Author's note. This book is one of a series originally published as Who the Hell are We? but extensively revised and updated.
Thank you for reading, voting, following and adding, 'Middle Era' to your reading list or library. Dunc MacPhun. 2022 March 24
In chronological order, the series contains:-
https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/234080674-supernovae-and-life
https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/238813918-we-eukaryotes
https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/244084318-neolithic
https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/247058691-our-sea
https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/249120741-migration
https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/251168052-middle-era
https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/254532133-health
https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/256201647-atoms-light
https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/257785133-steam
I will be publishing more work in this series.
It is difficult to understand why evolution gave us the need for religious faith but we are conditioned to believe that when bad things happen there must be a reason. We are reluctant to accept that many things happen for no reason. It is far easier to believe that there are gods and devils who control our lives.
It was hard not to believe in the super natural. The sun died every day as the brilliant light faded in a sky filled with blood and it was reborn each morning in a similar blood red sky. Some days clouds obscured the sun and water fell from the sky (so people could drink). When it did not rain the gods were angry and when thunder boomed and lightening started wildfires, they were enraged.
And, we arrogantly believed the world was created solely for our benefit. Our ancestors, sitting around a fire at night wondered at the stars filling the sky, bright enough to provide a dim light as they moved slowly from one horizon to another and there was the moon. Did they die each night when they disappeared like the sun?
Story tellers invented plausible myths combining the fate of warrior heroes with the stars, pointing out the stars which looked like a crab was really the spirit of a dead grandfather.
As people migrated further north they found ice and the Aurora Borealis.
Then there were 'Acts of God' . . . plague, hurricanes, floods, droughts, earthquakes and volcanoes.
More intelligent people discovered that they could claim responsibility for good things and blame devils when things went wrong. People were gullible enough to believe the most bizarre claims. (And we still are).
Shamans discovered they could claim healing powers by using meaningless gestures and sounds over a sick person. If the person recovered, which they often did, the shaman would claim credit. If the person died, that would be blamed on demons or ghosts of the dead-man's enemies, or failure to consult the shaman earlier. This was the beginning of religion.
YOU ARE READING
Middle Era
Non-FictionJesus and Muhammad adopted the Hebrew's belief in one God and Christianity and Islam spread throughout the world. The Chinese were using gunpowder in the 9th century and, by the 13th , cannon dominated the battlefields. Paper money appeared in China...
