At what point in the evolution of life did an
awareness of the repeated cycle of seasons begin? An awareness of a
repeated cycle of motion in the night sky? An interest in cave art?
The concept of a deity? None of these occurred over night, but
gradually over a very long period of time to become an accepted
consensus of the tribe.
Migrating animals (geese, monarch butterflies,
gray whales, wildebeests, etc.) demonstrate a knowledge of changing
seasons. Although some migrate due to extreme temperature changes or
climatic conditions, others migrate in an oft repeated pattern in
search of food and water resources initiated by climatic changes
between dry and wet seasons.
Mankind has followed some of these same migration
patterns. Very early hominids seemed content to remain in one place
as their comfort and security were supported by the knowledge of the
locale and accessible sources of food and water. As family
populations grew in number and encroached upon each others territory,
it became necessary to search out new and less contentious
competition for food, eventually spreading all around the world. In
temperate climate zones, the tendency was to remain semi-permanent
residents as long as food and water sources were accessible. In more
hostile climactic zones of both cold and hot, the tendency was to
constantly migrate following the sources of food and water.
During cloudless daytime hours, it is relatively
easy to determine directions of North, South, East, and West and the
time of day. During a cloudless night sky, and the recording of star
patterns over a period of time, it becomes possible to determine
one's location and predict the change of seasons. These were the
rudimentary methods which allowed early hominids to expand their
living and migrating areas. Over many seasons and annual cycles man's
observations and knowledge of the heavens and the earth continued to
grow. Much of this early knowledge was documented in oral traditions
of stories, myths, legends and experiences of the family groups and
tribes. Early methods of physically recording this information took
many forms. Objects such as stones, sticks, wood, etc., were used to
mark on which aided in remembering stories of their history and
ancestors.
Much of early
human's primary food sources consisted of vegetation, roots, leaves,
fruit, berries, etc. many of which also produced stains and dyes of
various colors that were used primarily as body paint for gender and
tribal identification. It was not long until the scribes and artists
of the tribes found these useful to mark on rocks and walls of caves
for recording stories of tribal history. These drawings were used to
identify territories and the types of animals that were best used for
food, clothing and utensils. Some of these drawings illustrated
hunting methods and identified animals to be feared and avoided. Many
of these rock and cave drawings have been dated as old as 35,000
years ago.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/08/cave-art-indonesia-sulawesi
As early hominids
evolved and their numbers spread over the planet they encountered
ever new and often threatening conditions which needed to be
remembered and communicated. Their rudimentary languages became more
sophisticated in sounds, words and gestures as their need to
communicate increased.
Climatic conditions such as rain were a familiar
experience to hominids as they grew up in these elements and were for
the most part uncomfortable, but non-threatening. Lightning is a
sometimes thing and did not always accompany the rains. When it did
occur it was a fearful experience and recognized as a life
threatening element from which one needed to seek shelter. Other
natural phenomena that could not be explained and incited great fear
were earthquakes, volcanoes, flash floods, grass or forest fires,
tsunamis, etc. The hominid's and all animals' response to encounters
of this nature was to flee as quickly as possible.
Eventually, the consensus of reasoning hominids
was that these disasters were caused by mysterious and unseen forces.
Human characteristics were applied to these forces and they were
believed to be content during peaceful times, and angry during times
when disasters occurred. It was far better in the land when the
mysterious forces were happy and did not cause disasters to plague
the humans. So it was that humans came to believe that things which
made humans happy might also make the mysterious forces happy, such
as desirable gifts. Eventually the most desirable gifts were
assembled from the group and presented to the mysterious forces at
designated locations and times in the hope that they would appease
and make the mysterious forces happy so they did not torment the
humans with threatening disasters.
Very early in humane history it was recognized
that when an animal or person was killed and the blood drained from
their bodies, the animal or person was dead, and unrevivable. It was
assumed that the life of the animal or person was contained in the
blood which had been drained from the body. If the animal or foe had
been a mighty adversary, it was believed that to drink or consume
their blood would would transfer and enhance the powers of the person
drinking the blood. When desirable gifts presented to the mysterious
forces did not spare the people from the wrath of natural disasters,
they raised the value of the gifts to include the life (blood) of
animals, enemies and/or victims of the tribe or culture. These
practices of animal or human sacrifices became embedded in many
cultures and are still practiced by some cultures today. If, and
when, the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem is restored, the practice of
animal sacrifice for the atonement of sin will also be resumed, as
the Holy Temple was the only place blood sacrifices were allowed to
take place.
At some point in every evolving culture, someone,
probably seated around the family or tribal campfire, would ask the
question, “Where did we (humans) come from?” As each culture
attempted to answer this question, there would be many great stories
assembled from whatever fragments of memory, or imagination, the
older generations could remember. The stories grew with each telling
and retelling until they became a legend of heroic proportion. Some
stories credited the forces responsible for the mysterious natural
disasters with the creation of their world and all of its life forms,
to elicit gifts from humans. Forces of lightning, earthquakes,
volcanoes, floods, fire, etc., were given names with human traits. A
few shrewd members of each culture claimed a special talent for being
able to communicate with the mysterious forces and translating the
desires of each deity to the tribe or culture. These became known as
Shaman, Witchdoctors, Medicine Men, Holy Men, Priests and also became
the recipients of the valuable gifts (first born, best of the herd,
flocks or agriculture, etc.) presented to the mysterious forces.
