Taproot

I love discovering the essence: the place where something begins, the place where it can begin again, the very base.

It is like unwinding one of those mysterious balls that have little treasures tucked up into them.  I never know what I will find.

Some things, like dandelions, have a taproot, one place that is the source of life.  Although it grows from a seed, as long as there is a taproot, that dandelion will exist.

Other things, like words, have an etymology.  A way of going back and back and back to see where a word began, or what its origins are.

Of course almost nothing grows truly linearly.  This world is enormous and there are probably as many exceptions as there are rules. Even the dandelion is affected by how much rain falls and the temperatures around it.

So when I start looking at religion it is like discovering the never ending story again and again.  No matter where I start, the journey backwards goes into unlikely and unexpected places.  Finding the taproot is almost impossible, but the quest for it is one of the most fascinating.

If I follow the human line it only goes back as far as there were people.  If I follow the god line, who knows where it goes?