Conscience is an intangible.  It is our moral compass, that voice inside each of us that guides us in determing Right vs Wrong.  It is a dynamic, ever-changing thing molded by upbringing, faith, society, and countless other factors.  It is, for each of us, a unique internal manifestation of our beliefs about how the world should function.

For all that it is, conscience is something very easily ignored.  This was famously proven by a series of psychological experiments conducted in the 60′s by Stanley Milgram.  These experiments involved two people, one designated the teacher and the other the learner (the learner was a plant that was never actually harmed in any way).  The learner is hooked up to a device that generates electric shocks, which the teacher is instructed to provide every time an incorrect answer to an exercise is provided.  Each time a shock is provided the voltage is increased, starting at 15 volts and ending at 450 volts.  Sixty-five percent of the participants completed the exercise, initiating three shocks of 450 volts to the learner, the first time the experiment was performed.

Why, in a situation where there is nothing forcing an individual to continue, did these people continue to knowingly inflict harm on another being, something that is considered by most civilized people to be a definitive Wrong.  One simple answer is the fear of and the desire to please the authority figure present during the experiment.  This is proven in one variation of the experiment where the authority figure communicated with the teacher via phone instead of in person – the teacher’s compliance in completing the experiment decreased to twenty-one percent.  Another answer is proximity to the pain being caused.  When the teacher was directed to hold the learner’s arm onto the shock plate compliance in completing the experiment decreased to thirty percent.

There are numerous factors at play in these experiments – the participants were being paid, it was an unfamiliar and likely uncomfortable environment and experience, pressure to react quickly, etc.  Each of these certainly contributed to the responses of the participants.  However, all factors aside, multiple individuals chose to ignore their conscience and willingly inflict harm upon another.

This is yet another example of the weakness of humanity.  When faced with an entity that we believe to have authority, whether it be knowledge, power, or something else, we will generally back down and do as we’re told.  When allowed to act without directly acknowledging the results of our actions we are more likely to press ahead despite what that voice inside is telling us at the time.  At the same time we are more likely to do what we perceive to be Right when that authority figure is not immediately present and do what we believe to be Wrong when we can not directly perceive the results of our choices.

Cowardice, pure and simple.  It is what the bulk of humans are at heart.  They desire the simplest, easiest path through life.  A path that is certainly obtained by taking actions to appease figures of power and authority, no matter how many beliefs and other people, so long as their suffering is not directly perceived, are compromised in the process.  Humans, just as all sentient living creatures, have the desire to live, survive, and procreate (for the most part).  When faced with ‘you’ or ‘them’ situation most of us will choose the side of ‘you’ every time.

What does this say about humanity as a whole?  Why do some of us engage in mass murder, rape and other such activities that clearly go against the civilized definition of what is Right.  Why are others willing to die for what they believe in, becoming martyrs in the eyes of others that share those beliefs?

We are all of us unique, and our responses to any given situation will be equally so unique.  At the end of the day we each have to live with ourselves and the choices that we make.  We are, without question, our own harshest critic.

So the next time you have to make a decision ask yourself this question – are you strong enough to stand up for your beliefs?  Then ask yourself, no matter what you decide, if you’re prepared to live with the choice you’re about to make and whatever follows.

And never forget, that a single decision can lay the foundation for the future of us all.

Gravity rules all our lives.  Everything we are eventually comes from gravity, and its by products: Suns, moons, magnetic fields, spins, rotations, force.

By definition, if an object has mass, it has a gravity, (even if the gravity is negligible compared to something else. btw never use light as a example, it’s like using 0,1,2 in math or the behavior of water. They don’t obey certain rules. ).  You cannot have gravity without mass, something has to exist  and that something has be exerted upon. So i can take a 10 lb ball and spin it really fast, so it has 20 lbs of pressure on it (let’s just ignore the hardcore math for a bit), But it only feels like it has 20lb of pressure. The balls mass has not increased, nor the gravity it’s producing. The force it exerts on things near it’s surface changed.  Its own mass has not changed, nor its own gravitational field.

Huh you say? Ok, I way 60 lb on earth and 10 lb on the moon (yes, i know it’s 1/6th ).  But that’s because of how much force each body exerts on me.  The Gravity I exert on the moon or the earth has not changed, (my mass has not changed) thou my own “gravity” is negligible when compared to what they (earth and Moon) are exerting on me.

