Douglas Face

World Literature Final Essay

Option A

We all Need Something to Believe in

            All throughout history there have been people of unrelated backgrounds that have believed in some kind of higher power. I have heard theories that claim that this is proof that there is a God. I have heard other theories that say that the human mind just needs to believe that there is something other than day to day struggles. There are theories that say that people invent Gods to explain the things that they can't explain themselves. For the most part that is what I believe. In order to explain what I mean by that I will explain my theory on God and then I will explain why I believe the theory to be true.

            I don't believe that God is a being that interacts with the life on earth. I have a theory that God is more of an energy or maybe an entity that started everything in motion and created the laws that govern the universe and then stood back to watch. If the latter is the case, I don't believe that Gods laws can be broken. Our human interpretation of these laws are called, the laws of physics and the laws of mathematics as well as a few others. Our concept of these laws barely brush the surface of what I theorize to be an amazingly complex series of instructions that all matter follows. This theory in itself should lead one to believe that the concept of God is based on the individuals need for explanation of the unknown, and the education level of the individual contemplating the existence of the God.

            In the Ancient world we can look at the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the world that the author lived in there was very little known about why things happened. This reinforces my theory that the less educated the person or civilization is about the ways of science, the more that they will think up to explain why things happen.

            There is an explanation in the beginning of the story of Gilgamesh that tells of how a goddess made Gilgamesh “as strong as a savage bull.” (Davis, Harrison and Johnson)The story goes on to explain how that same goddess made Gilgamesh's equal by dipping her hands in water and pinching off some clay, she lets this fall in to the wilderness and this was how Enkidu was created. The need to explain why some men were stronger than others and even how those men came to be in existence is an example of humanities need for answers.    At the time this story was written the education level compared to the people of today was very limited. The further back in time that we go the less people knew about the scientific explanations for things. This led to the creation of a God for every occasion. In some stories we hear about gods that make thunder, we hear about gods that make rain, and in some stories, like in Gilgamesh there is a need to explain how a great and powerful warrior can die. Gilgamesh faces his own mortality with the passing of Enkidu and he goes on a journey to help him understand about death and the fact that even as great and powerful as he is, he will also face death.

            When Gilgamesh journeys to “the garden of the gods” (Davis, Harrison and Johnson) looking for an explanation of his mortality, it represents mans eternal search for answers. The lack of scientific knowledge by the people of the ancient world lead them to try and explain the workings of the world with magic or the interaction of gods, this reinforces my theory. As we move forward in time the knowledge of how things work is explained by scientific theory and the need for magic and godly intervention decreases.

            As we enter the Medieval world, scientific explanation is still somewhat lacking. The Story of Beowulf is steeped in mystic tradition. The monster Grendel is used as an example of why man should follow the rules and do what is best for the clan. The mighty Beowulf is looked at as a hero that has some characteristics of a god but is a man that relies on himself more than the magic of a god. The men in the story of Beowulf aren't scientists and they can't explain how things happen but they are starting to show signs that the people of that time relied on their own abilities instead of being pawns in a chess game of the gods.

            There is still a need to explain the unexplained in the time of Beowulf. There is a description of how the Danes sometimes “offered honor to idols at pagan temples” (Davis, Harrison and Johnson)and that “it shall be well for him who can seek the Lord after his deathday and find security in the Father's embrace.” (Davis, Harrison and Johnson)This leads me to believe that although at this point in history the people have moved beyond the gods controlling everything, they still have a need for answers. They still have a need for a god in the form of a father figure and a way to give them hope that death isn't the final chapter in their lives.

            Continuing forward in history, Shakespeare seems to mock magic and use it to entertain his audience. The fear of the unknown has lessened but not by much. The character of Prospero is a powerful magician in the beginning of the play but as we come to the end he seems to understand that he is a mere mortal that is capable of making mistakes like everybody else. This is so meaningful to him that he decides to give up manipulating people with his magic. Throughout the play we see Prospero manipulating goddesses and a spirit named Ariel. This lends to the idea that Shakespeare and the people of his time believed that there were gods and spirits but that man had the ability to do things on his own and at times even control the gods themselves.

            Shakespeare used his play, The Tempest, to entertain but he also left those of us that came after his time a way to look into the minds of the people of the Renaissance world. The ability of his characters to have power over the gods shows that even though there was a need for the belief of a higher power, that the higher power wasn't an all powerful being without some form of a sense of humor. Shakespeare's mockery of the goddesses as they danced shows that the fear of reprisal from an angry god wasn't something to worry about.

            The use of magic by the character Prospero, leads us to believe that there was still a need to explain the unexplained by some means. In the time of Shakespeare the scientific world hadn't really got to where they could explanation of how things worked.

            So far the stories that I have talked about are all before the modern are. The people of the different time periods used the concept of gods and magic in different ways but they all used it. There was a need to explain the unknown. As we move into the modern times we find people of various education levels. In the more rural areas there is usually less of a focus on science and more of a focus on god. This lends to my theory that the less educated someone is the more that they need to use an otherworldly explanation to answer the questions that face them. For somebody that has lived in the area that we live in their entire life, the difference in the educated and the uneducated isn't very obvious. For somebody that has spent much time in a more populated area with a strong education system, the difference screams out at you.

            The place that I lived before I moved here had quite a few people that isolated their children and sheltered them the way a cult shelters its members. There was manipulation of the material that the children were exposed to and there was constant reinforcement of the parents’ beliefs. This lead to children, even in the places where education was modern, that had a need to explain the things that they couldn't understand as the interaction of a god. This lead to confusion later in life as the children got older and they experienced new ideas that they weren't allowed to learn about as a child.

            The majority of the children that lived in the place that I moved from were open to new ideas and they relied less on a god and more on science. Some of them still went to church and believed in a god but they were open to the concept of the theory of evolution and also the idea that the world is older than six thousand years old.

            The beliefs of the people that lived when our stories were written needed to have an explanation for the things that happened in their world. The children in modern times that are not allowed to form their own opinions are put in a position where they have to come up with some explanation that will help them cope with the unknown. Both of these groups of people grasp at a mystical explanation to their questions while the people that listen to the logic of science have less of a need for a god. The more educated people may still need the comfort of a higher power but it is obvious in the way that they treat the differences in their fellow man, that they are more tolerant of different belief systems.

            The people that isolate themselves into a community of like believers tend to believe that their way is the right way and that people that don't believe the way that they do are wrong. Without naming names I will point out that even a leader of a group of those afore mentioned people, that has studied other possibilities, is far more tolerant and accepting of people that have different beliefs. This education opens him up to the possibility that even though he believes in god, there might just be something other than the black and white world. This opens up the possibility of gray areas. The concept of gray areas has helped to lead the Christian people away from stoning their fellow man and the horrors of eating pork and moves them closer to the way of tolerance and acceptance of their fellow mans differences.

            There are still those that let their fear of things that they don't understand cause pain to others, they may use god to explain why somebody is gay, in that case, it’s the fear of the unknown that is the problem and education is the answer.

            There will always be people that need a god to explain the unknown to them but in time I hope that they will rely less on the crutch of mysticism and strengthen their mind with information and knowledge.