Field Report
I would want to start out this last paper going back to the beginning of the class when we
read and analyze different definitions of Religion, Clifford Geertz’s still my favorite, and how he
describes it a system of symbols, which acts to establish powerful, persuasive and motivation on
people by formulating conception of a general order of existence, making seem these
phenomenon as something uniquely realistic; I still do not know if Geertz was right or not, but
after studied in class just a little bit from the huge background of different religions out there I
can say his definition was accurate. It is incredible how different are religions between each
other, but at the same point as much as you study, more common things appear. Throughout the
history many histories have been taught them to the following generation, spreading messages
and beliefs that build what we all know as a religion and what brings faith and something to
believe in to millions of people around the globe. Religion has not boundaries, sex, race, ethnic,
is just an ancestral mindset, that will bring hope to those who has one, and the ones who has not
have any (like me), could help to understand people behaviors and how they interact with each
other.
Mario Erpel
World Religion
Nathan Bowman
April 28th,2016
1
Many thoughts came to my mind, when I read the field report instructions and I realized
that I had to picked a religion. I tried to find one that motivated me, something that I did not
know much about it, so I ended up going to the Hindu Temple & Cultural Center of Kansas City,
I checked the calendar of activities and I decided to go to the Pranayama Yoga, an activity that
combine reflexing, meditation and most important, breathing control through corporal positions.
I was very excited to the activity because I love yoga, since I tried it for the first time several
years ago. I step into the center and right away I had to take off my shoes, to demonstrate
respect to the goddess, same procedure as the Muslim center I went last Sunday, it is something
completely new for me, because in Chile, a seventeen million people country, just one thousand
and five hundred people follow Hinduism, and also as something cultural, Chileans will never
take our shoes off, but to be honest, I do not care, in fact it is a good thing for me, because you