Development of Religion...

Recently I was pondering over the use of religion in our short lived existence. If it does provide any positives to the life of a human being or does it add to the complexities of life. Are we better off with or without it? Is it possible to answer all the riddles of life with religion or is it is it just a guideline to how to live your life?

With the amount of chaos that some people have caused in the name of religion in this world, many of us especially in the western world would think that religion is a waste of time and the world can do best without it. At the same time there are many more that possibly feel that this is the time to get closer to God.

I perceive that there was a method through which the neanderthal man must have come up with the idea of God (Presuming that God did not tell him). Man's life has always been an inquest to reach the end, the achieve something. Sometimes when we cannot get to the end, our imagination helps our mind get there before we realistically can. During the olden days, man did not have any answers for a variety of things. One of these was natural phenomenon, another one was the differences between various kinds of living beings and why were some wild animals much stronger than the man. The mere fact that man could not control a number of things in and around his life, made him look up to something/someone that could. Some people started praying monsters while some indulged in praying natural forces like the sun, rain etc. This lead to the formation of a very crude idea of what 'GOD' is. Around the world at different times, people had different kinds of gods. I have heard of people that treat snakes, forests, land, food, fellow humans etc as gods. So in all there was a very stiff competetion with who was the right god. As time unfolded, the concept of god became smooth and people with power started using it as a tool to control people. This was one entity that most people would bow their heads to without asking too many (infact any) questions. As this pleased the rulers and people in powerful positions, soon GOD was the way forward. He was the protector and the saviour of our souls. It was through this imaginative concept that people unknowingly stumbled on the power of belief. The power remained unknown and to this day, belief is a concept practised by many, but used as a powerful tool only by a few.

As religion made the people bow their heads to the unknown, people in position of power had to treat GOD as the epitome of all beings. Kings were supposed to be directly accountable to the supreme power. At some point both power hungry and honest kings, used and utilised the belief in god for the development of their own reign and their society. Kings would have special people (who came to be known as priests), who would perform rituals and ceremonies. Other than physical and material strength, religion was another tool of keeping people under control. Most typical example here is the development of christianity spurred by the Romans to control the people and expand the horizons of their kingdom.

Humans around the world developed their belief in different kinds of god and when they met they talked about their own specific supreme power. This was a cause of conflict, not because the gods were different but because we had spent all our lives believing in our god being supreme and the most powerful and there came a human being claiming that there is another supreme power. Noteworthy here is the fact that God was only a result of our imagination and belief. Majority and possibly all of us have never encountered God in its real self. We talk of god through prophets and miraculous experiences and faith and hope. But we fail to see the god in ourself and in our fellow beings.

There are a number of questions that religion can possibly answer and loads others that religion can possibly not even think of as questions. It is not the end, neither is it the means.