The signs in the Heavens! 31

[resurrected]

The religions of the world

From the beginning of time the human mind had always wondered about himself and his surroundings. He needed some explanations regarding the nature, the world, the universe and his place in that gigantic, unperceivable vastness that surrounded him. It was not sufficient for him to eat, drink and sleep like other animals around, he had some other needs to know and search answers for. He was indeed some peculiar animal that had two sides of existence, consisting of physical and spiritual sides and both needed to be taken care of if he was to find the satisfaction. If the physical needs got their fulfillment by food, drink and sleep, the spiritual needed some equivalent rituals and thus came the need for the belief. From the primitive periods the man found one religion or the other that satisfied his curiosity for his own self and the universe around. The primitive periods when it was required by humans to worship the elements, wind, earth, water and fire, were the first religions of the world. All that sprang out of these elements could easily enthrall the minds of these primitive ancestors of ours. Those with some higher levels of understanding turned their gaze to the revolving bodies in the sky, the Sun, the moon, and the stars and got filled with awe and fear and tried to get some understanding about the nature of mysteries that surrounded them. The journey of human beings from one point of understanding to the next could take hundreds or perhaps thousands of years.
The religions kept appearing and disappearing in time and space all according to the requirements and levels of understanding reached by the societies they came in touch with. The appearance of a religion always coincided with some advance units of human family that claimed to have brought the message of divine and thus revealing the new truths or even the older truths in new shapes. All these religions were not presenting the same myths, cosmologies, rituals or the descriptions of the deity. Neither were the stories of creation alike in these religions, nor were the purpose of creation. It was obvious that not all of them were telling the truth and yet the adherent of these faiths believed them to be the only truths. They all taught so contradictory doctrines, some claiming monotheism, while the other insisting on polytheism or trinity and yet the people went on following and believing that what they had been taught. The myths of Hell and Heaven were different and so was the life after death. But regardless of all the apparent differences the main task of all these religions was the same, to provide the people with some explanation about their existence, about the deity that created them, the purpose of their presence in the world and the ultimate goals set for them both to spend the lives in a meaningful manner and achieve the spiritual goals. They were given the rituals to perform, the deity to give attention and devotion to and norms to live the lives. They were asked to do all that in order to advance on the ladder of life. There were rewards for those that adhered to the demands put by the faith but there were equally punishments waiting for the haughty.
Some religions defined the life phenomenon as one time enterprise, while the others described it as a never ending process of life and death. A cycle, a chain, where each birth leading to an ultimate death but only to force a new incarnation, was endless till the final release was achieved. The mystery man did not want to discuss where laid the truth. “Follow your own instincts and beliefs, I’ve nothing to tell you, when even our scriptures behold their silence.”
“Why not, isn’t it your duty to reveal the truth?” I provoked.
“Truth! Hmnn, what is truth for you, don’t you get that it’s very relative thing. Didn’t I just explain that we all believe to representing the truth, while we all have conflicting doctrines?” he said with a smile. He was right whatever he could tell me was not going to change my own opinion as I was already formed and therefore couldn’t accommodate a truth that clashed with my belief.