The Universe also has mass, (ergo a gravitational constant). It is collectively exerting a force on us all. But it’s so vast and spread out, its gravity is ”negligible” when i’m standing next to a planet. or a sun.

Suffice it to say, other universes are also negligible at the moment, they are too far away, and we are falling towards something with far more mass than us all.

Universe is expanding
The universe is expanding.. , faster and faster. This seemed to make physicist and astronomers cringe, yet The theory of gravity is that you are “falling towards a mass” and smaller objects generally fall towards bigger objects (cause the smaller cannot produce enough force to overcome inertia)  and such falling means you fall faster and faster till you get to the center of that mass or pass thou it, and are slowed down on the other side (assuming you meet no resistance)/  If the universe is expanding, then we are falling to something…., a center of Universes. If however, that center is permeable enough to pass thou, then we’d just come out the other side eventually.. osculating back and forth.

Ever since the big bang, we’ve had evidence that gravity is both general and local. All that we are, sprang from not the bang itself (directly) but its products.  The bang produced suns, which eventually made the other elements of the universe when they burned and exploded into nebulae and star clouds.    Thou suns explode, there is evidence that their explosive material from the explosion gets dense again, (their gravity’s pulling them together) and  create smaller solar systems.  So there is “local” conversion into large mass bodies (suns, planets, moons);  even while the universe is expanding.

In this way, mass next to each other tends to move towards other mass close to itself. while the force of gravity is constant in the universe, a closer body or source can shift the inertia or direction of a closer body and that’s how solar systems form.

Since the entire universe is moving.. somewhere, One would suspect then that our universe may be falling towards another massive universe, OR, something of such large gravitational pull, it can exert a continuous and steadily increasing force on our entire universe, which is why the universe seems to be accelerating.

[btw, another "dimension" is just another universe.  And In our Universe, space is a void. (definition: A void is where -except for clusters  of objects  (galaxies, planets, nebula, etc)  particles are so far apart, 1 molecule is light years away from another).  Space could be a Liquid of some sort, or more densely packed gas, or in another, just a solid. ]

Falling you say? think about being weightless on earth. You can easily experience this on planes and roller coasters.   If you are falling towards the earth in an airplane, there is no resistance to you. But you are STILL falling towards the earth. The airframe blocks resistance, yet all things inside the airplane are falling towards the ground “weightless”.  Space is the same in my estimation, except, the “dimension bubble.” is protecting you the same way an airframe would.  In the end, we are all falling towards.. something.

Why can’t you fold space? Defiantly not using black holes and defiantly not thinking the way we do.
Space is a physical thing in this universe, even thou it doesn’t seem like it.  The mass of something large, say the sun, makes a gravitational dip in space/ time itself.   However, we precieve this dip on a 2 d plane.  Things fall towards the dip, but cannot overcome the lip, ergo, orbit. (also known as moving out with enough momentum to avoid falling in)

Folding space would require massive amounts of gravity, the gravity you get from black holes isn’t even enough.  These spinning things have a center mass. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a mass that you can crash into.  The core of what’s left is too dense for anything to escape and without light you can’t see… but other particles can escape (see Quarks)

because In this universe, gravity cannot yet exist without mass, it stand s to reson that something massive (thou you can’t see it) is at the center of a black hole.  It doens’t lead to a new universe,… but like a sun, you crash into it a dark core, ,,,get converted into energy and eventually shot out as what black holes produce… , gama rays. (if a sun, you’d get converted to heat after being melted. Same theory)

To fold space, you’d have to (within a short confined area) create so much gravity the gravity well (that bow is space) would fall to the other side of the universe (destination point).   You would have to create gravity greater than a black hole, yet BIG enough the “worm hole” isn’t a pin prick in size.  Good luck with that.

2 weeks to anywhere.  Warp Speed.
Space has mass. If you can bow it,  it is physical manipulatiple.  if you were to create gravity (you spin something (a section of space) really fast) enough to make a big enough worm hole (look at a hurricane, the eye is calm). Furthermore, it doesn’t seem to affect other parts of space. IF i pull one part, i don’t do anything to another part. Ergo , I can warp one part of space, tunneling thru to another part of space by spinning it viciously.  However, this creates a fixed time of journey.   Turns out (if gravity is involved and without external forces,depending on angle and place of exit, the time to travel thru a sphere based on constant force exerted from it’s center is fixed.  Since we have a MASSIVE black hole at the center of our galaxy and one assumes universe (somewhere) yup, travel time would be fixed unless we added say, “impulse” drives.

