Everything that humanity has ever done has been directed through motivation. Regardless of whether the motivators are selfish or altruistic in design, or even if prompted by instinctive circumstances as hunger, this remains the case.
Of course there is no reason why the rise of religion ought to be considered in a different light. After all, a religion is a set of beliefs (typically focusing upon the reification of a single Deity or multiple Deities) that has been entrenched to the degree of becoming dogma (hence religious).
As humans gradually evolved from more primitive stages they began to think in ever more complex fashions. When the earliest examples of the passing on of human experiences were discovered and became more widely adopted humans were able to convey their primitive perspectives upon future generations and hence those generations were able to springboard further beyond the confines of prior reason.
Humans were not predisposed to questioning the reality or their very purpose. It was the odd individual out, perhaps more intelligent than the rest, who mulled over such things. Knowledge garnered from one’s observations gave one the ability to talk to others about their thoughts. Like a pandemic such awakens the individuals’ will to seek.
It is not too far-fetched a notion to suggest that, as human societies grew, so too did it become less practical to convey the entire knowledge of the tribe from every member of a generation to every member of the next generation. Thus a practical solution was to cluster such knowledge to within a portion of the population, typically the leadership, in an effort to retain the clarity and development of the knowledge conveyed.
With this process of conveyance the religions of entire civilizations were made. It was only a matter of time until somebody within the privileged circle sought to represent the knowledge in a physical format understood within the circle. Such might alternatively have come through contact with a civilization that had already cultivated some knowledge of literature but for the sake of simplicity let us presume that they managed all on their own. As the role within this circle of initiates grew more complicated and elaborate the differences between themselves and the rest of the society they led or guided also grew and their importance in their role also grew, depending on how convincing their arguments and knowledge conveyed was.
And hence one sees the organic development of structures of hierarchy - of power. One may already draw comparisons with mainstream religions and the topic shall be continued.
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