Did Mankind discover religion?

[Silver]

Did Mankind discover religion, in a similar way in which it discovered cooking made food more palatable, or concrete, or written language?

Or was it handed to Mankind as a gift? If it was a gift, why was it so contradictory?

[Essan]

Mankind invented religion - first as a means of explaining the inexplicable, later as a means of controlling other humans.

[XenoFish]

14 minutes ago, Essan said:

Mankind invented religion - first as a means of explaining the inexplicable, later as a means of controlling other humans.

It was probably invented with the help of mentally ill people. Someone with schizophrenia would've been seen as being more "in tune" with the spirits. I think this has carried over to the modern era. 

[Piney]

6 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

It was probably invented with the help of mentally ill people. Someone with schizophrenia would've been seen as being more "in tune" with the spirits. I think this has carried over to the modern era. 

The discovery of hallucinogens contributed too.   " Hey Grog! Let's taste this..........Like wow man! I just met spirits!" 

"Religion is a distortion" - Lao the Child

 

[Grim Reaper 6]

41 minutes ago, ted hughes said:

Did Mankind discover religion, in a similar way in which it discovered cooking made food more palatable, or concrete, or written language?

Or was it handed to Mankind as a gift? If it was a gift, why was it so contradictory?

Religion was what came from primitive mankind trying to explain his surroundings. The first religion was the Earth Mother or Mother Nature itself, and this is where all forms of religion came from. The most power force in early man's life was the power of nature, storms, floods, drought, earthquakes and so on. They even believed that fertility was a gift from Earth Mother, in fact the earliest figurines created by man were depictions of the Earth Mother in the form of a fertility goddess.

Below is one of the earliest statues of the Earth Mother being depicted as a fertility Goddess. The figurine is approximately 30,000 years old. This is the base that all of mans religions where built upon

[eight bits]

1 hour ago, Piney said:

The discovery of hallucinogens contributed too.   " Hey Grog! Let's taste this..........Like wow man! I just met spirits!" 

The yeast that ferments grape juice into wine often lives on the grape skin. Grog probably just wanted to make some grape juice, and got a blast of wine at no extra charge.

Aside from that happy bit of biological serendipity, I do think that hallucinogens played a role in helping ordinary people to see what the more gifted dreamers in the village saw without any chemical boost. The "gifted dreamers" could well have included the mentally ill (or simply sufferers from temporal lobe epilepsy, etc.), but what with the right attitude, the plain vanilla dreams that crop up spontaneously just might suffice.

All in all, then, people may have invented the particulars of religions, stories and rituals, but the basic idea of "another world" is on offer to everybody for eight hours of the allotted twenty-four. How could we possibly not have noticed that?

[lightly]

Religions are beliefs.   Beliefs are not 'discovered'. .they are created, in the minds of men.  To say that religion, or any other belief is 'discovered' is saying that beliefs exist ,on thier own, outside of the minds of men..   The idea completely baffles me.

[HandsomeGorilla]

7 hours ago, Piney said:

The discovery of hallucinogens contributed too.   " Hey Grog! Let's taste this..........Like wow man! I just met spirits!" 

"Religion is a distortion" - Lao the Child

 

Absolutely, you know this is my wheelhouse lol 

In fact, Psilocybe Mexicana, the most common psychoactive mushroom available to the Aztecs, was known as teotlnanácatl, or God fungus. There are similar surnames who's etymology began in verbiage like 'skin of god' 

The magic mushroom ceremonies are absolutely beautiful, too

[spud the mackem]

Religion , one of the worst things ever found by Humans of all races , there has ben so much killing and grief over the centuries ,in the name of Religion , and its still going strong . ask any terrorist .  

[lightly]

4 hours ago, lightly said:

Religions are beliefs.   Beliefs are not 'discovered'. .they are created, in the minds of men.  To say that religion, or any other belief is 'discovered' is saying that beliefs exist ,on thier own, outside of the minds of men..   The idea completely baffles me.

Well lightly,  archeologists have discovered evidences, precepts, and paraphernalia of 'lost' religions.  ..But I know what you mean.    

[HandsomeGorilla]

1 hour ago, HandsomeGorilla said:

Absolutely, you know this is my wheelhouse lol 

In fact, Psilocybe Mexicana, the most common psychoactive mushroom available to the Aztecs, was known as teotlnanácatl, or God fungus. There are similar surnames who's etymology began in verbiage like 'skin of god' 

The magic mushroom ceremonies are absolutely beautiful, too

At 30:00 is the start of the ceremony. Absolutely beautiful, I've watched it more than a couple times

 

[Mr Walker]

On 6/22/2021 at 8:21 PM, eight bits said:

The yeast that ferments grape juice into wine often lives on the grape skin. Grog probably just wanted to make some grape juice, and got a blast of wine at no extra charge.

Aside from that happy bit of biological serendipity, I do think that hallucinogens played a role in helping ordinary people to see what the more gifted dreamers in the village saw without any chemical boost. The "gifted dreamers" could well have included the mentally ill (or simply sufferers from temporal lobe epilepsy, etc.), but what with the right attitude, the plain vanilla dreams that crop up spontaneously just might suffice.

All in all, then, people may have invented the particulars of religions, stories and rituals, but the basic idea of "another world" is on offer to everybody for eight hours of the allotted twenty-four. How could we possibly not have noticed that?

Good points, but the "gifted dreamers" might just have been more creative thinkers eg Rather than (just)  linear thinking,    maybe the y also used  intuition,  creativity, insight, and emotional thinking.  Maybe the y  had larger frontal lobes or in other ways may  have been "more,"  rather than "less" as your post implies. ( Healthier rather than  ill) 

I think your point about dreams might be correct.

People who were lucid dreamers, or could control their dreams, could use them to learn, to problem solve, and to construct new things.  If you woke up and could remember everything you dreamed all night, this gave you an incredible advantage of being able to constructively use those extra 8 hours. 

It gave you access to your subconscious, which often solved problems or came up with ideas that your conscious mind could not . eg the idea for a better weapon,  a new way of doing something,  or a new  invention, could come to your mind during a dream, via your subconscious. 

So of course could fantastic worlds, beasts and stories, and thus, yes, gods and the lives and backstories of those gods.  

As a child, my "other world"  of the dream worlds (The Realms)  was consciously accessed by a variety of gateways which changed as I grew older giving access to wider, and more mature, worlds, characters, and story lines .

Each was a conscious portal or doorway between my waking and dreaming consciousnesses.  By walking through them, my mind went from  only conscious(waking)  thought, to a combination of conscious and subconscious thought. ie Dreaming, but conscious i was dreaming, and (at least)  as much in control of my narrative as when i was awake.   

Edited July 24, 2021 by Mr Walker

[Phantom309]

On 6/22/2021 at 4:53 AM, The Silver Shroud said:

Did Mankind discover religion, in a similar way in which it discovered cooking made food more palatable, or concrete, or written language?

Or was it handed to Mankind as a gift? If it was a gift, why was it so contradictory?

 

Well.....I think Voltaire actually nailed it:

“Religion began when the first scoundrel met the first fool.”