(BTA) Eugenia, would you have anything to say about the modern worship to movies, TV and pop music stars?
(EE) It is polytheism in disguise, with the garments of new values and models of culture. The crowd, still immature for a new transcendent understanding of God and inept for a truly spiritual experience, project their psychological need of worshipping towards human figures, unfortunately not always worthy of such reverence, and that represent to them the aspects of the Divine that they wish to incorporate to their own personality, such as self-sufficiency, strength, security, etc. It is for no other reason that these figures are called “idols”, a word from whence comes the entry “idolatry”. Often, some of them come to be called “gods”, as it happens in classical music, with the “divas” of operas.
(BTA) So we can say that is a negative phenomenon?
(EE) Hardly. It only represents a phase of psychological and spiritual development which will be naturally overcome, when the human creature assimilates all learning contents pertaining to this period. Even because many people who show themselves contrary to the manifestations of “fans”, from whence the word “fanaticism” comes from, are often idolaters themselves, but usually of their own ego or ideologies of dubious quality. The ability to place someone as the focus of one’s own admiration (“to fan” in English means to admire) is a sign of the evolution of feelings, what makes the individual more capable of great evolutionary flights toward the future, which does not happen with those with narcissistic fixations, since that selfishness crystallizes the consciousness in the most regrettable and vicious illusions, compromising the progress and happiness of the individual.
(BTA) In India, some men and women are worshipped as “divine incarnations”, those called by them of “avatars”.
(EE) And to some extent they are right, even because we all are manifestations of the divine in the world, in different ways and according to the level of evolution of each one. Jesus himself said in John and Matthew: “In truth I say, you are also gods and goddesses”. Worshipping highly evolved human creatures can be, for certain stages of development of the psyche, a methodological shortcut to assimilate one’s own “Divine Self”, because they have the physical representation of their own divine spark, which is activated through this symbolic projection, even though they are still far out from consciously understanding such subliminal process in the mysteries of their own consciousness. However, when the individual fails to hear his inner voice and follow his own path, thereby neutralizing himself because of someone else, that’s when idolatry happens, a sickly process of destruction of one’s own identity, in favor of divinizing someone else. It is not another thing that happens when, in the materialistic and superficial culture of today’s world, people fall in love and say they will do everything for “the love of their lives”. They are rationalizing a criminal attitude (because suicidal) in relation to themselves, eliminating the most valuable opportunities of growth and achievement, by defenestrating precious energies in counter-productive activities and efforts, such as perpetuating destructive relationships. One must do everything in the name of an ideal, of vocation and the voice of consciousness, never for one person or a group of people, even if they are one’s own children. If, however, we do everything for a group of people or even a particular person (though it is normally suspected) because this is our ideal, the situation is different. But between both psychological pictures, there is a subtle difference that separates sliding in a cable car from free fall. There are people who are idolaters of the family, children or relationships, and they seem worthy when they are devastated by the death or loss of someone, for more than the time needed for a healthy psychological mourning. These people, in fact, are sick and act in a vicious and stingy way. They need to free themselves from their fixations. No one is anyone’s property, nor can we ever build the bases of safety and meaning of our lives upon other people.
(BTA) That’s very strong, Eugenia.
(EE) It’s the truth.
(BTA) Could I say that the process of idolatry is based on what Karl Marx called “the opium of the people”, when referring to religion?
(EE) Indeed. Any human creature can be the focus of other’s idolatry, and, in fact, this is so more likely, as the more they have status for it. Therefore, no Being is more worthy of idolatry, at the eyes of whoever it is, than God himself. But God does not want idolatry. He wants awareness. That’s why those who are believers and idolaters, sooner or later, get disappointed and flee from religious circles frightened, cursing the Creator because He did not yield to their whims. The Divine Providence is undeterred by this order of events and often provides them. God wants conscious souls, free and builders of their own destiny and not passive and demented people, amid inflamed reproaches and pathetic genuflections. To imagine that the Supreme Being of the Universe would indulge in this kind of atavistic adoration would simply show a lot of ingenuousness. If conscious parents are not bothered about contradicting the wishes of a willful child, in order to educate them for their happiness, how could we expect that God would act differently?
(BTA) To which extent can we, in a more practical way, characterize the rise of idolatry? Sometimes, it seems that the reverence and devotion are mixed, in many aspects, with idolatry, is it not? Many devoted people, for instance, are held as fanatics, only because they put God first in their lives.
(EE) Yes, you said it well. The rise of idolatry can be seen when laziness and manipulation begin to creep in the mental processes and in the behavior of the individual. If someone fails to fulfill their responsibilities, play their role in the world and do their part in the drama of their lives, to rely upon someone or something considered superior, then we have a well characterized idolatry. There are other aspects, as we even began to mention, when we spoke of one not giving any importance to the inner voice, the voice of common sense and reason, to hide lucidity in the hypnotic processes of, as one would say: “brain wash”, or as we could say, in more modern words: to renounce the right thinking, pragmatic and lucid, for a doctrinal system of repetition of ready concepts, stagnant and considered immutable. But the most destructive aspect of idolatry, undoubtedly, is the renouncement of being and doing what we must, by shifting the focus of the conscience to something external.
(BTA)And what to say of those who, in general, consider religious people as fanatics?
(EE) First, they are fool and uninformed. Second, they are idolaters themselves, but of inferior idols, perhaps invisible to them, such as sex, money, power, status or their own hyper-inflated and sick ego. They are worthy of pity, because sooner or later, the later the worse, they will suffer dire consequences because of their flaw to focus, to assess and define the priorities in life. They forget what Jesus said, as one of the fundamental truths of His legacy of teachings: “Seek first the Kingdom of Heavens and Its Righteousness, and the rest will be added on to you”.
(BTA) Thank you very much, Eugenia.
(EE) You are welcome.
(BTA) Anything else to say about this?
(EE) No.
(Dialogue held on May 9, 2004.)