“The mind of man is capable of anything because everything is in it –
all the past as well as all the future.” –Joseph Conrad (Heart of Darkness)
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The Vitruvian Man
By Leonardo da Vinci |
It is human nature to question, by virtue of our birth. Humanity gives us the supreme right to dream, to wonder, to imagine the possibilities, to be inspired, and to inspire. We search for something to believe in, and typically find the answers within, as we dig deep in exploration of our own worlds. Of all the religions created by people on the earth, they have one particular aspect in common – they are all inspired by faith. Someone believed in the values that created the emphatic literature known as doctrine, which outlined the various aspects of each system of faith. A thinking people, we as human beings created circumstantial laws and rules which were specific for the individual cultural and social demands of each communal sector. We developed an understanding of what God was based on our understanding of ourselves, the world around us, the world within us, and our connection to one another, and to the universe.
What was the inspiration for the earliest man who took on the responsibility to decide the system of organized belief and understanding? This evaluation of religion as a social phenomenon is based on the question of human evolution. From the birth of Homo-Erectus to the awakening of Homo-Sapien, man became a thinking breed in the result of the activation of the enhanced mental capacity to consider questions while seeking answers. The world around us is a reflection of the world within us. Through the evolution of the vertebral animal into a religious species, we became a questioning breed with mental capacities activated by the polar propel of the erect central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord). To stand up was to gain the ability to take a stand for something by accessing a new perspective and a new way of seeing the world. To be for something or against it is to have the ability to choose. This supreme right given only to human beings for their ability is known as free will and gives the human species dominance over all other species on earth for being that which has fully developed – evolved at its maximum capacity in full and entire expression of God and the universe and all that is life. “God created man in His image, in the divine image He created him. Male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1) Because of this level of evolution, the mind has been opened enough to be able to dream, to imagine, to think, and wonder… Inevitably, to conquer… for he that stands upright can now wear a crown planted firmly upon his head and dominate the earth, if he so
chooses. Religion is the birth of human superiority over all other breeds.
“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” (Aristotle) In Leonardo Da Vinci’s depiction of The Vitruvian Man, he created a world renowned symbol of the ideal man. The “square of the circle” drawing is based on the correlations of ideal human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius Book III of his Treatise De Architecture. (Scripts of Stig Dragholm) The drawing symbolizes divine symmetry of the human body and by extension, the universe as a whole. The circle is considered the most perfect shape of all and is the symbol for pure spirit, eternal and unchanging. The square is the symbol for the earth, for all physical manifestations and for our orientation on Earth via the four directions, for seasons, and four elements. The earth is at the centre, surrounded by the circle of spirit, within which all of life is contained. The Vitruvian Man is Leonardo’s depiction of how to find a relationship between spirit and matter, between God and man. Indeed, to become the ideal man is therefore possible; it is to find the beauty of, and ideal balance between, physical and spiritual life, respecting the rules of the universe though purification of man.
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A very new breed, human beings, due to their mental capacity are now able to evolve at very fast and steady rates. “The world is very old and human beings are very young.” (Carl Sagan) This young, questioning breed on the sole voyage of self discovery is now coming to terms with the grandeur of its own origins through the progresses of time and understanding of self legacy. The process of evolution has led the mammalian breed to its prime known as the homo sapien; a process which has taken a very long time. But these humble beginnings of humanity have become great only because of the formation of structural socio cultural political religious identities in relativity to the surrounding world and communal or individual such understanding thereof.
“Let us make man in our image and our likeness. Let them have dominion.” The supreme being, in the image of God; the Homo Sapien, man, the wise, (latin). “Of all the animals, man has the largest brain in proportion to his size. “ –Aristotle (The Parts of Animals) The hands of animals are adopted to their lifestyles, humans with relatively long and opposable thumbs. The homo-sapien has a high forehead and is a definite omnivore. He is completely bipedal, survives in a global habitiat, and has created stone, metal, chemical, electronic, and nuclear tools. Homo-erectus most notably invented fire. As for natural selection, mothers with hereditary large pelvises were able to bear large brained babies who because of their superior intelligence were able to compete successfully in adulthood.
Civilization: “The development of human language was a crucial point in the evolution of man; among its highest peaks, as here, were story-telling cultured before the invention of writing.” Even here in the Bahamas, we know of many folk tale stories that the people told as folk lore, even in forms of song and dance to pass on the message of supernatural wonders of the world around them. The big brained homo sapien could now dream, imagine, believe, and share those beliefs of wonder and glorious inspired personal truths with others. The creation of inspired texts were written with the “faith to move mountains”. In the mindset that, if you can believe you can be inspired; if you can be inspired you can believe. Faith inspires because it exists in the realm of the imagination and endless possibilities. Passion uplifts the heart; if you stand for nothing you fall for anything or everything. Thus, indoctrinated texts based on a principle understanding of who God is and how that relates to relevant society in the name of order. This defining system became social and cultural standards, and religion became the identity of a people.
