4 S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 3 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 1 7 meditation practice, it is important to recognize every step and stage of meditation. The influence of media on shaping religion is vast, therefore we would like to scrutinize in this paper the extent of digital media’s influence on religion. We understand “digital media” chiefly as a virtual space (cyberspace) into which religious content can be transformed, paying special attention to the videogame calledWorld of Warcraft (WoW). We will be comparing this content with traditional religions such as Christian religion and Buddhism and, in one special case, with Shamanism. We would like to determine the possibilities for digital media to develop religious content for a modern, say secular human and then assess limitations or borders between traditional religion and religion in the cyberspace of digital media. 2 What is Religion? Religion is a highly complex phenomenon that incorporates myths, rituals, prayers, ethical standards, community and similar aspects [1]. In reference to Ninian Smart, Robert M. Geraci (2014, 15) defines seven primary dimensions in religion: doctrine (teachings), myth, ritual, experience, institutions, and material culture. A different, somewhat more complex and general definition of religion could be found in two great representatives of modern religions: Christianity and Buddhism. In the core of both of them is their founder – Christ in Christianity, Buddha in Buddhism. Then it is the doctrine, which is incorporated in the New Testament in Christian religion in both written and oral traditions, andDharma in Buddhism. Further, there is the Christian fellowship of people who actively worship Christ, while in Buddhism there is Sangha– a spiritual community [2]. Such a definition of religion can be applied to all religions, including myths and rituals. However, it does not necessarily mean it is universal. For instance, in certain syncretic religions, like the New Age, there is no creator or perhaps the creator is not crucial. It is important therefore for us to embrace the essence of every religion as generally as possible. The definition constructed by Mircea Eliade can be taken as a typical example; he describes phenomenologically the basic element of every religion –sacred– or the idea of being sacred. M. Eliade (1995, 21) states that “the phenomenon of sacred is an element in the structure of consciousness“, found in any religion (2006, 13) and this unique and elementary structure of sacred opposes the profane way of life. Transcendence from profane to sacral life brings unprecedented spiritual experience. Eliade, for example, mentions the story of patriarch Jacob (Gn 28: 10–22), who we fell asleep on his way to Laban. He dreamt of a ladder that angles were ascending and descending and of God’s promise to him. When he finally woke up, he marked this “horrible” place and set the rock he had been sleeping on as a pillar. This story, as the Bible describes, has two dimensions – the inner one and the outer one. The first depicts an inner spiritual experience, extraordinary, transcendent, sacral and in this case also scary, while the second, following dimension, depicts the act of defining the once ordinary place as a sacred place. A sacred place, according to Eliade (2006, 18) is taken out of the usual homogeneous and amorphous place, it represents the Fullness of Being, centre of the world or perhaps a gate that leads to different worlds. A sacred place is bound to a sacred time, when the sacred happening is retrieved for example through a ritual commemorating of the original happening or event. If then every religion is based on spiritual experiences, or if it is revitalised by such experience, then mysticism very well represents such experiencing. In its relation to spirituality, mysticism is an even more strictly defined term, describing its most intimate part. Considering this perspective (from the outside towards the inside), we can describe the following structure: religion–spirituality–mysticism. There are three phases in Christian mysticism –purification, illumination, and union phase. On their journey, mystic adepts are first confronted with their own bad inclinations from which they need to break free. After they have fully succeeded in this, the phase of inner light comes. The inner light represents energy that also unleashes and widens consciousness, which first transcends the physical barriers and then travels further through various dimensions until it reaches unity with God. We meet such a complex mysticism in the case of St. Teresa of Avila, she described it in her work Interior Castle. She depicted her own mystical journey through the “seven mansions”. The first three mansions represent the phase or purification, the fourth mansion is the beginning of mystical experience with the illumination phase, the fifths mansion brings the mystical death, the sixth describes “soul’s flight” and finally the seventh mansion means unification with God. Teresa (1921, 121) describes unification with God as follows: “But spiritual marriage is like rain falling from heaven into a river or stream, becoming one and the same liquid, so that the river and rain water cannot be divided; or it resembles a streamlet flowing into the ocean, which cannot afterwards be disunited from it. This marriage may also be likened to a room into which a bright light enters through two windows – though divided when it enters, the light becomes one and the same.” Even though Buddhism, being a different religious, cultural, and also language tradition, does not talk about mysticism, it still shares some features with Christian mysticism. These characteristics embrace chiefly deeper states of consciousness that
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzgxMzI=