The origin of spirituality

To the editor,

Prior to the theological creeds and dogmas of organized religion, the idea of a loving God probably evolved from the spiritual principles expressed in the cultural behavior of early human beings who realized that every member of the group was important because each person had something of value to offer. Early hunter-gatherers provided for the well-being of each other, because doing so insured the survival of the group and gave meaning to their life. In spite of hardships, the practice of kindness, fellowship and cooperation with each other is what made human life worth living. When the Neanderthals merged with their earlier cousins, they adopted the cultural principles that were already in place, because they realized those principles were what enabled their survival. The Neanderthals were physically robust and well suited for the environment, and in spite of the lingering results of the last ice age, they were able to increase and multiply.

The Neanderthals survived for 400,000 years, probably because they were content with their way of life and their means of survival. They had no desire to change anything, and were satisfied with the status quo, but after the arrival of modern man thirty some thousand years ago, the Neanderthals slowly died out. But their contact with the modern newcomers resulted in a transfer of knowledge and some disease resistant genes, and probably much more. However, the Neanderthals could not comprehend modern man's curiosity and desire for improvement, and modern man could not deny their desire for upward progress, so things began to change. It took many centuries for modern man to establish a large population, which was soon followed by agriculture, then cities, organized religion, industry, science, government, and modern society. Through modern improvements, science has raised our standard of living —and the global warming that now threatens our ultimate survival. It seems the “spiritual principles” of the Neanderthal's culture have been transformed into the “sensible pursuits” of modern man. Obviously, modern humans have moved in the wrong direction. Perhaps we learned to “worship” our own common sense — in the form of science — and the religious beliefs of organized religion are based on manipulated misinterpretations of the original spiritual principles.

Although science brought about global warming, science will also find solutions to the problems. However, organized religion needs to be “born again” in the spirit of kindness, fellowship and cooperation — in order for the basic spiritual principles of our culture to continue maintaining our survival. We have lost the deeper meaning of good citizenship, as well as our concern the good of all.

Art Carney

Wasilla