Enlightened and Romntic Views of God

Essay I During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe, change was always constant, and two different movements that were brought about by this change were the Enlightenment and the Romantic movements. These two different schools of thought had both things in common as well as differing opinions. An example of how this is applied is when the matter of God and religion is discussed.These two different views encompass a lot of similarities with regards to theological matters, but the main difference between the Enlightened and Romantic views of God is that Enlightenment does not put as much focus and emphasis on such matters as Romantic thinking does. The Enlightenment era was brought about during the time of scientific inquisition and governmental criticism. During this time, philosophers were writing sociological doctrines about how man is best governed, and scientists were pushing the boundaries and frontiers of their respective fields even farther.During this time, which also included such events as the French Revolution, religious affairs took a back seat to issues that were of a secular nature. As opposed to times before, where religious persecution was encouraged, thinkers of the Enlightenment period highly promoted religious toleration, and it was a more common policy during the Enlightenment than any time before that. There was a higher abundance of different religions and denominations because religion was not seen as imperative as it was before because there were many new things to learn that did not involve the church.One similarity between romanticism and the enlightenment is that each movement held an unconventional way of seeing God. Each movement valued an individual relationship with God, rather than the conventional way of congregationalism. Each movement was disdainful towards formal church groupings and the imposition of religious doctrines upon the individual. The Romantic Movement was similar to the Enlightenment in several ways. T hey were both influential events that were quite impactful, and they stressed unconventional methodology.These movements differed as well, and a main difference was that the enlightenment emphasized things that were within rationality, reason, and could be proved. Romanticism tended not to focus on such things, because it investigated the realms of human emotion, while the enlightenment was based on intellectual and logical principles. Hence, Romanticism held more of an interest of the relationship between God and the individual, because it had a lot to do with human emotion and things that were considered to be beyond human comprehension and reason.The enlightenment shied away from religious topics in order to focus on such fields as science and government. The Enlightenment and Romanticism both held things in common as well as significantly differed. The enlightened mind was more inclined to think about science, and the romantic mind was more prone to theological thoughts. Each we re similar in the fact that they believed in the individual discovering the truth about God rather than blindly listening to a group’s opinion. In general, each movement saw God in a similar way with different details.

“Hamlet” Monologue Analysis Essay

The text to be or not to be by William Shakespeare refers to the paradox of life and death. He starts the poem by questioning himself: is it worth to exist or not, and by existing he is referring to the human ability of thinking; in the sense of: I exist because I can think. This issue is developed throughout the poem were the action of thinking deals with the decision of; should I live or not and it certainly becomes an obstacle to make that decision. In that sense the poem transmits that the innate human quality of thinking is what makes us weak instead of being a useful tool to make right decisions. In other words, despite we can perceive a solution to our problems (death), we are incapable of taking action (committing suicide) because we have the eternal problem of thinking. â€Å"To be or not to be, that is the question† this is the phrase that opens the poem, and in a sense, it is like a synthesis of what the author is going to explain later. He is referring to the verb â€Å"to be† practically the same as â€Å"to exist†. The question is: should I live? And by that he is considering that, by being humans, we have the ability to think. In some sort of way, Shakespeare is leading us to the paradox of life and death were human doubting is crucial in the understanding of the two, so there can be a decision. â€Å"to die, to sleep, No more; and by sleep to say we end the heart ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is hair to: it is a consummation devoutly to be wished† He is analyzing death and seeing it as the solution of the life he is living at the moment. In some way, he is confirming that being alive is a constant pain and so death is the unique pathway that would lead him to another life, a painless one. â€Å"Thus the conscience does make cowards of us all, and thus the native hue of resolution is slicked o’er with the pale cast of thought† This is the fragment in which the poem determines the reason why Hamlet haven’t decided yet nor taken action. This is the fragment were Shakespeare blames human thought for it being an obstacle when there is a decision to make, more precisely: human doubting explores the possible consequences of each action we are about to make, and by knowing them, we soon get afraid of our destiny  and of the unknown circumstances that will surrounds us later. Is an outlook to the future that force us to think back constantly. The doubt and the cowardness do not lead us anywhere. The text can be related to my life in the sense that it is the perfect explanation of the reason why we are afraid of making decisions. Every decision is premeditated and that is why we are uncapable of taking action. Besides, I believe that this reasoning of human thought as an obstacle when it comes to make a decision, applies to our daily life; We give up opportunities because we take a long time thinking, and that certainly is a huge obstacle to clarify our minds and make the right determination.