Interesting facts about how religion appeared

If we asked the priest where the religion came from, his answer would most likely be rooted in theology. The same is true for rabbis, imams, yogis and others. We believe that the source of our personal faith will answer the questions about its origin. Once Arthur Schopenhauer: "Everyone has the limits of his own vision for the world's borders."

Religion was the result of ... death?

Nevertheless, we partially associate spiritual practices with infinity, just as we suppose that the "soul" resides within our flesh until it is liberated. Death, in fact, is often seen as the main component of religion. Rituals and beliefs about the afterlife give "antidote", but at the same time require considerable responsibility.

This view appeared relatively recently. The historian of religion Karen Armstrong also suggests that the main cause of her death was death, although, perhaps, not as we expect. In her latest book, The Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence in the World, she writes: "Much of what we now call religion was originally rooted in the recognition of the tragic fact that life depends on the destruction of other living beings. The rituals were designed to help people reconcile themselves to this insoluble dilemma. "

Dilemmas of primitive people

It is interesting to note that this dilemma arose because of the need to kill animals for extraction, and not because of the killing of other people. As our ancestors developed ethics in growing societies, living in larger and more diverse groups, our paradoxes could not remain veiled. While people helped their families and friends, they regularly took life from other animals, many of whom (in their own way) did the same.

How could a bipedal animal, which has benefited from the development of the neocortex, realize that it craves security in an unstable world, but at the same time must kill for the sake of eating other living things? The fact that this is a biological inheritance is beyond doubt. But there is one more question: how could a person create life on the one hand, while on the other hand it was necessary to constantly take it?

How did the first rituals appear?

Remember the rough tools that these primitive hunters used to kill animals. They still could not take advantage of gunpowder or modern hunting equipment, which is now available to wealthy tourists. As Armstrong notes, the ancient arrows could hardly penetrate the animal's skin. That's why the tips of arrows began to cause poison, and the hunters could only wait until it worked, and track the animal. It turns out that it was at the moment when such a way of hunting appeared, and the thing that now we call religion was born.

As the animal died, the hunters gathered around him, stroking his head and singing songs. If the animal screamed because of the pain, they cried and empathized. They perceived this as a sacrifice that helps them to survive. Our ancestors knew that they were part of this process, and did not exist separately from it. This is how the ritual appeared.

Modern vision of religion

Only the romance of long-past eras can claim that earlier life was much easier than now. As Armstrong writes, the early people loved hunting. Many continue this trend today. This is also embedded in our DNA, like emotions. And the ideology that we developed helped us to cope with the knowledge that we, like animals, will have to die.

But the modern vision of the natural world leads to confusion. In a world where science rules, and religion is perceived as a building, where you must go at certain times of the year, something special is lost.

Throughout his book Armstrong argues that our understanding of what we now call religion is a relatively recent invention, cherished by secular achievements in Europe and America in the past 200 years. This means that there was no phenomenon called religion separate from everyday life. The cosmic and the everyday existed together.

Difficulties of perception

It's hard to imagine this connection when for the sake of survival you no longer need to kill anyone, and you buy meat in a store packed and already boneless. It is even more difficult to understand this in modern hunting, where you stand at a distance of hundreds of meters from the animal and pull the trigger. And it's not about qualifications or convenience. It is about empathy. We do not have enough emotions, because we are already very far from our origin.

History of creation

In his classic work on this topic, Mircea Eliade wrote: "More useful than classifying myths and finding their possible origin is to study their structure and the role they play in the spiritual experience of a primitive person."

The history of creation is very important: it brings us back to earth. Knowledge of where the tradition arose will help us to trace the vicissitudes of ideology for millennia. Sometimes it's good. We all know the Biblical, Qur'anic and other theological passages concerning the slavery and enslavement of women, which should not play any role in our modern world. We have evolved, and for the most part this is a positive development.

But sometimes old wisdom has value. Our ancestors understood, if they take something, then it is necessary to give something in return. Rituals that may seem strange to us today were attempts to do so.