Is God dead?

God is dead.

God remains dead.

And we have killed him…

Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?

Friedrich Nietzsche

The death of traditional religion has not meant the end of our inbuilt need to worship.

This is because the word ‘God’ is a stand-in for everything – reality, truth, and the very shape of your universe. As Father Richard Rohr put it, “your image of God creates you or defeats you”.

You become what you worship

Collective unconscious operating system

We are constantly searching for new messiahs, saviours and heroes who can save us from circumstances and ourselves.

C. G. Jung described patterns of behaviours hardwired into our psyche as archetypes which are part of our collective unconscious. These have been with us since the beginning of time and can be seen across cultures.

This includes the religious instinct to worship and serve something or someone greater than ourself. This inborn need to worship has not stopped in spite of the death of traditional religious belief systems.

In fact the purpose, value and energy that the gods promise have moved on to different beings and institutions that we still hold on to give meaning and direction for our lives.

The gods of today have morphed and disguised themselves into new idols such as:

• Prosperity and happiness
• Materialism
• Political systems and ideologies
• Personalities – politicians to movie stars aka idols of our time
• Wellness and wellbeing
• Information and technology
• Media and entertainment
• Fill in the blanks…

What forms your view of reality?

Listen to ‘This is Water’ by David Foster Wallace

When men choose not to believe in God

they do not thereafter believe in nothing

they then become capable of believing in anything

G. K. Chesterton