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Religious Myth in Literature and Life
Religious Motif in Modern Literature
Religious Myth in Literature and Life
Big Event Ceremonies
We have already explored how religion has been a part of western culture since ancient times. But let’s pose the question of how religion fits into our lives today even if you’re not religious. Even mildly religious people participate in ceremonies or rituals that are rooted in religion. Think of marriage ceremonies, and baptisms, graduation ceremonies, retirement parties etc. If any of you are married then you know that the ceremony and the reception don’t make you married, the signing of the marriage certificate at the courthouse makes you legally married. If you’ve baptized a child you know that a certificate from the church that says “God-parents” on it won’t give legal custody to them in the awful event of parental passing. If you’ve been to a Mexican quinceanera, you know that having a big party at age 15 doesn’t magically transform that girl into a woman. These are all symbolic ceremonies deeply rooted in cultural religions; VERY EXPENSIVE ceremonies symbolic of different events in our lives. But if we know that these wildly expensive rituals and ceremonies hold no legal value, then why do we do it? Even non-religious people participate in these various ceremonies and rituals. Why do we do it? Why not save the money and stress of planning?
Not-So BIg Events
What about not so major milestones in our lives? We can’t have a celebratory ceremony for every job promotion or good hair day. We can’t have a “funeral” for every break-up or, heaven forbid, every failed test. Typically we use religious myth to help us cope with these not-so-serious, although devastating, loses in life. A common myth used to help cope is the story of JOB (pronounced JOBE). You may be familiar, this myth originates in Judaism, but Christians tell this story too. If you are not familiar, essentially Satan tells Jesus that the only reason people are faithful and good is so they can be rewarded by Jesus with a good life. So to prove Satan wrong Jesus takes away everything that is good in his most faithful follower Job. Job loses his children, his wife and suffers disease, and yet he remains faithful to Jesus until the end. After proving his point, Jesus eventually rewards Job again. But this story in essence addresses the question “why do bad things happen to good people,” or “why me,” which we often ask when going through struggles. We want to believe that there is some sort of Divine justice where people who endure suffering now will be rewarded later. And that bad people who get away with it today will be punished later. This is what religious myth does for us. It gives us hope in the face of all the suffering that we are enduring now. We hope that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. We hope that there is Divine justice.
The Theme of Hope
Religious myth is meant to inspire, it’s meant to help us cope, to provide comfort when there is little else to comfort us. We are supposed to take these myths, these philosophical thoughts, and apply them to our lives. The myth is a metaphor for a universal truth, something we believe in, and when we can take these metaphors and apply them to our circumstances we may feel understood as a person, perhaps less alone.
The Christ Myth
Let’s consider the Christ myth as it is one of the most widely known myth stories as it is the very foundation of Christianity. In a very watered down version: we probably all know that Christ was born through Divine conception and birth, he gave his message that he was the son of God and prophet of Christianity, he was condemned to death by crucifixion, and he resurrected three days later which we call Easter. But why is the Christ myth unique from the Job myth we looked at earlier? Why is this one more widely known? Why do we place waaay more importance on the Christ myth? Well it’s because Christ was a real human who really walked the earth. The fact that we have a real person as the main character of the story makes the myth partly and technically historical. Think of George Washington. We all know the myth that he chopped down the cherry tree when he was little even though he wasn’t supposed to, and when he was confronted by his father about it he said “I cannot tell a lie.” This story teaches the importance of honesty just like “the boy who cried wolf,” but the George Washington story gets more weight, and children and adults really believe it to be true because George was a real person and the boy who cried wolf is, well just a nameless boy in a story. Did George really chop down a cherry tree and nobly own up to it? I don’t know, I wasn’t there, but we easily accept the story because of the one historical and factual aspect that George Washington existed. It’s the same with the Christ myth.
So we use this myth in secular (non-religious) literature metaphorically too. The Christ myth, also known as the Resurrection myth, or transformation myth, is about self-discovery. At the end of the story Christ experiences a full blending of both his conscious self and his unconscious self, both body and spirit. He ascends to heaven as his true and complete Self in mind, body, spirit, and he assumes his true identity as the son of God.
