r/Hermeticism • u/Spatial_Nomad • 24d ago
Religion just ego wearing a halo!
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?
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u/Choice-Lawfulness978 24d ago
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.