Religion's Beginnings/The Saga of Prometheus

For quite a few hundred thousand years, homo sapiens wandered the Earth, and created only one tool. It was a chipped, sharpened stone tool used for a variety of chores. We ate, drank, hunted and gathered, and reproduced. Not much ritual, we didn't need any, we just did what we did. We died, and were left there where we died, and didn't think much more about it. Animals partook of our flesh, they died and others partook of them, and the cycle of life went on. And that was that.

Then, we discovered fire, and things began to change. Think about a bolt of lightening striking a tree, the branches exploding into flames, frightening both man and beast. A whole series of "miracles" followed. We somehow harnessed that fire, and early men and women would stare at the flames flickering in the night, the red, the gold, the blue, the crackling and the hissing, the smoke, the power it gave us, dangerous animals afraid to come near. It warmed us in the cold night, and made meat tender and tasty, it gave us the upper hand. Prometheus was punished for revealing to us the secret.

It must have been an unforgettable experience, because anthropologists and historians tell us that human inventiveness changed significantly after fire came around. They began to think differently, becoming creative as well. After the discovery and harnessing of this power, stones were attached to sticks, harpoons and simple axes and other tools were created. Humans began to contemplate the skies, the heavens, death and birth, the cycle of life...and the rest is history, herstory or our story, whichever you prefer. We became what we now define as "human" with fire, given to us via a magic bolt from the sky. Who sent it? Perhaps we are not alone.

So, the worship of fire was the first faith, the first altar. As time went on, and settlements and cities were established, the first building erected in that settlement was the temple. Yes, we saw the light, but none dare question the keepers of the flame, for their job was to interpret the signs of the heavens from whence the fire came, that powerful and compelling element that made us what we are and gave us a reason for being. Now, God created man or man created God so man could recreate himself, and the thought process continues.

Religion has been there ever since. Human social progress has gone hand in hand with the religious bodies, since it was the light of this first fire-religion that allowed us to advance, indeed, made us human, gave us a reason for being. The word of the keepers was not, nor should ever be, questioned.

Throughout history, there has always been both a dedication and allegiance to the fire, and also an ambivalence about the keepers of the flame, for the keepers interpreted the flickering and foretold the portents thereof, and reminded the faithful that without their intervention and blessing the chipped stones might loosen and come off the sticks they were attached to prematurely, or the fire would go out and the animals would return and reclaim their world, or the rains would fail and fire would burn everything in it's path. They had a monopoly on knowledge, but the experiences of those first flames were an experience to be shared by all, not just a chosen few. It was an experience all could relate to, as it represented the cyces of life and death, and the power of fire could be felt and seen. Possibly because of the very equalizing and constant nature of the display of this spiritual phenomena, people began to realize that lightening was perhaps not a miracle at all, but something that seemed to occur naturally, at random. When people start thinking like this, in fact, thinking at all known as using reason and logic, it's trouble for the keepers of the flame, for they are the guardians of the secret, though we see that they too are humans like the rest. So, the keepers need to create new stories and myths to keep that part of humanity stimulated by fire and thunderclaps known as the intellect, at bay.

There were good fire keepers, and lousy fire keepers. Some were thoughtful, and really cared about the wisdom, teachings and truths they propagated and defended. Certainly, however, there have always been those keepers who have taken advantage of their prestigious position, and these fire keepers for a long time attempted to keep knowledge and culture within their domain. This has been the norm throughout history, whether in ancient Sumer and Babylon, in Egypt, among the Aztecs or in the reincarnated dichotomy of the temple Brahmins versus the lower castes of Hindu India, in the Vatican church of the pre-Reformation...every advancement in technology and human understanding was first to be examined by the fire keepers, then explained that it was/is a gift from the gods. If they decided to let the masses know about it, or by the time the truth came out, it was controlled and was a commodity of the temple/state. So, kings were chosen, marriages approved, revenues collected and heirs blessed by the priests and keepers of the holy flames. The monarchs enforced dutiful obeisance with an army, blessed as well. The spilled blood of martyrs sanctify the land and their stories recited for future generations to ponder. There, we have the foundation of the ancient state. This caste-like trilogy of power that was the nobility, the faith and the army ruled and was granted privilege. Hard work interpreting those flames, you know, and soldiers must be willing to die for that flame, royal heirs must uphold holy might. Common folk worked and contributed to the hierarchy of the flame, fought for the flame, died for the flame, and patiently endured famine, plague, sickness and death for the benefit of the flame keepers and the rulers that supposedly gave meaning to the lives of the masses.

