(June 17, 2013 at 3:51 pm)fr0d0 Wrote: Wow this one again. The primitive tribe actually do have a spiritual practice that's obscured to make the story.

They think some of the things they see or hear are spirits. They make amulets to ward them off. That seems to be the full extend of their 'spiritual practice'.

The form their belief in spirits takes is interesting: they believe in an 'other world' of spirits that they can't perceive. If they hear a monkey but cannot see it, they may conclude it is a spirit monkey they are hearing from the other world. The guidance of the spirits isn't sought, they are merely a hazard to be avoided.

I'd say there is a difference between being superstitious and having a spiritual practice.

(June 17, 2013 at 3:51 pm)fr0d0 Wrote: Wow this one again. The primitive tribe actually do have a spiritual practice that's obscured to make the story.

We will know that they are making progress towards "civilization" when their "spirits" start telling them to kill people with different "spirits."

Thanks for sharing, was very interesting!

I already read this story in a French magazine.

(June 17, 2013 at 4:24 pm)Zarith Wrote:

(June 17, 2013 at 12:05 pm)littleendian Wrote:

This is something I've never really understood. Along the spectrum from worshipping objects in the natural world (such as the sun, moon, stars, and even seasons), through polytheism, and then on to monotheism, beliefs seem to get more and more absurd. And yet this is the direction in which things have evolved over time.

I'm no sun worshipper, but it's understandable why people would have thought that was the right thing to do. As something that sustains almost all life on earth, it isn't entirely ridiculous. Polytheism and monotheism both seem ridiculous to me, only polytheism slightly less burdened by the logical absurdities which plague the omni-everything types of monotheism.

Why does this happen? Is it syncretism just snowballing bits of religion together so that you get less and less of them but they are each more and more crazy? Or is this the direction in which religions need to evolve in order to be more successful at out-competing one another?

Personally I would worship the Sun for the following reasons:
1: We can prove it's there.
2: Without it there is no life.
3: It makes you feel good when you're bathed in it.

(June 21, 2013 at 4:55 pm)Gooders1002 Wrote: Personally I would worship the Sun for the following reasons:
1: We can prove it's there.
2: Without it there is no life.
3: It makes you feel good when you're bathed in it.

Does it?
I wouldnt know.
I'm English.

(June 22, 2013 at 3:35 am)downbeatplumb Wrote:

(June 21, 2013 at 4:55 pm)Gooders1002 Wrote: Personally I would worship the Sun for the following reasons:
1: We can prove it's there.
2: Without it there is no life.
3: It makes you feel good when you're bathed in it.

Does it?
I wouldnt know.
I'm English.

So am I, Lucky I been to hotter places where there is a Sun.