On the lunacy of free will

[The Grand Nudger]

==Yes, it is the classical view that when there is a weather problem or disease problem, that the gods are angry.
They seem to think that all natural disasters are caused by gods.
I think this notion is at the very heart of all religions. It might be 50,000 y old. Ancient man didn’t understand weather, they didn’t see the cause for disease and so, they presumed that some personality was upset and was trying to harm them. I think they figured that if the priest tries to communicate with him, or give a gift, that the personality would give them peace.
Conversely, I think when something good happens, the believer ends up believing that the personality gave him good luck (blessing).

Negotiating with death.  Tell you what mr volcano, if i give you one super pretty girl, will you leave the rest of us alone?  Ogg may have shuffled off the mortal coil, but I'm going to bury him with wealth so that he doesn't have to be poor in the next life.  

Now, If I could just get an audience with Mars to discuss how many rams will be needed to see me through raiding my neighbors village without any friendly casualties....

I think it makes alot of sense for our religious ideations to be about life and death - and that does seem to be how it started out. After all, that's when we come into each others view (and our own)..and go out. It's a pretty big deal for us.