Sin and Virtue in the works of Freud and Dante Essay -- essays researc

Religion is arguably approximately influential when concerning politics, society, and individuality. This belief system provides most people with somewhat of a guideline on how to live their lives on a daily basis, depending on which morality one follows. One of the major be aspects of righteousness, Catholicism or Christianity in particular, is to show iniquity or gloominess to God for ones own wickednesss and to ask for forgiveness on Earth so when Judgment Day comes the gates of heaven will open. A henchman of Christianity is expected to follow the divine doctrine (e.g. The Ten Commandments) and any dispute requires regretance. If one does not ask for forgiveness for his sins, the common belief is that he will be sent to Hell upon death, spending an eternity in damnation. But how does this affect life on Earth? It seems that the individual harbors an congenital battle between acting on instinctual desires and what is deemed right or malign according to God. This self-w ar creates a sense of guilt. Guilt and sin are close related to one another in terms of Sigmund Freuds analysis of religion in civilization and can be further compared to Dantes account of sin and the afterlife. In Civilization and Its Discontents, one of Freud?s main purposes is to point emerge the effect of the relationship between the human conscience and religion. Freud?s substitution view of religion is that it is an illusion created, and even needed, by man to piss a sense of security from ?an enormously exalted father? who watches everywhere his life and promises a better afterlife (Freud 22). Individually, humans portray by dint of behavior what their motivation in life is to attain happiness. But religion only offers one road to happiness, and that road is with God. ?Its tech... ...ness, heightens the demands of his conscience, imposes abstinences on himself and punishes himself with penances? (Freud 87). The uniform can be said according to Dante, but instead of twist to the superego, one turns to God as Dante did while he was ?lost in the dark wood?. An individual looks for a way of escaping these disparaging emotions and searches for a path that will lead to ultimate happiness?usually through and with God. As the purpose of Dante?s Inferno was to understand sin in a way that will allow him to lead a to a greater extent virtuous life, so was Freud?s theory that the more(prenominal) aware of your guilt the more able you are to recognize what it means to be virtuous. The more aware an individual is of his sin or guilt, the better his ability to repent and achieve virtuosity. This in turn makes peace with God and/or inwardly him and it is here that one achieves redemption.