by Brittany Lytle

Created on: April 26, 2009

Warm, floating silence. Two entities entwined, meshed into one existence. The warmth fades, the light floods in, breath, sound, sights, and a realization of self, of a beginning, bursting forth from small lungs in a primal scream.

There is no preparation for entering the world, no smooth transition from the zen of the womb to the chaos of human environment, and, in spite of what many would suggest or preach, no instruction manual to explain exactly what purpose we're meant to serve after the birth's eviction.

To an intellectual being, lack of purpose can be a rather frightening concept and since there aren't any other intellectually savvy creatures to enlighten us as to our purpose, we started to think of this life as a test for the next. If we're being tested, there most certainly has to be someone or something in charge of the testing. How else would we all get to the right place, receive the proper reward, or return to live in our most deserved form until we achieve some sort of enlightenment?

Enter The Gods:

People tend to conveniently forget that the stories we currently see as myths were once followed with the same devotion that numerous religions see today. We assume that the Greeks were either awesome story-tellers who liked to fashion Gods with faults and other human characteristics for the entertainment value, or that they were collectively crazy for believing something so ridiculous.'

If this is the case, we can safely assume the same thing about Egyptians, Romans, Celts, and any other religion that was pushed to the wayside in favor of another.

We have similar stories today, except they revolve around one all-powerful God and one life in which he tests the worth of every being created. If we were all truly his creations, wouldn't the very fact that he made us in his image be enough for him to accept us in whatever shape he finds us?

Man created God as a comfort, a blanket of warmth to ensure him that he will never be truly alone, that though he faces death, it is not the end.

Man created God as a failsafe. If our reign of Earth were to sour, there would be something bigger than us, some sort of plan that would relieve us of any responsibility for our actions.

People have come to think of themselves as the end result of evolution, the highest being, the greatest thing that Earth could sustain. As a general culture, we've decided that the world was meant for only us and whatever exists alongside is simply a fringe that was meant to bend, break, or flourish at our whim. We've appointed our species as the conquerors, rulers, and care-takers of the planet. We've realized, with famine, disease, violence, and war, that we are vulnerable and "flawed."

Luckily, we've created an excuse.

There's something greater, something more, something higher than us, something over which we have no control.

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