Mind you, there have been the great exceptions throughout history, the great men and women who encouraged though their connection to faith and the life of the spirit, governments that were known for tolerance and inclusion. A study of the reigns Ashoka, Cyrus the Great and the emperor Akbar are but three examples of rulers held captive to a vision of what fire and light when cast in a positive mold, could look like. Yet when fire when blazes out of control those in charge of the fire, the fire keepers, become worried. They see to it that when such a fire blazes all to brightly, the flames are controlled and a simmering down period follows. This has been the norm through history as well. The Indian Moghul emperor Akbar, a Sufi educated Muslim ruler, boasted the world's most tolerant kingdom in the world in his time, with people of many religions and sects- Hindus, Muslims, both Sunni and Shi'a, Buddhists, Jains, Parsees, Christians and Jews all living as one, seeking to learn and earn from each other in a whirlwind of mercantile elbow rubbing and spiritual symbiosis, all of this encouraged by his example and decrees. Akbar died, and his grandson Aurangzeb declared that India would be governed by only one faith, that of a strict, intolerant Islam- interpreted by a clergy of fatwa issuing mullahs and dangerously conservative religious judges who would have been praised by the likes of the elders of the Salem Massachusetts colony. The result of this period of intolerant rule and Aurangzeb's wasteful and costly jihad inspired wars of the attempted conquest of central India...which ended in humiliating Moghul defeat at the hands of the Hindu Mahratta kingdoms...saw the beginning of a failing Moghul treasury and eventually a bankrupt and impoverished India which soon fell to British imperialism. The effects of Aurangzeb's disastrous reign became manifest in the 20th century with bloodshed, hatred, and the mass exodus of whole cities and populations which marred the otherwise peaceful Indian independence movement led by enlightened souls such as Mahatma Gandhi and Badshah Khan. This further led to the establishment of near fictional nations based on the absurd identity of religion, such as Pakistan and what later became Bangladesh. Mother India's children, bearers of the legacy of one of humanity's great centers of ancient civilization were sundered forever. The culprit was religion, the legacy of the fire keepers ruling the day rather than those who sought warmth, enlightened and illumined by the flames.

Well, humans have minds and hearts. If all manner of people didn't see those first fires, just a select few, then religion would maybe have had the control of the world forever. But this could not be, because the masses need to see the phenomenon of fire to be astounded by it in the first place. Perhaps we invented the hierarchy because we were frightened, and there were a few, some wise and some power hungry, who gave us understanding and spiritual support when we needed it. They knew the secret of fire, and we respected them for that. However, humans are such a breed, such a creation if you will, that the mind is nearly impossible to control for long extended periods. A thousand years or ten thousand is not a long time in humanity's history. This thing called organized religion has been around, but not as long as biology, desire, urge and nature have. Not everyone who saw the first flames thought of making a religion out of it. To some, lightening was just a natural occurrence produced by thunder and clouds and accompanied by rain. Were the keepers just charlatans? All was fine and dandy until some clever people discovered how to discover fire themselves.

You see, there have been reforms throughout history too, based on this very matter. Revolutions, with the masses taking matters into their own hands trying to make their own destinies, are in part a reaction to the 'charlatans' prevalent throughout history. People got tired of the business of flame keeping, and thought about improvements to flame keeping, vis a vis Abraham and his confrontation with Nimrod, Moses and Pharaoh, Jesus and the Sanhendrin, Mani and the Magi, Mohammed against the Meccans, Luther against the Church, Marx against capitalism, Darwin against accepted theories of creation, Rock and Roll and Frank Zappa against the Establishment. The printing press in the 15th century spread both Luther's bold propaganda as well as enlightened knowledge, and God didn't destroy Herr Gutenberg's machine, strike Luther dead, or for that matter, destroy the Vatican and St. Peter's, built with the money collected throughout Europe and gold from the America's. Muskets and cannons, loaded with gunpowder and iron balls, brought down dedicated faithful holy warriors in all societies. Disease killed millions in the old world and the new as earthquakes collapsed churches, mosques and temples atop thousands of the devoted faithful engaged in adoring their respective gods. There was no miracle from heaven, no sign, except that those events were being feebly explained by a worried clergy caught in an embarrassing moment with no logical spiritual explanations, in the hope to be believed in by a perturbed and confused populace.

