What truths about the nature of reality have any of the spiritual philosophies and theological traditions ever revealed? There are many od such traditions, each claiming to reveal some Truths about reality-Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, Rosicrusianiam, Islam, Grail, Shintoism, Hinduism, etc, etc, etc.

What TRUTHS have these traditions produced? Have human understanding of the world been improved by any of these traditions?


Take the following irreproachable facts about these particular reality;

1) Did any of these traditions ever reveal the truth about humans origins as being from Africa?

2) Did any of these traditions say anything about our place in the vastness of the cosmos?


Have they revealled any TRUTHS that have advanced the plight of humankind on this planet?


On what epistemic grounds does one reject one or more of these traditions while embracing one (or more)?

If i might ask, Huxley - what need does man have of the specific pieces of knowledge you have mentioned?

How does it affect my life if i am told that humans originated from Africa, or that the Cosmos was created by an Alien living on the 5th Dimension?

Quite frankly, these are entirely useless pieces of information - especially to ancient or rural people - and certainly to many modern people simply seeking daily happiness in their lives.

What the great religions seek to do, is to provide a spiritual context for a satisfactory inner life led by conscience.

This is what most people really need, as opposed to all the knowledge in the world.

You will find that both Jesus and the Buddha specifically mentioned the fact that there is much knowledge which they did not think relevant to the needs of their followers. The Buddha, standing in a forest with his disciples, plucked a leaf and stated - "what i have taught you is like this leaf, but what i have not taught you is like all the leaves in this forest".

It seems clear that religion is directed at men's inner lives, and not at temporal knowledge of existence.

Although there is no doubt that many corrupt people have hijacked religion for corrupt, and many times, violent and even murderous purposes, we cannot doubt that religion has enabled billions of people to contextualize their existence in very simple and clear terms, and provided a foundation for the understanding of ethics and conscience.

P.S - Please accept my apologies, i took the liberty of changing the title to something i thought much more apt for the discussion, you may of course change it back if you do not regard it as appropriate.

I don't think religious traditions produce truths. The discover and act on truths but they don't produce them.

Secondly, I want to point out that most science up until a few hundred years ago in Europe were developed within religious traditions. Therefore it is hard to separate a lot of scientific ideas from religious ideas.

It might be easier to ask what truths of nature are NOT revealed in some religious tradition of the other.

As regards your specific questions: 1) I'm not aware of any religion, apart from african religions that say that life began in AFrica.

2) As regards our place in the universe I don't think that there is any question more addressed in all the religious traditions of the world.