COUNSELING AS AN EFFORT TO EMPOWER THE SASAK COMMUNITY IN UNDERSTANDING RELIGION AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

Abstract

Counseling here is an effort to bring about people's understanding of the differences they face, be it religious or cultural differences. The Sasak people have various forms of religion and culture, so this is their characteristic from other communities, especially in Lombok. With these differences in religion and culture, counseling here has a very significant empowering role in providing understanding to the community so as to foster an attitude of respect for differences. The research method used, apart from using observation methods, also includes library research by reviewing previous research literature and analyzing contemporary phenomena. Data collection also uses searching for writings that examine people's understanding of religious and cultural differences, whether from journals, books or other media. The research results show that the Sasak people who use this counseling have a significant role in providing understanding to the community about differences. Therefore, the Sasak community emphasizes counseling actions by referring to religious and cultural figures. These figures certainly have extensive knowledge and strong power or influence as figures in society, so they play an important role in providing understanding to the Sasak people about religious and cultural differences in everyday life. These figures act because they are in line with their agenda in providing awareness to society in understanding differences and maintaining society so that they live in harmony as a characteristic of Indonesian society which always wants to live united in harmony and harmony even though they are different and diverse