The Evolution Of Gods
Is there really a God out there, or is it something that human created so we could have something or someone to fear in cases where we go wrong? This book asserts the it is the highly imaginative human mind that invented God using scientific research.
Summary of the Book
For most people it is blind faith in a God that they believe existed, and for some there is doubt as to how this whole concept came about. This book takes you back to the era that was about 400,000 to 200,000 years ago when man and woman just came to existence. About 100,000 years ago, humans discovered language as a form of communication. This helped them analyse and think about the world around them. It makes sense that the things that they feared the most were what they would eventually worship. For example: they feared the cold, so they turned to the sun for help and in turn started to worship it. They felt threatened by thunder and lightening, so they worship the sky. Several years ago diseases came into being which brought about another God that served that purpose.
This book sets apart religion and science. It tells us that there is a scientific reason for the creation of every God that is worshipped, and that it is the work of the humans themselves.
Chapters of the Book as sample
- Preface
- Chronology
- Chapter 1: Life after Death
- Chapter 2: Birth of Gods
- Chapter 3: Learning to Survive
- Chapter 4: Learning to Write
- Chapter 5: Sacrifice to Bribe Gods
- Chapter 6: Gods and Demons of Diseases
- Chapter 7: Hinduism
- Chapter 8: Judaism
- Chapter 9: Christianity
- Chapter 10: Origin of Life
- Chapter 11: Why Gods Are Still Alive
- Conclusion
Today, the development of science and technology has reached new
heights. A major part of the world’s mammoth population is thriving
with the help of modern technologies. These have provided food,
water, healthcare, security, comfort, recreation and much more to the
masses. Humanity has achieved this through a gradual learning
process that began in prehistoric period and continues to date. Apart
from needs and luxuries, scientists have also solved many age-old
mysteries. For example, human interest in the origin of life has been
documented throughout recorded history. Did some divine power
create the first couple? Several ancient philosophers propagated their
own theories of the origin of life; the Adam and Eve theory was one
of them.
Years Ago Event
- 55 billion: Origin of the earth as a small portion of the sun
- 8–3.0 bn: Its cooling and origin of unicellular creatures
- 0–2.0 bn: Birth of blue-green algae, bacteria and oxygen
- 500 million: Jawless fish, wingless insects, ozone layer
- 400–300 m: Insects, fish, frogs, reptiles, land plants
- 200–150 m: Birds, mammals, dinosaurs, flowers
- 100–10 m: Whales, monkeys, chimpanzees
- 02–01 m: Homo erectus, stone tools, use of fire
- 400–200 K: Modern human, invention of axe and hearth
The year 1698 was a milestone for the advancement of biology. In
that year, a British scientist, Edward Tyson, dissected a chimpanzee
and studied its internal organs. He was surprised to discover its close
resemblance to humans and asked himself why the internal organs of
a chimp were similar to that of a man. Were humans similar to
chimps during some bygone era? Did the remote ancestors of chimps
evolve into the human race? Tyson was probably the first scientist to
foresee that the great apes were the possible ancestors of humankind.
The previous chapter discussed priests and burial rituals of prehistoric
people leading a nomadic life. They buried their dead with food,
stone tools, red ochre, flowers, animal bones, etc. People provided
food and tools for the sustenance of the corpses; however, presence of
red ochre and flowers in the graves remained unexplained. It is likely
that these articles were dedicated to certain divine powers
The previous chapters described how the prehistoric humans
invented many concepts after learning the art of communication. For
example, people developed several useful tools such as the bow and
arrow, knife, canoe or rope. They discovered various devices for their
daily needs like hearths, shelters, leathers, footwear, herbal medicines,
etc. Apart from these, they recognized powers of the sun, the sky and
fire and began worshipping them. These were the scientific
discoveries of the time.
The last chapter discussed how the adaptation to agriculture settled
nomads, and that ultimately gave rise to villages, towns and cities.
