Beginnings of spirituality.

[norseman]

This is a spin-off from the thread begun by Slave of Allaah concerning the first pagan. It started me thinking what triggered spirituality in the first place and when ?
Put yourself in the place of our early ancestors, the early Homo Sapiens. What do you think triggered them off ?

The first spiritual relics that I know of are the many statuettes of the Great Mother found all over Europe around the time of the last Ice-Age but I am betting it started much earlier than that.
Any offers ?

[Seawolf]

Originally Posted by norseman

Put yourself in the place of our early ancestors, the early Homo Sapiens. What do you think triggered them off ?

The evolution of the brain and the ability to ask questions and wonder about our environment. The unknown was great and mysterious, and we described it as well as our minds could back then. Even today we do the same thing, when we see lights in the sky we imagine 'gods' from other mysterious worlds 'out there'.

[norseman]

I was thinking that it would not be a "philosophical" trigger. To me, that seems a rather sophisticated chain of thought. I was thinking it could be something physical and tangible - shock and awe kind of thing - something up-front and personal. I was imagining a belief system based on something that regarded us as a meal, for example.

If you know the first language, you will know the first spirituality.

I think even without language awe for the unseen forces that seemed to rule their environment would form thoughts of fear and appeasement...hmmm...

[norseman]

I had this image of proto-humans cowering in a cave at night and a leopard snarling at the doorway.
We should maybe not get hooked on modern man as we know the Neanderthal had forms of spirituality.

Just had a flash of inspiration/stupidity []. Could our first god have been Fire ?

Originally Posted by norseman

... Just had a flash of inspiration/stupidity []. Could our first god have been Fire ?

& water, earth, & air.

http://www.webwinds.com/thalassa/elemental.htm

[norseman]

I could certainly imagine that first sight of the sea being a cause to wonder !

Shiva. Listen to him.
Don't tell it where to go, or what to do.
Let it guide your thoughts, let it take your body.

This is the first step.

Observe.
See what is around you. Notice the wind, notice the temprature, notice the clouds, the stars, the grass, the trees.
Begin to learn their names, understand where it is they belong in nature.
Deepin your observation, and begin to see why everything is where it is, and what is is doing, and what other things are doing to it...

Then look at things like humans, virus', and bacteria. Realize that this is the category we fall in.

We are a parasite, we gain from other beings loss.
The earth, the animals, the vegetation. The more it loses, the more we gain.

Then realize where YOU belong.
Are you purely part of the human parasite, or do YOU have a place in the Earth as well...


Once you begin to find your place, you will begin to understand.
And always remember.
Questions are the best answers. Don't EVER seek an end...

Yesterday is not right now, and today is not tomorrow.
Livin for the moment?
Then your time's already borrowed...

Hmmm..... I think the opposite. Not what triggered spiriuality, but what what triggered non-spiriuality? What made man to separate themselves/to see themselves separate from each other and nature? When and why was harmony and oneness replaced with dis-harmony, enemies, you, me, them, others?