The Story of God (Documentary, Seasons 1 - 2; 2016-17)
Hosted by Morgan Freeman
I do not think nobody will think differently after watching this documentary which was released by National Geographic. Everybody is too entrenched in his belief system to be swayed away just seeing the singular purpose of all religions as seen here. Perhaps, cognitive dissonance would come in the way.
I think the moderator took a very unbiased and non-condescending approach when it came to extracting knowledge from various other non-dominant world religions. Kudos.
He goes discussing many life questions that have no answers. Topics on death, the end of the world, the beginning of all, the mysterious God, the creations, the genesis of evil, divine miracle, the concept of God's chosen representatives, the notion of heaven and hell as well as proof of God comprise the nine episodes in two seasons.
The fear of death must have given the fear of death in humankind. Even with the available advances around us, our knowledge on this subject stays limited. We are still trying to understand death through many hopscotching explanations. The Egyptians had elaborate rituals for the Kings to spend their afterlives. Others, like the Hindus and their off-shoots talk about re-birth cycles and their purpose of life to attain Moksha to escape the pain of reincarnation. Science talks about consciousness that makes us aware of our surrounding and how everything stops at the time of cessation of brain stem activity. Interviews with survivors of near-death experiences relate their encounters with the realm of the other side. The nagging question remains how much these thoughts were brain hypoxia-induced or is malleable by individual's understanding of the concept of God.
Science has probably paved an avenue for Man, or least his thoughts to stay immortal. His writings, video presentation and more recently artificial intelligence, are used to predict his actions after analysing tonnes of data which can be obtained via his habits.
Interestingly, most religions talk about a tragic end to our civilisation. I wonder if this apocalypse is on induced by human's indiscriminate destruction of our planet or by religious bigotry started by Man to fight over whose God is the real true one. Perhaps, it is just a warning for mankind to fall in place. It is about now, not about a day of judgement. The Hindus may have a prosaic view - that the world we live in is part of the cycle, anyway. What will happen, will happen. There is nothing anyone can do anyone can do about it.
God is many things to many people. It may be an inner voice, a friend, music, energy, anything beautiful or awe-inspiring. The Sun, with its immense strength and its role of the nidus of civilisation, has been venerated as God. Many mammoth structures and monoliths have been erected to gauge its movement to aid in many of Man's annual activities.
The great driver of any civilisation is religion. Religion forms a mesh upon which purpose of life is wound around. Law and order enforced by an invisible force is more natural. As the earlier people centred their lives around agriculture, natural forces that ensured handsome produce were held in high esteem.
Are we inherently good or evil? Is evil an external force that is hellbent on wrecking the goods that we do? The ancient Egyptians believed that evil arose from the heart. The Hindus, however, do not differentiate between good and evil. Both are complementary and are of a continuum and forms a guide to good. Some spend their entire lives trying to purge the evil in their pursuit to steer their life paths on the right track.
The believers insist that divine miracles do occur. Stories of miraculous recoveries from seemingly certain fatal conditions are rife. Perhaps healing starts in our minds, and a positive attitude is vital. With so many chances in occurrence in life, our mere existence is a miracle by itself. Birds are flown, fishes are flown, energy is harnessed, the wind is ridden, anything possible.
It seems that mankind, quite often than not, goes off-track. This is when a Chosen Person manifests on Earth to help people to steer towards the right direction or to show an entirely new one. Maybe to remind us that Mother Earth is the source; not a resource.
Is heaven or hell a human construct, just to warn us of a possible life that appears to us if our home is not guarded well?
As mentioned earlier, no one is going to change his convictions to one that is inclusive or receptive to others' view of the Divine. Hopefully, somewhere hidden in the crypt of mind, stays the idea that professors of all religion are indeed the same boat. We are in the vessel of ignoramus trying to make a sense out of the world around and add on a feather or two, wisdom as we brave through the hailstorm and gales of life. Perhaps everybody's truth is the truth.
