On Complexity and the Advent of the Gods

[Tyrant]

Here's my hypothesis:

If Man at his primordial stage was as primitive as current evolutionary theory claims, why do all ancient civilizations and cultures have an immaterial and intangible god? Wouldn't it make more sense to assume that the imaginatory faculties of the mind of primitive Man were as underdeveloped as the rest of his intellectual capacities? Wouldn't a Man like this only believe in a god of his own senses? Why would - more importantly, how could - Man attribute anything in their lives to something they could neither see, hear, taste, touch, smell, nor prove if his brain was as underdeveloped as thus accused?

I postulate, therefore, that since all so-called "primitive" civilizations have a god of some kind - usually as a numen rather than an anima - evolutionary theory must accept one of two conclusions:

<OL TYPE=1>

<LI>It is human instinct to believe in a power beyond themselves (thus suggesting the existence of one)

<LI>Mankind is on a physically descending path rather than an ascending one, going from a belief in things beyond atomistic science to empirical science as a result of a degeneration of brain development.</OL>

SST

[This message has been edited by Tyrant (edited 04-02-2004).]

Its an interesting idea, although I thought we had moved away from taking an evolutionary approach to the development of human ideas and social structures...?

mostly they did worship something they could observe, like the sun. and even something more ethereal like ancestral spirits was just the continuations of family they had in there life.

you don't find a metaphysical god until later on in the evolutionary process.

[Tyrant]

First of all, the only exclusive sun cult I know of was Akhnaton's Religion of the Disk in Egypt, originating in the fourteenth century BCE, and therefore antecedes the emergence of abstract and metaphysical mythology characteristic of Egypt.

Second of all, the sun and the world's elements and characteristics were seen as a manifestation of the will of unseen gods. To continue with the above example, the sun viewed as the gifts of Aton and Re, metaphysical gods.

Third of all, Pelasgians never named or portrayed their gods in physical symbols or anthropomorphic images. Even the Romans worshipped gods through symbolic objects without naming them for almost two centuries. Personifications of numen through deities were often seen as only symbols of suprahuman ways of being and existence.

You may have seen that kind of ancestor 'worship' in Native American tribal religions, but it was still superceded by feminine earth spirits - which could not be seen.

Prehistoric religion is certainly a topic I'm lacking in knowledge on, but I had thought that those peoples worshipped intangible *appropriate word here* that they credited as being responsible for physical manifestations they could observe. i.e. They can observe a storm, so they worship the being they think sent it. I'd kind of thought that primitive religions came about through someone philosophizing, then someone else making up an explaination, for numerous reasons, and then that sticking.

[Tyrant]

/\ That's what I meant to say, but you saying it makes a little clearer.

That's basically my argument: how could they (or why would they) invent a being in their minds and believe he, she, or it sent something like a storm rather than worship the storm itself - especially if their brains were as underdeveloped as people claim they are?

why would a storm just appear? they didn't understand weather and all the technical mumbo-jumbo that many believe causes a storm.

it's only rational then to believe a higher being must have sent it, rather then all the scientific stuff that causes a storm.

[This message has been edited by SARDONICPILLOW (edited 04-02-2004).]

[Tyrant]

SARDONICPILLOW:

why would a storm just appear? they didn't understand weather and all the technical mumbo-jumbo that many believe causes a storm.

But anyone with two eyes and a brain stem can see a storm coming.

it's only rational then to believe a higher being must have sent it, rather then all the scientific stuff that causes a storm.

I don't know... I'm not sure what's more plausible:

Cro-Magnon: Holy fuck! A tornado! It's doing a lot of damage! I should get the fuck out of its way... and I would probably be better off taking special care to not piss it off.

or...

Cro-Magnon: Holy fuck! A tornado! The sun must be blowing huge gusts of wind out of its humongous sun-cock!

I don't know about you, but a sun-cock wouldn't be a conclusion I would come to.

SST