Details on Initiate Exercise V

To whoever has the patience to address my inquiry,

In exercise V, the instructions state,

"For this exercise, you are to research and write an essay covering the following main world faiths/religions."

"The same ‘rules’ apply as with the Joseph Campbell Lectures and Alan Watts Books etc, so structuring, spelling, punctuation, length. Don’t forget to maintain your back up copies."

I saw only one sentence in exercise IV that addressed length, "We are not necessarily looking for ‘essays’ (unless stated) but a paragraph or two isn’t an unreasonable amount to expect for each section/part/chapter of these books and lectures."

Now for the actual questions. (Finally! I have a habit of dragging things out. :whistle: ) Firstly, a paragraph or two may not be unreasonable, but what is? :huh: The longest paper I've written as a freshman and sophmore in college is 15 pages, including a bibliography with 9 sources, a certain number which needed to come from primary sources. During high school, in contrast, an essay only need and introduction, conclusion, and and 3 body paragraphs, which stretch to an average of a page and a half at double space and did not always require a bibliography, only in-text credit. Where is the balance between inadequately shallow and overkill?

Secondly, the first world religion listed in this section is Buddhism/Hinduism. Why? Although Buddhism was both heavily influenced by while simultaneously a counter to Hinduism, they are fairly different philosophies, each with their own sets of evolution. Do they really belong in one essay, and how much would I delve into the details of each?

The third question is similar to the second: how should I approach an essay on monotheism? According to wikipedia, "Monotheism is characteristic of Zoroastrianism, Atenism, Bahá'í Faith, Christianity, Hinduism, deism, Islam, Ravidassia, Judaism, Tenrikyo, Cao Dai, Eckankar and Sikhism." Woah. :blink:

Thank you for your time. :lol:

I'm no authority. But, here's what I've found:

1. You may write any length you want. But, the words are not as important as showing your understanding. If it takes 15 pages, so be it.

2. It's not saying to write both of them as one religion. It's saying to show their similarities and contrast them as well.

3. Take your pick.

You could describe Monotheism in broad relation to the other ism's.

Welcome to the galaxy, Kita ...

Just do what you feel is your understanding ... your understanding will undoubtedly grow afterwards anyway.

We Jedi never stop learning ...

Imagine that someone knows nothing, give them enough information to get a basic understanding of what the beliefs and religions are

How much do you think is enough to write?

well, at least write 3 paragraph, and there is no maximum! If you like, you can write one post for each religion, or more than one! Like one for Islam in Monotheism, one for Christianity, .... or no, just a whole describe of them in one post. It's up to you, there is no wrong or right answer to any question. You know, Buddhism and Hinduism are different, just the way Islam and Christianity are, but they have some similarities too...

Make it as long as you feel it needs to be to accurately describe what you learned. The length is mainly for people that try to skate by with the bare minimum. As for the second question… Think of it from a broad scope aspect.

And the third, as with the second… when I look at it I am not looking to see that you can give me an exact, detailed analysis of every detail of every religion covered; mainly that you have a basic understanding of the primary ideology.

I hope that helps. If not, PM me.

The answers do show us what you have learned, and how much effort you put into them...

But, really, the learning is for you, so the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it...

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to answer, this really helps me. :lol:

Kita wrote: Thank you to everyone for taking the time to answer, this really helps me. :lol:

The length of your answer is part of your answer

Woah...everyone's so helpful today! :laugh:

Not that we aren't usually helpful Kita...it's just that 7 people went out of their way to try to help you out in under 9 hours...

Just makes me remember one of the many reasons why I love TOTJO so much