Hello and welcome back to Life's Biggest Questions, I'm Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey.
Religion and humanity go more or less hand-in-hand.
Before there was science, religion was the most common way to explain the world around
us.
And the Ancient Greeks had an awfully interesting, not to mention entertaining, explanation.
But what if the many Gods depicted in Greek Mythology actually existed?
Let's explore.
If you want more What If videos, check out our "Biggest What Ifs" playlist on the
channel.
Now get ready, it's time to ask the question: What if the Greek Gods were Real?
First of all, the world would be full of uncertainty.
In a world where powerful beings can break the laws of physics with the snap of their
mythical fingers, you just never know what will happen.
One minute you could be cutting in front of someone in line, and the next your hair could
be made of snakes.
Greek Gods are nothing if not imaginative.
Another likely implication of the existence of the Greek Gods is that there would be a
whole whack of demigods floating around.
As you may remember from history class, the Greek Gods had a propensity to come down to
Earth to get it on with the humans.
Famous Demigods include Achilles and Heracles, whom you likely know better as Hercules.
These Demigods could bring about something of a legion of superheroes or supervillains,
bringing about a world not unlike that of comic books.
For more on that, check out our video "What if Superheroes were Real".
However, in today's culture of "me too," it could be that the Gods would be in trouble
for all the trickery that went into their sexytimes with humans.
Forget Harvey Weinstein, imagine the uproar when a sexual abuse allegation was made against
Zeus himself for pretending to be Alcmene's husband (Al-k-mee-nee).
Talk about a power imbalance.
Furthermore, if the Greek Gods were real, there's a good chance that religions that
developed later, particularly the Abrahamic religions like Christianity and Judaism, would
not have developed as they did.
Considering how petty and vengeful they were in the stories, there's a good chance that
the Greek Gods wouldn't allow competition from false deities.
For more on these last few points, check out our video "What if there was more than one
God?"
But that's not to say that mankind would fall together in harmony under the Greek Pantheon.
Groups of humans would probably come together to worship their own patron deity, as we saw
in Ancient Greece.
Ancient Greece had a number of city-states or Polis, (Poe-Lees) with the people from
each Polis worshipping their own God in their own way.
Sometimes neighbouring Polis would have the same patron God but followed different rules,
and sometimes they worshipped different Gods altogether.
This often caused some tension between city states whose beliefs differed greatly.
However, given the current state of the internet, it could be that modern humans would be more
open to choosing a patron deity.
They could join groups of like-minded people online, rather than having one's patron
God determined by city of origin.
That said, given that religious beliefs continue to be very geographically-based even in the
age of the internet, it's possible that patron deities would still be largely determined
by where you live.
This brings up another point: there would probably be a good deal of fighting as a result
of conflict between patron deities.
We need only look to how identity politics have brought about division and conflict between
various groups to know that humanity is still very tribal in nature.
Differences of opinion on which God to worship or how to worship them could bring about a
good deal of war and conflict between groups of people.
This is something we saw in Ancient Greece, with inter-polis warfare being relatively
common.
This would also be important on the global stage.
If the Gods were inclined to help countries that favoured them, there would be a good
deal of governmental control over which Gods could be patrons of certain cities.
Countries would want to make sure they had their bases covered; you wouldn't want to
accidentally shun Demeter, only to have all your crops die the following year.
Not only would politicians be concerned with offending their constituents; they would need
to appease the Gods as well.
Furthermore, if the Greek Gods were real, that would likely mean that the afterlife
described in Greek Mythology would also be real.
This means that when we died, we would be judged by the three judges of the underworld.
Those related to Gods, or humans deemed righteous or heroic enough, would go to Elysium, the
wonderful heaven-like area of the underworld.
Ordinary people with some good deeds and some bad would be sent to The Asphodel Fields,
full of blandness and neutrality.
Finally, those deemed wicked would be sent to Tartarus, where they would be punished
for eternity.
If this was known to be true by humans, there's a good chance that most people would try much
harder to live a moral life, for fear of ending up in Tartarus.
While the biblical Hell, as well as personal moral systems, currently prevent most people
from committing evil deeds, the knowledge that you will actually be punished forever
if you're a jerk would probably be a bit more effective.
This could bring about some change even in the most moral of people.
And now we return to our question: What if the Greek Gods were real?
Well, the world would be a very different place.
Angry Gods would be doing whatever the heck they wanted, while their half-human spawn
acted like spoiled superheroes.
People would be fighting to gain the favour of their patron deities, while trying to avoid
being sent to Tartarus.
And finally, before you say it, this video, would not have been made.
Thank you for watching Life's Biggest Questions, I hope this was interesting and informative,
and maybe even inspired you to look into it further on your own.
If you liked this video, please thumbs up and subscribe to the channel down below.
While you're down there, let me know which of the Greek Gods you would worship if they
were real.
Until next time, I'm Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey with Life's Biggest Questions, wishing you
the best of luck, on your quest for answers.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét