Religion and salvation no longer preoccupy the modern Western world. Now, we focus on personal development and “self-actualization.” We see this idea played out in a thousand ways. But what does it mean?
One thing that the neglect of religion and salvation means is connected to the oft-repeated mantra “You only live once.” It implies that we need to enjoy or fulfill ourselves now. The clear implication is that we must ensure we drain every last drop of juice out of life and not miss out on anything that life has to offer before we go. This is why we hear more and more about bucket lists. It’s become a moral lapse—if not an actual crime—not to have ticked off everything on our “bucket list.” So get busy!
Further, self-actualization is all about perfecting the “self,” which is a word that has replaced “soul.” These words are synonymous in certain contexts, but increasingly they diverge in meaning. The old-fashioned word “soul” refers to the immaterial, immortal side of a human being that is infinitely precious but flawed and needs saving—whether that be through God or via, say, Buddhism’s Eightfold Path.
Replacing the Soul With the Self
Self, on the other hand, is about “me”: a good person who needs to do more yoga, become a vegan, “be kind,” and so on, in order to realize the perfection that is already there, already in me. Hence, we see online lessons showing us how to defeat “imposter syndrome.” The key mantra here is that we need to tell ourselves, “I am good enough.”
In a weird way, then, we don’t need to do anything at all. (So forget the yoga, veganism, and kindness.) We just have to believe in ourselves and our true amazing perfection will shine forth, and we’ll never be imposters again!
Of course, the idea that you “only live once” is not a literal fact but a dangerous assumption. As author and broadcaster Peter Stanford observed: “We imagine that we are so much cleverer than past ages, that their wisdom can be surpassed by our own, passed through the filter of science and logic and reason. The results are misleading and dispiriting.”
Pascal’s Wager
That’s why Pascal’s Wager is a percipient argument to consider. Simplified, the argument is that it’s rational to believe in God, because if you’re right, and God exists, there’s a big reward; but if you’re wrong, and God does exist, there’s potentially a massive downside! Again, if God doesn’t exist, whether you do or don’t believe in God, you share the same fate: oblivion. Thus, the rewards are weighted toward believing in God—which means, of course, believing in not living just once, but beyond death (which counts as twice).
Pascal also made the point that it was not only a question of whether God did or did not exist in terms of heaven and hell. He argued that believing in God grants moral benefits. Buddhism’s Eightfold Path has a moral dimension, for to accept Buddhism is to accept the validity of the Eightfold Path, and this path, like the Ten Commandments, enjoins one to act morally.
Interestingly enough, it is the moral question that dominates the ancient world and its view of the afterlife. By moral, I mean what is right and what is wrong. It means asking: Have we lived in accordance with the deepest precepts of our shared ideals as well as our own consciences? As the great Roman writer Cicero put it: “Away, then, with sharp practice and trickery, which desires, of course, to pass for wisdom, but is far from it and totally unlike it. For the function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil; whereas, inasmuch as all things morally wrong are evil, trickery prefers the evil to the good.”
So, we come to the key word: “wisdom.” When we can distinguish between good and evil, we have wisdom, and this constitutes the basis for a true morality. When we think carefully about it, it’s the moral question—What is right and what is wrong?—that dominates every aspect of our society today, not just in the past.
The Ancient Greek Perspective
To pursue wisdom, then, is a spiritual undertaking rather than a secular one. The Greeks knew this very well, which is why they had a god of wisdom, or more accurately, a goddess: Pallas Athena.
Athena, interestingly, was the favorite offspring of her father, the supreme god, Zeus. Similarly, in the Book of Proverbs we find that Wisdom is the favorite of God, “rejoicing always before Him.” Wisdom and the supreme Power (God) are locked in some intimate, unbreakable, and inconceivable relationship that we can only approach figuratively. But what can we learn from Greek mythology about wisdom and its goddess? Are there aspects of her being that are relevant and insightful for our lives today?
I believe there are. In Part 2 of this series, I shall look into the origins and activities of the goddess of wisdom and show how her symbolic being makes profound sense in many ways.
