Sacred Poetry

Tsodilo Hills 

The Tsodilo Hills is located in the African Kalahari desert and it was said to be the origination of animal worship, dating back to c 70,000 BC. The geography of the Tsodilo Hills consisted of four chief hills, the highest of them being 1,400 metres. This is also the highest point in Botswana and each hill are entitled the names "Male" (the highest), "Female", "Child", and an unnamed hill. Anthropologists believe that the hills are of great cultural and spiritual significance to the San peoples of the Kalahari. Also, according to cave paintings of animals, animals were extremely underscored by these prehistoric people, numbering over 4,500 rock art paintings, most of the paintings have been found in the "Female" hill. Although anthropologists and architects have founded and studied these multitudes of paintings, they are still unsure of why these animals may have been of importance to the people of the Hills. However, they have concluded that the culturally, the San people believed that the hills are a resting place for the spirits of the deceased and if anyone hunts or causes death near the Hills, misfortune will be bestowed upon the person. Also, the paintings, depicting a range of domesticated and wild animals, the most famous of the paintings being the rhinos. In addition, there are walking trails - the Rhino Trail, Lion trail, and Cliff Trail. Along each trail, archeologists believe, tell a different story about the civilization of the San people. In conclusion, animals worship was undoubtedly a vital part to the San people daily life, maybe signifying their thanks to the animal gods for providing them with food or possibly their want and need for more of these beings, considering that the Hills were located in a desert.

I come here to praise the Gods

They have given me food and shelter

On these caves, I carve the animals that I laud

And pray that my tribe does not welter

On this day I come to these hills

The highest point of all of the land

To give glory to the Gods' wills

And bring to my people a state of order and demand

In this desolate desert, it gets so hot and dry

I give daily tribute to the Rain God

And pray that everyday, I do not die

For the water is of the essence and my God is not flawed

Today I have brought my family big game

And at the peak of the land, I come here and give thanks

To the animal Gods who are so fruitful and protected me from the dangerous Lion and his golden mane

Each and everyday, bringing me up the ranks

The animal Gods, I hope I can appease 

Please listen to my prayer to understand my gratefulness 

For only you can make me and my people happy and bring us to ease

And with this I end my prayer, I thank thee animal Gods and I have no shamefulness

Religion's Influence

On January 6th, over 60,000 Christian students packed the Georgia Dome in order to "shine a light on modern-slavery". The many of these Christians were made up of students of 56 countries and 2,300 different universities. Together they gathered and donated thousands of socks and towels to local homeless people. Subsequently, they worshipped and praised God in order to shine His light on these less fortunate people.

Questions of the Universe

How do humans know what is right and moral - how is it different from those of animals?

In recent generations we learn from our predecessors to differentiate from what is right or wrong. Humans in general may, however, have learned from natural instinct or even from religious experience. For example, Christians look at the biblical beliefs of the Ten Commandments as a basis of morals. From this humans perceive the morality of human beings. Others might say that humans are born with an innate moral "compass", orienting us toward a distinction of what is right and what is wrong. Along with this "compass" is a sense of fairness, a sense of social and family hierarchy, respect for social authority, and respect to the innocence of the youth. Therefore, the recent killings at Newton was viewed as extremely immoral because of the murders of many innocent, naive kids. Also, as time progresses, humans are influenced by different factors augmenting to their moral "compass".
Human morals differ from those of animals. Although animals do not usually show harm behaviors towards their own kind, they kill other breeds of animals in order to survive. This is analogous to saying a Christian person not killing another Christian but maybe killing a Jewish person. Animals have a sense of survival and a need to protect their own kind. As a result, they react differently.