Through their alleged talents of communicating with deities, they
became the official keepers of tribal history, traditions and
knowledge that had been handed down from generation to generation
through oral traditions to answer the questions of creation, etc.
True to their human nature, these persons edited ancient creation
stories in ways that would enhance their position and authority
within the culture.
When suitable methods were devised to record the
history and traditions of a culture in a written form, the Priests
(et. al.) would be the first to record this information according to
their limited understanding and biases. Thus began the written
theology of many cultures, with many deities, many creation stories
and many rules of behavior to appease the deities involved.
During these early times of founding deities,
animals were recognized as having two distinguishing characteristics,
its body and its life blood. Separate the life blood from the
animal's body and it died. Humans were believed to have these same
two basic traits, as well as a third – the first triune phenomena.
The essence of a person, their character, personality, and
intelligence constituted the third characteristic and was called a
spirit. When death occurred for humans, the spirit departed the body
and became a ghost which continued to dwell among the tribe for a
time. The amount of time the ghost lingered was dependent upon the
length of time the deceased person was remembered in story or deed.
When the deceased person was no longer known or remembered, their
spirit/ghost disappeared. In later cultures the spirit also became
known as a soul and when separated from the body, proceeded to an
everlasting spiritual realm where it was either rewarded or punished
based upon the conduct of the person during their lifetime. Several
cultures arrived at similar beliefs to answer the question, “What
happens when we die?”
There exists today over 50 different ancient
religious texts, all claiming communication with a deity as its
source, and as many religions to support these beliefs. Each expounds
upon its own version of creation, Gods, rules/laws of behavior, and
all claim to be founded in truth. Some of the oldest known religions
(African Traditional & Diasporic) date back beyond 5000 BCE,
while some of the most recent religious texts and religions have
taken their current form during the mid 20th century.
Who can claim possession of “the truth” when
all we see are only fragments of truth, as illustrated in the story
of seven blind men who were describing what an elephant looked like
from their limited perspective.
Just as an infant of almost all species (bat,
wolf, primate, human, etc.) is only aware of its immediate
environment, breast, mother, a world limited to a mother's arm reach,
or the safety of a den, its world expands as it grows and matures. As
we grow in stature and knowledge our horizons expand to encompass a
larger world around us. So it is with our historical maturity. Ten
thousand years ago our knowledge of the world was very limited and
the world must have seemed overwhelmingly threatening and mysterious.
However, for humans, mysteries are challenges to be solved in the
best way we know how. Early humans used their limited knowledge and
applied it to producing what seemed at the time to be reasonable
answers for which they had no adequate knowledge.
Today our world and knowledge encompass a much
greater field of vision than that of the ancestors who first began
writing philosophical or theological answers to unexplained
phenomena. We can now explain why and how earthquakes, volcanoes,
forest fires, tsunamis, rainbows, lightning, etc. happen, and even
make predictions of these events to within some measure of accuracy.
Reason is and has been a major factor in determining the direction we
have taken philosophically, and reason tells us that some things are
just not reasonable. It would seem unreasonable that a creator of the
universe, who has demonstrated a power and knowledge so immense,
would not have the ability to communicate with humans in a manner
that did not create such diverse and conflicting versions of truth.
Or, be limited to any meaningful contact or encounters with only a
handful of humans extremely infrequently over a ten thousand year
period, leaving humans to “fill-in-the-blanks,” as it were, with
a very limited understanding and knowledge.
There is nothing,
and no place in the universe to remotely suggest the existence of an
afterlife of a heaven or a hell. There is more than sufficient reason
and evidence to recognize the possession of an innate drive in all
life forms, both flora and fauna, of a fierce will to survive and
attempt to delay the inevitable end that will come to us all. The
theological stories of an afterlife was created by man (Witchdoctors,
etc.) to influence personal behavior in this life and to convince
their followers of a fabricated HOPE that they might transcend death
to a destination that would not only relieve them from any physical
limitations and access immortality, but to reap generous rewards for
a life of obedient conduct.
FAITH
is the firm BELIEF in something for which there is NO
PROOF.
“Faith
is a confidence in what we HOPE FOR and an
assurance about what we do not see.”
In the realm of
reasonable theories, there is no evidential support for an eternal
afterlife destination of a soul. There is, however, evidential fact
that the dust from long dead stars, are the atoms used to compose our
physical existence and will be released at some point after the
occurrence of our death, to be used again and again by biological DNA
to form molecules for the construction and growth of new biological
materials, either flora or fauna. A cycle that is, like the atoms
themselves, eternal.
The spirit of man
has all of the hallmarks of his physical and evolutionary development.
From primitive primate ancestors to modern man capable of advanced
reasoning and creativeness with a vision expanding into a universe
larger than his imagination. A sequence of baby steps that are
expanding to a full stride of foot prints that stretch from earth to
the moon. None of which was ever foretold by any of the ancient
texts.
