Metaphysical, Religious, and Spiritual Aspects

Abstract

Metaphysical concerns give important context to evolutionary theory, for they aim to describe what exists at a more general and abstract level than biology or psychology. Creation myths offer pre-scientific explanations of the world and our place in it, which can be significantly informative. Historically, the period spanning 800–200 BCE was a time of significant cultural and religious change, as many transitions occurred away from tribal, animistic, and polytheistic cultures toward humanistic and monotheistic ones. Simultaneously, the invention of agriculture and domestication fueled advances in cultural complexity, increases in population, the invention of writing, and social stratification. Out of these dramatic changes in sociological, cultural, and religious dogma, organizational systems evolved that reordered the metaphysical, religious, and spiritual landscapes and our view of origins.