In contrast to the more popular, well accepted interpretation of the Christian version describing the fall of man found in the book of Genesis, perhaps the story can be taken to describe the battle of consciousness and conscientiousness; the birth of suffering in the awareness of inadequacy or infractions, because when we know better, with opened eyes, and we have the power to choose and to know guilt for making poor choices. Guilt = shame and nakedness. The struggle of man’s duality between their will to serve an indoctrinated system of beliefs and their nature to be one of the animals, merely a beast, to suffer the consequences of knowing better, then failing to follow through – from the rise of man – the inevitable revolution into the homo-sapien through homo-erectus, created the awakened mind, in a certain self awareness and vulnerability in questioning uncertainty. “Mankind is poised midway between the gods and the beasts.” (Plointus) That which separates man from beast and connects man to god is our ability to rise toward higher consciousness – to be able to rise above all matters through the powers of the self discovered mind.
The Little Oxford Dictionary defines Religion as “human controlling power in personal God or gods entitled to obedience, system of faith and worship; Social as “society or its organization relations of classes of people living in communities, gregarious; Phenomenon as “observed or apparent object fact or occurrence; remarkable person or thing.”
What is God is what is ideal to each individual. What we strive for, choose to live for, what we have learned to believe in, what we fight for, what we have accepted as truth. Religion is an indoctrinated system of beliefs. Indoctrination's of an individual experience of spirituality though heightened consciousness, systems of learned understanding though knowledge based on the interpretation of an individual experience, perception or of conceived relevance of God and the order of the universe; scripted moral laws. These doctrines are guidelines for society based on the circumstances of the order of the day it was written and the perspective of the person it was written by, and their intended influence of the people it was intended for. Inspired scriptures, doctrine are orders of words, recorded ideologies.
To conquer is to gain control of. The heads of household set rules for his family, both wives and children, that they should follow and adhere to. These rules represent community values in rank of importance. To convince everyone that they ought to follow this particular way. Most generations of this will always be the generations of questioning individuals determined to find their own ways, to conquer their own dreams and find their own paths. These ones daringly defy their father’s way by choosing a self made alternative. They become known as the black sheep or rebellious ones who have chosen to break away from the ways of a constituted household. Inevitably, they establish a new way, and found a new religion, based on their subjective interpretations of what they have already been taught. Teaching new ways to a new generation creates a new order and becomes a varied expression of that which becomes known as old or out-dated. Therefore, religion is meant to change and evolve and grow, according to the needs of the time and the people of that day.
God is not religion and Religion should not be considered God. Religions and churches and temples are a congregation of people who have shared beliefs and common goals. This union of shared ideologies strengthen family and community. People are able to worship together, to congregate for the purpose of shared beliefs, and celebration of life based on their understanding. Families have built communities based on these systems of shared beliefs that have become the foundation for many societies. Religion has been a way of connecting, worship, and prayer.
“In good speaking, should not the mind of the speaker know the truth of the matter about which he is speaking?” But what we define as truth is relative to the individual perspective via life’s experiences and ones understanding thereof. Truth is what we choose it to be; what we believe. We create our world around us as we choose our relative realities and accept our various truths in free will by virtue of our humanity. Why the war about whose religion is right? All religions are equal. We must learn to respect differences. Just as all human beings are equal, and should be respected as so, all of us have various factors that are unique about us and determine as characteristics how we contribute to the micro and macro – local and global atmosphere of our shared world.
Religion, sex, race, sexual preference, ethnicity, personal beliefs, lifestyle choices, cultural identities, historical background – these things are equal parts of society that make us unique. So, just because someone looks or thinks or sees things in a different way than you do does not make them greater or less, just different. Whose way is the right way? Each way is right and correct based on 1) the interpretation of the religious men by whom were inspired to create their indoctrination of texts by which their religion was founded based on what was most important to them in the time and day it was written and first practiced; 2) their understanding of themselves, each other, and the god that they chose to serve, and the world around them and within them; 3) their individual socio-cultural needs and their visions of how to attain these goals; creating order amongst men. Therefore, each religion is just as important as ones history or culture or ethnicity; serves the value of identity and community, forming common bonds through the union of shared beliefs and common goals. Religion is a reflection of who we are, where we come from, and what we believe in.
