Chapter 144: Cosmology, Philosophical Concepts, and the Convinced Black Tower.
Su Mo’s previous conclusion was that the Star Gods were not born out of thin air, but were transformed from some kind of existence.
Later, he emphasized that the birth of the Star Gods was related to the development of interstellar civilization. This was obviously a characteristic of the planet’s indigenous gods. If these two points were combined, what he wanted to say would become clearer than ever.
“You don’t mean to say that the existence of the level of Star God is the result of the planet’s native gods being upgraded, right?”
Heita supported the table with both hands, his head was very close to Su Mo, and his lavender eyes stared at him intently.
This was a very bold and crazy conjecture with many fatal loopholes.
Similar ideas have been proposed by others. After all, Star God is a god, and the native gods of the planet are also gods. To ordinary people who are powerless, there is no difference between the two, and they are both a kind of god. However, as early as the early days of the birth of Star God, many researchers had already disproven this conjecture.
As more and more Star Gods appeared in later generations, the Star Gods became more and more popular.���As more and more studies were conducted, this conjecture was gradually abandoned. Even children now do not think that the two are equivalent.
With the ability Su Mo had shown before, Heita could hardly believe that he would support such a flawed view.
However——
“To a large extent, I think so.”
Su Mo’s answer directly confirmed this point.
Hearing this, Heita stared at Su Mo in silence until she was sure that he was not joking. Then she sat back in her seat and asked seriously:
“Why do you think so? How can a star god that can shake the universe and a native god who can only survive by faith be the same kind of existence?”
“Even if it is a transmutation, some basic framework structure will remain unchanged. Gods that need faith to survive and gods that do not need faith at all, even the basic form of existence is different, right?”
She did not rashly deny Su Mo’s opinion, but made a careful inquiry.
The reason for doing so is, first, because she has recognized Su Mo and does not think that Su Mo will make nonsense.
Secondly, there is a precedent for similar things in the history of the Genius Club.
The second member of the Genius Club once confirmed the existence of phlogiston, but not long after, the third member disproved the existence of phlogiston. When phlogiston was regarded as a pseudo-scientific joke by the entire universe and sneered at by everyone, the seventh member re-proved the existence of phlogiston.
With this precedent, no matter how ridiculous Su Mo’s conjecture is, as long as he is recognized by the Black Tower, Black Tower will take it seriously.
Because she understands one thing deeply.
That is, the more absurd and incredible the conjecture is, the greater the storm will be once it is proven to be successful.
If she misses the opportunity to understand the origin of the Star God because of her arrogance in front of the truth, she will definitely regret it for the rest of her life.
Black Tower’s inquiries are very serious, and the reasons given are also the most convincing reasons to distinguish between the Star God and the native gods of the planet.
One takes faith as his life and will disappear without faith, and the other does not need faith at all, and even has a tendency to destroy the world. How can they be the same thing!
Faced with this reasonable question, Su Mo shook his head and asked back
“Do you understand faith?”
“”Ah?”
Heita was stunned, and then immediately replied
“If it is belief in the star gods, my opinion is that it is useless. The star gods care less about belief than they care about ants.”
“If it is the belief of the indigenous gods, I have done some research on the existing data, but I dare not say that it is particularly in-depth. I only know that for the indigenous gods, belief is the basis of their existence. Without belief, they will disappear.”
In today’s interstellar society, although the indigenous gods of the planets cannot be said to be extinct, they have long stopped developing and have entered the museum level.
Based on the remaining data, Heita has a certain understanding of this, but the data obtained without field research and investigation is often seriously distorted, so she dare not say that she fully understands it.
Hearing Heita’s words, Su Mo immediately shook his head
“First of all, let me correct you. If no one believes in them, they will disappear. This is only the case with animistic gods in the initial stage of mythology.”
For example, the tribal gods of early religions, or the eight million gods in Fusang mythology, these are just a hodgepodge of gods that make up the numbers. Only these monsters are so fragile and so dependent on faith.
If they were in the regular pantheon, these mountain spirits and wild monsters would only be considered as demons outside the system.
“Oh? I know a little about animism. It is indeed the early stage of religion. Do you mean that the indigenous gods of the planets in the later stages do not need to rely so much on faith?”
Hearing Su Mo point out his mistake, Heita’s eyes lit up and he asked curiously.
“It cannot be said that faith is not relied on at all, but the way of relying on faith is different from what you imagine.”
Su Mo shook his head and said
“Do you know how many ways gods gain faith?”
“I don’t know.”
Heita immediately shook her head quickly.
Not knowing is not shameful, but being unwilling to admit it is shameful. In the realm of gods, it is normal for Su Mo to know more than her.
After all, Esta had already told her his identity.
“Then let me briefly introduce it. The most primitive gods can only gain faith through the worship and fear of others. Once they lose their believers and are forgotten by everyone, they will naturally disappear. This kind of gods are generally called tribal gods or indigenous gods.”
Su Mo talked about his own professional field.
In ancient times, there were countless gods who lost their faith and disappeared completely because their tribes were defeated and annexed. What
Heita mentioned is also known by most people in this world. It is just the gods at this stage.
“Later, with the development of the times and the exchanges between various civilized tribes, different gods constructed complex myths. Later, colorful myths replaced the single belief in gods and became the mainstream.”
“During this period, gods were able to gain faith through the spread of myths by humans. Even if they lost their believers, were no longer worshipped by anyone, or were even forgotten by the vast majority of people, as long as they were still part of the myth and as long as the myth was still being sung, they would not completely disappear.”
