Varun
Strategos
Okay, here is what I think.
First and foremost, I don't think that morality is due to religion. Religion did not give birth to morality but rather preached it over the years. It is up to us whether to follow it or not. Neither is morality a byproduct of government or the fear of punishment and so on.
I believe that morality is a sense that comes from mercy, happiness, requirement for company and so on. You can say it is a derived sense. I mean, in the days bygone, humans used to hunt for food. Now, everyone in that time period knew Death. That is a universal constant. They knew that it occurs on its own or someone can bring it on something. This means that they feared. They feared Death. Even now, people do. The sense 'morality' probably first came from humans showing mercy to each other. I mean, suppose Clan A meets Clan B for the first time. Both clans see that both have equal skill. Obviously they can figure out themselves that both can benefit. That is something that even animals have. I suppose that would be the base of morality. Morality of not hurting each other.
Then humans began to see that animals could be tamed and made to use and such. That makes the second step. Morality towards other creatures.
Then as time passed humans began to settle, marry and raise children. This induced a whole lot of moral codes.
So, as civilization progressed, moral codes were made and slowly people wrote them on books, parchments and so on so that they or their future generations wouldn't forget. Now you may ask why? The reason is simple. It saved them of the fear. Fear of being hunted, which was prominent in those days. They recognized that their strength lied in numbers and that probably was the root cause of morality.
Then slowly, morality integrated itself into humans. Became a part of the DNA, you could say.
First and foremost, I don't think that morality is due to religion. Religion did not give birth to morality but rather preached it over the years. It is up to us whether to follow it or not. Neither is morality a byproduct of government or the fear of punishment and so on.
I believe that morality is a sense that comes from mercy, happiness, requirement for company and so on. You can say it is a derived sense. I mean, in the days bygone, humans used to hunt for food. Now, everyone in that time period knew Death. That is a universal constant. They knew that it occurs on its own or someone can bring it on something. This means that they feared. They feared Death. Even now, people do. The sense 'morality' probably first came from humans showing mercy to each other. I mean, suppose Clan A meets Clan B for the first time. Both clans see that both have equal skill. Obviously they can figure out themselves that both can benefit. That is something that even animals have. I suppose that would be the base of morality. Morality of not hurting each other.
Then humans began to see that animals could be tamed and made to use and such. That makes the second step. Morality towards other creatures.
Then as time passed humans began to settle, marry and raise children. This induced a whole lot of moral codes.
So, as civilization progressed, moral codes were made and slowly people wrote them on books, parchments and so on so that they or their future generations wouldn't forget. Now you may ask why? The reason is simple. It saved them of the fear. Fear of being hunted, which was prominent in those days. They recognized that their strength lied in numbers and that probably was the root cause of morality.
Then slowly, morality integrated itself into humans. Became a part of the DNA, you could say.