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“There is something eternal in religion.” Emile Durkheim
Author Tomichan Matheikal’s book titled ‘The Simplest
Guide to Religion’ is a detailed yet interesting treatise on the history of
religion, how it first began and evolved. The story of religion throughout the
book is one of transformation over the centuries. At the beginning, gods
emerged from human myth and imagination, as men sought answers from a seemingly
indifferent world. Religion came across “as a profoundly human response to the
unbearable weight of existence.”
Early humans gazed upon the world with fear and awe. “Religion
grows where fear asks for protection and wonder asks for reverence.”
Before religion, humans saw the universe as “a community
of living presences.” Animism and nature worship came into being almost
naturally, propagating the power of trees and groves, animals with souls and
ancestral spirits who cast an influence over the living. “The sacred was woven
into ordinary living.”
The author provides apt examples, peppering the narrative with them to strengthen his arguments. For instance, the ’living dead’ of Tana Toraja (Indonesia) and the Famadihana (Madagascar) dwell on ancestor worship and its fascinating allied rituals. Scottish anthropologist, James George Frazier, believed that human thought evolved through three stages – magic, religion and science, connected in various ways, influencing one another.
There is no doubt that Tomichan Matheikal has spent
copious hours researching on the myriad aspects of religion, from its earliest
emergence to its avatar in the modern era. Monotheism (the idea of a single
supreme divine authority) and polytheism (a crowded heaven populated with many
gods) have both been well expounded, replete with examples from ancient
civilizations and societies.
From that point, it is a seamless progression to the way
in which myths and oral traditions grew into scripture, giving religion a
formal shape. However, when scripture went through a process of over thinking
and emphasising, it slowly deteriorated into orthodoxy and inflexibility. From
there on, it was only one step away from heresy, which was a retrograde step,
mentioned for the sake of historical correctness.
The author moves on to expound on how the religion of yore turned gradually into a discussion of rational enquiry in the times of Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle - Wikimedia Commons
The Middle Ages
perceived the rise of Scholasticism where Christian doctrine blended with logic
and reason through systematic analysis. The author speaks of, apart from
others, Adi Shankaracharya and Ramanuja, Indian philosophers who saw religion
as a blend of reason and spirituality, and also a disciplined spiritual path
towards God.
The period of Enlightenment shone forth as numerous thinkers
came forward to expound on their version of religion, rationalism and truth –
Rene Descartes – (I think, therefore I am!), Baruch Spinoza who identified God
with Nature, John Locke, David Hume and Voltaire who fiercely criticised institutions
that used religion to suppress freedom and enquiry.
Immanuel Kant chose the middle path between faith and
scepticism. Karl Marx and Max Weber perceived religion as ideology and a
historical influence from acceptance to critical investigation. By the 20th
century, religion had metamorphosed and the history of religion had adapted,
transformed and survived. Darwin spoke of evolution, and Nietzsche of the
mortality of God. “Humanity was now creating new values rather than inheriting
old ones.”
Unsplash
Why did religion survive? Maybe because humanity still
needed its indispensable social functions and rituals to reinforce their
cultural values. As the author puts it so aptly, “The sacred has not vanished;
it has taken new forms.”
New gods have arisen in a godless world. Fundamentalism
which severs the world into insiders and outsiders, Nationalism which serves as
a cementing force, political religions like Communism and Fascism. Even more
recent are the Eastern spiritual traditions like the practice of Buddhism,
Hindu philosophy, yoga, meditation and new age spirituality which promise
personal growth and self-transformation.
New Age Spirituality - Unsplash
Of course, the latest gurus are the celebrities – actors, musicians, influencers and public figures who are idolised like deities. Consumer capitalism rules as people have put their faith in acquisition and consumerism. There is a separate tribe that exhibits profound and moral concerns for the world around them, following the concept of Environmentalism which ironically harks back to the ancient concept of Nature as sacred.
When I finished reading Tomichan Matheikal’s book, I could only marvel at the immense fount of knowledge that he has put out into the world. This is an opus that must have taken hours of perusal and research. His language is simple, and his style lucid and interesting. Apart from references from ancient texts like the Rig Veda and the Bible, the book is peppered with apt quotes from great minds like Albert Einstein, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Chief Seattle, Immanuel Kant and the like.
As the author himself proclaims, he turned from agnostic to admirer, may I dare say, of the myriad chapters that strove to glean meaning in a seemingly indifferent world, and “order amid chaos, community amid isolation and hope amid suffering.”
Chief Seattle’s wonderful quote says it all.
“All things share the same breath beneath – the beast,
the tree, the man… the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.” If
this simple truth were realised, men would probably not fight over religion,
which, in itself, could be a force that binds and not one that divides.
Queen of Treasures website: The Author with his Book
The eBook link of the book is https://tinyurl.com/4e3ewje4. The book is also available on Kindle Unlimited.
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