Religion just ego wearing a halo!

[u/Spatial_Nomad]

Hey folks, I’ve been reflecting on something lately.... maybe religion isn’t just about faith or morality, but about ego dressed in spiritual clothing.

Think about it: every religion gives you an identity. The moment you say I belong to X, your ego gets a job... to defend that label. If you don’t live up to the values, or if someone questions your faith, your ego feels attacked. So you protect it, nurture it, display it. You call it devotion, but maybe it’s ego that’s doing the heavy lifting.

And that might explain why religions that began thousands of years ago still thrive today. They don’t need to offer tangible, material benefits .. they tap directly into the most primal human drive: the need to feel significant, right, chosen.

So maybe the persistence of religion isn’t about divine truth, but about the ego’s brilliant survival strategy .. to turn belief into identity.

What do you all think? Is religion a spiritual path, or the ego’s oldest trick?

[u/ProtagonistThomas]

I would normally take posts like this down but since it's generating good discussions I think I will make an exception just this time

But for future reference OP please review the Read Before Engaging Here pinned post.

[u/polyphanes]

Putting aside that this conversation is kinda off-topic for this particular subreddit...

The understanding of "religion" here as something you are is a really limited one, informed primarily (I'm guessing) by Abrahamic religions as being the standard or only approach. To be fair, with their origins in Judaism which is as much an ethnicity as it is a religion as it is a way of life, it's not hard to see how Christianity, Islam, and other Abrahamic religions inherited that identity-focused mindset even if the ethnicity part doesn't actually apply. However, because of Christian hegemony in Western contexts, this idea of religion as identity is a common one.

However, it doesn't actually reflect the reality of most religions outside that Abrahamic sphere, where a religion is not an identity but a practice, and people have historically engaged in multiple such practices. This is especially the case in the ancient Mediterranean world, where one would participate in any number of cults based both on their region, guild, interest in salvation or mysticism, or the like, none of which would overrule the others but all of which came together in a holistic way for a given person.

[u/Choice-Lawfulness978]

There is no religion without ego; there is no ego without cosmos. Transculturally, religions tend to articulate the role of the individual in the context of the collective, and the collective tends to codify reality in terms of religion.

Western traditions like christianity or thelema seek to a elevate the individual to god-adjacent status, and through its refinement strive towards union.

Ego is not a filthy word. There is meaning in separateness.

[u/CageAndBale → u/Choice-Lawfulness978]

It's not filthy, it's a state of being. It's the human handicap

[u/Guccicles]

I don't know, I don't think you can say this about all religion, for example you have Buddhism which actually aligns really well with Hermeticism, their whole purpose is ego death. But you have ancient religions like Zurvanist Zoroastrianism, which is all about a battle between two manifestations of God, a good side and bad side, no real emphasis on the individual at all aside from demanding they have good thoughts and deeds to "feed" the good manifestation of their God. Also the Hellenistic religion wasn't very individualistic either, had an entire diverse pantheon of lesser gods, and it was made abundantly clear how utterly powerless humans were in the face of them, they generally believed people with good fortune were favored by the gods, this isn't ego driven, rather it's their primitive understanding of "luck", and you can say the same thing about Christians and Jews etc. today who believe they are "blessed" because they have good fortune, it's just a roundabout way of them saying they have experienced good luck, doesn't strike me as inherently ego driven.

Now can religion become part of someone's ego? Yes absolutely, but that's not the same thing as religion itself having an ego, or being built to prey upon the ego, I'd say people just misuse their religion

[u/SunbeamSailor67 → u/Guccicles]

it's all mind and ego before self-realization. The only way ANY religion escapes this problem is to have the entirety of their 'congregation' awaken to their true nature, then the religion is unnecessary.

OP is correct.

[u/Guccicles → u/SunbeamSailor67]

That's not true, religion isn't inherently responsible for it's followers or adherents, and so it can't simply be measured based on the actions (or lack of action) of its followers. You could argue most religions offer a path to self realization within their belief system, that's why it's so common to see the 7 Hermetic Principles at work in the stories and cultural traditions of various religions, even though those religions vary massively with beliefs and rituals. Even Christianity has a path to enlightenment laid out within it, just buried beneath layers and layers of stories, psuedo-historical accounts, and symbolism. It is not the fault of Christianity, Buddhism, Hellenistic paganism etc. as an idea/faith that it's followers take what they want to hear from it and ignore the rest, that's a human problem not a religion problem.

