Stipes and Patibulum — at the Crossroads in a Spiritual World
Stolen, borrowed, or gifted: the shared trappings of religion will always be with us
Fiat Lux / Let There Be Light
In the beginning, there was as if nothing, a void at once terrifying and enticing. Our forebears stood up against the edge of this dark chasm startled by a rising intellect and a fading toolbox of instinctual behaviors increasingly lost to an animal past. Human beings needed to maintain guidance no longer innately built in by heritable traits. Only a thing greater than themselves could do that.
Religions are moral and ethical guidance engines offering a sense of community. Prayer to and worship of a higher power are the common binders of religious communities. Religions depend on scripture and ritual for maintaining continuity and correcting the occasional challenges that arise through heresy or apostasy. Many if not all religious codes come with a promise of eternal life for the pious.
Breaking down world religions gives us a spectrum of differences in detail and practices, but there can be no argument when pointing out similar concerns and, perhaps most of all, connecting with something larger than the individual, larger even than the herd.
