The instructions:

Throughout the semester we have discussed various aspects of the supernatural world. This week's essay activity will challenge you to imagine the world as if the concept of the supernatural was unknown to humans. In other words, what would our world be like without the concept of the supernatural?

For example, the following would be unknown to humanity:

* Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion * Deities, Devils, Angels, Ghosts, Spirits, Souls, etc. * Afterlife, Heaven, Hell, Limbo, Reincarnation, etc.

P.S. I am not claiming the supernatural does not exist, but for the purposes of this exercise imagine humans are completely unaware of any concept of the supernatural. [

My answer:

Anthro Essay Number 4
Krstofer Evans
6 April 04

What would have happened thousands of years ago when somewhere in Africa a tool-making hominid perceived the fact of his own death, and hadnÕt developed religion as an adaptive process to overcome his anxiety about it?

As I thought about this essay and did my research I came to the realization that very few things would be the same. The amount of time we perceive as a year, the length of time for a day, some of the sciences, and a few of the technological developments of the last hundred years would probably stay the same. Almost everything else would be different.

I have often thought what the world would be like without superstition and or religion. Imagine the world now if science had not been so stifled over the eons. All the effort put into religious structures and studies could have been directed toward actually finding out why something was happening in the world, rather than finding a way to explain what was not understood. IÕd like to think that without religion humans would have striven to find answers to the questions of life. Instead of taking for granted that Òsome deity did itÓ, people would ask ÒwhyÓ then explore and find their own answer. Not necessarily the correct answer, but one they found all by themselves. Much more interest would be seen in the cause and effect of things rather than rubber-stamping the cause of everything with this or that godÕs name.

Wars between the followers of different belief systems would never have been fought but IÕd imagine lack of food, land, and resources would still have caused conflict. With conflict comes invention, and if the world had not been thrown into the dark ages for 1,000 years, technology would be much further along by now. Simply look at what has happened in the last 100 years. Automobiles, aircraft, spaceflight, computers, medical knowledgeÉ Someone born a hundred years ago would never dream of spaceflight, computers, nuclear fission or an internet. Near instantaneous worldwide communication? Not possible. At least not until Dick Tracey came along.

Would the Egyptians have built the sphinx and the pyramids without religion? Would the Incas have constructed theirs? Would Suryavarman II have spent 30 years building temples of Angkor Watt? Probably not. What about Stonehenge? Is it an observatory, or is it a place of religious significance? Nobody knows. Some of the worldÕs greatest if not oldest monuments were built in the worship of some deity or to ensure a place in the afterlife. Without the supernatural I believe something like said structures would still have been built, but as monuments to science instead of to gods.

I can see a belief in ÒfaerieÓ type creatures, at least in the beginning, as what would a person think when they found a narwhalÕs horn laying on the beach? Without seeing the actual creature it came from many vaguely plausible stories must have been told. Just because nobody has ever seen a gnome or fairy or unicorn doesnÕt mean they donÕt exist, itÕs just that nobody has managed to catch one yet. ThereÕs nothing magical about a Bigfoot but people are constantly trying to take a picture of one.

While the system for measuring hours minutes and seconds would remain the same, surely the residents of our spiritless world would have figured out a better way to count the days in a year. Various attempts have been made through the centuries but as of yet we havenÕt come up with a really good system. With a leap year happening every four years, with the exception of every 400 years we must drop three leap years, without a calculator itÕs rather difficult to figure out on what historic day something really happened. Maybe they would have developed a metric calendar?

Belief in the supernatural to me belongs to people who have an underdeveloped knowledge of cause and effect, and a burning desire to have an answer (any answer) to why all kinds of things happen. ÒWhy isnÕt it raining? All my crops will die and IÕll starve!Ó Now we know about weather patterns, but before Meteorology good or bad weather was attributed to the humor of the gods. If the gods are happy it rains, but if not then they are punishing us. People pray all the time to get things or have some event go their way rather than taking action to make the desired result happen. ItÕs the easy way out. If the crops are about to fail weÕll do a dance or sacrifice something rather than digging a ditch. In the non-supernatural society much more action would be taken and much less attributed to chance.

Without a belief in the supernatural our world would surely be a different place. Many things would remain unexplained and humanity would make up reasons or answers to the most common ÒwhyÓ questions, or simply understand that nobody knows but the answer will come along at some point in the future. Should it be better or worse would depend upon whom you talk to, and how worried they are about how much we can explain or what happens after we die. I think it would be a much better place but IÕm not very concerned about Òlife after deathÓ, and I donÕt need an answer for everything. IÕll find the answers to my questions eventually, and as for what happens when we die, IÕll know when I get there.