Religion as Logos

Religion is the logos of our human society. They show us, through what we worship, judge, and maintain in our actions and systems, how we feel about ourselves.

Greek gods were flawed. They were patriarchal (despite the existence of many goddesses), spiteful, and full of jealousy, but they also personified the dynamics of nature. They represented our vices and revealed that these flaws are also part of our divinity. The bad lives alongside the good as what is sacred and natural. These Gods were not idols; they are us in archetypal forms.

On the other hand, monotheistic religions such as Christianity, mirror our seeking and subconscious realization that there is a universal God more powerful than each of us separately. Yet, humans have misinterpreted this existential oneness, this omnipresent power, as an exclusivity belonging to a belief system that needs subscription.

While Eastern philosophy and earth-based spiritual traditions also bring their own logos, more or less intact in their original interpretations, humans have still found ways to make these cosmological narratives about exclusivity to mental beliefs, behavioural actions, and personal or collective identities.

Nowadays, science, economics, and politics have become alternative religions. They are the predominant logos of our modern world. No longer trusting in Heaven or Earth, we see ourselves as the sole providers of our truth and safety. Without something greater to hold us together, what else can we do but think that life is everyone for themselves?

Is this a pitiful trajectory for our search for God or a victorious discovery that we can be our own Gods? The answer is not black or white because the greatest misinterpretation of who we are, which has led us to this point, is to believe that Heaven and Earth are a dichotomy.