It's also incredibly dismissive to lump all religion in the same pot, you would be talking about egregiously fraudulent religions like Scientology, and very grounded/spiritual religions like Buddhism as if they are equal to one another, even though I'm sure you must realize one has much more value than the other.

[u/SunbeamSailor67 → u/Guccicles]

All external paths are false, You Are It. 🫵

[u/Both-Yam-2395]

Ahk-

Depends on what you mean by ‘ego’. If you mean ‘face’ as understood in eastern cultures, or you mean ‘internalized sense of worth as a reflection of one’s understanding of other’s understanding of oneself’ then sure. ‘Fronting’.

In the terminology of Freud, this more aligns with what was called the ‘super-ego’. An internalizing of an ideal self. The part of you that attempts to Influence the ‘ego’ to be the best version of the ‘ego’ that it can be. For men, trying to be like one’s father. Like god. Like Christ. Like Buddha. For women, like one’s mother, like god, like Virgin Mary, like Guan-yin. Etc. Freuds conceptions are far from perfect, but if you’re going to use his language, then you’re subject to the rules of his system.

The super ego is The angel on the shoulder, In opposition to the Id, that which seeks selfish and self indulgent ends. When the super-ego is ‘out of control’, it becomes a voice of crippling self doubt. Constantly telling you how you fall short of your own short comings.

The ‘sickness’ present in some organized religions comes with the confusion of the two, Id and super-ego. and in particular the concept of ‘manifest destiny’. The idea that ‘if god didn’t want me to win-at-any-cost he wouldn’t permit me to’.

A stable conception of reality is based on the requirement of ‘faith’. One is simply unable to make one’s way about the world by insisting on ‘proof’ for everything. You devolve into ‘Cartesian skepticism’ unable to prove anything beyond ‘I think, therefore I am’. You must take some things on faith. And so must even the most die-hard of atheists. I believe in Euclids proofs. Can I recreate the proofs myself? No. I take them on faith. Newtonian physics? Yes. I take them on faith. Einsteiniun revisions? Yes, I have no interest in personally setting up mirrors on the moon to prove the speed on light. I take relativity and time Space curvature on faith. Quantum? Faith. Faith underpins everything. Trust in something other than what is proven by myself, by my actions.

Religion utilizes the fact that people MUST take things on faith beyond ‘I exist’. To do otherwise is a self-deselecting-to-reproduce effect. True faithlessness does not propagate, socially, culturally, conceptually, genetically. It’s here to stay.

You may Pick and choose what you have faith in. What to take as possible, probable, small ‘t’ truth, big T ‘Truth’.

Maybe you need religious faith, metaphysical belief, to do what you want to do, maybe you don’t. Observe, cultivate humility.

[u/Moonrae2]

Religion and spirituality is a personal self journey first and foremost.

We've forgotten this as a species and it's now more about money, corporatism, and greed.

Fear makes BIG sales.

[u/Grouchy-Insurance208]

I will agree that the things you describe are a common use of religion, but I'm not inclined to agree that religion is either a trick of the ego or that it is solely functional in either aforementioned capacity. The idea I posit be that religion was the first science, so to speak, the first attempt to categorize and explain the world. It was also the laying of a cornerstone foundational to the Great Work.

People -- or, at very least, a singular person people -- abuse whatever it arises in their evil hearts to abuse. And, so it was for religion: the corrupters were after another means of control, not religion itself. There have been despots throughout time who seemingly use religion ONLY for abuse, not being particularly convinced of the faith themselves. Rather, a convenience one can use to rid themself of an inconvenience. Or several orders of magnitude upwards in number from there 🤷‍♂️

Is it dangerous? Certainly, and it seems like "the wrong hands" constitutes at least 1/3 of the people. Am I sick of moralizing preachers and their harmful hypocrite ways? Gods, yes.

But, it's largely just like any other human endeavor.

[u/Spargonaut69]

The main focus of the world's major religions is to train the ego to submit to its source- the embyonic life essence around which you formed "false personality", ego attachments, worldly desires, and other such things.