Religious Myth becomes Motif in Literature
This story helps us to self-discover. But what about non-religious people? How do they learn to self-discover? Well they do, just in different kinds of stories. The Christ myth is one of the most common stories. It’s actually a MOTIF. In literary terms, motif means a pattern that happens over and over again in stories. Remember how if I say “Once upon a time there was a princess…” you would be able to finish that whole story for me without me saying another word, because by the age of 5 you already knew that pattern. You already know the princess gets rescued and they lived happily ever after. This is a very easy and common pattern to follow.
The Christ motif is a pattern too. It’s also known as Resurrection motif, or transformation motif, initiation motif etc. there are many names, but the literary pattern is the same. We are obsessed with this pattern because it helps us to learn more about ourselves. It goes like this:
Hero must leave status quo
Must face obstacles
Descends to an underworld
Must die (either real or metaphorical death)
Returns as a reborn or resurrected hero with new knowledge of the Self and the world around them.
Leaves status quo: refers to the heroes “home base” as it were. The hero is in their regular life environment here, but something happens, usually conflict, that compels or forces the hero to move, leave, or take action away from their “home base.”Faces obstacles: refers to the hardships the hero faces. The road to self-discovery is difficult, and long and not all heroes make it. The hero typically faces a few difficult obstacles before tey are ready to descend into an underground world. Entering an unfamiliar underground: refers to the hero physically going down somewhere. It can present itself as several places in a story, like a basement, or a tunnel, really anything below the surface. The hero must descend into this unfamiliar world because it is here that they will be able to gain some clarity and learn about who they really are “under the surface.”
Must die literally or metaphorically: It is here that the hero will let their old self “die” and let their new self be “reborn.” They will leave their old self there in the underground like a grave. We know they are dying because there are typically many associations with death present in the story. When the character has gained new knowledge about themselves and the world around them then their old self has died and a new self can emerge. Resurrecting: refers to the hero who then emerges from that undergrounds as their new self. Something about them has changed at this point and they have new knowledge to have and share with their community.
This motif in literature is so persistent, so apparent, that it reveals something about mankind. The resurrection is a symbol of rebirth, a new beginning for a character who is transitioning to another phase in their life where having undergone obstacles they are new, wiser, in slang they are woke. And when you’re woke, that naive part of you dies and you can’t go back.
This is why we do rituals and ceremonies!
We follow this pattern all the time in our lives, so it’s no surprise that writers will talk about it. In college there’s a big graduation ceremony because you need to let your uneducated-self die so you can be reborn as an educated person with a degree. The marriage ceremony is so you can publicly let your single-self die so your couple-self can have a fresh start. The risk of not allowing yourself to metaphorically die is getting stuck and not being able to move on to the next phase of your life. I’ll give you for instance; a friend of mine recently retired but did not want a retirement party. It’s been 6 months and she still comes in the office, checks emails, and does odd jobs. Personally, I believe it’s because she didn’t go through the ritual. She didn’t have the ceremony, have the party to let the work-self “die” so that the retired-self could be born and just enjoy retirement. She got stuck in between…
Read the short story on the next page and uncover the transformation motif.
Look for the stages of the pattern in the short story provided in the next Module
Hero must leave status quo
Must face obstacles
Descends to an underworld
Must die (either real or metaphorical death)
Returns as a reborn or resurrected hero with new knowledge of the Self and the world around them.
Your Mid-Term is based on this short story and this pattern. Make sure to give yourself plenty of time to read it and take notes and write your paper.
RELIGIOUS HEALTH CARE
RELIGIOUS HEALTH CARE
HSA 300
Introduction
Religious Health Care is a not for profit organization. It serves the Middleville community. Samaritan Hospital and Protestant Hospital are other two important organizations which are having religious origins. Religious Health care governing board hire a consulting firm to measure and evaluate the strategic performance of the organization. The leaders of Religious units were also asked about their point of view about organization’s performance. As the part of the consultant team, I am responsible to generate the response for complementing organizational performance so that leader can further proceed with CEO and governing head to evaluate the strategic performance of the organization. As per rule of the firm to suggest correction with criticism, it is important to recommend important corrections to improve the core functions of the organization. This paper is relate to the study of important elements to improve core organizational functions, key performance dimensions for performance improvement, performance measures for measuring staff performance, strategies for improving public image, increasing market share and technology based data collection strategies will be studied in order to bring strategic reforms in Religious Health Care.
1. Describe the five (5) important elements of the governing board’s agenda for areas of improvement in core functions.
The five important governing board agenda elements to brought improvement in the core function area include the following:
The first element of governing board agenda is to ensure the planned service of nursing. It must not only plan but also need to be implemented and evaluated in order to ensure the safe and high quality of care to the life of the residents. In this way a trust can be built among care receivers.
Second element of governing board agenda is to ensure the planning, implementation and evaluation of social service program in organization. It is important to meet the social and psychological needs of residents (Thomas, Clark & Gioia, 1993). It will ensure other that the organization is giving preference to the residence in order to maximize the quality of care. It will create a positive image among public.
Third one is to ensure the planning, implementation and evaluation of food service program. It will ensure that the organization is governing their efforts toward the resident’s nutritional needs which will lead the organization towards the maximization of quality of life and care.
Forth element of governing body is to ensure the planning, implementation and evaluation of program based on therapeutic recreation/activity. It is important to meet the needs of residents and build their interest towards the organization by achieving high quality of care and life.
Fifth important element is to ensure the planning, implementation and evaluation of the pharmaceutical program to support resident’s medical care. It will provide support to increase the quality of life and care.
2. Describe three (3) key performance dimensions (other than those mentioned here) and include specific measures that Religious Health Care could use to improve overall institutional performance.
Numerous performance dimensions are used by organization to improve the overall performance of the organization. There are various performance dimensions which are used to measure performance includes following:
The first performance dimension is the “cost of care”. This dimension has basic focus on the measurement of the services which is provided under the health care plan. Information is gathered on the bases of rate of certain kinds of trends, high cost facilities and high occurrence of some cost. The costs of various health care interventions are also managed by medical management. the medical manager must take specific interest on how this cost was specifically planned and how it is actually implemented . Management must take interest to compare the cost with others.
The second dimension of performance which Religious Health care could use is the “effectiveness of care”. This measure has main focus on the clinical care which is provided to the patient and the result which has been achieved from it (Slater & Narver, 1995). For example, the effectiveness of care can be measured by this fact that is there examination of eyes is provided to the individual who was admitted for the screening of breast cancer or having diabetes issue or follow up provided to somehow one who as hospitalized due to mental illness or the eye checkup to the children who has any form of infection. This measure is very beneficial to access the fact that how effectively an organization is performing.
Third dimension which could be used by Religious Health Care is the satisfaction with care experience. It focuses on the fact that how well the plan is meeting the various needs of the health care populations. It measures the level of satisfaction. A satisfaction survey could be done with in standardize members and multiple questions will be asked in order to measure the satisfaction of population (Winstanley & Stuart-Smith, 1996). Health care population includes the health care receivers who want quality and satisfactory care from the organization.
3. Determine the performance measures Religious Health Care could use to evaluate nursing staff performance in its Emergency Room. Explain the rationale for each performance measure.
Nursing staff is an important part of any health care organization. It plays an important role in regulating organizational performance and satisfying the needs of health care population. It is very important to train the nursing staff and measure and evaluate their performance in order to attain the maximum performance level with in organization. Emergency room is a critical department of every health care organization. The nursing staffs in this department are required to be efficient in order to provide maxium support in health care treatment. Some measures which can be used by Religious Health Care to evaluate the performance of nursing staff in Emergency room are following:
Nurses in Emergency room must be registered and must have the specific skills and knowledge in order to perform their task effectively and efficiently. They are required to use their skills in effective manner in order to a safe care to the patients. Orientation and transition programs have been organized in Individual emergency departments in order to provide a complete structure for nursing practice development. It must need the standards of safe and effective care within organization.
Other measure which can be used to train the nursing staff in Emergency department includes accessing the competency which ensures that the individual which is in the emergency room is qualified enough to offer the professional services to the patients who need them. It is important to access their abilities to provide the health care service to the patients inside the emergency room. It can be done through theoretical assessment in the case of presentation. It ensures that the situations that are happening are taken seriously. It also ensures the quality of care provided by the nurses and ensures that there is no report about the poor performances of nurses.
