How One Can Be A God

Book Review of "Comment peut on être dieu"

Recently, SoFE member Marcus wrote a blog series titled Five contemplations on the gods, which was very well received within our circle. Marcus lives in France, speaks French, and recommended to me the book Comment peut on être dieu (How one can be a god) by Renée Koch, which explores Epicurean piety and friendship as a religious practice, and served as the inspiration for Marcus’ blog series. In it, Marcus helps us to place before our eyes the sometimes abstract concepts in this book so that we may derive the intended benefits from these practices without the need for mysticism or supernaturalism.

In this essay, I will introduce some of the key concepts and thought-provoking neologisms that I found in the book, and provide some commentary on them. But before reading this essay, for context, please watch our educational video On the Epicurean Gods, which gives a basic introduction to Epicurean natural theology and on the three interpretations of the gods--the realist view of the founders, the idealist or (SoFE’s preferred term) non-realist view, and the atheistic interpretation.

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Homoiosis theoi

True, natural piety has utility. Epicureans recognized the importance of having gods and mentors that are human-like enough, that we are able to emulate them—and this is a key feature of religious Hellenism. Homoiosis theoi is the term used by the author Renée Koch for the divine anthropomorphism that characterizes the Hellenistic deities. It refers to the resemblance of man to god, and in page 21 the author speaks of a retractable ladder by which we may, from time to time, approach a level of similarity with them by various techniques. In pages 16-17, Koch speaks of a Greek shamanism, of the agatho-daemon (good genius or good spirit) of Socrates, of trances, Corybantes, and of possession--all within the context of this anthropomorphism.

Homoiosis theoi relates to enthusiasm, which I’ve read explained as en-theo-ism, or the divine state of being inhabited by a god, from the Greek enthousiazontes. This state is associated with inspiration in the tradition of the Orphic poet, of the Odinist skald and the Havamal, of the Bacchic Maenad, the Homeric bard, the Delphic priestess / oracle of Apollo, and of Zarathustra. It has deep Indo-European roots, but varieties of this same theory and practice exist in other cultures.

This trend towards humanizing the gods went into full gear with the mystery cults and cults of Men-Gods during the Hellenistic Era, and later influenced the evolution of Christianity. Epicurus’ approach to the anthropomorphic gods of Hellenism implies rendering at least some aspects of human nature holy and transcendental, transferring to nature all that was holy. Let us consider the pragmatic repercussions of this for the Epicureans.

In Epicurus, as with Aristotle, apotheosis becomes the realizable objective and the expected result of philosophical exercise, instead of being merely an aim that is never accomplished in this world.

The author says "l’homme en contemplation est dieu" (man in contemplation is god). That is to say, his state of mind is no different from a divine one. The author favorably compares this Epicurean practicality to the impracticality of world-denying Platonic musings on this case or, for instance, of schools of Buddhism that invite you to attain nirvana yet recognize that it’s nearly unattainable.

Participation in divine pastimes is not limited to contemplation. Philodemus says that he never ceases to praise his master the Scholarch Zeno of Sidon’s kauchai (which the author translates into French as celebrations exaltés, to boast or to glory in a thing) and theoforiai (which the author translates into French as transports enthusiastes) whenever Zeno narrates the pastimes of Epicurus, Metrodorus, and their companions. The word theophoric means god-bearing, god carrying, bearing the news of god.

Isotheos

And so religion, in its turn cast down, is thrown underfoot. This victory makes us heaven’s equals. - Lucretius, De rerum natura, Liber Primvs, 102-104

The most useful neologism that I became aware of thanks to this book is the term isotheos, the state or process of being equal to a god. One of the things that this book did for me was to point the finger at the many instances where the Epicureans took isotheos seriously in thought and practice. This concept is found in Epicurus' assertion that, with a bit of bread and water, he could compete with Zeus in happiness. It's also found at the closing of the Epistle to Menoeceus, where Epicurus says that we become godlike and lose all semblance of mortality when we surround ourselves with immortal goods. We find it reiterated in the above passage by Lucretius, which—like the rest of the Opening—is an epiphany of great philosophical significance.

Most importantly, we find many anecdotes of Epicureans following the logic of this way of thinking: the disciple Colotes prostrates himself before Epicurus and recognizes him as a living god, and the Hegemon returns the honor. In Usener Fragment 165, Epicurus cheerfully anticipates the visit of his young friend Pythocles:

"I shall sit down and await your lovely and godlike appearance."

We see that the ancient Epicureans sometimes channeled their piety and highest respects towards a worthy sumphilosophon, a fellow philosopher-friend with whom they had studied.