This is “warp” speed, hyperspace, subspace travel, etc. Effectively, you create a worm hole (don’t touch the spinning sides) which creates a space of calm in the center and with gravity help and some engines, you drive to destination. Crap, i think i just worked out the theory for Stargate.

One other way to do this, is to have a ship of Mass A, then increase that mass (or relative mass compared to the space around it) and that would create a hole, which then would push thru … maybe.  Don’t ask me if the people inside live.  The only way i can think of doing that… or magnetic fields.

But, un, what IS space?

Is space like water? or Syrian wrap? or warm glass? Both i can lay something in , and push against.  Eventually, water displaces enough so that I can enter is and then the thin membrane closes behind me.. OR, is it like syran rap, where i push and i push and then!..pop, i’m in, yet, i’m not so sure i didn’t just leave a hole.  How do you tell what’s behind something you can’t get behind? A sealed jar does not tell me if it’s holding jam, jelly, or air (thou, we do have ways of sending waves thru things to tell us what’s inside is made of, Thats how we know the core of earth is iron,) thou i think you have to be on the other side to receive the information *doah*

This is where magnetic fields come in.. and again the spinning thing comes up. There is evidence that Magnetic fields affect the atoms (protons and electrons) of amass, but not really the physical mass itself. In short, there is as of yet no correlation that a magnetic field lowers or improves on the gravitational force that two objects exert on each other.  Cause i’m thinking, it would be far easier to spin something (called a dynamo) attached to a ship until you can pierce bubble… or use that to spin space. Or perhaps dark matter. But alas, space is already spinning, because every galaxy is spinning, and planet star.  There is no reason to think that the universe isn’t spinning, which would mean that’s one massive magnetic field out there. Or Dark matter field

I mean, space is a thing. Suppose it was the dark matter we’re looking for? If this dark matter was “porous” li like water, or gas so you can move thru it? Why no resistance? or perhaps it’s not a resistance we can as yet measure?  After all, I can move thru light without resistance.  A force is exerted by light, and heat is measured.  Maybe we need to measure some other output… like, the background radiation of the universe? or consider it part of dark matter. Light (and it’s spectrum) is both a particles and a wave, after all. and we know magnetic fields can bend particles as well as gravity can bend waves. Maybe that’s really what’s causing the bow in space? Gravity and Magnetism working together.

Update: as in i’m posting more.

Now, the falling towards something isn’t the only theory of universe expansion, infact it’s not not really my theory it’s just a theory. The one i believe in is more like this.  We are still exploding. Take a bomb.  When it explodes it’s piece accelerate outwards.  In theory they would continue until something makes them slow, then stop, and for that we have friction (wind resistance) and gravity to help that process along.  What about when a Sun explodes? Well, we do have resistance, dark matter resistance, and of course, the omnipresent universal gravity of the cosmos.  So why is the universe expanding? If one assumes nothing exist between universes then there is no resistance to stopping the expanding (thou the universe own mass do provide should eventually provide breaking force) but if there is …something between universes, well, we’re still in the begining part of the explosion.  I think it’s arrogant to think that anything that can create the universe has decided to work on out time scale of how long a explosion should take.

But that’s for another day.. back to politics.

“So potent was religion in persuading to evil deeds.” – Lucretius

If your leader feels like raiding the village at the other end of the valley because he’s tired of all the women in his village then he simply says they worship a false god and your god wants them punished. If someone’s running around and speaking against either church or state they get branded as a heathen or a heretic and rather quickly find themselves hung up, cut up, locked up, or burned up depending entirely on the period of history and the inclination of the society. Find a nasty cult of monotheists taking root in your strictly pagan culture? Round the bastards up and toss ‘em to the lions in the arena or, if you’re Nero,’ dip ‘em in wax and use them as candles at your next house party. If you feel that the encroaching Muslims are a threat to the iron grip you have had on Europe for the last several centuries you simply round up a few kings and tell them that God said to raise some armies and deal with the problem, then watch as it turns into 250 years of bloodshed and slaughter across Europe and the Middle East. Not a one of these things is considered right or good yet people have quite enthusiastically supported every last one of them.