After this, people grew enough food, built better houses and
developed several new techniques to lead a comfortable life. For
example, they learnt spinning, weaving, shoemaking, smelting,
pottery, etc. Several artisans mastered such skills and they crafted and
sold the devices. Initially, they bartered these for agricultural
products: later, coins replaced the barter system. Since cities had a big
population, the craftsmen of cities could sell their goods easily. These
implements also attracted farmers of nearby villages and towns to
cities; gradually, cities became the centres of manufacturing and
selling.
The previous chapters narrated how ancient humans invented many
scientific techniques, and how they built myths about the inexplicable
phenomena. Approximately five thousand years ago, the concept of
farming founded several civilizations in different regions of the world;
gradually, a major population adopted it. Cultivation provided
enough facilities to people, but at the same time posed quite a few
challenges to them. For example, adequate food resources and good
shelters resulted in a population explosion. The major consequence of
an increased human population will be discussed at length in the next
chapter.
The earlier chapters narrated how humankind learnt about the
powers of nature and their influence on human lives. Gradually,
people began worshipping these powers as gods under the guidance of
their priests. In truth, humanity wasted countless working hours
flattering their gods, ranging from the sun to phallus. They killed
domestic animals and even their fellows, in order to please these gods.
Hinduism is the oldest surviving religion of the world. The ancient
inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent discovered this religion much
earlier than the word Hindu came into practice. Ancient Hindu
scriptures, such as the Vedas, Ramayana, Mahabharata or Puranas,
have nowhere mentioned the word Hindu. In fact, the word Hindu
came into practice only after the eighth century CE. It was the name
given to the people living across the bank of the river Indus. Thus,
Indians living in the earlier period cannot be called Hindus. In order
to avoid confusion, the word Hindu has been used here to denote
inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent belonging to any period.
Judaism—the seed of all monotheistic faiths—sprouted in the sacred
land of Jerusalem, the present capital of Israel. It was the first
monotheist religion of the world. The Old Testament, the Jewish
Bible has documented the ancient history of Judaism and Israel. The
Bible is an anthology of several religious books compiled over roughly
a millennium; the oldest texts appeared around three thousand years
ago. These books contain history, myths, morals, prayers, rituals,
sacrifices, magic and medicines; these are the collection of all the
knowledge, the Israelite priests had at the time of writing.
Christianity and Islam also acknowledge several allegories of the Old Testament.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus planted a twig, from the tree of
Judaism, in Palestine. Today, the twig has grown into a big tree called
Christianity, which is the most widely practised religion today.
Around one-third population of the earth is Christian
The earth is the most beautiful planet among all known celestial
bodies, since a variety of flora and fauna has painted it in many
glorious colours. Countless animals of diverse shapes and sizes thrive
here. Long ago, the human race—the most intelligent species on the
earth—lived in a way similar to other animals. Humans spent their
entire intelligence, time and energy in fulfilling their basic needs of
food, sex and shelter.
After a brief study of religious activities, it becomes obvious that
during the last five thousand years, humankind invented and
worshipped many gods. People wasted countless working hours and
resources to propitiate their gods, in the hope that the appeased gods
would alleviate their sufferings, but this concept ultimately produced
a contrary by-product. Humans tolerated most of their miseries—
social evils and diseases—due to the fear of gods. They simply waited
for the divine help and did not make concerted efforts to eradicate
their miseries. In fact, priests enslaved people mentally. From the
ancient period until a few decades ago, humans committed these
mistakes out of ignorance: they lived in darkness
The previous chapters have narrated a brief account of the evolution
of gods. After reading them, it becomes obvious that humanity itself
imagined all the divine powers called gods. The concept of gods was
the projection of an ancient human instinct: people blamed some
unseen almighty power behind each inexplicable event and began
efforts to appease it. Furthermore, humankind modified the existing
concept of gods to serve their new needs during different time. The
history of religions teaches that a god, useful to the people of one
period, gradually became useless in the next period. Since necessity is
the mother of invention, the new human needs facilitated the
invention of new more useful gods to work for them. Thus, humans
often replaced an age-old god with a more promising god and
consigned the older one into oblivion.