Topic: The Origin Of ALL Religions

[Bee]

I think the concept of religion comes from our own need to connect to the universe, nature, each other and the wonder of birth / life and in the face of grief / death.

I personally do not care much for specific religions, I mean, it's interesting to see how different cultures perceived divinity, I just like to see how every human being actually needs some sort of spirituality to feel whole.   

[Oldsoul]

Note that if you are religious you are not necessarily spiritual and if you are spiritual you are not necessarily religious. Religion is a learned thing where sprituality is just knowing.

[frayja]

I think the concept of religion comes from our own need to connect to the universe, nature, each other and the wonder of birth / life and in the face of grief / death.

I personally do not care much for specific religions, I mean, it's interesting to see how different cultures perceived divinity, I just like to see how every human being actually needs some sort of spirituality to feel whole.  

 That is so true Bee

[Frater]

Concepts, concepts, soooo many concepts, divinity? spirituality? Soooo many concepts.....

[Ameniatha]

Note that if you are religious you are not necessarily spiritual and if you are spiritual you are not necessarily religious. Religion is a learned thing where sprituality is just knowing.

Oldsoul, thanks for this comment. This is exactly how I feel... and despite being wiccan, I do not feel particularly religious, but more spiritual..

As for the San and other ethnic pre religious cultures, could it not be said that that just were pagan...I mean we term how they believed to be pagan, in our modern terms. So just to label them...?? or what ?? Is folk religion not just paganism??

[Bee]

As for the San and other ethnic pre religious cultures, could it not be said that that just were pagan...I mean we term how they believed to be pagan, in our modern terms. So just to label them...?? or what ?? Is folk religion not just paganism??

Why do you see the San's religion as pre religious?  Hinduism is also an ancient religion but I don't see it as pre religion.  I think the moment people start to follow certain spiritual system it kinda becomes a religion?

Also, when do you follow a religion and when are you just spiritual?  Can't your own "internal spirituality" also be seen as a religion... even if it's your own?

[Oldsoul]

The words need to be chosen carefully. OK , cut out religion for the time being.

The San/ Bushmen believed in the spiritual. When the hunter died, his spirit went to the moon, (happy hunting grounds)- spiritual.

Aboriginies - the dream times -  Spiritual.

These are the two oldest cultures recorded. Cut out the western concepts.

[Bee]

O-K I understand what you mean.

[Ameniatha]

thats what I meant to.... for lack of better words..

[Frater]

Er....me too

[Oldsoul]

Lets look at early ethnic belief systems. Predating religions by thousands of years.

We are all hunter gatherers, and argumentative, lightning strikes down a hunter. The leader ordered 10 virgins to be sacrificed to the sky spirit to appease them. What do you call that?

For want of a better explanation, we can say that all early groups believed in the spirit system. How they arrive at that, we will most likely never know.

I think it is only when centralization started taking place, belief system became somewhat more organized and certain belief systems were forced unto other groups as conquering took place. It is also widely accepted that if you took the head of your enemy you are imbued by that persons strength.

[Peter (Stone Warlock)]

"We are all hunter gatherers, and argumentative, lightning strikes down a hunter. The leader ordered 10 virgins to be sacrificed to the sky spirit to appease them. What do you call that?"

I call that the beginning of the `Make love, not THOR' movement.   

[Frater]

Well in my culture, I'm Tsonga by the way, the central theme is the belief in services towards the ancestral spirits. A human being consists of a physical body, called mmiri, which decays when someone dies, and two non-material parts, called moya and ndzuti. Moya is the general human part, associated with wind and breath, entering the body at birth and leaving on the moment of death. Ndzuti, on the contrary, is an individual personal characteristic, associated with someone’s shadow or reflection.These two non-material characteristics remain after death, resulting in spirits (swikwembu), which do not only have specific human characteristics, but also keep their individuality. In the traditional Tsonga worldview, the society is an overall unity, consisting of both the living and the dead.

[SoaringSpirit]

Thats fascinating Frater, can you tell us more about your cutural beliefs...

[Peter (Stone Warlock)]

Frater that IS interesting. The human as a tri-entity collective is the philosophy of the T.R.U.E. path.
The first part of the human is the physical body. The second part is the DNA programming while the third part is the negative energy. (`Negative' as opposed to the physical body which is `positive' energy.) The DNA programming `binds' the positive energy to the negative energy and, at termination of the physical body, combines with the negative energy to form the `soul' or `spirit'.
The Tsonga viewpoint that society is an overall unity is reflected in the T.R.U.E. Path as the belief that we are ALL part of the Singular Collective.
We may have different terminology but the basic belief is the same. Further proof that all beliefs had a single origin.