01-06-2008, 12:00 AM
I can't blame you for not agreeing with me. We are each of us, set up to come to our own conclusions.
My position that spirituality evolved in humans as a survival mechanism for our hunting/gathering ancestors has not been proven.
It's only been offered as a jumping off point for conversation.
This idea suggests that religious and spiritual activity in humans is a vestigal behavior. It is a disappearing set of genetic bahaviors that are like the whale's legs.
The legs of a whale are said to be "vestigal" to mean that the evolutionary process that gave a whale legs in the first place, is no longer a survival strategy for the whale.
The whale is carryig around adaptations that are no longer relevant to the evolution of the whale.
It is not that farmers are atheists.
It is that you do not need to have a spiritual life to be able to survive and reproduce in a modern society. A whale does not need legs, even though once, it did.
There may be advantages in native religion (from around the globe) where the native culture could not exist without its religion, even though a modern society can get along well without religion.
Or perhaps, as you say, the idea is wrong.
I'm unsure what your reference to 3500 years and athesits is about, but I appreciate the chance to clarify my position.
My position that spirituality evolved in humans as a survival mechanism for our hunting/gathering ancestors has not been proven.
It's only been offered as a jumping off point for conversation.
This idea suggests that religious and spiritual activity in humans is a vestigal behavior. It is a disappearing set of genetic bahaviors that are like the whale's legs.
The legs of a whale are said to be "vestigal" to mean that the evolutionary process that gave a whale legs in the first place, is no longer a survival strategy for the whale.
The whale is carryig around adaptations that are no longer relevant to the evolution of the whale.
It is not that farmers are atheists.
It is that you do not need to have a spiritual life to be able to survive and reproduce in a modern society. A whale does not need legs, even though once, it did.
There may be advantages in native religion (from around the globe) where the native culture could not exist without its religion, even though a modern society can get along well without religion.
Or perhaps, as you say, the idea is wrong.
I'm unsure what your reference to 3500 years and athesits is about, but I appreciate the chance to clarify my position.