“I call this kind of god a mythical god.”
With the help of myths, even the weakest gods will not worry about disappearing, and powerful gods can also increase their power through faith.
For gods, joining myths can be said to be the best decision. There is no other way.
“Interesting, can we reduce the difficulty of gaining faith and increase the source of faith by sharing the burden equally?”
Heita immediately understood the beauty of mythology. Richer stories can attract more believers and reduce the dependence of gods on believers.
“However, even so, it is impossible to completely get rid of dependence on faith, right?
She pointed out this point sharply
“If even mythology is forgotten, won’t the entire pantheon disappear with it?”
Weaving mythology can only reduce risks, but cannot completely overcome them.
Mythological gods still need to rely on faith, and they are not the same as star gods.
“What you said makes sense. In fact, many mythical gods have also perished in the loss of mythology.”
Su Mo nodded, confirming Black Tower’s idea.
Myths will be defeated by bigger myths. If they are incorporated, it is still okay. The gods can still exist in a new form. But if there is a war of genocide, or if there is some natural disaster or man-made disaster, the inheritance of myths is not impossible to be broken.
“In order to fight for faith and avoid being forgotten, various pantheons and their believers will naturally have various conflicts.”
“In the War of Ten Thousand Gods, people soon discovered that the victorious gods all had something in common that transcended time and space. By studying this commonality, a new way to gain faith emerged.”
At this point, Su Mo paused, and then continued to introduce
“This commonality is the true core of mature mythology – the cosmology.”
“Cosmology?”
Upon hearing this term, Heita tilted his head.
“Meaning, a unified view of the universe?”
“That’s right.”
Su Mo nodded.
“Mythology can replace individual gods to gain faith, and cosmology can replace mythology to gain faith.”
“Therefore, even if people have completely forgotten the myths, as long as they still remember and agree with the core cosmology of the myths, the gods will not disappear.”
“I call gods of this level civilized gods.”
In fact, there are more uses for the cosmology, but here, the main focus is on the relationship between faith and gods, so Su Mo did not extend it too much.
After hearing what Su Mo said, Heita immediately asked
“If humans forget the corresponding view of the universe, won’t they also disappear?”
“No.”
Su Mo shook his head firmly.
“As long as civilization continues, they will never forget these things.
Otherwise, he would not be called the God of Civilization.
“Why do you say that?”
Heita asked with a little doubt.
“No matter how sophisticated a cosmic view is, isn’t it easy to be forgotten over time?”
“On the contrary, the core cosmology of mythology is often not precise, and can even be described as crude and simple.
Su Mo shook his head and introduced it briefly.
“For example, the Zoroastrianism’s dualism of good and evil. As long as we adhere to the basic dichotomy and recognize that good will triumph over evil, we can be considered to have inherited this worldview.”
“For example, the Buddhist view that all dharmas are without self, as long as we continue to explore our inner selves and realize that all phenomena are not phenomena, and all actions are impermanent, we can be considered to have inherited this cosmological view.”
“Another example is the Tao of Taoism, the original sin and theory of forms of Christianity, the great cultural fusion of Roman mythology… In fact, you don’t even need to know mythology to understand these cosmologies. As long as you live in the corresponding cultural background, even an atheist will inevitably be completely immersed in the cosmology.”It
‘s a very simple phenomenon. When a person asks someone else about something and says”Do you know?”, he may not realize it himself, but the word”Tao” in the word”know” he uses contains fragments of the cosmology.
In this case, the cosmology has become the foundation of culture and a thinking tool to help humans understand the world. Together with human history, it has been deeply engraved in the annals of the planet and has become the foundation of civilization.
Even if you destroy your own writing, betray your own civilization, and erase your own past, it is impossible to erase the way you understand the world in your mind.
To this extent, with the help of the worldview, the civilized gods can almost be said to be with human intellect and civilization.
“Under this cognition, no matter whether an individual likes myths or hates myths, whether he is a theist or an atheist, even if he is completely unaware of the existence of gods, gods can still draw faith from his cognitive framework.”
Speaking of this, Su Mo looked into the eyes of Heita and asked:
“Do you think this kind of civilized god still relies on so-called faith? Do they still care about so-called believers?”
“……No.”
Heita shook his head slowly.
The attitude of the God of Civilization mentioned by Su Mo towards faith is infinitely close to that of the Star God.
No, it can’t even be said to be infinitely close!
Thinking of something, Heita’s expression was slightly dazed. After lowering his head and thinking for a while, he raised his head again and said to Su Mo in a dreamy tone.
“Hey, have you noticed that the cosmology you talk about and the abstract philosophical concept represented by the Star God seem to be very similar?”
“Of course it’s very high.”
Su Mo nodded calmly
“The so-called mythological cosmology is the result of the simple philosophical concepts of the ancestors. The two are essentially the same thing. Sometimes the cosmology is even more complete.”
In other words, the so-called concept of civilized gods is very close to the star gods condensed by philosophical concepts.
After getting the affirmation, Heita did not show a happy look. On the contrary, she looked at Ruan Mei with a slightly twitching expression.
Ruan Mei nodded silently, indicating that she did not find any problems.
Seeing this, Heita patted his head heavily.
“I am really crazy. I actually think that the hypothesis you proposed makes sense. It can not only perfectly verify most of the problems, but also explain the origin of the Star God… If this is true, the entire universe’s understanding of the Star God will be overturned.”
“Who would have thought that the Star God was actually related to the native gods of the planet?!”
Even though he had thought about this possibility a long time ago, when he was really convinced, Heita still felt that he needed time to accept it.
