Our distant ancestors didn’t have the knowledge or experience necessary to grasp an infinite spiritual essence that transcended the physical world they knew. Since they felt a connection with the Greater Spirit, they soon came to view God as an unseen, personal being. This level of understanding led to the founding of Judaism and other early monotheistic faiths.
Polytheistic traditions arose from a melding of both of these ideas. These believers separated the powers of Nature and ascribed a deity to each, as they understood the Forces to be quite different from one another.
The Mosaic tradition brought the Human Community to a new level of spiritual understanding. The Hebrew tribes understood that Moses was a new messenger of God and a successor to Abraham. The concept that prophets and teachers would help individuals and communities gain knowledge and develop a deeper understanding of spiritual matters was a big step forward. People now understood that both individuals and the Community could grow and progress spiritually.
This concept was reinforced by the ministry of Jesus, who made it clear that he did not intend to abrogate the teachings of the prophets who came before him, but to augment and illuminate those teachings.
Progressive revelation is a belief not limited to the Judeo-Christian tradition. Many of world faiths also teach that new teachers or prophets are revealed from time to time to help both individuals and communities grow in spiritual understanding.
In this day, Humankind has progressed to the point that it is no longer necessary to limit perception of God to a supernatural being who watches from an unseen location somewhere beyond the Earth. We have reached a new level of understanding that permits us to sense a transcendent spiritual entity and begin to grasp the nature of our place in the Universe.
This greater understanding allows us to spiritually interact on a much deeper level. No longer are prayers simply the recitation of words intended to placate “an old man in the clouds”, but a valid and deeply felt spiritual communication with the Spirit of God.