We got scared

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Randomizer

Some sort of values are a requirement for human beings to live together and by extension in all probability always have been.

Start with the neolithic family, killing ones own children is a bad idea when it is expected that those same children will keep you alive in your dotage.

Expand to a family group, a tribe and the same rules, expanded by common sense and the requirement for the group to survive and civility and cooperation becomes more important.

Society expands into groups of families and now you have to learn to get along with somebody who is not family but may have skills or commodities that benefit your family. Killing them might hurt those closest to you and so rules are needed to regulate the social interaction within the community setting.

No god is necessary, merely self-interest.

Am not stating categorically that this is how societal norms begin but it is a possible scenario and one that fits the evidence as I understand it.

Gods were needed to explain the unknowable as it was perceived at the time, I would imagine that the linking of gods to good behavior probably grew out of some cause and effect coincidences that demanded explanation in the face of fear and superstition but that's just a guess.

That makes perfectly good sense and I'd go with that.
How about spirituality though, where does that fit in? I'm not talking about organised religion but peoples individual beliefs.