The Humanization of God

The difference between the Lascaux cave paintings and the Wisconsin effigy mounds led me to a idea, which while not heavily supported, is perhaps still worth sharing. My thought was this- it seems to me that the earlier the roots of a religion are, the greater the separation between humans and the god or gods who created them is. Take the Lascaux cave paintings. Though this is mostly conjecture, there seems to be a (potentially spiritual) focus on the natural world, the animals which surround this early culture, while there is no depiction of a deity. This indicates that the culture may not have had a deity, or that (since the paintings to me reflect "conceptions of a general order of existence") their idea of a creator was not depictable, and therefore somewhat unrelatable. Fast forward to the effigy mounds of Wisconsin, and we see the natural world being used now in the abstract, as a way perhaps of interacting with greater spiritual beings (we know that there was most likely a creator in the beliefs of the late woodlanders). Not only do they have a more concrete conception of a spiritual entity/entities (such as thunderbirds), they also believe they can influence the world with their creations- as opposed to simply reflecting.

I see patterns like this in much of religious history. Religions with early beginnings seem to have gods which are much less human- some see the sun as a god, and many have gods which are super-human in some way (like the half-animal gods of the Ancient Egyptians and Hindus). Even early judaism, which has a more human god, keeps a great distance between god and man; god is something to be feared and unquestioned. In contrast, modern christianity looks to a spiritual entity who is extremely human (though still far beyond human) in that he began as one. Several eastern religions are based on the teachings of philosophers (such as buddhism and confucianism) rather than on the interpretation of the will of a god.

In this way, man seems to have come closer to god in general. In many religions any individual can have a personal connection with god without going through a church- this trend can be traced historically to the actions of those such as Martin Luther. Individual prayer is common- a much more direct way of attempting to influence the spiritual world than the building of effigy mounds or human sacrifice. Individuals are more often seen as deities themselves, though usually as representations of deities, the exceptions being what we refer to as "cults".

I see this line of religious evolution as a generally good thing- because it implies that the self-esteem of the human race is rising, we are beginning to believe in the worth of our humanity. If we continue down this path, we may see religions develop which are focused more on the spiritual qualities within ourselves, perhaps god will be though of as the collective consciousness of mankind, or perhaps as an ideal of humanity- what we are trying to become rather than something beyond our reach. Either way, I think the closing of the gap between god and man bodes well for socially, as a more relaxed relationship with your theology means inter-theological conflict will be less likely.