I had this idea the other day about how the evolution of religion over time seems to correlate directly to the part of the hierarchy of needs that most members of the faith fail to achieve.
God as nature
The first deities belonged to groups of people that were entirely at the whims of their environment. Storms, droughts, floods meant death. This was the time of Animism, where our god’s controlled the weather, the crops, the change of seasons. These ancient gods served the physiological needs, ensuring humans ate, had shelter, and survived the winter. These were polytheistic gods.
God as warrior
After this, deities belonged to nations. The Israelites believed Yahweh would lead them into the holy land and defeat their enemies. This was polytheistic in the sense that it was believed other nations gods existed, but were engaging in battle with one another. These gods served safety and security need. Keeping us safe from them.
God as parent
After the ages of war and the movement into global trade, the need failing to be met was community and companionship within our nations. God began to be viewed as the “parent” over all his “children”. We are all siblings, so God wants us to all get along. God wants community love and friendship. This serves love and belonging, and is the current state of most religions.
God as power
The resurgence of “witchcraft” displays the desire to build our self esteem. Magic, ritual, and individualist spiritual practice serve the needs of achievement and uniqueness.
God as self?
Eventually, once all needs are met, we will unify God with our own consciousness. We have all our needs met and can experience pure living. Religion will seemingly fade away, and we will deify our own experience of existence.
The way I view it is that religion serves to quell some existential anxiety. If your daily thoughts are preoccupied with forest fires, floods, and crop blight, you would reach out to some deity you feel controls those things. The hierarchy of needs just serves to display that society has progressed (imperfectly) up that hierarchy for many people.
I’m sure someone thought of this before, as you stated. Just a stoner thought I had. But a part of me believes religion serves some primordial animal drive. A way to surrender your worry into something bigger than yourself. The ultimate goal of giving up that surrender into yourself is kind of Buddhist in a way. I hope to achieve that one day.
@srasmus Yeah I agree. My thinking is more that people’s position with relation to fear/anxiety drives the degree to which they need the supernatural construct and society’s needs define the nature of it.
So the question would become what are the challenges of a post industrial hyperconnected world that would shape the concept of Deities