Those of you that belong to an organized religion or faith-based group of some sort take a moment and ask yourself why you belong to that particular one. Did you answer because it’s the one your parents belonged to and that’s just how you were raised? Were you exposed to other religions? Have you studied other faiths? Or did you simply, and blindly, accept what was fed to you as truth during your youth?

That is, after all, how the system is designed to work. Once they have you they encourage you to spread the faith to your friends, your family, and in many cases completely random strangers. And of course the version of the Bible used by your religion is the right one, not like that one used by everyone else. We all know that one was incorrectly translated by a team of lazy Greek scribes that liked to dance and then poorly edited by a drunken Roman that liked to play with little boys in his spare time when no one was looking. Ignore the fact that you’re really worshiping the same bloody God as everyone else, just in different ways due to differences in societal and cultural development. If you didn’t do that then who would the enemy be for you to rally against? Some useful suggestions are the destruction of the environment, uncontrolled population growth, disease, hunger, and any multitude of human rights issues.

Don’t delude yourself into thinking that missionary expeditions are, or have ever been, anything more than an extension of the great scam. If you spread the faith it provides a common bond and once there is a common bond the likes of religion it makes things in the political arena oh so much easier. And of course the more souls you save through conversion the better your place in Heaven right?

Times have changed. The Catholic Church is no longer The Church. The Pope is no longer appointing kings, nor is he being appointed by them. We no longer live in a world where belonging to The Church is just something that everyone does. Individuals now have any number of choices as to how to lead their spiritual lives, though Christianity and Islam still account for a large percentage of the global population.

Don’t get me wrong, religion and politics are still very much involved with one another in these modern days, though in the Western world it’s a bit more subtle than it was a few hundred years ago. The two will continue to be involved so long as the masses continue to let religion dictate so much of their lives. I don’t deny that religion has helped a great many people over the ages. Nor do I deny that there are always exceptions to the common rule, but in the end religion is what it is, a convenient and beautifully engineered way to exert influence and control over humanity. It gives them something to believe in, provides a set of rules by which to live, and the teachings are easily twisted to suit any given situation if one just thinks about it a moment.

I say this to Mr. Nagin and those like him, the individuals that willingly prey upon the religious beliefs of the masses – As leaders it is your duty to set an example. Lead not through fear, but through inspiration and motivation. Is a society filled with weak-willed sheep that do nothing more than stumble through their daily lives without really thinking about the world around them what we really want? Is that how we’re going to solve the great problems that plague our species? Or do we want a culture composed of strong-willed and free-thinking individuals that are not afraid to look beyond the little box that comprises their world and try new things, to innovate, to work towards creating a better world instead of contenting themselves with the sorry state of affairs we find ourselves in today?

To the masses that belong to organized religions I have this to say – Think about the teachings of your religion, really think about them. Examine them in detail. Then take a long, hard look at your organization. Don’t be afraid to think for yourself, to question your beliefs, and make informed decisions for yourself about your faith and how you practice it. A common theme among organized religions, as I have been told by those that belong to them, is tolerance. Don’t allow yourself to be led by the nose where government and politics are concerned simply because you’re told it’s what’s right. Decide for yourself if it’s right or wrong. Everything has shades of gray, even if you can’t quite see them at first. Your beliefs are not necessarily those of your neighbor, and to try and force them upon another through politics is a disturbing policy that needs to be discontinued. Do not preach tolerance to me in one breath and then with another go to the polls and vote against something for no other reason than the politicians appealed to your religious leanings and convinced you that your God said it was bad.

Not everyone believes in the same things. Not everyone chooses to practice their faith in the same way. The world we live in is a very diverse place now, much more so than it was in the days when religion dominated government almost absolutely. The two should be separate. Government should govern and stay out of spiritual matters just as organized religion should stay out of matters of governing and instead focus on the many internal problems that they presently face.

- B.R.

(Parts 1, Part 2)

“Fear is the mother of all gods.” – Lucretius

Sure, it started out harmless enough. Simple stories to explain away the things they encountered in their daily lives, nothing more than that. However, that would not last long. The simple stories would evolve and impact their daily lives, e.g. if the hunt went poorly it was because the tribe had lost the favor of a particular entity. This would lead to the inevitable next step, the introduction of the holy man, witch doctor, wise man, priest, etc… the gods’ chosen. After all, someone has to commune with these great and powerful entities to ensure that the tribe has their favor and not their displeasure.

