What was the First Religion?

[Hitchey]

There's no way of knowing. But the Neanderthals had what MIGHT be considered a belief in the spirit world. Their dead were buried in fetal position and there were artifacts- like knifes found buried with the bodies. What it means would only be speculation, however.

True, all speculation is guess work, but it seems reasonable any items buried with them would be for use in an afterlife.

 

[Hitchey]

If I may, I would imagine that the First Religion, the Primal Religion, was that of self-awareness.

That would be important, but then chimps are self-aware, aren't they. I think a critical factor is language. Chimps may perceive a storm as a hostile entity that they wish to frighten off, but until they develop language they cannot construct the narrative that provides the framework for the development of religion.

 

[Gaura Priya]

That would be important, but then chimps are self-aware, aren't they. I think a critical factor is language. Chimps may perceive a storm as a hostile entity that they wish to frighten off, but until they develop language they cannot construct the narrative that provides the framework for the development of religion.

You are right, but the idea of awareness of self, as opposed to awareness of its own sense of purpose, and being able to rationalise is a separate characteristic that definitely differentiates chimps from hominins.

Neanderthals, as far as my knowledge serves me, were beginning to speak with a very limited sense of phonemes, and it was not until the appearance of homo sapiens that language had sufficient capacity to conceptualise. They were able to predict situations based on the given environment and causal factors, and it was one of he many keys for the survival of this particular form of hominins, while neanderthals faded away.

 

[chinu]

What do you suppose was the first religion? What do you think was characteristic of it?

-Considering religion as sect/faith/belief system, "Egoism" was the first religion of this world.
-Considering religion as religion means re-union with from we all started this journey of life in the begaining.

 

[Infinitum]

This is a tricky question, starting from the difficulty to define religion and spirituality and turning even harder since the people we talk about were very different from us. There are traits that can be found in how our psyche works as well as in what archaeology has brought us. I think one way of gaining knowledge of primeval religion is by looking at how children view the world.

1) The natural tendency to see consciousness where there is none
This can be simplified to the idea of seeing tigers in the bush even when there's no one there. Many forces of nature seem similarly wilful when the person is unaware of the laws behind the phenomena. Thus, the sky decides to rain and the wind decides to blow.

2) Magical belief and false causality
I think all of us are aware of how hard it can be not to attribute your luck or misfortune to something you've done. Our brain naturally "clicks" into a thinking where sheer chance doesn't exist. It's been shown that all animals fall for this, like when pigeons develop strict rituals to gain treats from a machine that in reality works purely on random.

3) Added value to things we rely on or put much effort into
Our brain is wired to stick to something we've put much time into. Likewise we put less value on things we aren't able to gain (see cognitive dissonance for more). This means we naturally elevate some things to a special position. For hunter-gatherers these could be family, prey, fertility and safety. This could explain the Venus figures and cave paintings as well as the wide range of imagery picturing human figures in various roles.

4) Group thinking
Humans are group animals. We thrive in tribes and form hierarchies based on who we value in the group. One very big part of religion are the ceremonies that are observed in order to preserve the order. For us modern day people this could be important family holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. For ancient communities it was even more important for all members to know their place and feel that the society was worth thrusting.

I might have forgot something. That's my thoughts for now anyway. Thanks for the interesting thread.

 

[sandandfoam]

What do you suppose was the first religion? What do you think was characteristic of it?

I reckon it was the night sky.
I think it remains interesting/relevant that when we gaze in awe at the night sky we see something that is not there.