MULTIMODAL SEMIOTICS OF SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES: REPRESENTING BELIEFS, METAPHORS, AND ACTIONS



his vision of the afterlife all the commodities he didn’t have in this world by conceptualizing well-being as
wealth. In his drawing, his “piece of paradise” included a house on a piece of land, with a river and
waterfalls near it. What is particularly interesting is that in his drawing the house was for him and his wife
(even though in this world he’s doesn’t have a girlfriend), and his house has a chimney and a garage
nearby where to keep his many cars. His view of paradise is made of the projection of a wealthy and stable
life on earth, but transposed in paradise.

[Just a little side note, we’ve all probably heard about what happened with the Mormon sect in Texas,
when the police raided the compound last week and seized more than 400 children. I read yesterday1 that
the mothers are opening up to the media, trying to convince authorities to have their children back.
Someone testifying in favor of the Mormons said in the interview, "To really enjoy heaven, you have to be
married and you have to have your kids with you. Everything experienced on Earth will be in its more
perfected form in heaven.” Here were talking about the same metaphorical concept, which for them is
more than just metaphorical.]

Just like on earth you have to earn your way to have a home, the same can be said about paradise. By
doing morally positive actions in this world or, like Edward says, “doing the right thing”, he would be
repaid, and his earthly suffering is a sort of investment for the afterlife.

This metaphor is generally pervasive in religious reasoning, for example when Christians say that “Jesus
Christ died on the Cross to pay our debt of sin.” For Eastern belief systems, keeping account of the
individual’s moral actions is the way that Karma is maintained, and this concept is present in many
religious systems: there’s an investment and a payback, if you do something good, something good will
happen back.

12 But what exactly is “doing the right thing” for Edward? Let’s let him talk about it in his own words.

Clip1: Edward (00:26:50 - 00:27:02)

1. Well to put a short ah short story together it’s just

2. where people choose [and do THIS ]

3. in ah words [peop- other people tryin’ to do / THE [ RIGHT] THING /]

4. so e verybody’s< [over here doin’ %grunt-“THIS the devil thing]

1 Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN. “Experts: Sect opens up to retrieve children, hasten heaven” (April 28, 2008)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/28/flds.openness/index.html



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