Religion and the Needs of Man
Religion and the Needs of Man
Despite the title, this essay is not about religion per se; it is about people – human nature if I may. So,
one might ask, why religion? It has been with us forever, the forms have changed, and our views of them,
but religion in one aspect or another is universal and forever. And why is that? The reason, I would
suggest, is that we have a need – needs.
In the beginning (irony not intended, but neither ignored) it would appear the greatest need was
something like security. They didn’t know; they didn’t understand so they extrapolated what they did know
and understand to make some sense of it so they could deal with it. What they knew was man and beast
and if something happened it only made sense that it was caused by some man or beast manifestation
consistent with the enormity of what was happening. Big wind, powerful unknown, invisible man or beast
creature. And it was only logical to attribute each happening to a different cause. What else could cause
wind but some kind of invisible god-creature? As life and knowledge changed so did the explanation.
As life progressed and things got more complicated, giving reasonable explanations to things
heretofore unknown, so did man’s needs, but one of the greatest needs was still security. The gods were
still around, but when they needed them most they were up on Olympus screwing around about the way
one would expect of a god who was like man. And Caesar deified himself, although it had to have been a
little bit of a stretch to see him as a flesh and blood Zeus. But, then, in another sense, why not? He had
the power – total power – to give or take away; he ruled the world, and none challenged him. Or at least
that must have been the way the peasants saw it; after all, that’s what he told them, and what did they
know?
Caesar might have been on the top of the pyramid, but the logic of living was that there were others
under him with power also, and men needed them if they were to survive. but also if they were to prosper.
Were they then gods too? Obviously not, but it had become clear that there was a human hierarchy and
man had learned to find his place within it – to survive and prosper – starting with families and clans and
moving up from there; the hierarchy of power had to be pretty obvious, and the master one attached
himself too was critically important, as it also depended on where he, the master, stood in the hierarchy of
power.
The Jews, Christians and Muslims found it easy to extend that power hierarchy. Who said Caesar
was at the top of the pyramid? Others challenged Caesar, and in fact the world was becoming chaotic and
uncontrollable. The Jews said that their God appeared to them and guided them as previous gods had
done in more ancient times. In fact the God Yaweh had brought power and wealth to the Jews, as Caesar
had to the Romans. Then Jesus the Christ was sent to walk upon the earth with the message that his
God, a new Yaweh, offered power and security to all who accepted him – and proved it to them with his
words and deeds. The key was that man needed something in which to believe, someone who offered
security they desperately needed – and the means to prosper.
With the collapse of the Roman Empire the known (Western) world was thrown into chaos, but the
hierarchy of power continued apace – some men had it, and other men who didn’t needed the security
those men could provide – because of the power God had given them. The kings that emerged in time
were given their power by God whose priests explained it to the rest, making it clear how the hierarchy
worked, what their place in it was, and the responsibilities that entailed. God protected kings if kings gave
fealty to God, and kings protected peasants if peasants gave fealty to the kings. It was really pretty simple.
We have moved beyond the simple model, and a great deal more is known, but not all. Much of life
and nature, we have found, is subject to natural laws that have been discovered by scientists, laws that
explain all that were previously assumed to be the prerogative of the gods. God didn’t create earth as
previously believed, it was created by what we now refer to as the Big Bang which created the entire
universe. And prior to that? What was there? Well, we don’t know. And if the universe is finite, what’s
beyond it? And how far does it extend? And then what created the big bang? And how did all those
natural laws come to be? The human mind has difficulty grasping the concept of infinity and forever,
because everything we know has boundaries, and we just can’t fathom other than that. Is there life after
death? The monotheistic religions believe there is; is there? We don’t know. Atheists believe – insist –
there is not; so is there not? We don’t know.
Whether the complicated – and argued – theocracies are believed or not (and the differences among
the religions of the book are not all that great, after all), man still has the same needs he had in the
beginning: security, the means to prosper, and the necessity of fitting into a power hierarchy. Some are
powerful and seek ever more power; others are dependent and need the powerful to help them, to take
care of them, with many combinations of those two extremes all along the hierarchy. We no longer have
kings and fealty; but we have governments and subjects – citizens – of governments. And some are
powerful and seek ever more power; others are dependent and need the powerful to help them, to take
care of them; with many combinations along the hierarchy. Power varies; dependence varies; but the
needs of man remain.
Those needs are still there: security and prosperity, broken down further into millions of variations.
The hierarchy remains, because that is another need, a great need we have, to find our place in the
hierarchy and feel the security it provides, security that all will somehow work out for us within the hierarchy
– and we’ll be ok, and taken care of, in a sense, when we need it. We also need, not so much to
understand, but to believe, and for many there is a new top to the pyramid – a new religion, if you will, a
secular religion – and for them the religion is politics and the top of the pyramid is government. The
religious need, once so important, culminating in the need of a god-like paternal father figure, initially the
prerogative of the family and clan patriarchs, the king and lords, and a power in heaven is now being
satisfied by politics and government.
How so? As something to believe in – and to make others believe in. Has that not been what man
has always done? Force his power and belief system on others? By force if necessary? And is that not
what is happening in politics? And the people whose religion has become politics? There is only one
way; there is only one power; and that power knows what is best for its people, and will provide, council
and protect, if it is believed, and obeyed. Is the belief system not virtually the same? Is the passion it
spawns not the same? Is the power not similar? After all, if other powers are rejected, then how is the
need of man for something in which to passionately believe to be fulfilled other than to create it, yet again?
