1st STAGE: MYTH
In the beginning, seeking to understand, spirits are conjured to animate nature. This mythical worldview
not only separates burgeoning sentience from the beasts, but elevates them above merely struggling for survival.
Hunter-Gatherer Tribes
There is evidence of spirituality in human burial grounds more than a hundred thousand years old.
Certainly by 50,000 B.C., rudimentary society - art, language, technology, and myth - were universal. Increasingly, totems
and symbols were used to express identity and the hope for a productive hunt. It was a time when spiritual being emerged from
physical self. It was the origin of religion, handed down orally in songs and sagas.
100,000 B.C. to
Burial sites
Totems
and cave art
Accretion sites
Neanderthal
Cro-Magnon
10,000B.C.
2nd STAGE: METHOD
In the second stage, sentience puts order into surroundings by imbuing animating spirits with
self-like purpose and tasks. Religion then becomes a method of trying to influence nature by appealing to and appeasing
the gods.
Agrarian Societies
When hunter-gatherers crossed the threshold of agriculture, a more stationary lifestyle not only
cemented society and customs, but transformed technology and myth. Religion became an elaborate system of ritualized plea bargains
for a bountiful harvest. Ceremonies served to ease uncertainty, instilling a sense of security when foraging, farming, and fighting
that became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
10,000 B.C. to
Middle and Far East
Crops of grain
Pottery
Irrigation
Domestic animals
3,500 B.C.
3rd STAGE: MASTER
In the third stage, religion gives civilization divine meaning and becomes master -
a way of life that not only puts order to the cosmos but connects it to human existence. Gods not only animate nature, but subjugate
sentience.
City States and Civilization
By 3500 B.C., human civilizations were blossoming and religion shaped their cultures.
Early faiths held many common themes. All agreed the cosmos was ordered by divine hands; their gods took on human emotions and
motivations if not form. Dieties fought for power, punishing the enemies of their chosen people and rewarding the righteous. Gods
managed nature and humankind from the underworld or lofty perches.
3,500 B.C. to
Sumer, Egypt
India, China
Bronze Age
Babylon
Zoroaster
Persian Empire
"The First Awakening of self-reflective conciousness was the greatest event in cosmic history; when sentience first showed spirituality
by invoking gods to explain Surroundings, Self, and Significance. Once awoken, we pass through Three Stages of Elevation." ... Turen
"Revelation, a sixth sense of something greater than Self, drives early faiths. Modern beliefs, from creation to judgement,
spring from this First Awakening. But inevitably, civilization begs technology and science born of reason." ... Turen.