There should be no doubt that fear of these newly birthed and unknown gods was used as a tool by those earliest of holy men to maintain a position of power, wealth (measured however it may have been), and influence among their people. It would have been no different from telling a child if he’s bad Santa won’t bring him anything for Christmas. Except in this case you’re telling an entire tribe of people that if they don’t offer up the best bits of the kill to the tribal leaders… er, rather, the gods, that the rains will stop, the crops will wither and die, the animals will disappear, and the women will be carried off by a stronger tribe (and it certainly would not have gone unspoken that that tribe would be one favored by the gods), leaving the men to find their way across the unknown wilderness with no real hope of survival.

Back in those days the gods had a tendency to be petty like that when it suited their needs.

So what role, if any, did faith play in the beginnings of religion? There is, in my mind, no clear answer to this particular question. The world and the people in it were both much simpler in those times. At first there would be little cause for them to have faith in the gods but many reasons for them to be feared. In time, through the efforts of the holy men, the people’s faith and belief would grow. The combination of these two powerful forces would serve to strengthen the worship of the gods which would in turn give more power to the holy men that claimed to serve the gods.

This is a trend that would continue as mankind evolved, gave birth to civilization, and in time conquered empires. As mankind evolved, so too did the religion. Worship would become a part of daily life, with every family having a shrine to the gods in their dwelling. Thousands upon thousands would give their lives in the construction of grand temples. Countless more would die in battle as they sought to defeat this or that heathen neighbor. Those that ruled would claim to be chosen by the gods, born of the gods, or even the gods given mortal form.

Religion and rule would become one.

Typically, those that do not have power want it and those that have it do not want to lose it.

There was a time when those that did not have power and wanted it simply challenged the guy that had the power. If they turned out to be the superior man they would assume the mantle of power but if they proved to be the inferior then they most likely found themselves quite dead. Then along came religion and the people in power saw in it a golden opportunity to secure themselves in the positions they had claimed. For if they were chosen of the gods, or a god themselves, why would anyone try to usurp that power? Would not the gods smite them for such an act? The ancient rulers were quick to adopt the concept of religion and used it to great effect to unify their people and protect their titles and their power. In doing so they laid the groundwork for what has become thousands of years of religion being used as a socio-political tool.

Religion had grown beyond a few gods whose existence explained away the mysteries of the world. Cultures now had whole pantheons of deities with genealogies, creation stories, good and evil, an afterlife, etc. Every major god had their own temples, priests, rites, holy days, and so forth. And the people worshiped their gods, observed the rites and holy days, and listened to the priests because that was, quite simply, the way of things.

In the worship of the gods the holy men had found a way to both bring their people together through faith in the gods and to control them through fear of those same gods. What more could a king, emperor, or pharaoh ask for than a unified and controlled populace? Is it really any wonder why religion and government found themselves in bed together in these ancient times?

Let us pretend that you have emerged as the leader of your people. Whether it was through strength of mind, body, or both is unimportant. What matters is that you lead and you intend to pass the power of rule onto your son and your son’s son and so forth. But times have been harsh and the people now speak against you. What do you do? ‘Encourage’ the priests to find some sign or prophecy proclaiming you and yours to be the chosen of the gods, destined to lead their people to greatness in the name of those gods.

Imagine that you have just conquered a neighboring people and need to reinforce your right to rule. What do you do? Invoke the Mandate of Heaven, proclaim yourself the Son of Heaven, and claim that the previous rulers had lost the Mandate, thus placing their fall and your rise squarely upon the shoulders of the Celestial Heavens. And as any good citizen knows, the Celestial Heavens are, as a matter of course, never wrong.

Or perhaps your civilization developed in the middle of a desert, a lone river the only viable source of life. On three of your four borders you face hostile civilizations. The unknown and dangerous vastness of the sea lies on your fourth front. First, your priests initiate cults of worship around your rule while you focus your entire civilization on the construction of great temples and monuments that honor not only the gods but yourself. After a couple of hundred years of this you’re claiming to be the son of the sun god made manifest in mortal flesh. Along with this comes all manner of rites and ceremonies that must be performed to both justify and validate your deification and unite your people in the belief of said deification. And ultimately you go so far as to say that the sun god himself came to your mother and impregnated her with his seed, but not until you are quite secure in your power and just want to get down to the dirty business of ruling without all the headache of rite and ceremony.

