Sexual Orgies Equated with Religious Goals

Weber’s article was very striking and what I chose to do my presentation on, so I will highlight some interesting points. In his article Weber attempts to show how with the introduction of social institutions and normative orders (social norms), certain things are given different meanings. He discusses sexual evolution in this light. He argues that sexual orgies are sublimated into eroticism in the light of social conventions. This eroticism fulfills the same physiological needs that sexual orgies fulfill but are now made appropriate. The fact that the sexual orgy can be sublimated is the very way in which it can transcend everyday life. Wolterstorff quotes Bell and states, “when we consider anything as an end in itself we become aware of that in it which is of greater moment than any qualities it may of acquired from keeping company with human beings”. (327) Although, Wolterstorff is eluding to the fact that forms or objects are ultimately one independent of it multiple characteristics, I think that one can relate it to Weber’s discussion. More precisely, the sexual orgy becomes something greater when it transcends everyday life.

Further, it appears to me that the religious orgies that Weber make reference to is in fact related to a heightened sense of joy or liberation much like that experienced by the ascetic or mystic. Could this be the ultimate goal that rasa is suppose to being in poetry? What I find particularly interesting is the fact that in this section of his work, is how the aesthetics dimension is very integral to religious traditions. More particularly sexual orgies which are usually a part of the art world are closely related to eliciting religious responses and emotions.

This is cleverly connected to his section on Religion and art in which he shows how in the beginning religion and art are seen as together, and then later in time when art begins to have its own distinct categories and becomes a study for the academics, religion no longer is in dialogue with it. He goes on to clarify that religion becomes irrational in the eyes of the aesthetic academic and vice versa. This idea of what is irrational and rational clearly plays a role in the evolution of social conventions. I believe he attempts to illustrate that with secularism religion becomes more irrational. As a result he highlights how religion and aesthetics once attached are collapsed as a result of historical processes. What becomes religious is no longer aesthetics and vice versa.

Lastly, his discussion of women is very intriguing. Weber discusses how women were in fact the cause of sexual energies because if they were not created then man in fact would not feel sexual urges (this he illustrates in a negative light). If in fact this is the case then there should have been no reason why women were looked down upon in society today. More specifically, Weber gives sexual energies a positive twist in his article by relating it to religious goals and experiences. One could simply say that women then were the very cause of religion because they gave off the energy needed for a heightened religious experience.

There is only one predominant question in my mind. In Weber’s article, it seems that religion and aesthetics are a part of a specific formula or has a specific structure, what happens when this structure collapses? In other words, what shifts would we see in these terms? Would they be different from its primitive meanings or the same?
Quick Note: Good Luck to everybody in their future endeavors!