Religion is derived from the two latin words ""re"" and "ligare" which means "to reconnect". The concept of religion is relatively recent considering that humanity has been on earth for at least 200,000 years and the oldest living religious traditions namely Hinduism date back to only 6000 BCE. So for over 95% of human history, men and women have lived without any formal religious constructs.

What Constitutes a Religion?

There can be no single definition of what constitutes religion because the word means many different things to different people. But certainly many people would agree that religion is a multifaceted entity consisting of but not limited to theology, philosophy (study of wisdom), anthropology (study of human beings), mysticism (awareness of reality), morality (rules of personal conduct), cosmology (relationship between humans and the cosmos), social action, ethics, rituals. Religion has and continues to impact almost every aspect of human civilisation in both positive and negative ways. The great masters from all traditions, have taught that we need to adopt and develop higher qualities of love, mercy, generosity, kindness and so on. These higher qualities are a natural by product of developing a deeper connection with nature and so in this respect religion can be thought of as a vehicle to support our development and our connection with other human beings and by working together create a better and more harmonious society. Unfortunately this higher truth does not necessarily correlate with the reality of what different religions have achieved throughout the last 8000 years. Nevertheless both the positive and negative roles that religion has historically played continues to play in modern society.

Segregation of humanity

We have seen civilization advance from the pre civilization of Neolithic farming villages to the first cities to states to nations and now to transnational communities like the EU or the Sunni/Arab hegemony in the Middle East. The harmony and cooperation that religion (arguably) facilitates within those boundaries is offset (and some would say outweighed) by the animosity that the religious rivalries created between e.g. the Christian states and the Muslim states. Humanity appears to have the capability to finally transcend all tribal differences and merge into a single global community which would usher in an era of unprecedented harmony and cooperation, but religion appears to stand militantly in the way.

Mysteries are temporary, in the past hundred years so many mysteries have been revealed and explained by science and no doubt more will be discovered! It is all very exciting.

The time has come in this new Era of the Knowledge explosion whereby all the worlds 4,200 religions must explain how Metaphysical concepts exist such as, Holy Spirit, what are Angels, where is Heaven, where is Hell and most important WHAT is GOD?

We know that every element in the universe that exists has to occupy a space and has to have mass and some form of being sustained in it's own space and time.

The most feasible explanation is that all Supernatural entities are Intellectual concepts and as such these concepts reside in the human mind. Such entities as the soul, spirit, Love,empathy, music, anger, hatred, Angels, evil, enemies, Heaven, Hell, Satan and God exist only in the human mind and have no means of physical existence.

Our 'minds', 'souls', 'spirit' and consciousness are all physical in nature. Thousands of years of investigation has shown us that our brains comprise and produce our true selves. Most of human history we have had no understanding of how our brains work. Our bodies run themselves. We know from cases of brain damage and the effects of psychoactive drugs, that our experiences are caused by physical chemistry acting on our physical neurones in our brains. Our innermost self is our biochemical self.