Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The god within

One of my favorite quotations from G.K. Chesterton:
Of all horrible religions the most horrible is the worship of the god within. Any one who knows any body knows how it would work; any one who knows any one from the Higher Thought Centre knows how it does work. That Jones shall worship the god within him turns out ultimately to mean that Jones shall worship Jones. Let Jones worship the sun or moon, anything rather than the Inner Light; let Jones worship cats or crocodiles, if he can find any in his street, but not the god within. Christianity came into the world firstly in order to assert with violence that a man had not only to look inwards, but to look outwards, to behold with astonishment and enthusiasm a divine company and a divine captain. The only fun of being a Christian was that a man was not left alone with the Inner Light, but definitely recognised an outer light, fair as the sun, clear as the moon, terrible as an army with banners.
[Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 1908]
The "god within" is apt to be God as I want Him to be—a creature of my own creation and not God at all.

G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

1 comment:

  1. This reminds me of a Lewis quote. When asked what religion is best, Lewis replied, "While it lasts, the worship of one's self is the best."

    ReplyDelete

Comments are moderated. I will gladly approve any comment that responds directly and politely to what has been posted.