Hosted by Morgan Freeman
I do not think nobody will think differently after watching this documentary which was released by National Geographic. Everybody is too entrenched in his belief system to be swayed away just seeing the singular purpose of all religions as seen here. Perhaps, cognitive dissonance would come in the way.
I think the moderator took a very unbiased and non-condescending approach when it came to extracting knowledge from various other non-dominant world religions. Kudos.
He goes discussing many life questions that have no answers. Topics on death, the end of the world, the beginning of all, the mysterious God, the creations, the genesis of evil, divine miracle, the concept of God's chosen representatives, the notion of heaven and hell as well as proof of God comprise the nine episodes in two seasons.
The fear of death must have given the fear of death in humankind. Even with the available advances around us, our knowledge on this subject stays limited. We are still trying to understand death through many hopscotching explanations. The Egyptians had elaborate rituals for the Kings to spend their afterlives. Others, like the Hindus and their off-shoots talk about re-birth cycles and their purpose of life to attain Moksha to escape the pain of reincarnation. Science talks about consciousness that makes us aware of our surrounding and how everything stops at the time of cessation of brain stem activity. Interviews with survivors of near-death experiences relate their encounters with the realm of the other side. The nagging question remains how much these thoughts were brain hypoxia-induced or is malleable by individual's understanding of the concept of God.
Science has probably paved an avenue for Man, or least his thoughts to stay immortal. His writings, video presentation and more recently artificial intelligence, are used to predict his actions after analysing tonnes of data which can be obtained via his habits.
Interestingly, most religions talk about a tragic end to our civilisation. I wonder if this apocalypse is on induced by human's indiscriminate destruction of our planet or by religious bigotry started by Man to fight over whose God is the real true one. Perhaps, it is just a warning for mankind to fall in place. It is about now, not about a day of judgement. The Hindus may have a prosaic view - that the world we live in is part of the cycle, anyway. What will happen, will happen. There is nothing anyone can do anyone can do about it.
God is many things to many people. It may be an inner voice, a friend, music, energy, anything beautiful or awe-inspiring. The Sun, with its immense strength and its role of the nidus of civilisation, has been venerated as God. Many mammoth structures and monoliths have been erected to gauge its movement to aid in many of Man's annual activities.
The great driver of any civilisation is religion. Religion forms a mesh upon which purpose of life is wound around. Law and order enforced by an invisible force is more natural. As the earlier people centred their lives around agriculture, natural forces that ensured handsome produce were held in high esteem.
Are we inherently good or evil? Is evil an external force that is hellbent on wrecking the goods that we do? The ancient Egyptians believed that evil arose from the heart. The Hindus, however, do not differentiate between good and evil. Both are complementary and are of a continuum and forms a guide to good. Some spend their entire lives trying to purge the evil in their pursuit to steer their life paths on the right track.
The believers insist that divine miracles do occur. Stories of miraculous recoveries from seemingly certain fatal conditions are rife. Perhaps healing starts in our minds, and a positive attitude is vital. With so many chances in occurrence in life, our mere existence is a miracle by itself. Birds are flown, fishes are flown, energy is harnessed, the wind is ridden, anything possible.
It seems that mankind, quite often than not, goes off-track. This is when a Chosen Person manifests on Earth to help people to steer towards the right direction or to show an entirely new one. Maybe to remind us that Mother Earth is the source; not a resource.
Is heaven or hell a human construct, just to warn us of a possible life that appears to us if our home is not guarded well?
As mentioned earlier, no one is going to change his convictions to one that is inclusive or receptive to others' view of the Divine. Hopefully, somewhere hidden in the crypt of mind, stays the idea that professors of all religion are indeed the same boat. We are in the vessel of ignoramus trying to make a sense out of the world around and add on a feather or two, wisdom as we brave through the hailstorm and gales of life. Perhaps everybody's truth is the truth.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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