Romero and Religious Drive

The Power of One's Religious Drive

Religion is not just a collaboration of spiritual ideas and writings from ancient books. Religion has become more than just that within our modern society. Some have went as far as to say that religion is the ultimate drive; that guides our human emotions, our actions, and even to some our very own existence. Though religion can be considered a broad topic, there are rooted ideas and concepts that almost all spiritual beliefs entail. Any person with some religious drive will ultimately face their own inner resistance at one point or another, and will be forced to overcome the profane world in which they live to understand the more spiritual and sacred life they choose to lead. These revelations within ones spiritual journey allow personal transformations to occur; resulting in greater religious understandings within their own lives.

What must first be understood is that the impact that religion has on each individuals life is astonishingly different. Michael Novak called this religious drive a sort of "voyage"; a part of every person's life. Despite the fact that each person is impacted in one way or another through religion; Novak believed that religion was not an "addition" to human qualities, but rather a unifying idea of all of human nature. The idea that religion is everywhere and affecting everyone allows an individual to understand what they (personally) expect from their own religious drives. Of course there are a few questions that arise in the thoughts of almost everyone; Who am I? What am I doing with my life? Are my actions right or wrong? These questions have no concrete answers or definitions; in fact most people live an entire life without being able to answer a single one. But the fact that people do find answers to these questions can bring true hope to the rest of the world. For those people that do find comfort through all the struggles of a religious drive; these people act as symbols of spirituality. As Novak stated, religion is a unifying idea; and if one person can find true faith and real protection from religious drives then it is possible for anyone to fulfill and understand the requirements of a spiritual path.

Interestingly enough, almost all literary reference to a religious drive embraces the idea of finding the sacred within a profane world. The profane world is considered everything physically around you; the simple acceptance that life is the way it is and that you are just a small insignificant portion of the larger scheme of life. Those lacking any religious drive tend to understand this concept more than most. Instead of attempting to find yourself or your place in such a world; many people simply accept this, ignoring any type of spiritual struggle. However, those few that are able to look past this simple anomaly, and believe that there is something greater around us, something that could bring forth a real change for the better. These people are those who are able to find the sacred within the profane.

In "A Short Film About Love", Kieslowski attempts to capture this revelation through the use of Tomek and Magda; characters whose entire lives encompassed all aspects of the profane world discussed above. For Magda, it would be a compliment to call her simply promiscuous, and for Tomek; shy but affirmative. For these two people their interactions with each other allowed both to see a world that neither knew existed before. The actions taken by Tomek in the earlier part of this film would leave most people disgusted and even angry at some points. Yet Magda found his actions to be interesting, and new. She revealed early on to Tomek that she believed nothing in the concept of love and that it was simply a figment of everyone's imaginations; some lost hope for people to cling onto throughout their truly pointless lives. Tomek helped this woman see past her own insecurities, see past who she thought she was. His constant attention to her; whether from stealing her mail, upsetting her private times, calling with no intention to make a sound, all led her to see something more in life, something that Tomek was able to see.

For Magda, Tomek's love for her allowed her to see what she could not feel nor understand. Magda's world was transformed from that of a simply profane world, to one where the sacred surrounded every action of her life. Tomek's unforgettable actions the night she made advancements toward him can be considered her own climactic ending of a life of nothing concrete; to a life full of feeling and emotion and real meaning. Novak said that religion unifies us all; Tomek and Magda show how ones spiritual drive can really influence those around them. It can even be considered that Tomek's brutal attacks on his own wrists that night; may have saved Magda from an eternity of a profane world.

Understanding the sacred world around you is not a simple task. Like Magda demonstrated in "A Short Film About Love" there is a great deal of inner resistance that one must overcome if they ever expect to understand what religious drive truly is. Inner resistance can be considered a person's own restraint in understanding something new and perhaps better. Resistance is not necessarily a bad thing; in fact your own inner resistance allows a person to understand in greater detail how strong their religious drive really is. Every person experiences an inner resistance; even when religious thought is not in question.

...