The Elementary Forms of Religious Life Reflected in Eric Weiner’S Man Seeks God (2011): Sociological Approach
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THE ELEMENTARY FORMS OF RELIGIOUS LIFE REFLECTED IN ERIC WEINER’S MAN SEEKS GOD (2011): SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH Compiled as one of the requirements for completing the Undergraduate Study Program at the English Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education By : ERVILIA PRAWINDA SARI A320140087 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVARSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH SURAKARTA 2021 i ii iii THE ELEMENTARY FORMS OF RELIGIOUS LIFE REFLECTED IN ERIC WEINER’S MAN SEEKS GOD (2011): SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH Abstrak Man Seeks God adalah novel karya Eric Weiner yang menceritakan perjalanan penulis menemukan Tuhan dengan mengeksplorasi delapan mendalami delapan agama di dunia. Penulis tertarik untuk menganalisa novel ini untuk menceritakan bagaimana seseorang menemukan keyakinannya melalui perjalanan yang dia lakukan dan menemukan banyak agama dari negara lain. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah: 1) untuk mengetahui perjalanan Eric Weiner dalam pencarian dewa yang digambarkan dalam novel; 2) untuk mengetahui bentuk-bentuk dasar kehidupan beragama yang tercermin dalam perjalanan Eric Weiner ditinjau dari pendekatan sosiologis; 3) untuk mengetahui bagaimana masalah yang dihadapi oleh Eric Weiner dalam perjalanannya mencari Tuhan. Penulis menerapkan metode penelitian kualitatif dalam melakukan penelitian. Sumber data primer dalam penelitian ini adalah novel “Man Seeks God” karya Eric Weiner (2011) yang disempurnakan dan ditulis ulang dengan judul: Geography of Faith (2016). Dokumentasi, pustaka, metode browsing, dan teknik pencatatan merupakan metode pengumpulan data. Analisis data menggunakan teknik deskriptif kualitatif tentang pengumpulan data, reduksi, penyajian, verifikasi dan penarikan kesimpulan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa: 1) Perjalanan Eric Weiner mencari Tuhan dimulai dari sufi dengan cinta Tuhan, kemudian bermeditasi di Tibet, mengabdi bersama Fransiskan di New York, bersenang-senang dengan Raelian, kemudian melatih chi-nya dengan para Taois di Cina. Kembali ke AS, dia bergaul dengan para penyihir Wicca dan kesurupan hewan bersama para pengikut Shamanisme. Di akhir perjalanan, dia kembali ke ritual Kabbalah di Yerusalem. Weiner membangun bahwa Tuhan adalah semua hal yang baik; 2) Dari 8 agama yang diuraikan dalam novel, terdapat persamaan dalam dasar-dasar kehidupan beragama yang mengharuskan manusia untuk beribadah (ritual), mencintai diri sendiri, berbuat baik kepada orang lain dan tidak mementingkan diri sendiri dengan kepentingan pribadi. Agama mengajarkan bagaimana menyembah Tuhan dan mengajarkan kebaikan dalam kehidupan bermasyarakat. Agama yang baik juga merupakan agama yang membuat manusia lebih tinggi; 3) Weiner dalam perjalanannya menemui berbagai masalah: dia tidak menemukan jawaban yang cocok untuk menjawab siapa Tuhan itu. Weiner juga merasa cemas karena harus mengikuti ritual perdukunan untuk menjadi roh binatang. Orang Yahudi juga terlalu banyak mengatur. Jawaban untuk mengatasi masalah ini Weiner menulis kalimat yang menginspirasi: “Agama yang buruk menjatuhkan kita. Agama yang baik meninggikan kita, membuat kita lebih baik dari yang kita pikirkan atau mungkin lebih baik dari yang dapat kita bayangkan. Kata kunci: perjalanan mencari Tuhan, bentuk-bentuk dasar, pendekatan sosiologis, novel Man Seeks God Abstract Man Seeks God is a novel created by Eric Weiner which tells the author's journey to find God by exploring the eight explore the eight religion in the world. The writer is interested to analyze this novel to tells how a man finds his faith by the journey that he made and come across many religions from the others countries. The purposes of the 1 study are: 1) to find out the journey of Eric Weiner in seeks of god depicted in the novel; 2) to find out the elementary forms of religious life reflected in the journey of Eric Weiner reviewed from sociological approach; 3) to find out how the problems faced by Eric Weiner on his journey to seeks of God. The writer applies the qualitative research method in conducting the research. The primary data source of the study is “Man Seeks God” novel by Eric Weiner (2011), which refined and rewritten with the title: Geography of Faith (2016). Documentation, library, browsing method, and notes taking techniques are method to collect the data. Analysis of the data uses the descriptive qualitative technique about collecting the data, reducing, displaying, than verifying and conclusion. The result of study shows that: 1) Eric Weiner's journey to seek God started from Sufis with love of God, then meditated in Tibet, serve with the Franciscans in New York, having fun with the Raelians, then practicing his chi with the Taoists in China. Back in the US, he coiled up with the Wicca witches and animal trances with the followers of Shamanism. At the end of the trip, he returned at the Kabbalah ritual in Jerusalem. Weiner constructs God is all good things; 2) All of the 8 religions described