The Concept of Purity and Danger: Essay Sample

The concept of purity and danger was developed in the ninetieth century to apply a block that should separate the world's great religions. A specialist whose domain revolves around this particular concept has brought forth arguments about how people should take their stands on cleanliness and uncleanliness. There are beliefs of horrible disasters such as dread, fear, terror, and more, which resort that other peculiarities will be held accountable for the idea of pollution. In this paper, the focus is to explain the concept of 'dirt' and show how it expands to inform the definition of evil.

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Mary Douglas factors in a self-view point on the concept of stain. She generalizes a vast knowledge that everyone has on dirt being a nuisance. The idea of the whole earth is not part of her. She claims that every other person has his way of figuring out what is clean and what is not, what is right and what is wrong, and whether there is a concept of partial or absolute stain. It all happens in the eye of the bearer. “When we do not want to be associated with impurity, it is not because we want to take sides between fearing being dirty or being so pure nor do we have it all in our heads that diseases attack us proportionally to the level of purities or impurities around us” (Mary, 2001). The concept of dirt creates an aspect of disorder in people's surroundings, not wanting to be part of the dirt ‘domain’.

Doing away with dirt is not an unwise decision to make, but an effective way to facilitate an orderly surrounding for a better stay. In an attempt to eliminate uncleanliness, ensure neatness and ensure proper disposal, one should not be driven by the fact of trying to escape illnesses caused by germs but have a definite concept of being tidy at all times (Mary, 2001). Uncleanliness should not create a feeling of fear within individuals since it will fuel tolerance or avoidance hence make them live in an untidy environment. Better still, everyone has a decision to make and live in an unpolluted domain.

The concept of ‘dirt' mentioned in her book Purity and Danger elaborates on what real evil is and what it entails. The society beholders evil in different ways, some have this notion of fear at the sound of darkness and in the eyes of evil. Some individuals in the community will tend to distance themselves from wrongdoings and maintain a standard of being right; some worst still view the concept of wrongdoing as taboo. Anyone that associates with evil is cursed, and some individuals sadly have an idea that evil belongs to specifics in the society and that not everyone gets in messes.

Like the vivid understanding and explanation of Mary Douglas on the concept of 'dirt,' evil is part of society. The idea of 'evil' just like that of dirt should not be ignored. The notion of corruption has an essential place in all religious, ethnic, social, and political thinking and, therefore, the need to restore it and not ignore it. Being a wrongdoer in the society creates guilt in the community, and the fear of walking heads up by any wrongdoer becomes part of the consequences. Moral discourse should not just be ignored for lack of explanatory power and that the incept of vile can cause harm when used in matters of legality, politics, and ethics. Still, a societal approach on how to instill morality should be initiated. When jurisdictions are put in place to punish wrongs, full support towards the same should be implied. This brings order, respect, discipline, and unity in the society when the stipulated laws of correcting wrongs are followed to the latter. The point of view of evil for individuals cannot be said to be on the eye of the beholder, unlike dirt, but sin always seems to be in, whether seen as small or big. The community is so enraged at the concept of wrong, and most people who fall victim and are given second chances always count themselves lucky.

Religious or supernatural conceptions of evil are always related to the paranormal strengths or beings, mostly in the imaginary scopes. The mammoth of narrations, such as buzzards, sorceresses, and werewolves, are hinted to be elements of ungodly acts. These beings have strengths, magical incantations, and capacities that are unexplainable by inventors and scientists, and humans cannot comprehend that. Vile, for example, in scary films are shown to be as a result of evil forces or ungodly possession, the same relates to the discussion of the supernatural conceptions of wrongs. Most researches still have some elements of doubts about the religious notions of 'evil' better, yet they are used in the theoretical context (Cole, 2006).

As a society, we cannot continue in the mere view as men, base our understanding of vile to the supernatural inception of despicable that was given to us by researchers and ‘Evil-analyst’ earlier on. Better still, we ought to provide an objective analysis of the religious conceptions of vile, which do not necessarily referrer to the enchanters’ forces, buzzards, mammoths, and supernatural spirits but give a general approach of the term 'vile.' 'Vile-analysts' are on the verge of trying to offer a plausible view on the evil which does not rely on one side of belief but gives a societal approach to the concept of sin and how to handle it (Cole, 2006).

In conclusion, the matters of 'dirt' and 'evil' are vast, and it is at times best if they hold the individualistic approach in society. If opinions are jotted down on how to handle vile foe instance, they end up bringing an element of skeptic view to an individual. The idea remains viable if, at any defined moment, one can know the wrongs and do away with them when one can do away with even minor detectable dirt and restore the necessary order needed in a place.

References

Cole, P. (2006). The Myth of Evil: Demonizing the Enemy. Westport, Connecticut. Praeger publishers.

Mary Douglas (2001). Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. New York, NY: 10001. Taylor and Francis Group Publishers.