The quality of modern scholarship is such that popular cable networks, like the Discovery Channel, can present elaborate reconstructions of how dinosaurs, big and small, lived and died. Some scholars even speculate on how dinosaurs expressed their intelligence. The evidence for any of this is fragmentary at best: fossils and accidential mummies. Yet, the scientific method and human imagination is able to flesh everything out.
It is amazing what light scientists can shed on bygone eras.
Curiously, modern scholarship is silent on who, what, when where and how humanity came to possess the “Key to this Life.” The question is asked, but the answer is not found. What necessity drove humanity to make this discovery?
History is silent.
We know more about the dinosaurs.
In this communication we here at Inner Flames Press will investigate this question.
The historian, Karen Armstrong, author of the wonderful book A History of God, writes, “[My] study of the history of religion has revealed that human beings are spiritual animals. Indeed, there is a case for arguing that Homo sapiens is also Homo religiosus. Men and women started to worship gods as soon as they became recognizably human, they created religions at the same time as they created works of art.” (pg. xix)
It is here, at the dawn of civilization, that we begin our investigation. We must travel back before the Chinese Emperors, beyond the Mayan sacrifices, past the Egyptian pyramids. Difficult as it is, we must stretch our imagination to a time before the nomadic tribes started herding sheep and growing crops. The time period Armstrong refers to is one where humanity is just forming.
Small family groups exist. Hunting and gathering is the basis of the local economy. Unrefined primitive tools, fashioned from rocks, sticks and animal parts assist humanity in creating an ecological niche for itself. Competition with creatures adapted to the specific environment is fierce!
Humans cower before big game, seeking refuge in caves and tree limbs. The weather presents unique hardships. Although mastery of fire provides warmth and some protection from more equipped game, fire has its hazards and is not easily transported.
This is the bygone era out of which the human consciousness forms. In time, through trial and error, our Ancestors learned how to adapt to their environments. Creative leaps in technology opened doors to more and more of the Earth’s resources. Slowly a storehouse of plenty permitted leisure time and an increase in family members. Naturally occurring dye compounds gave rise to body adornment and wall paintings. Singing and dancing became refined arts. Language developed to the point where some specialized in poetry and storytelling. Knowledge of plants grew until sicknesses and injuries were addressed by “medicine men and women.” The raw intensity of living lessened.
It is in this setting that the Key to this Life was discovered. It was forced upon us through necessity. We were given a choice. Either we accepted the Key and rose to a new level of consciousness, or we rejected the Key and remained in a primitive state. As evident by our advanced civilization, our Ancestors chose to accept the Key.
Imagine that someone became sick. Let’s call him Anu. Anu is known for his robust health, high intelligence and hunting achievements. He is a valuable member of the small community we have established. For reasons no one can discover, he is sick. He is unresponsive to everything the medicine man can do. He becomes so still that it appears that he is dead. People begin losing hope and start mourning his loss, which is great.
But, all is not lost. He makes a remarkable recovery. Just a mysteriously as the sickness came upon him, it leaves him. Everyone is amazed and overjoyed. Mourning is replaced by singing and dancing.
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