Reply #20: Pretty close to me. I believe that gods are useful metaphors [View All]

[jobycom]

That point out how to behave, how to live in the world, etc. But the metaphors are just tools. Like the hindu analogy, that gods are like ladders that we use to get us to a place, then no longer need.

I believe there is no literal being or entity, only the reality of the universe, but that universe and all its laws are so complicated and overwhelming that metaphors (gods) are a good way to get a grasp on it, for some people. Jesus was a good metaphor for why we should love our enemies and exist to help others. The Hebrew God was a good metaphor for the cohesive identity and rigid law code that this nomadic people needed to survive. The multitude of gods in Hinduism and modern pagan variations are metaphors for nature, for abstractions, for behavioral guides, etc.

"Metaphor" doesn't mean, necessarily, that these "gods" don't exist. It really means that the whole question of "existence" or "Being" is both irrelevant, and meaningless, since our concept of existence is too limited to grasp this type of existence, anyway.

If any of that makes sense. When asked, I say I'm an atheist, since most people are really asking if I believe in some being, and I don't.