Comment on Without the precursor of Spirituality and Religion, there can be no morality.
Philote@lemmy.ml 3 days agoThis is a fun conversation FYI. So all living creatures have a spirituality construct that is required for them to survive millions of years. There are many social creatures on this planet, are you suggesting they all have a shared spirituality guiding their morals in order to survive. If so interesting thought, if not why are we required to have one but not them. My opinion is spirituality is a by product not a necessity.
Arkouda@lemmy.ca 3 days ago
I agree, which is what I was hoping for. haha
My point is it isn’t found in all group species. Our species is obviously, and clearly, different.
That being said, other species have been observed doing what appear to be spiritual practices. These species usually exist in larger groups than other animals.
Take Elephants as an example. They stop in the spots that their matriarchs died in and pay tribute. They have been seen bowing at specific trees and landmarks along their migration paths. Is it elephant Religion? I don’t know because I am not an Elephant. But it looks spiritual to me.
Ants are also interesting in this conversation, as they seem to operate in a “God king” like society. Power is obviously centralized, they have agriculture, territory and borders, take slaves and have wars over resources. I have seen studies on observations on strange behavior some ants have exhibited that seem “cultural” or “spiritual” in nature.
Then look at wolves. Family units, small packs, exhibit high levels of intelligence but don’t seem to exhibit “spiritual” behaviors.
Considering our example as the biggest species on the planet currently, and the fact that spirituality and Religion have always been a part of our societies, it seems to me that some idea of “bigger than me” is required to truly unify a species and allow for larger groups.
I believe we are now at the point where both Religion and Spirituality have become redundant because the debates have been had, the evidence is in, and all of it suggests we made that shit up. It served its purpose, and now we need to move on.
We can still learn from all of that debate and history though. A lot of “Answered questions” are interesting to ponder in their own right.