Three different scenarios from three different regions of the world, but a single theme: the reinforcement of political/ruling power through religion and mythology.

Time and again throughout history we see evidence of this theme. Greek rulers claimed to be descended from great mythic heroes. Julius Caesar claimed to be a direct descendant of Venus. Japanese emperors claimed descent from Amaterasu. Charlemagne forged a Christian Empire out of Western Europe after being granted the title Patricius Romanus by the Pope, a title his father had held before him. The concept of the Divine Right of Kings was birthed during the dark days of Medieval Europe and kings for generations to come would suckle at its great teat to secure both their rule and their life. Napoleon sought to control the Catholic Church for his own ends and is attributed with the statement that “a society without religion is like a ship without a compass; there is no good morality without religion.” Hitler believed very strongly in both the Christian God and the teachings of the Bible and believed his actions to be in accordance with God’s Will. The Ayatollah Khomeini instituted an Islamic Republic in Iran and created the position of Supreme Leader, a position that can only be filled by a high-ranking cleric of the faith. The United States pledge of allegiance contains the phrase ‘…one nation under God…’, the currency bears the phrase ‘In God we trust’, and the leader of the country is sworn into office using a Bible (with the singular exception of Theodore Roosevelt).

Personal conjecture and history lessons aside, this article does have a point, several in fact.

During a speech on January 16, 2006 the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, stated that “”God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it’s destroyed and put stress on this country….Surely he doesn’t approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We’re not taking care of ourselves.”

For thousands of years leaders, both spiritual and political, across the globe have used statements akin to the one made by Mr. Nagin to manipulate those that they lead. I honestly do not know which is worse, that these leaders of man resort to such measures or that the masses of humanity so readily accept them without a second thought. The entire situation is absolutely deplorable. Unfortunately we, the people of the world, have allowed it to continue for so long that it has become an everyday part of the Global Establishment.

What it is, in my opinion, is the most beautiful scam ever devised. A scam designed to prey upon the devout. They tell you to do as they say or else you will be considered a sinner and go to Hell, the underworld, etc. And we all know that’s a bad place to go. It’s hot, dirty, and you’ll spend a very long time being punished for having been a bad person while alive. You wouldn’t want that would you? Of course not. So you do as your told, even if it goes against everything you’ve been told to be right and good. Fear is the hook, salvation is the bait, and the folks with all the power are tugging on the line.

-B.R.

(Part 1, Part 3)

“All religions are equally sublime to the ignorant, useful to the politician, and ridiculous to the philosopher.” – Titus Lucretius Carus

How, why, and when did the concept of gods, and now a singular divine entity, watching over humanity come into existence? What role does this concept play in the formation of governments and their activities and how does it drive decision making?

For some these are questions that need not be asked, for the religion in which they believe and have placed their faith tells them that the divine entity of choice has been around since before day the first. Others, such as myself, can only speculate as we seek what we perceive to be more logical and rational explanations behind the origins of supreme beings, organized religion, and the like.

Fear of the unknown is a common trait shared by the overwhelming majority of humanity. This fear has, in turn, led to an obsessive desire to explain and understand every last thing we encounter. When an explanation is unacceptable we find some way to rationalize it instead. It is a common, everyday response and defense mechanism. Nothing more and nothing less.

You can be certain that from the first moment they could do so, primitive peoples were asking why the world around them functioned as it did, much less where it all came from in the first place. Of course there was nothing like science as we know it all those millennia ago, so where did those early peoples look to for answers? The elders among them.

My version of things goes something like this:

Something occurred. It could have been the sun rising or setting, a birth or a death, a storm, or even a volcanic eruption. The nature of the event itself is unimportant. What is important is that someone asked that dreaded question, “Why?” and some elder member of the tribe that was probably senile, two days away from death, and not caring one bit about what impact his words might have, had the bright idea to lay the event at the feet of some mysterious yet powerful entity, inadvertently starting humanity down the path to religion.

–B.R.

(Part 2, Part 3)