Daoism, Islamic Movements, and the Six Dimensions of Religion

This essay examines Ninian Smart's six dimensions of religion, applying them to Daoism and contemporary Islamic movements. In Daoism, the essay discusses the ritual, mythological, doctrinal, ethical, social, and experiential dimensions, highlighting practices such as purification rituals, sacred stories of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, the importance of the Tao Te Ching, ethical principles of harmony with nature, gender neutrality, and the focus on Tao rather than a deity. Regarding the contemporary Islamic world, the essay categorizes Muslims into secular Islam, reform revitalization, and radical revitalization, detailing their differing beliefs, practices, and approaches to social and political change, including the secularists' cultural embrace of Islam, the reformists' non-violent approach to social issues, and the radicals' justification of violence. The essay concludes by emphasizing the diversity within the Muslim world and contrasting the approaches to change advocated by the reformist and radical groups.

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Religion
Student Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Introduction
Smarts six dimensions of religion are considered to be intertwined together since they are
structured in a manner to find common ground between world’s religions. Each dimension seeks
to expose a different aspect concerning the religious experience and also provides a unique
technique for dealing with the diversity of different faiths.
Smart's six-dimensional concept of religion in Daoism
To begin with, we have the ritual dimension. It covers the adherents of a religion. For
example, what the subscribers of a specific faith have to do to maintain links to what is sacred.
The ritual dimension can include elements such as; prayer, sacrifice, pilgrimage, initiation,
modes of dressing and also asceticism. In Taoism, different rituals are practiced. The rituals
mainly involve the purification of the soul and the body. Taoism incorporates breathing exercises
and different techniques in search of immortality (Simpkins & Simpkins, 2015). However, the
religion de-emphasizes on rituals since they believe it’s not true to the way of nature. Dancing,
playing of instruments and chanting is also conducted in the rituals.
Secondly, we have the mythological dimension. It includes specific stories or history
learned and passed in different religions. They are essential and can either be written or oral. In
Taoism, two of the most sacred stories involve the founders of Taoism namely Lao Tzu and
Chuang Tzu. The stories include a lot of symbols that are regarded to have traditional wisdom
(Zai, 2015).
Thirdly, we have the doctrinal dimension. This dimension involves the intellectual
components of a religion which may be developed in a scholarly or literate tradition. For the
Taoists, they consider the Tao Te Ching’s, which is the crucial book of Taoism, to guide them
lead a tremendous ethical and spiritual life. Another sacred text known as Chuang Tzu is also
considered, but it’s not very famous.
Fourthly, we have the ethical dimension. The dimension involves ethical concerns
particularly on what is good or bad or how one should live. For the Taoists, ethics involves being
a good person that both co-exists in harmony with people and nature (Rowan, 2015). Virtues of
non-aggression are promoted in this religion.

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Fifthly, we have the social dimension. It includes the organization of people’s
interactions as part of the religion. For example, in Taoism gender is regarded as neutral. Women
are treated as equals to men as portrayed in the yin-yang. This is different as compared to other
world’s religions.
Lastly, we have the experiential dimension. This dimension portrays the emotional side
of religion. That is, what goes on inside a person. The Taoists believe only in Tao hence
disregard the presence of God. However, the Tao is not a god thus is not worshipped. Taoism
bases its teachings only on Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, and instead of using priests in spiritual
guidance, they have sages (Zai, 2015).
Secular Islam, the reformist revitalization, and the radical revitalization in the
contemporary Islamic world.
In the world today, there are more than 1.2 billion Muslims scattered around. However,
the Muslim world is divided into three categories. These categories have different characteristics
and values that are regarded. To begin with, we have the secular Islam generally known as the
secularists. This involves Muslims who are lightly religious or non-religious at all. They refer to
themselves are Muslims only because they embrace the Muslim culture, but they don’t seriously
consider the religion (Berkes, 2013). According to scholars, the estimated number of secularists
is about 50% of the total Muslims in the world in regards to orientation. For example, the Arab
Spring movement which was attempted by Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia was targeted to establish
secular democracies.
The second category is the reform revitalization. This category of Muslims is a
mainstream movement that promotes the non-violent participation of the Muslims in solving
social issues. Its focus is on the greater jihad, and it's attracting more people every day (Haj,
2008). For example, about 50% of the world’s Muslim college students are engaged in a reform
revitalization organization. Revitalization is being experienced in different phenomena. For
example, a trend in the expansion of Muslim social groups and Sufism has been noticed. Sufism
refers to the direct experience of God through love. Since the Sufis are different from the ISIS
and al Qaeda, a track of attacks has been recorded on the Sufis.

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Lastly, we have radical revitalization. Members of this category try to solve issues by
promoting Islamic practices likewise to the reform revitalization members. However, it justifies
violence since it invokes the lesser jihad. The al Qaeda and ISIS belong to this group. Unlike the
reformist's category, this group is impatient in seeking change since the only way of gaining
change is to do something drastic (Toth, 2013). In addition, the group is usually not willing to
work with political or social structures.

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References
Simpkins, C. A., & Simpkins, A. M. (2015). Simple Taoism: A guide to living in balance. Tuttle
Publishing.
Zai, J. (Ed.). (2015). Taoism and Science: Cosmology, Evolution, Morality, Health and more.
Ultravisum.
Rowan, J. (2015). Ordinary ecstasy: The dialectics of humanistic psychology. Routledge.
Berkes, N. (2013). Introduction. In The Development of Secularism in Turkey (pp. 35-54).
Routledge.
Haj, S. (2008). Reconfiguring Islamic tradition: reform, rationality, and modernity. Stanford
University Press.
Toth, J. (2013). Sayyid Qutb: The life and legacy of a radical Islamic intellectual. Oxford
University Press.