4. Suggest the steps that should be taken next by Religious Health Care to get better at managing specific patient groups. Explain the rationale for each step.
Certain steps need to follow to manage the group of specific patients with in the Religious Health Care in order to solve the problems within the organization. These are following:
The first step is to understand the needs of patients which are essential and which is important to help them accordingly.
Secondly, after understanding the problems faced by specific group, nurses must be trained enough to provide them the services according to their requirements and according to the informed point of view. By understanding the point of view of specific groups, it can be possible to provide them a better service.
Thirdly, this must be ensured that this group of specific patient is satisfies and closely takes care of.
It is necessary to have special nurses who are the specialist in required field in order to provide the specialised services to the patients and can deal with them with competence.
Additionally, it is better to treat the patients of this specific group individually. Individual attention to them makes them able to feel special and solve their issues. It is important to look at their needs keenly (Ling, Franklin, Lindsteadt & Gearon, 1992). Close attention towards them make it possible to provide a good solution to their problems and solved their problems amicably.
Lastly, these patients must be accorded the right care which must ensure their absolutely good conditions. This will imply that these patients have been recovered fully.
5. Decide what strategies Religious Health Care could implement to enhance its public image and increase market share. Explain the rationale for each strategy.
The strategy which is important for Religious Health Care to implement in the organization in order to create a good public image and increase the market share includes:
It is the group of personnel’s which must be qualified and competent enough to meet the needs of health care receivers. People seek their services because they have trust on them. To retain such image it is very important to provide effective and efficient service to the health care population. Their need s must be recognized and satisfied in order to build their trust and create a positive image. It is important to generate the policy which ensures high quality care to the public. Mutual trust, honesty and efficiency in services are important elements to build a strong relationship between management and client of facilities.
There should be the smooth flow of information between staff, client and management. It is only possible in the case of creation of good channels of communication between concerned parties (Rezgui & Marks, 2008). It is important to share information for smooth running of operations in facilities. It will create positive image among the health care providers and receivers’.
6. Describe two (2) technology-based data-collection strategies that Religious Health Care could use to conduct an internal management audit.
Religious Health Care could use the following technology based data collection strategies to conduct internal management audits:
Metric stream solution is the technological solution which can be used to collect data to enable auditors to record quantitative and qualitative findings along with observation. It must have detailed and predefined format of recommendations (Blumberg, 2002). Their still also be checklist criteria for evaluation. All the operations must be computerized in facility. It will reduce the chance for errors and omissions and reduce the chance for loss of information or problems in retrieving information. In such kind of technology implementation, information can be audited easily.
Conclusion
Health care sector is one of a most important sector, which is required to be managed in appropriate way in order to build a trust among public. Religious Health Care is a not for profit organization. Enhanced Public image and social welfare programs are the most important factors behind organizational success. It is important to evaluate the performance of the organization in order to meet the success and to overcome the issues related to organization. Individual performance plays an important role in enhancing organizational performance.
References
Blumberg, D. F. (2002). Managing high-tech services using a CRM strategy. CRC Press.
Ling, J. C., Franklin, B. A., Lindsteadt, J. F., & Gearon, S. A. (1992). Social marketing: its place in public health. Annual Review of Public Health, 13(1), 341-362.
Slater, S. F., & Narver, J. C. (1995). Market orientation and the learning organization. The Journal of Marketing, 63-74.
Thomas, J. B., Clark, S. M., & Gioia, D. A. (1993). Strategic sensemaking and organizational performance: Linkages among scanning, interpretation, action, and outcomes. Academy of management Journal, 36(2), 239-270.
Rezgui, Y., & Marks, A. (2008). Information security awareness in higher education: An exploratory study. Computers & Security, 27(7), 241-253.
Winstanley, D., & Stuart-Smith, K. (1996). Policing performance: the ethics of performance management. Personnel Review, 25(6), 66-84.
