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What reason is there to think that people of 100k years ago would have any spiritual needs? What other animals have that need?
by alanbernstein 6y ago
What reason is there to think that people of 100k years ago would have any spiritual needs? What other animals have that need?
- AnimalMuppet 6y agoBy that reasoning, one would conclude that people today don't have any spiritual needs. And yet the humans of today seem to disagree with that view in large numbers. The humans of 100 years ago disagreed in far greater numbers. So... are they all mistaken about what they need? Or is there some line somewhere between humans of 100k years ago and those of today? Or is it after all reasonable that humans of 100k years ago might have had spiritual needs?
- alanbernstein 6y agoThat's an odd conclusion to draw. My point is there is clearly a line at some point in history, and nobody knows when it is. But it seems that spirituality would require at least spoken language, can we not agree on that? I don't know what the consensus is on when spoken language arose. I'm assuming it was not close to 100k years ago.
- wombatmobile 6y agoIt's difficult to know whether other animals have spiritual needs or practices, because we know so little about their languages and communications. Similarly, it is difficult for us to decipher other human culture's spiritual beliefs and practices without knowledge of language. Even non-spiritual behaviour is difficult to decode without language. Language transmits 80% of the intellectual content of television. Try watching the news or a drama series with the sound turned off.