Is it wise for a man to create his own god and worship it?

The answer is always no, it's not wise. It doesn't make sense. This is not an article on religion. This is an article on strong opinions, thought processes, and self-perception. It's an article on image creation.

Some or most of the things that we have very strong opinions on are simply our own creations. They are not objective reality. They are subjective. They are products of our minds. They are abstract ideas given form firstly in the mind and sometimes secondly, in the physical.

Humans are not very good at making Bayesian type of probability updates. The main reason for this is not low information processing capacity. Rather it is due to the fondness we develop for our own god. It’s the attachment we have to the pre-existing idea. Even when confronted with sufficient evidence that our own god is a useless one, we still hold on to that god, not wanting to accept any other god. Whilst it is obviously true that conditional probabilities cloud our minds, it is also true that there is a heavy resistance to updating information.

If most of these things that we hold dear are merely our very own creations, why do we worship them?

Each time you form or develop a strong opinion on something without first acquiring sufficient information on that thing, you essentially create your own god and then worship it.

It is very hard to acquire and process sufficient information on many things, thus we tend to create shortcuts and heuristics that lead us to form an opinion.

We are aware (self-conscious) of the fact that we use shortcuts and heuristics, hence exposing ourselves to errors in reaching a conclusion. The same applies to a man who creates his own god. The man is aware (self-conscious) of the fact that he is creating a god, whether in his mind or in the physical. If the god is a graven image, the man is taking his carving tools to “carve out” the god.

The physical manufacturing of a god is merely a fulfillment of the idea inside the mind. The ‘god’ has already been created in the mind. The ‘mind’ of the man that is creating ‘the god’ is self-conscious that it is creating a god. In other words, the mind is aware of what it is doing. If the mind were to view itself (as if it's another object) in the process of creating a god, it would observe the very same act as a foolish process. Why then does the mind proceed to believe in the outside existence of something that “it” internally created on its own?

If most of these things that we hold dear are merely our very own creations, why do we get angry when the image we created is challenged by new facts?

We tend to get angry and frustrated by things we don't understand. This is especially true for Maths problems. When you are struggling with a math problem, it makes you frustrated and unhappy. The same goes for many issues we face in life, including tragedy, death, and trauma.

The human mind has a desire for closure, for understanding why certain things happen or why certain things are the way they are. This fundamental nature of a person ( seeking closure) is contradictory to the second nature of man creating his own image and worshipping it. Maybe there is no contradiction at all, it is rather a continuance.

The very act of creating an image and worshipping it is a way of seeking closure. A shortcut to closure, that is. Things that we don't have time or capacity to understand, or things that are so complex become simpler when we codify them as images.

Strong opinions are essentially an extension of ourselves. They give us an identity. It feeds back into our ideas of the self, how we view ourselves. The graven image that we create with our own hands, becomes the god that worships as the creator. It becomes supernatural, powerful, omnipotent, able to fight spiritual wars, and has the ability to render providence. Ideas and views that are contrary to our opinions become threats, not just threats to our opinions, but threats to our identity, because they are challenging our very own perception of ourselves.

What happens if you totally lose self-perception in an instant? In a blink of an eye, you have a zero idea of the self. I am not a psychologist, but I would think that you can have a serious mental breakdown. You lose it. The center won't be able to hold. You fall apart.

So, is it wise for a man to create his own god and then worship it?

You be the judge.

Ciao!