There are many theories, but no one actually knows why or how we developed the more powerful capacity for conscious thought. Somewhere along the evolutionary path though, we did. We became able to predict eventualities and to co-operatively prepare for these possible outcomes.

To predict an outcome requires a framework of understanding far beyond just what might happen. It often involves making a leap of imagination derived from certain facts we know. Sooner or later our experience tells us whether our imaginative leap was accurate or not.

If you consider the early Cavemen and women who were trying to create a sense of order from the patterns they saw in their life. Why sometimes their Prey turned up and others it didn’t? Why their efforts were sometimes helped and sometimes hindered by weather and luck?

Given the fact that they had no real knowledge of how anything other than the most basic and practical information, they are likely to incline towards magic and superstition. Noticing that they prey on some animals and those on others, it is likely that they believe in a hierarchy of importance.

Therefore it must have seemed logical that there was someone or something invisible that preyed upon them. Taking their kin when it chose, punishing them with poor weather or healing them and providing good weather and foods.

Just as a subservient dog will try to placate its owner… our Ancestors attempted to placate the Gods. Immediately Man had created a higher purpose beyond survival. The more they learned about life the more sophisticated their version of God became.

Societies came and went. Languages came and went. But every institution… every word and every custom became stained with this belief. And so today it doesn’t matter whether you are religious or not… you still through the language you use and the socialisation process operate through a cognitive framework that fears the wrath of God. Not consciously perhaps, but analyse your thoughts to their roots and you’ll find some evidence for this.

Throughout history their have been many wise and great individuals who transcended these limitations. People such as Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad, Lao Tsu and Confucius. These have explained life in the language of their own times and culture, in ways most appropriate for their peers. But words are so limiting. The more that you focus on something the more details you see of it. This is why Eskimos have many words for different types of snow, while we only have the one word. These visionaries tried to fit words understood from common experiences to explain experiences and concepts others couldn’t relate to and so do not have words for.

Add to this the fact that our capacity to understand is limited by our willingness. Life could not be any simpler. But if we are emotionally unwilling to drop some of our beliefs than it becomes far harder to intellectually understand. Sometimes impossible.

As a result the followers hung onto the literal words, rather than the spirit of the message. Look at how many varying interpretations there are of different religious books to see how open words are to misunderstanding. Often many decades later these works were written down. Through the centuries they have been taken out of all context and translated through hundreds of languages, changed by misinterpretation, or outright manipulation, and then are expected to make perfect sense to us. Today two or more people will quote the exact same passage in defence, or opposition, to the same action at the same time.

Next: Take Responsibility For Your Life

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