Religious Freedom
Religious Freedom in the U.S; Separation Between Church and State
Student’s name
Institution
Course
Tutor
Date
Americans have religious freedom in the United States, yet few people strive to take their religious views into account into governmental choices or opt not to stay glued to someone because of their faith. Some individuals believe that religion and also state should rather be kept apart so that people’s religious liberty is protected and not jeopardized. People claim that politicians “cannot be faithful to both the church and the Constitution” (“New Media”) (Akmaliah, 2020). For example, when Ronald Reagan became the first Catholic president candidate for workplace, he delivered the speech in which he remarked, “not what sort of religion I believe in, but that should be significant solely to me, but what kind of America I believe in.”
People all around the United States hold diverse religious beliefs, and if we do not separate religion and state, there will still be problems all over the country. Examples of conflicts include when a public school was teaching Catholicism to their students and the parents were not happy with this. The parents had their children removed from the school because they believed it was wrong for their children to be taught about Catholic worship rituals (Blancarte, 2018). This conflict is an example of where church and state are intertwined in America because the church has a strong influence on the government (“A Look at Religion”). In 1642 England established Parliament to “establish religious freedom” while also setting up laws that would support freedom (“United States History”). In America, establishment meant that there is a separation between religion and state while also making sure everyone has free exercise of religion.
In an attached summary by Alison Kodjak “Trump Administration Will Protect Health Workers Who Refuse Services on Religious Grounds,” many women claimed that they were denied access to healthcare because of their personal religious beliefs. While some people believe that the Freedom of Religion is a great thing for America, there are others who see it as an ominous threat to human dignity and equality. When church and state are mixed in these circumstances, there may be a lot of problems with people attempting to receive abortions, gender change surgeries, or simply ordinary treatment based on their views (Kodjak, 2018). This can often lead to people losing health care and other services as it will create havoc throughout the state since a lot of doctors may decline to treat some individuals.
In his article “When Religious Freedom Is a Recipe for Discrimination,” Rob Boston discusses religious independence in the commercial world, especially in government schools. Boston concerns if religions should indeed be taught in schools, if through religious or prayers festivals. Some people think that religious beliefs are not something that should be forced in a school but then, other people think this is a good way for kids to learn about their religion (Neill, 2019). While some people believe that church and state should not be separated because of our religious freedom, others do not agree with this idea and think that we need to separate church and state because it will help maintain peace within America.
There should be a separation of church and state in the United States because failure to do so would produce issues for American citizens. Policy arguments support the idea that people should not have religious freedoms taken away. For example, if religion is involved in public life, then people will be more careful about what they say or do. Some people argue that if religion is involved in government than government officials could get more job opportunities for churches because it gives them a reason to be nice and help their fellow countrymen (Blancarte, 2018). In “The Separation of Church and State” written by Thomas Jefferson, he argues that church and state are never allowed to be separated in America because it would lead to a slide towards dictatorship.
State and religion should be kept separate in most circumstances, however certain religious festivals that have been observed for years are acceptable to include in both government and schools. My personal view is that religion is a very personal thing, and only people who chose to practice should be given the freedom to do so. Personal views aside, I do not believe that religion should have any influence over governmental decisions. If people are to respect the separation of church and state; then legislation cannot give special privileges to religious organizations, for instance, allowing churches to use tax-payer money on housing or schools (Prud’homme, 2021).
Religion is a very personal thing and I fully understand that there are those who believe religion should be part of politics. I think that the concept of division between state and church have to be kept in any government policy, not only in the United States of America but across the world too. The separation of church and state is a very sensitive issue; I do not believe that religion should be mixed with government at all because it could potentially cause serious issues for certain people (Prud’homme, 2021). Religion is something that should stay within a person’s personal sphere, it does not belong in government at all.
References
Akmaliah, W. (2020). The demise of moderate Islam: new media, contestation, and reclaiming religious authorities. Indonesian Journal of Islam and Muslim Societies, 10(1).
Blancarte, R. (2018). Let’s Be Reasonable!. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 86(1), 228-230.
Kodjak, A. (2018). Trump admin will protect health workers who refuse services on religious grounds. NPR. org.
Neill, D. R. (2019). The Disestablishment of Religion in Virginia: Dissenters, Individual Rights, and the Separation of Church and State. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 127(1), 2-41.
Prud’homme, J. (2021). Separation of Church and State, American Exceptionalism, and the Contemporary Social Moment: Viewing Church–State Separation from the Priority of Slavery. Religions, 12(1), 34.