Törmäsin Facebook-sivustoon
nimeltä Human Odyssey[1].
Kyseessä on ilmeisesti projekti, jossa
keskitytään ihmisen historian eri aikakausiin. Alla olevassa tekstissä itseäni
häiritsee hieman biologisten termien käyttäminen meemeistä puhuttaessa. Tästä
huolimatta alla oleva teksti sisältää mielenkiintoisia knoppitietoja. Parasta jutussa on lopussa oleva kuva.
“The best way to view this graphic is by clicking on the picture and
then selecting the ‘Full Screen’ option at the top right hand corner of the
image *
Since the dawn of mankind, humans have tried to make sense of their
world, especially when faced with unknown phenomena such as 'what causes
storms', 'what happens to us after we die', and ‘how was the world formed’? It
is plausible that from such questions, our first primitive religions were
formed.
The earliest evidence of a religious practice can be traced back 300,000
years ago when we began to bury our dead. Although we cannot define this as the
origin of faith, it does suggest that at the dawn of humanity, we had begun to
consider some kind of afterlife.
Over time, this religious practice gave rise to a new ideology which
spread across the continents, known today as ‘Animism’. This emerging faith was
the root belief system that would evolve and branch out into numerous other
ideologies all over the world. The journey of these evolving religions can be
broken down into three classic periods.
It should be noted that these periods are not indicative of a new
ideology improving upon previous faith systems. Religions change over time,
they go extinct, and they split into distinct traditions. They adapt to their
environment, they construct their environment in part, all just like organic
evolution does.
Period 1: Animism (100,000 BCE – Present)
Humans began to believe that natural constructs (e.g. plants, animals,
rocks and wind) possessed a spiritual essence. These spirit entities were
believed to have powers and temperaments that influenced our everyday world. By
worshiping these divine beings, it was believed we could maintain harmony with
this spirit world and gain favours from them.
Period 2: Polytheism (5,500 BCE – Present)
The roots of Polytheism seem to lie in the Nostratic period (a
hypothetical language family which seemed to have influenced all the African
and Eurasian traditions. It seems likely the generation of new Gods were
adopted from the nature spirits of the old world (giving abstract beings of
thunder and Earth a more human form). During the Neolithic revolution,
civilisations began to emerge requiring new areas of expertise (e.g. lawmaking,
metallurgy, agriculture and commerce). It was the descendants of the Nostratic
Gods (e.g. the Indo-Europeans and Sumerians) who took on the role of guide and
leader to the civilised world.
Typically these divine beings were divided into several classes,
overseeing the heavens, the mortal realm and the underworld. Each deity
possessed their own powers, religious practice and domain (e.g. trading,
diplomacy, war craft etc). Man could either worship one or all of these beings,
gaining favour from them via offerings, prayer and even sacrifice.
Period 3: Monotheism (1348 BCE – Present)
In the Bronze Age, a new movement took shape that prioritised one God
over all other deities. This system is known as Monotheism - a belief in one
Supreme Being. In 1348 BCE, the pharaoh Akhenaten, raised a lesser known God
called 'Aten' to supreme status, downplaying the role of all other Egyptian
deities. A little later in Iran, Zoroaster (a Persian priest) claimed 'Ahura
Mazda' to be the one supreme deity. This newly emerging system posited that one
creator god had formed the known universe, and was totally self-sufficient,
capable of ruling over all other domains. This idea became prominent in
Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikhism.
Most monotheistic systems tend to be exclusive in nature, which meant
the gods of the Old world had to be purged from mans consciousness. As a
consequence, monotheistic religions displayed less religious tolerance than
polytheistic religions, resulting in many wars and political disputes.”
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| Kuva isompana täältä |
Suomalaiset muinaisuskot ovat
saaneet oikein oman haaransa. Jos Wikipediaa on uskominen, niin noilla
muinaisuskoilla on vieläkin suuri vaikutus elämäämme, vaikkei sitä ehkä
huomaakaan[2].
”Nykyisistä juhlapyhistä laskiainen,
helasunnuntai,
juhannus, pyhäinpäivä ja joulu olivat alun
perin suomalaiseen alkuperäisuskontoon kuuluneita juhlia.”
Tutkija kellarista
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