The European Enlightenment of the 18th century cut off the power hold of the ancient fire keepers for once and for all. Why? Because fire keeping became obsolete. Scientific knowledge proved many of their beliefs held as truths as wrong, with an obvious connection to fraud. Religion abused power and position and was brought down and put on the back burner, if you will, and forced into a position where if it had anything good to offer as it's proponents claim it did the they must do only good, contribute and nothing else, because society won't tolerate anything less. In France, for example, many of the establishment's heads came off including members of the clergy. No angels flew down from heaven to save them, the blade of the guillotine always falling with deadly precision. Same thing happened in the Russian Bolshevik revolution and Turkey's move in the 20's to establish a democratic republic. Beards were shorn, veils abolished, religious property seized, and all citizens forced to go to school even though there were loud and boisterous members of the ulema who continued to scream that education is a forbidden thing according to the holy Quran. Kemal Ataturk silenced them.

The European Enlightenment brought about the rise of the individual, his and her rights and freedoms, and the pursuit of a personal destiny. No longer did we have to fear the abused power of the clergy, threatening us with excommunication or the damnation of a fiery hell, or the failing of the flames or the rain. A rise in literacy and education gave rise to freedom. The world now embraces the standards of the Enlightenment to advance and progress their societies. While religion always held a strict, literal interpretation of archaic books and dogma, with little room for critical thinking and individual interpretation or questioning of the dogmas, Voltaire (or attributed to him, at any rate) cried out "I may not agree with what you believe or say, but will defend, to the death, your right to believe or say it!" This is in sharp contrast to "believe in such a manner, or face punishment from hell fire". In my book, Voltaire's freedom (or whomever's) of thought wins.

Let's take it even a step further. Diderot was quite clear; "there will be no freedom from tyranny until the last monarch is hung with he entrails of the last priest." In other words, according to Diderot, the era of the ancient tradition of the fire keepers with their enforced rule, had come to an end.

Now, this is not to say that there was no good at all coming from the fire keepers of the temples, that is, from religion. After all, it was the crackling flames that brought out and softened the inner feelings of early man, made him realize he had a soul, and thereby bring to the human personality the concept of compassion and caring. A reason for ethics and morals that was to be all so important in building states and communities, with laws to live by, creating order out of chaos. Religion has been around, for better or worse, and we seem to always return to it in times of doubt and need, if not for the fear of death or the unknown, then to remember the power of that first harnessed flame and what it did for us. There is at the present time all across the planet a seemingly universal wish and united desire to return to more conservative values which would include the very basics of fundamentalist religion, as if this would be the only manner in which humanity could solve it's problems. God or the 'Fire' comes to the rescue because we conjure the flames of soul, like the magic jinni of Alladin's proverbial lamp. Perhaps we as a race share an archetypal memory of that first time fire was discovered, that magic moment when our lives and our destiny would change forever as we transcended from the material and physical to the spiritual planes. Whatever the case may be, it is imperative for we humans to realize that we would need those who are inspired to seek warmth by the flames, seeking inspiration in their midst rather than follow the dictates and interpretations of those who would seek to control the fire, thereby controlling our needs and our precious freedoms.

There can be no question that there are to be found in the great religious texts, books and scriptures of humanity an infinite array of teachings and wisdom that can help us attempt to answer life's many complicated and seemingly unanswerable questions. There is nothing wrong with wisdom and an explanation of shared experiences written down or collected by dedicated intellectuals over the course of time. But the method of how to and how much these teachings can be applied to societal law and order and when to apply them is a reason for study, discussion and in the end, judgement...to be made as to what should remain for life and what should simply remain on the bookshelf.

So, thank you Prometheus. Surely, you suffered for us.