Exam 3 (Marx Rich)

Question 1

How will communication theory benefit from a meta theory understanding spiritual communication theories?

Answer 1

Situating the Spiritual Tradition within the metamodel will allow researchers to better understand the dialogical/dialectical tension created by different understandings of communication.

Question 2

RECAP: What is dialogical/dialectical coherence?

Answer 2

Dialogical - Openness to all views

Dialectical - Clash of views, debate.

Question 3

What is the difference between monism and dualistic traditions?

Answer 3

DUALISM - Is the idea that the spiritual world is something independent from the material world.

MONISM - Believes that there is a primordial spiritual force that inseparable from the material world or the body.

Question 4

How does Rich define “Religion”?

Answer 4

“Any symbolic system which influences human action by providing possibilities for ritually maintaining contact between the everyday world and a more general meta-emperical framework of meaning” (Rich)

Question 5

How does Rich define “Spirituality”?

Answer 5

(What do we do, what are we doing for our practice. Does not have to be tied to religion, but can be tied to multiple symbolic practices.)
The individual practices

Question 6

How does Rich define “A religion”?

Answer 6

(Not talking about organized religions)

Institutional structures

Question 7

How does the spiritual tradition define a communication problem?

Answer 7

“Where and why does mimesis fail?”

Ineffability of truth, discerning the mimetic of the atemporal, expressing the ineffable, denial of the atemporal, attempting to overcome the material vehicles of communication and grasp the inner atemporal purity of the message.

Question 8

What is the definition of Mimesis?

Answer 8

(Mimesis, the idea that the words i am speaking are supposed to reflect another worldly truth, why don’t people recognize that truth?)