The Evolutionary Tree of Religion (Faith, Myth & Mysticism)

for ex-BKs to discuss matters related to experiences in BKWSU & after leaving.
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ex-l

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The Evolutionary Tree of Religion (Faith, Myth & Mysticism)

Post15 Nov 2014

At the core of Brahma Kumarism, is their founder's conception of a simplistic "Tree of Religons". One which reflects his simplistic and formalist view of life and taste; and one which, rather vainly, places himself as the seed or main root of it. He, or the god spirit of BKism claims no religions started earlier than 2,500 years ago and all religions are both impure and partial memorials of BKism or the worship of Brahma Kumaris from the past. Literally, that all Hindus are worshipping reincarnated Brahma Kumaris in their purest form.

Further more, they teach that all the world's religious founders *must* come to the Brahma Kumaris at this time in order to be re-taught their religion ... that all the world's religious leaders have reincarnated time and time again and are now on earth in their most impure and ignorant state.

These are not views shared by any other religion, nor scholars and historians of religions.

Needless to say, it is written in one of the Brahma Kumaris' own histories that the idea for The Tree of Religion came from outside the cult and was copied and modified by the BKs under the directions of Lekhraj Kirpalani who, at that time, was believed to be god, God Prajapati Brahma, the seed of humanity, the Gita Sermoniser etc.

Simon E Davies of HumanOdyssey, an artist and designers I think, challenges that view by offering a somewhat more evolved version ... 'The Evolutionary Tree of Religion (Faith, Myth & Mysticism)' (Link to large resolution image). It goes much further than the BKs concept, one which has - over the generations - had serious failings, e.g. the god of the Brahma Kumaris did not know about Judaism and thought Islam and Muslim were two separate religions, he knew nothing of Zoroastrianism - the parent religion to the Abrahmanic traditions - nor anything of the religions of the Far East; e.g. Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto etc. Nor did he even include a nod to the multi-fold animistic religions found all over the world.

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Davies work may not be absolutely perfect but it is based on the most current understanding of human culture and does give a far more complete illustration of the evolution of human beliefs. However, it fails from the Brahma Kumari point of view.

It fails from the Brahma Kumari point of view first and foremost because their god did not invent it! Therefore, it is impure, body-conscious, not to be trusted Maya distracting human beings' minds from their god and - crime of crimes - making individuals question them and their god spirit's authority. It is of no 'benefits' to them.

I think it also fails from the Brahma Kumari point of view because it is too complex. It requires too much thought.

BKism tends to be extremely simple, simple enough for a child to be fooled by it. Or to satisfy a child-like mind. Hence the BK Tree, seen here.

Gradually, of course, the BKs are admitting the limitations in their philosophy and their response is to revise their teachings to make them more vague and hide the fundamentalistic faults. The leaders are allow Westerner BKs' imagination to take flights of fancy to distract from core problems in their theories, as with their latest versions.
Simon E Davies wrote:Since the dawn of mankind, humans have tried to make sense of their world, especially when faced with unknown phenomena such as ‘what causes storms’, ‘what happens to us after we die’, and ‘how was the world formed’? It is plausible that from such questions, our first primitive religions were formed.

The earliest evidence of a religious practice can be traced back 300,000 years ago when we began to bury our dead. Although we cannot define this as the origin of faith, it does suggest that at the dawn of humanity, we had begun to consider some kind of afterlife.

Over time, this religious practice gave rise to a new ideology which spread across the continents, known today as ‘Animism’. This emerging faith was the root belief system that would evolve and branch out into numerous other ideologies all over the world. The journey of these evolving religions can be broken down into three classic periods.
It should be noted that these periods are not indicative of a new ideology improving upon previous faith systems. Religions change over time, they go extinct, and they split into distinct traditions. They adapt to their environment, they construct their environment in part, all just like organic evolution does.

Period 1: Animism (100,000 BCE – Present)

Humans began to believe that natural constructs (e.g. plants, animals, rocks and wind) possessed a spiritual essence. These spirit entities were believed to have powers and temperaments that influenced our everyday world. By worshiping these divine beings, it was believed we could maintain harmony with this spirit world and gain favours from them.