in the novel, there are similarities in the fundamentals of religious life which require humans to worship (rituals), love themselves, do good to others and do not concern themselves with personal interests. Religion teaches how to worship God and teaches goodness in social life. A good religion is also a religion that makes human beings higher; 3) Weiner on his way encountered various problems: he did not find a suitable answer to answer who God is. Weiner also felt anxious about having to follow a shamanic ritual to become an animal spirit. The Jews too were too much with rules. The answer to overcoming this problem Weiner wrote an inspiring sentence: “Bad religion takes us down. Good religion exalts us, makes us better than we think or maybe better than we can imagine. Keywords : seeks of god journey, elementary forms, sociological approach, Man Seeks God novel 1. INTRODUCTION Literature as an oral or written work that has various characteristic features such as originality, artistry, beauty in content and expression, Panuti Sudjiman (1986 : 68) . Literature is an art in some materials. Literature also give the viewers, readers, and audience entertain. The example are like movie, novel, poetry,etc. This study will focused on the novel from Eric Weiner’s Man seeks God, which takes religion as its main issue. The reason to analyze this novel is because this novel is very interesting and this novel gives us some knowledge of the power as discussed. Also this novel teaches us how to respect and tolerate other religious communities. According to Reville, “ Religion is the determination of human life by the sentiment of a bond uniting the human mind to that mysterious mind whose domination of the world and itself recognizes and to whom it delights in feeling itself united .” 2 (Mawuntu and Krasnov, 2019:33). The religion is a guidance that organize human pattern of life. The goal of religion is avoid human from anything that dangerous for human. The religion has bond that should be obedient come from one of the greatest power as an unseen power because it cannot be seen by human sense but has great impact for human life. Glock and Stark (1965) define religion using Durkheim’s Religion, or what societies hold to be sacred, comprises an institutionalized system of symbols, beliefs, values, and practices focused on the question of ultimate meanings. In this quote, Glock and Stark start their generalization of Durkheim’s definition of religion by equating or placingreligion on a par with “what societies hold to be sacred”. The “sacred”, writes Glock and Stark, is however defined as something that “provide, or symbolize, solutionsto questions of ultimate meaning. 2. METHOD In this research, the researcher uses a qualitative research. According to Ashley(2018) qualitative research is a type of social science research that collects and works with non- numerical data and that seeks to interpret meaning from these data that help us understand social life through the study of targeted populations or places. Thus, this reearch It is a library research while data sources need literary data. This kind of research has purpose to analyze literature using sociological approach. There are some steps to conduct the research. They are (1) determining the type of the study (2) determining the object of the study (3) determining data and data source (4) determining technique of data collection, and (5) determining technique of data analysis. 3. FINDING AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Finding Eric Weiner is a former foreign correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR) and the author of numerous articles about travel and culture. He spent a decade overseas for NPR, based in New Delhi, Jerusalem and Tokyo. He obtained his degree from the University of Maryland and in 2003, was a Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University. In 1992 Weiner joined NPR, working for their Washington Bureau until 1994. While there he was given work with an emphasis on business and economics. He then joined the Foreign Desk. In 1993, NPR sent Weiner to India and he was the 3 network's first full-time correspondent in that country. While in New Delhi for two years, he covered the bubonic plague, India's economic reforms, and many others. In 1994 he was awarded the Angel Award for his coverage of Islamic issues in Asia.[3] From 1995 until 1999 he was based in Jerusalem as NPR's Middle East Correspondent, and was part of the team of NPR reporters who won a special citation in the 1998 Overseas Press Club for their coverage of Israel's 50th anniversary. He has reported from over 30 countries. His essays and commentary have appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, The New Republic, AFAR magazine, BBC.com and many other publications. While with NPR, he has also served as a correspondent in New York City, Miami, and Washington. Books written by Eric Weiner include: The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World (Grand Central Publishing, 2008), Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine (Grand Central Publishing, 2011). Refined and rewritten with the title: Geography of Faith (Hachette Twelve Books, 2016).