Progressive Revelation

Dr. Rey,

Thank you for taking the time to post this forum. I look forward to the many topics to be discussed.

Question:
Why does it seem that older religions seem to be enlightened?
Isn't progressive revelations mean we are suppose to be becoming more evolved?

Thank you for your time,
Luna

Luna,


What a fantastic question! I will attempt to answer you in as clear a capacity as possible by presenting you with three (3) possible options.


Option One (1): Older belief systems are not more enlightened than newer belief systems, they just appear that way because humans want to believe that the past was / will always be a superior time to the present. "Why is that so?" you might be asking yourself - the answer is really quite simple; the high degree of comfort that most humans enjoy in childhood tends to embed itself in our unconscious mind and exercise it's influence in our adulthood by reminding us that "things were better when...". This is a phenomenon that has been well documented over the last nine (9) decades or so by a number of brilliant psychologists. To prove this model, start engaging individuals who feel as though their childhood was generally unpleasant in some way or another - these are the kinds of people that tend to have remarkable reverence for the future and the progress of technology. Taking all of this into due and proper consideration, it is likely that individuals who blindly accept the concept of Progressive Revelation probably suffered a largely uncomfortable childhood and/or adolescence. 


Option Two (2): Older belief systems are more enlightened because they have had more time to learn about themselves. At first glance, this might seem a bit odd - but if you treat belief systems like organisms, then this solution appears to be the most logical approach for any thinking person to take. In the infancy, childhood or adolescence of any life-cycle, bad behavior and naivete are the standards of conduct; in the early adulthood to middle adulthood of any life-cycle, trial and error become the most useful tools for survival and success; in the early to middle geriatric phase of any life-cycle, information dispersal becomes the new focus and remains as such until the life-cycle terminates. Older belief systems have had much more time to "weed out" any unsavory elements that they might have inherited at the onset of or picked up throughout the progress of their "life-cycle", to that end, it's relatively safe to presume that their experience has imbued them with all of the necessary assets that they would require to appear more evolved to an observer.

 Option three (3): The concept of Progressive Revelation, while existent in human consciousness for quite some time, hasn't been identified until rather recently when it cropped up out of the Islamic application of abrogation to the Hadith and to the Qur'an. Please keep in mind that many belief systems have been applying the concept of Progressive Revelation to their standards of conduct and canons within the rather strict historical settings within which they have found themselves for quite some time now, but it's clear recognition as a concept is an exceptionally recent phenomenon. To say that divine influence is more evident over time would essentially constitute common sense to the participants of most belief systems, but it is a relatively rare faith that crosses whatever boundaries that it has imposed upon itself in order so that it might prove whatever point that it's attempting to make by illustrating divine will expressed through the conduct and canons of a foreign faith. To the question of "Doesn't acceptance of Progressive Revelation as a concept imply a more evolved perspective than one that does not?", I would answer "yes", but it is an imbalanced perspective that chooses to reject the tenets of faith concomitant with a belief system that might not clearly identify Progressive Revelation outside of whatever boundaries that a belief system has imposed upon itself.

I hope that you find my answer helpful and look forward to hearing from you again!