Saturday 26 January 2002

Pic of the day: "It is awfully cold here among the stars..." (Picture from real life, honest. Not a screenshot this time.)

Small gods preferred

As late as in the Iron Age, the average god was little more than a souped-up king with magic. To this very day, there are some who believe that Odin and the other Norse gods were actually an advanced tribe from Turkey. Presumably they impressed the primitive Norsemen so much that they were worshipped as gods. There are several reasons to disbelieve this, most notably the fact that Scandinavia had trade relations with that area since at least early Bronze Age, probably some time before, and with a strong cultural exchange. We Scandinavians were not cavemen in pelts who could be dazzled by superior technology - we heard of it as it evolved, and bought it as it came available.

Even so, the saga of the Norse kings count their lineage from the gods (Aesir, more exactly - they were not actually called gods) and it is anyone's guess at what point in that lineage we start to find actual historical persons. The same was the case in ancient Greece.

But things have changed. The universe has grown larger and more impressive, and with it the Creator. A modern God does not sleep around with human women.

***

If we did not know that Christianity is based 100% on historical facts, it would be easy to regard it as a reaction to the growing distance between man and God. Judaism was unusual, at its time, for the respect they showed their god. It went so far that they refused to utter His name. It has continued in that direction ever since, and many Jews now refrain from even writing "God", even though it is a title rather than a name, writing "G-d" instead. If that is how they want it, fine, but I won't do that here.

In Jesus Christ, man and God again came together, for those who believed in this unusual person. But it did not last. At the onset of the Middle Ages, Christ was enthroned in Heaven far above the trivialities of the world. Once again the believers were left with far too long a road to go to have their prayers heard. Along came the saints, holy men and women who were supposed to be alive in the afterlife (despite the Bible claiming that the dead know nothing). The saints were first thought to intercede on behalf of the living; but eventually they were thought to perform minor miracles on their own. They came to look strangely similar to the small gods worshipped in Europe a few centuries earlier.

This belief in intermediate powers is not unique to Christianity. Buddhism, which does not really have gods, still has a Buddha worship that is strangely similar to western religion. And they even have saviors, bodhisattva, who are people who could have moved on from this existence of sadness but who remain either reincarnated (like Dalai Lama) or lingering in a nearby spiritual existence where they can hear prayers and lend a helping hand. In effect, small gods.

Hinduism has an array of gods that reach from the unconceivably abstract spiritual origin of all things, down to the trivial local spirits. Whatever your religious needs, Hinduism has something for you. Not without reason has this supermarket of religion been a heavy supplier of spiritual goods for the New Age.

***

In the 20th century, there were political movements that made their leaders into small gods. You would think that too much had happened since the days of Pharaoh, but look at Hitler and Mao and Kim Il Sung. There is a striking resemblance in the way they were perceived as the solution to all problems and the wellspring of all truth.

But we don't have such things anymore. And certainly I don't. Neither do I believe in Superman or Santa Claus. King Arthur has not returned from Avalon, and what's worse: Despite all claims from Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus has not been sighted in the sky. Wish he would, even if it meant doom for me. At least I would not have to take responsibility myself.

We have already changed the climate a little bit. We have seen Earth from the starry beyond. We have explored the depths of the oceans. We are learning to spell in the language of the genes. Are we ourselves starting to become like the small gods our ancestors worshipped? Maybe so. But I for one don't trust myself to be even a small god; and I trust the average man and woman even less. They are by and large very unimpressive. Even when they have power, as sometimes happens, they still falter in their judgement.

I wish an older brother would come and tell us if we're on the right way. It is awfully cold here among the stars.