비판적 공감의 종교학 — 종교와 마음, 그리고 ‘자살’을 중심으로 —

초록

In this paper I have attempted to articulate “personal” human mind as the locus of our human reality. In human history we could not read any religious phenomena including suicide issues apart from human mind's involvement. It does not matter whether it would be religious devotee's case in each religious tradition or researcher's in various academic traditions. It could not be denied that religious phenomena would be various expressions evolved from human mind. Nevertheless the contemporary scientific approach to religious phenomena did not have been keenly attentive to personal human mind's dynamic involvement with religious issues until the early movements of the phenomenology and the psychology of religion emerged in the beginning period of religious studies in the late 19th and the early 20th century. Both movements perceived the common, fundamental problem of our modern intellectual world with fatal consequences for understanding religion in our modern world. At the core of this problem, a misplaced understanding of human understanding exists through an impersonalism or a conceptualism which does not attend to the locus of religion as this exists within the human mind and which exists as an ultimate fundamental point of reference. Such a misplaced emphasis eventually leads and has led to a loss of a sense of religion in modern culture which follows from not attending to what is happening within the interiority of human mind. Thus, for the depth understanding of religion, they began to be more attentive to the dimension of religious human mind. The phenomenological approach would focus on depth understanding on the devotee's mind in religious phenomena in relation to the researcher's attitude as epoche. Meanwhile the psychological approach would further develop the deeper dimension of religious human mind as the unconscious. They both transformed commonly the conceptual and the impersonal perspective of religious studies into the new orientation stressing human interiority. But the later developments of religious studies have been initiated for the establishment of a fundamental rule, epoche, in religious studies mainly by the phenomenological school until very recent times. This principle would have contributed deeply to the study of religion. Still it would continue to be indispensible for the study of religion. However it should not be enough for the development of religious studies. The study of religion should not stay simply in the dimension of epoche but unpack the embodiment of the devotee's mind in religious phenomena through researcher's critical development of one's mind or attitude beyond the understanding level. Especially until now the unconcerned levels--the value judgement and the decision--of the human mind should be more articulated for the development of religious studies. In fact, religious phenomena whether they would be primary or secondary would be the cumulative results derived from the various complex process of the experiencing, the understanding, the judging, and the deciding realms of the devotee's and the researcher's mind. Therefore the other levels of human mind should be integrated with the principle of epoche into the critical empathetic mind beyond the understanding level. Moreover, I do think that the hermeneutic direction of religious studies should be more focused on the critical ceaseless reading of the dynamic reading on the various levels of human mind's involvement with religious phenomena.

키워드