Normalizing cultic piety towards friends who have died (manifested in Eikas and other memorial services) is the main religious innovation of the ancient Epicureans, and is also an expression of this foundational value and practice of isotheos (being godly or godlike), which brings down to Earth and into our circles of friends the values that other religions project against the heavens, thereby making the transcendental immanent and earthly.

Few things create a sense of being equals as eating together around the same table. It creates community and trust, and helps participants to feel at ease and united, like a family. It's no surprise that Epicurus established a feast as a way to remember him and his pastimes with his friends. Koch (page 17) mentions sacred banquets where devotees shared a meal with their god. In ancient Greece, this was a practice of the Orphic and Dionysian orgia or mystery cults, where it involved wine and bread believed to be the body of Dionysus, the son of Zeus. In Egypt, there was an Osirian eucharist of beer and bread, and of course later Christianity appropriated this in their sacramental communion.

The author (in pages 125-6) explains that the sacred tables (trapezai) in cult bring nurturance to the gods, and she seems to suggest that Epicurus' tombstone may have been used as a trapeza or communion table by later Epicureans. If this is true, then we can make better sense of Philodemus’ reference to Epicurus’ mention of the “feast of the sacred table”. I wonder whether his best friend Metrodorus was buried in the Kepos, or whether his tombstone was nearby.

The closest living practical parallel to this idea is prasadam, the food that is offered to deities in Hinduism, and then partaken of by devotees in sacred communion with a God (Sikhs also offer prasadam in their temples). In the Vaishnava tradition, when devotees eat Krishna prasadam (literally, "the mercy of Krishna"), it is said that they are eating his "leftovers" (because the vegetarian food has been lovingly offered to Sri Krishna at his shrine), and it's as if they were eating at the table with Krishna himself.

Perhaps ancient Epicureans took isotheos too far when they said that the gods spoke Greek. According to their atomist theology and to the realist interpretation, the gods are animals who evolved in the outer space regions of the intermundia, so how could they have learned Greek?

As a Spanish speaker, this reminds me of Star Wars characters who speak British English in movies that are supposedly set in a galaxy far away. Koch does say towards the end of the book that the Epicurean gods speaking Greek is a bit silly and naïve. To me, this pragmatically means that we should imagine the gods like us: speaking English or Spanish, or whatever languages we speak today, so that they’re familiar models. This reinforces my attachment to the second interpretation of the gods, according to which the gods are not physical beings made of particles, but cultural and mental constructs meant to help us to sculpt ourselves into our ethical ideal. The second interpretation creates the possibility of seeing the gods as interactive, perhaps collectively-curated works of art. Can a deity be a masterpiece?

The author argues for a psychological theory behind isotheos (in page 98), where she says that the cultivation of a pleasant disposition or attitude (diathesis) creates a stable (katastema, eustatheia) habitual state that allows isotheos. I love that she used this term. Eustatheia is a term that the Kathegemones of the modern Gardens of Greece have used recently, and I appealed to it to argue that pleasure is the default state of the organism.

Let us again consider isotheos in light of the anti-Platonic program of the Epicurean Garden. The author says that while Plato wants to escape the human realm to reach the divine after death (by means of ascetic practices, rejection of science, and self-denial), to Epicurus, this is a useless effort: we can live like gods here and now. In page 21-22, Koch notes that (Plato’s) Socrates says that we recognize ourselves in the gods, but Epicurus, on the other hand, rejects this Platonic, external transcendence and teaches the immanence of the gods.

We cannot make ourselves immortals, but the author is among many scholars who question whether the first Epicureans really imagined their gods as immortal, arguing that Epicurus used a word that translates as "incorruptible", not immortal. Epicurean isotheos is natural (not mystifying), achievable and practical.

The Pleasure of Contemplation

Epicurus says that the gods are uniquely perceived with the mind. The pragmatic reality is that there is a mental faculty that either perceives or produces gods (depending on whether you adhere to the first or second interpretation), and he wants us to awaken and employ this faculty correctly.

In order to use the gods in our ethical formation, we must clearly and happily contemplate specific deities via techniques, like visualization, chants, songs, offerings, prayer, etc. While the author here appeals to Aristotle, she quickly distances herself from political "pleasures" and emphasizes the contemplative ones.

There exists, in fact, says Aristotle, a perfection that is proper to each being, insofar as it accomplishes fully its own virtues ... And the exercise of one's own virtues provokes pleasure, an affection attached to the accomplishment of that which is proper to each person ("pleasure perfects the activity that unfolds"). The perfection of man is known as happiness (eudaimonia).

