The Origin Of Religion

+THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION+

OF RELIGION

In order to understand mainstream philosophical and theosophical perceptions of the different religions of today - especially of mainstream Christianity, we first have to have an understanding of how religion and the beliefs of God, the supernatural, divinity and spirituality, came about amongst our ancestral fathers.

These are some basic terms that one must know for the proceedings on the chapter:

As per the Oxford Dictionary

• RELIGION – 1 the belief in a superhuman controlling power, esp. in a personal God or gods entitled to obedience and worship. 2 the expression of this in worship. 3 a particular system of faith and worship. 4 life under monastic vows (the way of religion). 5 a thing that one is devoted to (football is their religion). [Middle English via Anglo-French ‘religiun’, Old French ‘religion’ from Latin ‘religio –onis ]

• CULT – 1 a system of religious worship esp. as expressed in ritual. 2 a devotion or homage to a person or thing (the cult of aesthecism). 3 a popular fashion esp. followed by a specific section of society. 4 (attrib.) denoting a person or thing popularized in this way (cult film; cult figure). [Fre4nch ‘culte’ or Latin ‘cultus’ , from ‘colere cult- ]

• OCCULT – 1 involving the supernatural; mystical, magical. 2 kept secret; esoteric. 3 recondite, mysterious; beyond the range of ordinary knowledge. 4 Med. Not obvious on inspection. [Latin occulere occult- OB-, celare ‘hide’>]

• SECT – 1 a body of people subscribing to religious doctrines different from those of others within the same religion; a group deviating from orthodox tradition, often regarded as heretical. 2 a body separated from an established Church; a nonconformist Church. 3 the followers of a particular philopher or philosophy. [Middle English from Old French ‘secte’ or Latin ‘secta’, from the stem of ‘sequi secut-‘ ]
• MYSTERY – 1 a secret, hidden or inexplicable matter. 2 secret undisclosed. 3 a religious truth divinely revealed, esp. one beyond human reason. 4 the secret religious rites of ancient Greeks, Romans, etc. [Middle English via Old French ‘mistere’ or Latin ‘mysterium’ from Greek ‘musterion’, related to mystic]

• MYSTIC – 1 a person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity or identity with or absorption into the Diety or the ultimate reality, or who believes in the spiritual apprehension of truths that are beyond the understanding. 2 spiritually allegorical or symbolic. [Middle English via Old French ‘mystique’ or Latin ‘mysticus’ from Greek ‘mustikos’, via ‘mustes’ from ‘muo’ ]

I feel that the concept of God came about ever since the creation of man. God was the answer to all the questions that couldn’t be answered, like questions of how the world was created and how man came about. God was perceived as a supernatural form of energy and in many cases light, as we see in the ancient Vedas of the Hindus and in the various scriptures of the Buddhists.

Man started worshiping various forms of nature like trees, animals, seas or water, fire, earth and most of all the Sun. basically, man worshipped things of nature that was perceived to be life givers or sustainers. Sun-worship was very prevalent in the world for most of human history. Man observed that the Sun gave light and heat, he also noticed that the Sun was the most important for agriculture. In ancient Egypt, it was believed that the Creator was concealed in the Sun. the greeks called it the ruler of the world. Godfrey Higgins states that in Hindu mythology, Brahme is the Sun also known as ‘Surya’, and Brahma, the Creator, sprang out of the navel of Brahme or the Sun. Max Muller states that, the Santhals in India called the Sun ‘Chandro’, meaning bright. They would tell the missionaries who came to convert them, that Chandro created the world, the missionaries found it absurd and they would then get the reply - "We do not mean the visible Chandro, but an invisible one."

Man also worshipped animals since they used to learn many survival techniques and culture from them. For example, the bee was worshipped in ancient Egypt since early Egyptians had learned the concept of society and coordination of the various activities to help them survive, by observing how bees used to live. Another prevailing example that is seen today, is the worshipping of the cow in India amongst Hindus. The cow gives us milk and helps us in agriculture. The cow is also considered as man’s mother in Hindu philosophy, and that is why Hinduism forbids the consumption of beef.

Pythagoras is presently remembered only for his math theories. Very few people know that he was a great Pagan sage in Greece, where he was believed to have the power of stopping the rain or even improving harvests. He felt that religion is all about knowing the truth and having good moral values and that God was not a being who is seated above the world, beyond the skies, but is diffused in every aspect of nature. Thus the idea – God is everywhere.

