The Importance Of Religious Beliefs And Values

My grandfather owns a saw mill and lived his life selling wood. So during my childhood, trees didn’t have much meaning to me, besides profit and oxygen. I am proud to say though, that I have evolved since then and last year, my freshman year at Eckerd College, I learned a lot more about environmental impact and how much it actually affects us daily. Besides learning more about the environment, I am now learning about the Indian/ Hindu Culture of worshiping nature, which I knew very little about before this class. I have learned the meaning of tree’s as someone in India would see it, and I am learning to understand their beliefs. Although, I am not conforming to their religious beliefs and values, I better understand the process of the rituals they perform. My personal upraising probably can affect my point of view as I was raised in a Christian …show more content…
But viewing this “new” religion as it is done outside, opened up my eyes to the relationship between nature and religion. I think I had an easier time understanding the religion and the ritualistic practices because it was a physical source which you could worship, while Christian don’t really have a symbol with in nature. Trees specifically though are an interesting symbol of worship. Trees have physical gifts which people can receive from them, so when in the text it describes trees as gods, it is upheld when the tree physically give the worshipper something in return. For example, one of the trees described in the book are Pipal Trees, which this specific tree has many benefits. “It’s powdered bark is used as remedy against many diseases; it has been applied to burns, sores, wounds, and used to treat ear troubles, and uterine disorders” (Haberman 68). The idea of worshipping an object which can physically gift you, helps portray the power of the god within. I noticed this when I was doing my ritual with my chosen