Imago Dei

So far as I can tell the idea that we were created in the image of God is found only in the Abrahamic religions, that is, it is only found in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. And too often within those religions it appears that the truth of the matter is that God was created in the image of humanity. I suppose that one could infer from the Greek pantheon that they also were created in the image of humanity. At least that is the case of the artwork and myths. However, that doesn’t mean that humanity was not created in God’s image. If there is a God, and I believe there is, then God is not corporeal or material as we understand it. God is of a substance that we cannot see or touch. For millennia, it has been called spirit, and the metaphor for God is the wind or breath. One cannot see the wind except for the way that it interacts with other things. We can see it move the trees; we can see it create waves in water, yet we cannot see it itself. However, we can feel it. We can feel gentle cooling breezes, it can exert force on us and it can be destructive. That may be where the metaphor breaks down unless we are referring to spirit. In that vane it can be beneficial, and it can be destructive.

I personally intuitively believe that the creator is conscious energy. For me the word spirit and the word consciousness are interchangeable. Likewise, the word God is synonymous with creative consciousness.

This means that to say that humanity is created in the image of God one is saying that the human is first and foremost, divine, eternal, conscious creative energy. However, when one looks a little deeper, one finds that the aboriginal people across the globe and millennia thought that we were essentially and foundationally spirit. What they meant, and what the idea in the Abrahamic Religions must mean, is that humanity is composed of eternal spirits at the core. Hinduism and Buddhism believe that the human is essentially spirit and on a cycle of samsara. This is the Hindu word for reincarnation. Taoism sees the Tao as an ineffable and unknowable spirit. The American indigenous people speak of and teach their people that there is a great spirit of which they participate in.

Likewise, the Egyptians believed in a conscious creative spirt and it was allegedly passed on to the Greeks by Pythagoras. The Greeks then developed the idea of the Logos as being the creative source and the divine seed. Plato believed and taught that there was a spiritual and ideal object for all of material reality. They likewise believed in a reincarnation of sorts.

Today, panpsychist ideals teach that consciousness is foundational to reality. There are physicists and cognitive scientists theorizing the same idea. So, to say that this concept is ubiquitous is a definite understatement of fact.

Is it possible that we can be spiritual and not religious? I think so. It should be agreed upon that the term God describes the creator, and even in polytheism, there is always one supreme creative source. Is it possible to redefine God? I believe it is. If we realize that there is one foundational source of reality, and it is consciousness, then it follows that we are describing God. Whether one calls the creator God or consciousness it is still the same concept. It is describing the same exact thing. It is through our consciousness that we participate in the divine nature. We are indeed creators, and as a scripture states it is yet unknow what we may become. I personally believe that it is unlimited. Yes indeed, we are Imago Dei, born in the image of God.