Conflict and Power

          Life is a journey wrought by conflict and power.  It’s unavoidable.  Every species is a potential host for a parasite or food for a predator. 

            At the moment of conception what may look like a glob of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen atoms, nitrogenous bases and phosphates are the ingredients that make up the receipt, that is genes, that will develop into a human being.  If all goes well a brain will develop with which to perceive the environment so that the genes can switch on and off causing behavior that will enable the human to survive in the environment.

            The genes have a pretty good idea what the environment is going to be like because that information has been passed to daughters and sons for eons of generations; therefore, most human behavior is predetermined.

            The brain is the organ that really makes the human, human.  The brain enables the human to think, in other words solve problems, and create.  Working in tandem with arms, hands, legs and feet the brain has created art, a variety of artifacts like tools, and also stories.  If you figure in creations along with common cause, it is humans working together that enables them to survive in a world of conflict and power.  But survive for what?

            Humans survive so they can reproduce, in other words make duplicates of themselves.  To be more specific, humans survive to make bodies, which are vehicles for genes.

            Baring genetic defects or injury to the human, a strange thing happens.  The brain produces the phenomenon of consciousness.  Consciousness produces the illusion that consciousness, or the self or soul, is separate from the body.  As humans thought about  these abstract ideas of mind, consciousness, soul, ego and self, they got all tangled up.  Human are still trying to decide what consciousness is.

            The struggle to survive in a world of conflict results in stress.  Before the mind invented things like medication, it invented stories and like tranquilizers they were comforting and tended to reduce stress.  But they were just stories, stories about faraway places like Shangri-La, Heaven, Eden, Paradise, etc.

            Nevertheless, the genes that developed the brain allowed the mind to convince the self that the stories were true. The genes didn’t care if the humans were comforted by the stories as long as humans survived long enough for the genes to replicate.

            The stories had to do with places where there was no stress, no conflict, where no power was to be had, or power was distributed equally, because there was only one man with power, and his power made sure no one else had more power than him.   

            As humans went about creating shelter, growing food and making a living the humans thought they were in control, their minds told them they had free will.  After all hadn’t they created electricity, airplanes, computers, etc?  Hundreds of generation passed before a few inquiring minds deduced that humans, like the rest of the animals, were vehicles for the replication of genes.  Humans were actually being manipulated by genes and the environment. 

             The brain is such a wonderful organ, capable of so many things, especially abstract thinking like mathematics and spirituality.  It was only a matter of time until it invented religion and started creating symbols and building dwellings where humans could worship this powerful abstract man, called god, who presided over the faraway places.  Religion not only became an abstract place of refuge but a place where rituals and sacrifices were invented to appease the irascible and jealous god.  

            Spurred on by those genes responsible for aggressiveness, a few human minds discovered that rather than seek ways to escape aggression, they could employ aggression to insure survival.  

            The brains ability to develop a part of itself for conceptualizing abstractions increased in proportion to how abstractions increased survival. Art became more sophisticated.  Mathematics enabled the construction of better and more efficient artifacts. Individuals started specializing in spiritually induced religion.  

            The religious specialist came into being because it was the wish of the people.  They clamored for a religious specialist just as they clamored for a king to unit and rule over them. 

            We see this trend in every culture and society since the sudden appearance of the ancient Sumarians.  Anthropologists discovered this trend in the primitive tribes of Africa and South America.  Archeologists also discovered this trend in the ancient ruins of every culture.  Because abstract creations like gods and demons seemed to exist in all cultures throughout the world scientists concluded spirituality must have a genetic origin.

            It was a penchant for abstractions and the encouragement of peers that stimulated some men to take up the occupation of religious specialist.  They thought, “I will be what you want me to be, and in turn I will manipulated you into being what I want you to be.”

            For the sake of argument, spirituality is a genetic phenomenon.  Religion and a belief in a god is a nurturing phenomenon induced by the spiritual genes.  Each culture has its own unique form of religion, although different, there is enough similarity to conclude they have a common origin. 

            Take Mormonism for example.  How much does Mormonism have in common with other Christian religions?  Maybe a better way to ask the question is how much has Mormonism borrowed from other Christian based religions?  Such as temples, endowments, sacrament, priesthood, one-man-rule, etc?  In that regard, what fascinates me is where Joseph Smith got the idea that men could be transformed into gods. 

            What inspired one-man-rule?  God didn’t tell the Hebrews that Moses should be their leader; God told Moses that he should be the leader of the Hebrews.  The Catholics conveniently constructed their religion so that the oligarchy could choose their leader and in essence told the abstract god to speak to them through the leader of their choice. 

            The early Mormons wanted Joseph Smith to be their prophet and leader so Joseph, more than willing, arranged for God to give him a revelation canonizing him as the leader.  Because Joseph, or maybe it was God, didn’t stipulate how future prophets should be selected, Brigham Young and his fellow priesthood cronies followed the Catholic example.

            Still, how did religion and one-man-rule come about? 

            Nature and nurture seems to provide the most logical answers and it fits snugly within the concept of conflict and power.

            If you want to go to a place of refuge and sanctuary where no power is protected by power, and if you conform to that abstract power, and desire to be rewarded with the same creative power, which abstractly created you – then convert to Mormonism. 

             The spiritual part of the brain, working in tandem with those genes responsible for survival, have created a religious market place. 

            This fascinating thesis can go on and on using rationality to tackle such intriguing questions as determinism, altruism, free will, design, deism, atheism, etc. ….