religion

religions beginning was drawn from the spirituality present in indigenous cultures throughout the world. early people lived on the planet, comodifying the natural resources to meet basic needs of survival. because natural resources and occurrences of life were so valuable yet unknown, stories were developed to explain such occurrences. therein is the development of myths and folklore; nature is explained through personification in stories that sought to answer such universal questions from how the world began to why the seasons change. because their survival was largely dependent on understanding these mysteries of the universe, these occurrences are seen as majestic and godly. to ensure the continual occurrence of such events, rituals and prayers were designed to celebrate, thank, and welcome these godly events. herein lies the basis of prayer and ritual. in addition, dictated were roles of community members and codes of conduct dictating appropriate behavior. from this indigenous beginning the development of fundamentals of present day religion began.

as technology advance and travel, trade, and exploration became prominent, communication between these distinct and different cultures began. each new people that came in contact had a differing culture, with different stories and different rituals, all revolving around the same general ideas. it was then that the fight for the ultimate truth came about and a need to be seen as the “chosen people” resulted. each group, rightly thought their truth was the right truth and developed the mindset of the manifest destiny.

while currently there are hundreds different religions and sects therein, the search for the “ultimate truth” is still amongst people today. in this search, the fundamental values and purpose for religion have been lost. where religion once served the purpose of comfort in knowing the unknown, providing guidelines and morals for which to live ones life appropriately, and dictating a history and tradition amongst a culture of people; it now serves as an avenue to power, a tool to separate a species of one kind.

i do believe that it is important to have faith in ones own truth and live by a viable set or morals, which admittedly, is largely adopted through religion, but i see religion as a commodity of conformity and a tool to testify against ones own way of life.