Where does the idea of God come from? Well, I think we have a very skewed point of view on an awful lot of things. But let’s try and see where our point of view comes from.
Imagine early man... early man is like everything else - an evolved creature, and he finds himself in a world that he has begun to take a little charge of. He has begun to be a tool maker. A changer of his environment with the tools that he's made, and he makes tools when he does in order to make changes in his environment.
To give an example of the way man operates, compared to other animals, consider speciation which as we know, tends to occur when a small group of animals gets separated from the rest of the herd by some geological upheaval, population pressure, food shortage (or whatever) and finds itself in a new environment, with maybe something different going on.
Take a very simple example - maybe a bunch of animals suddenly finds itself in a place where the weather is rather colder. We know that in a few generations those genes which favour a thicker coat, will have come to the fore, and we will come and we will find that the animals have now got thicker coats.
Early man as a tool maker doesn't have to do this. He can
inhabit an extraordinarily wide range of habitats on Earth - from Tundra to the
Gobi Desert - he even manages to live in New York, for heaven's sake.
And the reason is, is that when he arrives in the new
environment, he doesn't have to wait for several generations. If he arrives in
a colder environment, and sees an animal that has those genes which favour a
thicker coat - he says - "I'll have it off him!"
Tools have enabled us to think intentionally. To make things
and to do things to create a world that fits us better. Now imagine an early
man surveying his surroundings at the end of a happy day’s tool making. He looks
around and he sees a world which pleases him mightily.
Behind him are mountains with caves in. Mountains are great
because you can go and hide in the caves and you're out of the rain and bears
can't get you. In front of him there's the forest. It's got nuts and berries
and delicious food. There's a stream going by which is full of water. Water's
delicious to drink, you can float your boats in it and do all sorts of stuff
with it. Here's cousin Ug! And he's got a Mammoth! Mammoths are great - you can
eat them, you can wear their coats, you can use their bones to create weapons -
to catch other Mammoths! I mean this is a great world! It's FANTASTIC!
But our early man has a moment to reflect. And he thinks to
himself "Well this is an interesting world that I find myself in!"
And then he asks himself a very treacherous question. A question which is
totally meaningless and fallacious. But only comes about because of the nature
of the sort of person he is. The sort of person he has evolved into and the
sort of person who has thrived because he thinks this particular way.
Man the maker looks at his world and says "So who made
this then?"
Who made this!?
You can see why it's a treacherous question.
Early man thinks: "Well, because there's only one sort of being I know
about who makes things, whoever made all this must therefore be a much bigger,
much more powerful (and necessarily invisible) one of me! And because I tend to
be the strong one who does all the stuff - he's probably MALE!"
And so we have the idea of a God then, because when we make
things we do it with the intention of doing something with them - early man
asks himself: "If he made it, what did he make it for?"
Now the real trap springs. Because early man is thinking
"This world fits me very well! Here are all these things that support me,
and feed me and look after me! Yes this world fits me nicely!" and he
reaches the inescapable conclusion, that whoever made it - made it for him.
This is rather as if you imagine a puddle waking up one
morning, and thinking "This is an interesting world I find myself in - an
interesting hole I find myself in - fits me rather neatly doesn't it. In fact,
it fits me staggeringly well! Must have been made to have me in it!
This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the
sky - and the air heats up - and as gradually the puddle gets smaller and
smaller - it's still frantically hanging on to the notion that everything's
going to be alright! Because this world was meant to have him in it! It was
BUILT to have him in it! So the moment he disappears ... catches him rather by
surprise!
... I think this may be something we need to be on the watch
out for.
