Origins

A recent discussion of the Web about ritual and religion has stimulated this vision of our origins:

A small human group huddle in a circle as night descends upon an open plain not too distant from a body of fresh water. They have no fire. The biggest and strongest male grunts as he marshals the males into their defensive formation. The nearby water will attract nocturnal predators. The females are enclosed by the male circle with children and infants. The males hold stones and pointed sticks to fend off attack. Some females nurse infants. Others sleep with children in their arms. One male looks to the cloudless night sky and wonders at the stars and the moon. He sees their light as safety and power. He spins vague forms of myth and rite in his mind. Ways to seduce the power of the sky and to make it his own. A female at the center of the circle plays with two rocks. She has caused sparks by striking the small stones together. She muses on the fickle light and wonders how to make it hers to command. Others in the circle simply stare wide-eyed at the darkness. They droop into exhausted naps. Their fear of the darkness is their motivation and their focus. They know death comes often at night with rushing claws and fangs. Before dawn comes, there may be one or two less of them. It will be hundreds of thousands of years before a single human will be able to safely sit alone by a campfire and look out at the Universe with  some understanding of its function and meaning.