Religion has an undeniably large influence in all areas of the world with many people being willing to suffer or die for their faith. Most secularists write it off, as I did, that it's a human need for meaning or purpose or is based off the fear of death or some other human need that a human being feels like they can't supply themselves. In many instances I still don't think that's necessarily wrong. That being said, the prevalence of religion, at some point, gave me pause to stop and think about it.
I enjoy reading about religion and have read a decent amount on various religions in the world or religious texts including reading the Quran, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi, the Emerald Tablets of Thoth, the Book of the Dead, a book on Hindu philosophy, books on Judaism, etc. I find it interesting to see what they share in common.
Zoroastianism: Two opposing forces, end of the world, resurrection, heaven and hell. Myth of three future saviors in 3,000 years (which was founded not quite 3,000 years ago but close).
Norse Religion: Heaven, world tree, good and evil.
Celtic Religion: Heaven, druids (shamans), belief of cleansing of the Earth by water and fire, the necessity of balance. (Also, on a personal level, they believed that religion would be destroyed and oddly spoke of seven scepters, you know the name of this blog. I had no idea. Weird.)
Egyptian Religion: Creator God, after life.
Hinduism: Triad of gods forming one, reincarnation of Shiva as the world needs it (savior), the necessity of balance, enlightenment.
Jainism: Reincarnation, enlightenment (samsara), every soul is divine.
Buddhism: Reincarnation, enlightenment. Prophecy that the last buddha will be reincarnated at what is essentially the end of days since it's the last buddha.
Sikhism: One god, gurus, the "oneness" of gurus, no one religion holds all truth.
Chinese religions: balance (yin and yang), heaven, humanism, harmony.
Judaism: Prophets, messiah still to come, souls can achieve union with God, heaven.
Muslim: One god, prophets, resurrection, heaven.
Sufi: Same as Muslim but adding being able to have divine union with God on Earth.
Christianity: Three gods as one, savior, prophets, end of world, resurrection, heaven and hell.
While they are not all saying the same thing, there are things that are more or less repeated among a couple of them. Here's what I see:
There is a higher power.
The higher power communicates in some way whether it be gods to man, prophets, a savior, shamans, gurus, etc.
There are two opposing primordial forces that must be balanced.
There will be some type of final Earth destruction event or major change.
Death isn't final and there is an afterlife.
What we do on Earth has consequences. Enlightenment or union with the divine is attainable to one degree or another.
Another commonality that isn't as doctrinally based but seems to be shared across religion text is an emphasis on love and the elimination of fear. I feel like that has been a theme in almost everything I've read. Balance and non-attachment are also themes that come up quite regularly throughout religion and historical mythology.
I don't really have a point in writing about this except to share the commonalities I've found. Makes me wonder why they are common across religions.
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