Supernatural Punishment - Baba Brinkman

If you want to get to origins of religion

You gotta start with your ancestors

We’re goin' tribal y’all

Religions are devices for coordinating action

And keeping people from fragmenting into warring factions

The benefits of sticking together are kinda fragile

And people on their own are like wheels without an axel

We all used to be hunters and gatherers not so long ago

We played the kinda games that only pygmies in the Congo know

Sometimes «back to nature» is the place I wanna go

So journey with me back to a time when no one’s on their own

Put your iPhone aside and come with me

We’re livin' in a tribe of no more than one fifty

Our sons or daughters get traded to the neighbour tribe

Cause breakers of incest taboos don’t get to stay alive

That’s just a «cultural thing»,

everybody knows

The gods live in every tree and under every stone

The gods don’t enforce our laws though;

the laws are tribal

Indulge your homicidal side and pay the blood libel

Ain’t nobody messin' with my animism click, click, click, click

The rest of us are counting on you to act right,

so don’t be a…

Everything we do is communal,

that’s critical

Any prima donna grandstanding gets ridiculed

All the gods do is visit shamans in their trances

Make mischief and disasters and play with us when we’re dancin'

But they don’t punish or reward us in the afterlife

It’s dark and boring there;

the gods want a sacrifice

They wanna help us to move and sway to the rhythm

And they’re pleased whenever we collectively make a decision

And those who break with custom get punished with ostracism and gossip

The gods don’t watch us but somebody’s watchin' so watch it

It’s life and death out here,

we need vigilance

There’s always war parties raiding on our villages

Anybody shirkin' a burden to benefit himself

At the expense of someone else,

gets expelled

It’s been this way since time immemorial

One for all, all for one,

that’s the warrior code

Ain’t nobody messin' with my tribalism click, click, click, click

The rest of us are counting on you to act right,

so don’t be a…

Religions are for coordinating action

In practice they can fragment us into some warring factions

The benefits of stickin' together are kinda fragile

And people on their own are like wheels without an axel

But lately we’ve been planting some barley and tending cattle

Now we got a stockpile and a standing army for battle

But now it seems like half the people I meet are anonymous

The honour system is breaking down,

there’s something wrong with us

Ten thousand people in a city-state metropolis

Now we got a sky god lookin' down, watchin' us

Supernatural monitors keep the people in line

They don’t only see your actions;

they can see into your mind

And after you die, the gods will judge you and face you

And either raise you into their presence or curse and disgrace you

And punish you in this life too,

with ill fortune

But nothin' gets ‘em shakin' like the fear of hell scorchin'

Ain’t nobody messin' with my true believer click, click, click, click

The rest of us are counting on you to act right,

so don’t be a…

Now believers can establish new trade routes

Bonds of mutual trust benefit the faithful

Anonymous strangers say the words and exchange favours

And make wagers on common causes and face dangers

But no one trusts you if you don’t perform the rituals

And make habitual sacrifices at frequent intervals

Public demonstrations,

the more wasteful the better

Costly advertisements so people can take your measure

And believe you believe,

so the trust can continue

And once the bonds are cemented, we’ll form an insular in-group

And members of the out-group are less human

And when they transgress we’re less prone to excuse them

Cooperation has a dark side lurkin'

Religious wars are just religions workin'

We climbed the ladder of society with big gods

But lately we’ve made up some other ways people can get watched

We climbed the ladder of society with big gods

But lately there’s some other ways people can get watched

That’s the punishment;

the gods above are lovin' it

The system’s organized to get to you and who you runnin' with

Nowadays we rely on the government

But once upon a time it was supernatural punishment

We post online and when there’s crime we uncover it

But once upon a time it was supernatural punishment

‘Cause ain’t nobody messin' with my secular click, click, click

We respect authorities as long as they’re civic, ick, ick