Lambros: Tell me, Aristageles, are the gods real?
Aristageles: Who says they are not?
Lambros: Well, I have been thinking for some time about this and re-reading some of the great philosophical works. Dangerous though it may be to say so, it seems to me a fair conclusion to deny the existence of all gods.
Aristageles: Ah, friend, you rarely turn away from a controversial line of thought. It is a good thing. By what paths of reasoning have you come to this one, Lambros?
Lambros: Xenophanes pointed out that in different countries gods were represented differently – Thracians see their deities as being like themselves, Negroes picture them with black skin. Xenophanes said that if cows and horses could paint their gods, they would look like cows or horses. It follows that what we call divine beings are simply mental pictures of ourselves, creations of our own mind, particularly when you consider that in stories they display all the human attributes: greed, envy, lust, jealousy, love, fairness, justice and all the others. What conclusion can there be other than they are fictions of the mind?
Aristageles: Yes, but Xenophanes did not throw out divinity. Instead, he put forward a universal intelligence that moved everything. Does this not satisfy you?
Lambros: I must say no. Whether it is one great god or many, it remains that they are products of human thought. Take them all away and the world is no different – there would still be storms and bolts of lightning without Zeus, the sea would not change without Poseidon or the crops cease to grow in the absence of Demeter. It seems to me that fear and ignorance hold people to these fictions, which disappear like flimsy threads under the torch of reason.
Aristageles: So you say reason is the only way to truth?
Lambros: I do. It is clear that reason banishes the gods.
Aristageles: Friend, I think you are mistaken. Reason banishes falsehood, but the gods are neither false nor true.
Lambros: How so?
Aristageles: Well you are right that the gods cannot withstand a purely logical line of thought, but not everything is subject to logos. There are some things that simply are, in and of themselves; and it would be entirely wrong to speak about them any other way. I think the gods are in this category. Let me explain.
What we call Zeus, Poseidon, Demeter, Apollo, Athena are representations of the kinds of power in the universe. There is the power that manifests in the sky, the power of the sea, the generative power of the earth, the power of wisdom and foresight. It is true that we fix certain human-like images to these aspects of power in order to relate to them, and Xenophanes was right to point out that different nations have different images, nevertheless underneath them a real presence of power remains. What can we really say about this power, other than it simply is? When did it come to be and when will it end? It made us and we are its vessels to venerate and honour. Or do you say that reason can explain this and everything?
Lambros: It is possible. Democritus said that the universe was made of atoms, invisible objects that are the building blocks of everything and that are constantly moving. Why should we not hold to this, rather than that Zeus created all?
Aristageles: Democritus may be right, but the gods are not extinguished as a result, for they are the metaphysical mirror to physical reality. Deny them and you reject something essential about the world – the response of the heart and soul. My friend, if you split reason away from soul you are heading towards a kind of tyranny of logos.
Lambros: Logos frees the mind from fairytales and other nonsense. The stories tell us that our Zeus, whom we venerate so much, is a serial adulterer, rapist and liar. All the gods have flaws, and some are said to have done such beastly things that you and I for shame would never contemplate. If these higher beings are in charge of the world, no wonder there is such chaos! Why don’t we just sack the lot of them and find others to worship that are truly virtuous and wise?
Aristageles: You would sack a god? Ha ha! I think you miss the point of our pantheon. Power, in its purest sense, is neither good nor bad but just what it is. It is nature. One day it is kind to humans, the next it is totally destructive. You have been to sea, haven’t you? It can be breathtakingly beautiful on a fair day with Zephyros blowing in the sails, but then a storm appears and suddenly the sea is a seething monster tossing your boat like a toy and threatening doom for everybody. The gods are not to be trifled with.
There is something else revealed in what you describe as the flaws of the gods about which we can say a few words. Power has a dark, corruptive side. Are you well-acquainted with The Bacchae, the drama by Euripides?
Lambros: Yes, but I haven’t seen it for years. I used to have nightmares after every performance.
Aristageles: I can understand. How would you describe Dionysus in the play?
Lambros: Pitiless, vengeful, savage.
Aristageles: Indeed, Euripides does not hold back. Dionysus could simply have taught Pentheus a lesson and let him live. Instead, Pentheus is torn apart by his own crazed mother and even in death utterly humiliated.
Lambros: Just as I said, the gods are a frightfully awful lot.
Aristageles: But look at the truth here: power is corruptible. All power as it manifests in this world has the potential to go astray, to run amok. We humans are the best exemplars of this and war is our chief tool. Countless tyrants have waged war to satisfy their depraved power hunger, murdering and enslaving whole nations in the process. Even our own fair democratic Athens did not rest in the glory of its achievements but had to build an empire and subjugate other Greeks. We must always be on our guard for the ways that power can subvert the human soul.
Lambros: Yes, I see, but my earlier argument about the gods remains – if we stopped praying to Dionysus or Zeus or whoever, how would anything be different?
Aristageles: Well, perhaps immediately afterwards and on the surface of things, not much would change. But you see prayer and sacrifice and every other ritual of worship are about the kinds of relationship we humans have to the divine. If we no longer give thanks and speak to the mysterious power in the world and in us, the power does not disappear. It will continue to move us, to create and destroy and spin the almighty web that is the universe. Whether we embrace it or not, we are still its subjects, so the real question is: What happens to us if we reject the gods? Will we not attempt to usurp their power? What will check our power lust and hubris?
Lambros: You paint a bleak picture of humanity, Aristageles. There will still be love and laughter even after all the fantasies and phantasms are gone.
Aristageles: Maybe so, but the fantasies and phantasms are richly woven into our culture and have been for countless centuries. What do you propose to replace them with, nothing? Take them away and something essential is lost – nay, not lost outright but in us. If we no longer ask Demeter for guidance, will we treat the earth with respect? If we take the goddesses out of the springs and rivers, what will stop us from fouling their waters? Can you imagine the woods without nymphs and muses, Cithaeron without satyrs, Olympus without the gods? Can you imagine what that would be like?
Lambros: I confess at this point I cannot, but maybe one day ...
Aristageles: It will be a sad day indeed, my friend.
