What's in a Word?

After our last dialogue on "What is Religion?", one of the participants lamented to me that we never really answered the question. It is true that we did not arrive at a definitive answer and I have two thoughts I would like to share about that.

First, did we fail in our mission? I don't think so. Our mission is not necessarily to arrive at definitive answers to the questions we examine, but rather to increase our understanding of what realities lie behind the words and to stimulate philosophical exploration of those realities. I believe we succeeded on both counts. The value is in the journey whether or not we arrive at the final destination.

The second point is that there may not be a final destination at all, at least not as far as language is concerned. Words acquire meaning through their usage and we use words to convey our understanding. Where our understanding is unclear our language will be ill defined. A word like "religion" does not have one definitive meaning but a multitude of meanings that vary with the speaker and the context. So how do we work around this limitation of language? One way is to use a kind of triangulation. It has been said that if you look at a hundred different portraits painted by the same artist, what you have is a portrait of the artist. To get a true portrait of someone else, you need a hundred portraits painted by a hundred different artists. Likewise, I believe, if we examine a multitude of related words and concepts and ask what they mean to a multitude of individuals, we can begin to see a portrait of reality not readily apparent from any single word or speaker. This is in part what I hope to accomplish with our Thinking Out Loud series.

Here are some short answers to, "What is religion?" as "painted" by the citizen philosophers in our last session, with whom you may or may not agree:

1. Religion is the antithesis of philosophy.
   
2. Religion is an experience.
   
3. Religion is a way of life.
   
4. Religion is a story.
   
5. Religion is an institution.
   
6. Religion is a group identity.
   

Do you have any short answers you would like to contribute to the emerging portrait? Feel free to add your comments by clicking on the "comments" link below.