... Contemplative virtue prevails over the other virtues (moral, political) insofar as the intellect prevails over the rest of man (see Kyria Doxa 20): so the exercise of contemplative virtue, which is correct ("propre", in the original French) for the intellect, fully achieves human perfection and leaves nothing else that we may desire, all the more since contemplation is perfectly aligned with autarchy (it is self-sufficient): it does not seek anything other than itself, and finds in itself its nourishment. - Comment peut-on être dieu, p 23

The word translated here as correct, in French, is propre (one's own) as opposed to foreign to our nature ("étranger"). The author recognizes a parallel between this assertion by Aristotle and the Letter to Menoeceus' distinction between oikeion (proper, familiar, of the house or oikos, our own) and allotrion (foreign, external, outside of our nature, unfamiliar) in the gods.

Epicurean Spiritual Practices

The author cites evidence that some Epicureans engaged in common practices of antiquity, like dream incubation and oracular incubation, and she argues that they would have justified this by the use of simulacra (the ancient theory of photons).

In late antiquity, there were many priests of various deities throughout the Mediterranean who not only were Epicureans, but also were mentioned specifically as being Epicurean in the annals of history, which raises questions about the extent to which they incorporated Epicurean theories of piety within the context of an evolving polytheism.

According to Philodemus scroll On Piety, Epicurus insisted that oaths had to be sworn only in the name of the most holy gods and never taken in vain or lightly, and that wise men keep the names of the most holy gods on their lips frequently. The most familiar ecstatic or joyous modern practice of repetition of divine names that I’m aware of is seen in India, where it’s used in sankirtan (singing together) and in Bhakti yoga (the exercise of devotion), a technique which means to purify the heart and encourage happy and healthy emotional states.

We hear of at least one Epicurean priest of Aphrodite, various priests of the imperial cult, and a priest of Baal of Apamea in Syria, a deity which has been identified with El Gebal. We learn about Philidas, an Epicurean priest and prophet of Apollo. We also hear of Lysias of Tarsus, a controversial and eccentric Epicurean priest of Hercules who had a bad reputation because he dressed lavishly, but in terms of charity he was also known for using rich people's money to feed the poor (I wonder if this was the real source of the animosity toward him).

We might ... be astonished by the Epicurean presence in the so-called "Eastern" cults ... Maybe the Epicureans found a more Jupiterian, celestial character ... and a theatrical apparatus appropriate to produce the blissful visions that they sought. Perhaps conversely they were practicing the taming of the most exotic cults, as would be shown by the Lucretian description of the cult of Cybele: they were no doubt most able to erase, level, and Hellenize the local traits that did not bother them ... They formed the engine of Hellenistic and Roman ecumenism. Plutarch reproached them for not accepting the invocations (divine names) that specified the functions and interventions of the gods, of denying the meanings and referents, and of bringing back concrete and particular figures of divinity to the sound material of their generic names, and no doubt to the generic representations thus transported. - Comment peut-on être un dieu, page 59

The above quote demonstrates that Epicureans did more than establish their famous rule that the effigies of deities had to have a smile. By being involved in the various cults, both the Eastern (exotic) ones as well as the cults that the government established, the Epicureans were tangibly influencing the religiosity of people and changing or ethically reforming these cults.

Visual Poems in Epicurean Ethics

Ancient Epicureans believed that visions and dreams about gods had a physical source: the photons (simulacra) that they (like all physical bodies) emitted were able to reach us just as the light of stars reaches us. The author uses the word fantômes.

This theory about visions of deities originating in outer space is hard to justify with modern science. We now know that dreams are the products of the psyche‘s image-making faculty, that they are born within the organism, not outside of it. But the pragmatic reality is that this image-making faculty exists, and this is far more practically relevant than whether fantômes have an outside source. Diogenes Laertius mentions a canonical faculty posited by ancient Epicureans known as epibole tes dianoias, the "focusing of the mind". This faculty is so important and useful, that many Epicureans after Epicurus included it in the canon as an infallible source of information about nature.

For a case study of how Epicurus used guided visualization, we may consider the epistle that is attributed to him in Diogenes' Wall Inscription, which was addressed to his mother Chaerestrate. She remained a believer in visions and portents, and had a dream that made her fear for Epicurus' safety. While comforting her, he insisted:

Envision us as happy and at ease.

and later again

... envision me always in joy.

These visions are meant to be vivid, characterized by enargeia (clarity). In his Epistle to Menoeceus, Epicurus says that the gods are clearly known (which requires epibole, or the faculty of mental focus).

For gods there are: our knowledge of them is clear.

θεοὶ μὲν γὰρ εἰσίν· ἐναργὴς γὰρ αὐτῶν ἐστιν ἡ γνῶσις·

(Theoi men gar eisin. Enarges gar auton estin e gnosis).

