From Culture to Religion

 I was thinking why for example in middle Eastern religions pig and alcohol are forbidden and they are mystical with one god and the woman are covered up while in the West God is threefold, alcohol in measure is ok, all animals are eaten and woman have more rights, are less covered, in India meanwhile cows are sacred, castes are normal. In s. America natives went naked and used psychedelics. 

I see a progression in the physical environment from barren desert to woodlands to dense jungle

1. Desert makes for extreme focus, therefore mysticism, one god. Alcohol destroys this focus, is forbidden. Seeing females distracts massively as a source of beauty in a desert landscape and as with alcohol can lead to fights, feuds. In an area with few resources this can be disastrous. Pigs eat everything so are quite destructive on the desert. As an Alaskan I know that villages of natives there often vote to go dry to avoid random crazy killings by drunks.

2.In the European woodlands tree fruits rotted, were eaten, made us high. We worshipped the forests, our home. This habit continued with alcohol from grains, became part of religious ceremony in the mass. We had lots of distraction so that seeing a woman's s legs, hair did not drive to madness, but gave a light distraction as does nature through its beauty.

3. The natives of the jungle in the tropics can go naked, use extreme psychedelics. Heavy natural stimulation by jungle life around them allows for this. This is similar to life in a big city and liberal lifestyles compared to conservatism in a small village.

So these traditions coming from the external environment, once writing came into being, became encoded into religious doctrine. India had overpopulation and little land so that vegetarianism became widespread and cows, as the plough, became sacred. Castes were created to create social peace according to job. This was similar everywhere, where your clothing showed your status and job.

The printing press brought about religious sects. U I versal literacy brought science and democracy, agnosticism and atheism. The global village with Internet will likely bring us some global simplification, universal political or religious dogma. We see now a series of religious wars since the 90s in the Near East and a struggle between the Abrahamic religions in Europe as well. Catholicism is in decline in S. America, Africa as Americans proselytize. Even in East Asia Christianity is advancing. Yoga, Buddhism spread meanwhile in the West. In effect everywhere people become acquainted with foreign doctrines, Christian, Muslim, Far Eastern and compare and choose.