Later man started viewing the different element and objects of nature as having a gender of male, female and in many ways androgynous (ambiguous) genders. Nature as a whole was perceived to be of the feminine gender and was called ‘mother’ as in ‘motherland’ or ‘mother nature’. Female deities representing love, beauty and fertility, were worshipped. Therefore God or the creator was perceived more as female deities than male ones and with the increase of knowledge and observation, and God came to be perceived as a dual-unity, an invincible force of both male and female elements thus making God androgynous. Max Muller in his book – “Origin and Growth of Religion”, states that it was believed that the sky was the husband of the Earth and the Earth was the mother of all gods.

Various scholars like Inman believe that the various description of God in the Bible are allegorical in nature and signify the duality of God. The story of Jacob and Esau of Genesis signify that Jacob represents female energy integrated in nature and of the great mass of people who believed in the superiority of the feminity of nature. On the other hand Esau is said to signify the great mass of people who believed in male superiority. This thus metaphorically explains the clash between the two ideologies. (read both the perceptions from Genesis)

Such a situation is also mentioned in the Hindu scriptures – The divine pair of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati had a dispute over the influence of the male and female sexes in divinity. They then decided to create a new race of men. The race created by Shiva was very numerous and worshipped only the male deity, but they were intellectually dull and were handicapped. Goddess Parvati’s race on the other hand, worshipped the female deity, and were strong and wise. There was then a humungous battle between the two races, and the ‘Lingajas’ (Shiva’s race) were defeated by the ‘Yonigas’ (Parvati’s race). On seing this, Lord Shiva was outraged and decided to destroy the Yonigas with his third eye (Shiva is said to have three eyes, the third eye symbolizes destruction) but Goddess Parvati persuades him not to, with which Lord Shiva spared them on the condition that they would have to leave the country… this itself is a very good allegory of how there were disputes in the ideologies of the ancients with passage of time.

The main philosophy of ancient nature-worship religions was that the balance of male and female elements of nature, equaled harmony. If the balance was said to be lost, there was said to be chaos. The ancients believed that the way for man to be more spiritual, he should fuse with the other gender, thus making him spiritually complete. The ancient Greco-Roman ritual of ‘Heiros-Gamos’ meaning Holy Matrimony, was a sacred ritual in which a male and female consort would have an intercourse in order to be one with the creator. Take Hinduism for instance, there are such great works such as the Kama-Sutra, dedicated to this so-called “heretic” topic, ancient temples in India had Gods and Godesses depicting what is written in the book, one of the greatest examples is the Ajanta Ellora caves in Maharashtra, India. Tantricism also was another science founded in India and then was adopted and was evolved in Tibetan Buddhism. At that time, sex was not considered to be a materialistic or ‘sinful’ thinking, it was more of a sacred thing. That is how the rituals of marriage came about and perhaps that is the reason it is said that – marriages are made in heaven!

It was believed that the human psyche was a duality of both male and female elements to it, thus harmonizing one’s soul. Plato, one of the greatest philosophers of his time claimed that man is possessed by two souls, one mortal – which perishes as the man dies- and the other imperishable and immortal – which continues in a state of bliss or sorrow. He explained that the righteous souls would return to the place where it originated from, and the sinful ones would be sent back to earth to undo the sins that they had commited in the past, thus explaining rebirth which is integrated in Hindu and Buddhist theology. In Hindu philosophy, the imperishable soul goes thru a continuous cycle of rebirths until the soul gets spiritually enlightened and only then, can the soul receive ‘nirvana’ or salvation. Buddhism explains that for one to get enlightened, one must receive knowledge (intellect) of one’s self. Thus he would only then understand the root to sin and suffering. Gnostics also believe in a similar theology wherein, one receives salvation only when he/she get ‘gnosis’ (gnosis is a Greek word for knowledge) on oneself, since the kingdom of God, or God himself is within.

Unfortunately, all the sacred and divine aspects of the feminine were gradually shifting to masculinity due to the growth in male dominance and suppression of the feminine in society. There is no doubt that the divine feminine was given a great importance since there was more of a matriarchal culture rather than a patriarchal society that we see today in the male-dominated world. Every riligion is male dominated in many ways when you think of it, rather than blindly believing stuff that is told by so-called know it alls!