikaruruwa Ibanags
Kadkadduwa when the soul is in the physical Ilokanos
body
Karuruwa when it departs Ilokanos
 SOUL
• Root word – duwa means two
• Has two parts:
– Physical part – connected to the body
– Spiritual part – exists on its own
• Principle of life in man (Ibanags)
– Body – matter
– Soul – form
– As long as body and soul are one unit, man is alive
– Death is the separation of the soul from the body
– The body cannot stay alive without the soul
– The soul can live without the body
– Freed from the body, it ceases to experience thirst and hunger, cold
and heat
 SOUL
• Calls it dungan which cannot be seen by
the human eye (Ilonggos)
• May leave the body voluntarily while the person
is asleep (Bisayans)
• It is believed that whatever happens to the
dungan happens to the physical body as well
• It is also believed that for the voluntary
withdrawal of the souls is when the body is
maltreated
 SOUL
• Bisayans believe that the soul or dungan is not
located in any specific part of the body but it
grow proportionately with the person’s body
• Weak at birth – babies are susceptible to
‘usug’ – unintentional transfer of distrubing
vapors of a strong body to a weak one by
holding, talking or just looking at the weaker
one
 SOUL-NATURE
• The performance of age-old spirits rituals
• An adult person with a healthy dungan
properly lodged in his physical body will have
bodily health and well-being, intelligence and
good sense
 WILLPOWER
• Secondary meaning of dungan
• Strong dungan – the intellectual and
psychological capacity to dominate or persuade
others to one’s way of thinking
• Constant companionship (under the same roof)
of two people may lead to a spiritual
competition between the two dungans and
defeat (causing illness) to the one with the
weaker dungan.
 AT DEATH
• Dungan leaves the body through the eyes,
nose, ears and other body orifices and
eventually goes with the air or the wind
towards the upper regions.
• There it waits until it can find another body to
enter
RITUALS AND CEREMONIES

• RITUAL – a religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a

series of actions performed according to a prescribed
order
• Consists of a sequence of activities involving gestures,
words, and objects, performed in a specific place
according to a set of sequence
• Prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a
religious community
• Formalized behaviors that is set aside from everyday life
that allow communities to explore their religious and or
cultural worlds through action
 RITUALS AND CEREMONIES
• RITES – refer to the ‘spoken word’ used in a
ritual to convey meaning and value, to evoke
an image through the use of metaphor, or elicit
commitment or loyalty to a cause, set of
beliefs, community or person/s.
 RITUALS AND CEREMONIES
• RITUALS – long been a cornerstone of
anthropological thought and a universal feature
of human social existence
• Both sacred and secular and have existed from
the primitive to the contemporary society
• Inevitable components of culture for they
reflect the full diversity of the human existence
 FUNCTIONS OF RITUALS
• A symbolic expression of actual social relations,
status, or roles of individuals in a society
• A transcendent, numinous (spiritual) reality
that shows the ultimate values of a community
• A set of behaviours and beliefs that are
symbolic of social, psychological, or numinous
realities (non-rational function)
 FUNCTION OF RITUALS
(VAN GENNUP – 1929)
• Involve activities that can be both secular and
or spiritual as well as healing and or destructive
• Rituals show people’s commitment to culture
and family
• Rituals give meaning to behaviour and allow a
free and safe environment within which to
express people’s conflicting emotions and
handle ambivalence.
 CEREMONY
• Refers to movements or gestures expressing
feelings or beliefs beyond the limitations of speech
• Can be elaborate or simple, formal or intimate
• A set of formal actions performed as prescribed by
a ritual or a custom such as in a wedding ceremony
• May be a conventional social gesture or act of
courtesy
• Refers to a strict observance of
formalities or etiquette
PHILIPPINE RITUALS AND CEREMONIES
PICTURES OCASSION/EVENT R or C
PHILIPPINE RITUALS AND
CEREMONIES
PICTURES OCASSION/EVENT R or C
 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY AND
IDENTITY
• RELIGION – An organized set of beliefs,
practices, rituals and symbols that increases
an individual’s connection to a sacred or
transcendent other (God), higher power,
ultimate truth)
• The belief in a god or in a group of gods
• Refer to as an organized system of beliefs,
ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god
• An interest, a belief or an activity deemed to
be of utmost importance to a person
 PERSONAL RELIGION
• William James defined it as the “feelings, acts,
and experiences of individual men in their
solitude, apprehend themselves to stand in
relation to whatever they may consider divine.
 TOP 10 RELIGIONS IN THE WORLD BY
POPULATION
• CHRISTIANITY – 2.1 BILLION FOLLOWERS
• ISLAM – 1.5 BILLION FOLLOWERS
• HINDUISM – 900 MILLION FOLLOWERS
• SIKHISM – 23 MILLION FOLLOWERS
• JUDAISM – 14 MILLION FOLLOWERS
• BAHAISM – 7 MILLION FOLLOWERS
• CONFUCIANISM – 6.3 MILLION FOLLOWERS
• JAINISM – 4.2 MILLION FOLLOWERS
• SHINTOISM – 4 MILLION FOLLOWERS