Period 2: Polytheism (5,500 BCE – Present)

The roots of Polytheism seem to lie in the Nostratic period (a hypothetical language family which seemed to have influenced all the African and Eurasian traditions. It seems likely the generation of new Gods were adopted from the nature spirits of the old world (giving abstract beings of thunder and Earth a more human form). During the Neolithic revolution, civilisations began to emerge requiring new areas of expertise (e.g. lawmaking, metallurgy, agriculture and commerce). It was the descendants of the Nostratic Gods (e.g. the Indo-Europeans and Sumerians) who took on the role of guide and leader to the civilised world.

Typically these divine beings were divided into several classes, overseeing the heavens, the mortal realm and the underworld. Each deity possessed their own powers, religious practice and domain (e.g. trading, diplomacy, war craft etc). Man could either worship one or all of these beings, gaining favour from them via offerings, prayer and even sacrifice.

Period 3: Monotheism (1348 BCE – Present)

In the Bronze Age, a new movement took shape that prioritised one God over all other deities. This system is known as Monotheism - a belief in one Supreme Being. In 1348 BCE, the pharaoh Akhenaten, raised a lesser known God called ‘Aten’ to supreme status, downplaying the role of all other Egyptian deities. A little later in Iran, Zoroaster (a Persian priest) claimed ‘Ahura Mazda’ to be the one supreme deity. This newly emerging system posited that one creator god had formed the known universe, and was totally self-sufficient, capable of ruling over all other domains. This idea became prominent in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikhism.

Most monotheistic systems tend to be exclusive in nature, which meant the gods of the Old world had to be purged from mans consciousness. As a consequence, monotheistic religions displayed less religious tolerance than polytheistic religions, resulting in many wars and political disputes.
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ex-l

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Re: The Evolutionary Tree of Religion (Faith, Myth & Mystici

Post16 Nov 2014

The Brahma Kumaris are so minor a religion that they do not even figure in Davies' diagram. I suppose they fit in as a somewhat bizarre, minor cult of Hinduism, or as Hindu Spiritualists. However, typical to the expansive megalomania, tendency to exaggeration and vanity of their founder and his original followers, they love to 'market position' him - and themselves - not just amongst the major religions ... but as the most major religion. Top and centre.

GOD-is-One-God-is-Point-of-light-Ek-Omkar-Satnam-Parampita-Parmatma-Shiv-Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh-Shankar-Ram-Krishna-Ganesh-Hanuman-Om-Shanti-Brahmakumaris.JPG
GOD-is-One-God-is-Point-of-light-Ek-Omkar-Satnam-Parampita-Parmatma-Shiv-Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh-Shankar-Ram-Krishna-Ganesh-Hanuman-Om-Shanti-Brahmakumaris.JPG (109.02 KiB) Viewed 7685 times

Davies himself issues the caveat that, “due to the vague nature of mythology [and the lack of adequate written records from thousands of years ago] the origins of many of these faiths are estimates only.” However, uncertainty of origins aside, the chart’s mapping of the more recent schisms and offshoots make for an accurate and vivid visual aid in understanding the historical relation these religions have to one another, even if you have no idea what some of these religions are.

Davies’ chart shows only the better-known religions because there is simply not enough room to include every minor faith that is known to exist or to have once existed. Even still, the sheer number of faiths displayed here should serve as a helpful reminder that the mere act of adhering to a particular faith is a show of arrogance: Everyone who doesn’t believe what I believe is wrong.
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Pink Panther

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Re: The Evolutionary Tree of Religion (Faith, Myth & Mystici

Post01 Dec 2014

"A mythological pantheon is fluid and as the needs and the realizations of the society change, so do the relationships and the gods. Deities are really time- and space-conditioned; they are shaped from inherited ideas, inherited traditional imageries, but they are put together in terms of a local context of time and space.

"One of the great disadvantages of a literary or scriptural tradition like the biblical one is that a deity or context of deities becomes crystallized, petrified at a certain time and place. The deity doesn’t continue to grow, expand, or take into account new cultural forces and new realizations in the sciences, and the result is this make-believe conflict we have in our culture between science and religion.

One of the functions of mythology is to present an image of the cosmos in such a way that it becomes the carrier of this mystical realization, so that wherever you look it’s as though you are looking at an icon, a holy picture, and the walls of space and time open out into the deep dimension of mystery, which is a dimension within ourselves, as well as out there.

"This dimension can open through the science of today even more wonderfully than it opened through the science of the second millennium B.C.

There is absolutely no conflict between science and the religious mood or the mythological realization—but there IS a conflict between the science of the twentieth century A.D. and the twentieth century B.C.”

- Joseph Campbell, Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine, p.107

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