Our Father, Which Art A Book

[Tabula Rasa]

The following idea, I don't even know if I can call it religious, is fairly strange, but I think it's something interesting..

 

I once heard that a physicist is an atom's way of understanding itself. I work in a bookstore, and I got to thinking about how when we read something, depending on how much we like it or don't like it, or whether we accept its contents, whether fiction or non fiction it becomes a part of us. When we discuss something we've read, again whether we like the material or not, what we tell another person potentially becomes part of them specifically their minds, something like how a virus works. As with ourselves how much "melds" with them depends on their own preferences and prejudices. Sorry if I sound like I'm rambling, I'm about to get to the point.

 

From hereon, it gets weird: I have pondered that maybe the purpose of man is to create books; to pass on on ideas that we've heard or read and or ideas we've thought of ourselves. And by books I don't neccessarily mean a ream of pages between two covers: the ancients used the oral tradition, they painted on cave walls, they carved on stone tablets, they wrote on scrolls, and of course books eventually came along. Now not only do we have books to convey ideas, we have radio, television, the internet and all manner of transmission of ideas, whether sacred, profane and all things in between. It could also be suggested that human beings themselves are books, we all have some sort of stories, information etc in our minds that were "Written" by our various experiences and how we reacted to them.

 

Now this is where it gets really WEIRD. I'm wondering a big what if here; what if there's some sort of conscious formless force, a intangible awareness that wanted to become corporeal, to become solid and propogate itself . It comes upon our primitive hominid ancestors and sees some promise.

Eyesight, hearing, smell, taste and touch while not as powerful as some of the other animals it competes against,but it helps the hominid to survive. The brain is starting to notice patterns, to learn say for example not to go in that one cave near the bottom of a certain mountain, after seeing another hominid fall prey to a sabertooth tiger. The creatures upper limbs have evolved arms and hands, it walks upright, the hands which are usefull for grasping at food sources and which are becoming capable of using primitive tools.

 

So let's say this awareness starts tweaking the dna of a certain group of suitable hominids. It starts jacking up the mutations that lead to greater brain complexity, that increases the effectiveness of the ears and eyes, that increases the dexterity of the fingers and subsequently eye hand co-ordination. The mysterious force get's it's first step into our world through cave paintings, the first symbols. Also come the primitive fertility goddess sculptures, the stories that primitive man comes up with to explain all the mysteries around him and which becomes religion.

The old force has got the ball rolling. From then on, for good or evil, man starts to express and record ideas.

 

Sorry for all the rambling, but I'm wondering if maybe man is the symbiotic servant of this "consciousness" and we serve it when ever we express an opinion, tell a story, write a book, create art or music, or even write a internet post about it's possible existence.

Sorry if I sound like I've been smoking some serious shit, but I have to wonder....

 

 

Thoughts?

[PandaPirate]

I think our main purpose is to multiply.

[cm_christ]

very interesting thought process, you might want to invest some time to studying memes, i have a rough idea of the concept but it would seem to support your argument or at least give you further studys into theorys of how ideas are passed down from generation to generation.

[DarthOkkata]

To paraphrase 'Jaws' our purpose is to 'Walk, eat, and make little people'.

 

The collection of knowledge is a direct result of not having to collect food. Few people have to spend most of their time hunting for food, gathering resources, and tracking down mates.

 

Society allows the luxury of thought and learning as we know it today. Without resources as we know them today [and the past several thousand years], there would be no school, very little in the way of church, or any other kind of organized thought.

 

Our books [and gods] are a result of free time derived from farming, plumbing, and the ability to buy what we need from others within our group. Communication is a skill used for hunting, anything else is just a nicety we can afford by being the dominant life form on our particular rock.

 

There are no other animals who have the time to sit around and think of gods, books, or reality television. Each is locked in a struggle for survival that consumes most of their time, effort, and energy.