The Homo Dios Hypothesis, or Children of God

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 Children of God: The Homo Dios Hypothesis

Despite my early fears, I never seem to run out of things to write about. Every day, I encounter people and ideas that inspire essays, short stories, and sermons. This sermon is about an idea that was presented to me by my cousin and friend, William, also known as William the Wild or Bill, during a long phone conversation. (This conversation, and the ideas discussed, was the inspiration behind the short story “A Deal With the Devil.”) It should also be noted that this cousin is the one who spiked the punch with Wild Turkey during a Thanksgiving party/family reunion in 1994. He was the Baron of the Barony of 1,000 Eyes when he was heavily into the Society for Creative Anachronism and now he is an artist who carves some of the coolest things I have ever seen out of stuff like antlers. In other words, he has always been kind of a trip.

Bill states that, while on a walk alone in the woods, he had an epiphany out of the blue that really knocked his socks off: He suddenly understood that the entities we call gods are actually an alien race of beings comprised of pure energy, who have imbued the human race with a divine spark that has allowed us to evolve into sentient beings, turning Homo Sapiens into Homo Dios. We are quite literally the children of our gods, a special species going through our lives learning and growing, over and over, until we achieve Enlightenment and join our parents as “adults.” William states that each of us is really two beings: the human body and the divine soul. The reason there are so many religions is because there really are that many gods, each of which asks different things of their spiritual children. The christian gods demand worship and adoration, while the Wiccan gods encourage self-direction and independent thought. Most Native American and Hindu gods seemed to exist to teach humans lessons about how to behave. Ancient Greek gods each had their own set of expectations. Some of our past gods insisted upon human sacrifice, but they died off when we realized how stupid that is and -mostly- stopped doing it.

Let’s explore this definition of “god” from the standpoint of Path teachings. As thinking beings, we are encouraged to forge our own relationship with cosmic divinity and call it anything we like. This hypothesis does fit well with the statement “Thou art god” although not quite “All that groks is god,” because of the suggestion of human exceptionalism. It is also compatible with the idea that we are souls with bodies rather than bodies with souls. The only thing about William’s “children of god” concept that does not really fit with Path doctrine is the idea that we cannot choose which god we are the child of; we are stuck with whichever god we are born to. If the gods of our childhood fail us, we should be free to find gods that suit our needs, or choose not to believe in gods at all. The Path is mostly about self-determination as we seek Enlightenment and try not to be dicks.

I find the whole concept compelling in part because I like to write science fiction short stories about alien intelligence and how it relates to humankind. I am interested in the Panspermia Hypothesis, as well, for the same reason. I also believe that our perception of gods and our relationship with them is unhealthy if not downright toxic in many cases, and a better definition and scale of “god” would serve humanity better than what we have right now. We could do worse than “altruistic space energy.”

Does this definition of “god” appeal to you? Have you changed or modified your definition because of this hypothesis?

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