Simbolisasi Religius Dalam Citra Dan Ritus

Sebuah Tinjauan Psikologi Agama

Abstract

People refer to God and the divine by thinking and imagining him/her/it with the aid of images and also by making them present through rites with the help of deeds and gestures. The images of God contain two different elements, a subjective one that is rather affective and fulfills the wishes of the believers, and an objective one that is cognitive, comes from the religious tradition of the believers and is based on what they have heard about God from other people. Man’s image of God is also related to his self-concept that is not only its foundation but also affects it. Image of God and self-concept continuously strengthen and weaken one another. The result of any research is only an instantaneous photograph, because both God-image and self-concept always participate in the development of the person in question. Ritual behavior takes place according to a fixed patron and does’t change. Its main purpose is communication. A message is given and received in a way that is effective for the organism. The messages are intended to reduce the negative tensions caused by ambiguity and uncertainty. So ritual behavior is a means to handle difficult situations and is necessary for survival. It also strengthens the cohesion of a group. There are both religious and secular rites. Unchangeable as they are, rites have a sacred characteristic, wether the rite is explicitly religious (for instance a pilgrimage) or a secular rite (for example a promotion at a university). Because of the difference and distance between rites end daily life, one of the most important psychological functions of rites is to accompany or to lighten the experience of crises and states of transition, e.g. rites regarding birth and death, initiation, marriage and swearing. Another psychological function of rites is to canalize emotions and impulses.