(http://www.whichcountry.co/top-ten-religions-in-the-world/)
 RELIGIOUSNESS
• The degree by which one is affiliated
with an organized religion in terms of
the person’s participation in the
prescribed rituals and practices,
connection with its beliefs, and
involvement with its community of
believers
 SPIRITUALITY
• Involves experiencing something beyond oneself in
a transcendent manner and living in a way that
benefits others and society
– Related to a search for the sacred
• “Sacred” – may signify a person, an object, a
principle, or a concept that transcends the self
– Include a divine being or a divine object that is set apart
and considered as holy or beyond the ordinary
• Emerges as people relate to the development and
existential challenges of the search for the meaning
of existence amidst the ambiguity of life
 SPIRITUAL IDENTITY
• The persistent sense of self that addresses ultimate
questions about the nature, purpose, and meaning of
life
• Results in behavior that are consonant with the
individual’s core values
• Focuses on the individual’s construction of a
relationship to the sacred and ultimate meaning
• Emerges as the symbolic religious and spiritual
content of a culture that is appropriated by individuals
in the context of their own lives
• “ A high level of spirituality leads to a higher
level of self-efficacy”
– Study: A Structural Equation Modeling on the
Factors Affecting Intolerance of Uncertainty and
Worry Among a Select Group of Filipino Elderly
 MAGIC AND WITCHCRAFT
• MAGIC – the power of influencing the course of
events by using mysterious or supernatural forces
• The ability to use supernatural forces to make
impossible things happen.
• MAGICIAN – the one who performs the magic like
casting spells and summoning spirits
• derived from the Old French magiciien, magician
or sorcerer - rooted in the Greek word for
‘magical’, magikos or magos
 SORCERER
• Greek pharmakos – carries with it the idea of
medicine, magic potions, drugs and poison
 WIZARD
• One who is thought to be acquainted with the
secrets of the nonmaterial or unseen world
 NECROMANCER
• One who is seeking unto the dead
• A term that includes all forms of attempt to
make contact with departed spirits
 BARANG
• Filipino term for sorcerer
• Used to describe malignant sorcery or familiar
spirits
• MAMBABARANG – a person who practices
specific type of sorcery or witchcraft
• BINARANG – the target (usually a person) of
the sorcery or witchcraft
 KULAM
• Tagalog word for voodoo or witchcraft
• One of the most well-known aspects of Philippine
folklore
• MANGKUKULAM – a person who uses black magic
or spells on a victim
• Results: the victim will experience a form of illness
which cannot be cured by modern medicine,
misfortune to himself and loved ones, inability to
concentrate, lack of sleep. Loss of appetite, freak
accidents and other unexplained events
 ALBULARIO/MANANAMBAL
• Filipino practitioner of traditional medicine
• A medicine man who is also capable of
performing sorcery
• Filipino withdoctor, folk healer or medicine man
• Who performs rituals (reciting incantations and
using special herbs and oils) in order to defeat
the spells of the mangkukulam and bring the
person back to normalcy
LOCAL FOLKLORE MYTHICAL CREATURES
• Aswang
They inhabit dark forest and
• Manananggal
unexplored regions of
• Kapre barrios in the provinces
• Dwende
• Sirena Usually comes out in the
• Syokoy night looking for food in the
form of fresh blood, pregnant
• Engkanto
mothers (target – fetus), and
• Sigbin human organs (liver) for
• Tikbalang victims to take with them into
• tianak the other world
FINDING AND CREATING MEANING IN LIFE

• LOGOTHERAPY – a term coined by Victor

Frankl (1905-1997), an existential philosopher
• LOGOS – is a Greek word which stands for
meaning
• Logotherapy – aims to help the person search
for the meaning of his existence
• LOGOTHERAPIST – one who assist and guide
the client in finding meaning to his life.
 THREE BASIC PRINCIPLES ON DISCOVERING
MEANING IN LIFE
• MEANING IN LIFE – man should see existence as
experiencing life’s ups and downs, realize that
sufferings are a part of life which cannot be avoided
and that finding meaning is still possible even in
times of great loss and deep sorrow
• WILL TO MEANING – varies from person to person
and situation to situation
• FREEDOM TO WILL – people are given freedom to
make life choices which includes how they respond
to life events
 FREEDOM TO WILL
• People can discover meaning through the values
that they attach to things connected with their
lives
• Values can be:
– Creative (artistic expression or by creating a work
doing a deed
– Experiential (interacting with social environment or by
experiencing something or encountering someone)
– Attitudinal ( the attitude people take toward
unavoidable suffering