Who Came Up With the First God?

And why?

Im picturing a bunch of dudes in the hills of the middle of nowhere. Someone tosses a few mushrooms they found in the stew pot... Things get a little out of hand! On the way back to the village a conversation took place. "Alright, how do you want to explain what happened to the sheep?"

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CopperCicada · M

Well all have a strong sense of self, which is really a product of natural selection. It helps us survive. It also provided the imperative to engage in all the meta things that creative civilization like art, science, philosophy, and so on. The sense of self, it's annihilation at death, it's vulnerability. All good stuff.

But we always have the potential for transcendence. Having that myth of self collapse. It can come from a physiological process like orgasm or fasting. A peak experience on nature. Some initiatory process. Hallucinogens or intoxicants. It can come from inspiration. People writing down or symbolizing their own prior experiences.

But the self collapses and we are left with having to deal with that. One possibility is that we go mad for a while. Another is that we exteriorize the phenomenon. And this we find God, spirit, union, the light, the cat god, whatever. The other is that we interiorize it. This is enlightenment, a yogic experience, and so on.

We all have these experiences. Throughout history. Even now. We just frame them differently.