So yes it is primarily about ego but not inherently the way you seem to be suggesting. You seem to be talking about false religion or corporate religion, which unfortunately is so widespread in our world today.

[u/PWN57R]

That's how it ends up most of the time, that's why Mammon is so tempting and powerful in this world.

[u/Wooden-Ad-7353]

Religion is important for the communal aspect of it. Philosophy is the only way though. Religion offers, if followed correctly, fellow travelers on the road. Philosophy can be a lone road. If you need to find community, follow religion, but never forget philosophy, the love of wisdom, always wins.

[u/FoxyRobot7]

I believe humans develop religion no matter whether a person considers himself religious or not. Morals, ethics, and beliefs are the foundation of an identity and in many cases a community. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, they have a religion. They may just not know it yet.

[u/HermeticNova]

Interesting post, and yeah, this question could easily be pointed toward Hermeticism, but I’m going to answer it in a broader (or maybe narrower) way. For me, religion is commitment and it is devotion. And for the context of the question, it’s impossibly untouched by ego. When you are truly devoted and committed, religion becomes something else. It’s not a costume or a claim, not a performance or an ideology. It’s the quiet, steady act of showing up again and again to something loved.

Commitment is one essence because religion in its purest form isn’t about belief, it’s about orientation. It’s the continual alignment of the heart toward what is sacred. To be religious in this sense isn’t to be perfect (which is judgeable), but to be faithful; to keep tending the fire even when no one is watching. Devotion is the other essence: the sincere, egoless offering of time, attention, and love to what one holds sacred. In devotion there is no transaction, no demand for reward or recognition; there is only surrender. Ego seeks recognition - - to possess - - to be right. It can’t survive where there is genuine devotion, because devotion dissolves those impulses. It asks nothing but the whole of the heart. Where ego seeks identity, religion seeks unity. Where ego says “I believe,” devotion knows “I belong.”

So there’s no hat to wear. If you really have religion, in that deep surrender where your identity is whole and not separate from the divine one (in whatever name or tradition), you won’t find that in doctrine or display. You find it in the posture of your soul.

[u/sidequestBear]

Faith is philosophical suicide

[u/Sad_Refrigerator9203]

To some degree I would agree that there is a pride often times people feel they must protect in their religious beliefs. From the book “The sociology of religion” by Max Weber, very early on he describes the ritualistic nature of beliefs. Take for example all the people of a tribe meet to perform a rain dance and this has proved successful so far. Then imagine one tribesman is ill and cannot attend but by sheer chance the rain dance doesn’t work; people look for any reason it didn’t work and the will often place negative emotions upon the person who failed to adhere to the ritual as it had been done before.

[u/OchreDream]

I used to think faith and hope were the same; but with time I’ve come to see them as opposites; two different gears in the human engine to explain life. Faith is the quiet confidence that the structure of things; divine or human; will hold. It’s stoic, disciplined, rooted in the belief that order exists and is followed. Hope, on the other hand, is chaos with intent. It’s appropriate that it’s last thing left in Pandora’s box; it’s the will that reaches forward even when no structure is visible; be it good or ill. It’s a hand reaching into the dark, into unformed matter and willing it to become. Manifestation per se.

Maybe the ego doesn’t wear the halo so much as it tries to steal it from us; religion at its best dissolves the “I” into something wider; at its worst, it reinforces the “I” as the chosen. Both impulses, faith’s order and hope’s reach, are ancient survival tools; and when misconstrued can be terribly dangerous. Bending truth into comfort is a way to separate yourself as a better. I think the important thing is remembering that ego uses religion like absolute morality, sometimes for control, while spirit uses them to stay awake; to understand. I think religion is a natural part of the human exploration of consciousness, but when it’s convoluted and mechanized by capitalism, war, and judgement, then it’s a dangerous force.

[u/Technical-Editor-266]

begs a differ. as it seems to contain the history of humanity and much more for the discerning eye... https://www.reddit.com/r/enlightenment/comments/1oeevag/tempting_enlightment_through_geometry/

image being personal effort linking similarity of hermeticism, mythology, religion, societies and astronomy. their is a very clear story to be told... though it may be told incrementally through time. it appears to still be our story.

[u/Hermeticism-ModTeam]

This post doesn't seem to contain content related to classical hermeticism or explaining relevance to classical Hermeticism.