Despite the title, this essay is not about religion per se; it is about people – human nature if I may. So,
one might ask, why religion? It has been with us forever, the forms have changed, and our views of them,
but religion in one aspect or another is universal and forever. And why is that? The reason, I would
suggest, is that we have a need – needs.
In the beginning (irony not intended, but neither ignored) it would appear the greatest need was
something like security. They didn’t know; they didn’t understand so they extrapolated what they did know
and understand to make some sense of it so they could deal with it. What they knew was man and beast
and if something happened it only made sense that it was caused by some man or beast manifestation
consistent with the enormity of what was happening. Big wind, powerful unknown, invisible man or beast
creature. And it was only logical to attribute each happening to a different cause. What else could cause
wind but some kind of invisible god-creature? As life and knowledge changed so did the explanation.
As life progressed and things got more complicated, giving reasonable explanations to things
heretofore unknown, so did man’s needs, but one of the greatest needs was still security. The gods were
still around, but when they needed them most they were up on Olympus screwing around about the way
one would expect of a god who was like man. And Caesar deified himself, although it had to have been a
little bit of a stretch to see him as a flesh and blood Zeus. But, then, in another sense, why not? He had
the power – total power – to give or take away; he ruled the world, and none challenged him. Or at least
that must have been the way the peasants saw it; after all, that’s what he told them, and what did they
know?
Caesar might have been on the top of the pyramid, but the logic of living was that there were others
under him with power also, and men needed them if they were to survive. but also if they were to prosper.
Were they then gods too? Obviously not, but it had become clear that there was a human hierarchy and
man had learned to find his place within it – to survive and prosper – starting with families and clans and
moving up from there; the hierarchy of power had to be pretty obvious, and the master one attached
himself too was critically important, as it also depended on where he, the master, stood in the hierarchy of
power.
The Jews, Christians and Muslims found it easy to extend that power hierarchy. Who said Caesar
was at the top of the pyramid? Others challenged Caesar, and in fact the world was becoming chaotic and
uncontrollable. The Jews said that their God appeared to them and guided them as previous gods had
done in more ancient times. In fact the God Yaweh had brought power and wealth to the Jews, as Caesar
had to the Romans. Then Jesus the Christ was sent to walk upon the earth with the message that his
God, a new Yaweh, offered power and security to all who accepted him – and proved it to them with his
words and deeds. The key was that man needed something in which to believe, someone who offered
security they desperately needed – and the means to prosper.
With the collapse of the Roman Empire the known (Western) world was thrown into chaos, but the
hierarchy of power continued apace – some men had it, and other men who didn’t needed the security
those men could provide – because of the power God had given them. The kings that emerged in time
were given their power by God whose priests explained it to the rest, making it clear how the hierarchy
worked, what their place in it was, and the responsibilities that entailed. God protected kings if kings gave
fealty to God, and kings protected peasants if peasants gave fealty to the kings. It was really pretty simple.
We have moved beyond the simple model, and a great deal more is known, but not all. Much of life
and nature, we have found, is subject to natural laws that have been discovered by scientists, laws that
explain all that were previously assumed to be the prerogative of the gods. God didn’t create earth as
previously believed, it was created by what we now refer to as the Big Bang which created the entire
universe. And prior to that? What was there? Well, we don’t know. And if the universe is finite, what’s
beyond it? And how far does it extend? And then what created the big bang? And how did all those
natural laws come to be? The human mind has difficulty grasping the concept of infinity and forever,
because everything we know has boundaries, and we just can’t fathom other than that. Is there life after
death? The monotheistic religions believe there is; is there? We don’t know. Atheists believe – insist –
there is not; so is there not? We don’t know.
Whether the complicated – and argued – theocracies are believed or not (and the differences among
the religions of the book are not all that great, after all), man still has the same needs he had in the
beginning: security, the means to prosper, and the necessity of fitting into a power hierarchy. Some are
powerful and seek ever more power; others are dependent and need the powerful to help them, to take
care of them, with many combinations of those two extremes all along the hierarchy. We no longer have
kings and fealty; but we have governments and subjects – citizens – of governments. And some are
powerful and seek ever more power; others are dependent and need the powerful to help them, to take
care of them; with many combinations along the hierarchy. Power varies; dependence varies; but the
needs of man remain.
Those needs are still there: security and prosperity, broken down further into millions of variations.
The hierarchy remains, because that is another need, a great need we have, to find our place in the
hierarchy and feel the security it provides, security that all will somehow work out for us within the hierarchy
– and we’ll be ok, and taken care of, in a sense, when we need it. We also need, not so much to
understand, but to believe, and for many there is a new top to the pyramid – a new religion, if you will, a
secular religion – and for them the religion is politics and the top of the pyramid is government. The
religious need, once so important, culminating in the need of a god-like paternal father figure, initially the
prerogative of the family and clan patriarchs, the king and lords, and a power in heaven is now being
satisfied by politics and government.
How so? As something to believe in – and to make others believe in. Has that not been what man
has always done? Force his power and belief system on others? By force if necessary? And is that not
what is happening in politics? And the people whose religion has become politics? There is only one
way; there is only one power; and that power knows what is best for its people, and will provide, council
and protect, if it is believed, and obeyed. Is the belief system not virtually the same? Is the passion it
spawns not the same? Is the power not similar? After all, if other powers are rejected, then how is the
need of man for something in which to passionately believe to be fulfilled other than to create it, yet again?