He goes on to say that most people's ideas about the gods are not based on this clearly known vision or understanding. One thing we must infer from this passage (if we have good faith) is that Epicurus himself clearly knew, clearly conceived, or had clear mental visions of his gods, and ergo one pragmatic label of Epicurean gods is that they are (among other descriptions) clearly known mental objects. Epicurus says that some ancient people had this immediate, clear, direct proto-noiesis (initial mental conception) of the gods. The author discusses this proto-noiesis as an Epicurean, naturalist theory of divine revelation.

The non-realist interpretation of the gods invites us to put aside the idea that deities’ simulacra rays come to us from the cosmos. These gods are defined in Epicurean cosmology as the happiest, most incorruptible sentient life-form that nature allows. In this interpretation of the gods, we reject or ignore the physicality or the ontology of the gods, and focus instead on employing the faculty of epibole (focusing of the mind) in our self-education as Epicureans by envisioning gods, regardless of whether they are physical. One solution to this that we have discussed within SoFE is the development and practice of visual poems: we may choose, develop, and practice discrete and specific units of visualization with a clear ethical goal (like Philodemus’ visualization treatments for the arrogant man and the angry man), or simply as a means to self-cultivation, ethical education, or pleasure.

To most people in our society, visualization techniques seem esoteric and exotic. If we had grown up in Tibet, where they are a normal cultural and spiritual exercise, we may have had a good chance of developing the power of epibole with these exercises. Rather than draw inspiration from Tibetan visualization techniques, we should develop our own distinctly Epicurean visual poems. If we do carry out visualization and piety experiments incorporating Epicurean deities, we must keep in mind the Epicurean taboos concerning piety towards the gods:

Believe that god is a blissful, immortal being, as is commonly held. Do not ascribe to god anything that is inconsistent with immortality and blissfulness; instead, believe about god everything that can support immortality and blissfulness.

In the past, Alan and I have used the "Isle of the Blessed" portion of Lucian's True History as source material for a visual poem exercise.

But I believe that the most ecstatic divine epiphany for this type of exercise might be the scene from the opening of De rerum natura, where Venus sexually conquers and charms Mars, and in this way tames all the belligerent and wild energies in the psyche and in society which he represents. This is arguably the central spiritual epiphany of DRN. It represents the Epicurean project of using sweetness and pleasure as an incentive for moral development, and to procure the social contract. This project is inspired in the questions posed by some who are religious to atheists and materialists, when they ask where they get their values and morality from “without god”, or some similar question. The Epicureans accept this challenge, and answer by appealing to our natural faculties, including pleasure and aversion, as well as prudence and reason.

Immortal and Holy Friendship

In our exploration of Eikas and ancestor reverence, we saw that Epicurus extended his family's filial piety traditions to his friends, adopting some of them (Polyaenus, Metrodorus) as beloved ancestors worthy of continued remembrance. Koch says:

An abundant historiography, proper to the sect, was elaborated within this need to not lose past pleasures.

If we are godlike to each other, then what are our myths and powers? The author says (page 126) that the ancient Epicureans studied the lives of friends who had passed. There was, in their exchanges, an ongoing process of preserving their shared memory and the wisdom and pastimes of friends who had died. The first to do this was Epicurus (who celebrated Polyaenus and Metrodorus), and later by the time Hermarchus became the second Scholarch, Vatican Saying 36 already attests to this Epicurean praxis of euhemerism in that very first generation:

Epicurus's life when compared to that of other men, with respect to gentleness and self-sufficiency, might be thought a mere myth.

The epistolary tradition helped to cement this practice of remembering, elevating, and celebrating the dignity, the wisdom, and the memory of sumphilosophoi (philosopher-friends, those who practice philosophy together). The author says (in page 130) that, in addition to constant exchanges of books by the founders, the Epicurean friends wrote to each other and compiled each other's writings. We see glimpses of this dynamic between Lucian and his friend Celsus, to whom he dedicated Alexander the Oracle Monger; and also in Diogenes' Wall Inscription, which contains (among other things) epistolary exchanges between Diogenes and his friends.

One of the key ideas of this book is that it is friendship that renders holy the things we do, including Eikas (a memorial service that honors beloved friends who have passed). This seems in line with Vatican Saying 78, which says:

The noble man is chiefly concerned with wisdom and friendship; of these, the former is a mortal good, the latter an immortal one.

Learning and practicing "living like an immortal" can therefore never be disentangled from friendships, and the way we think of our friends, the way we value them and respect them, the dignity we attribute to them, must change accordingly.

Furthermore, we do not believe that gods have "chosen" peoples. Instead, we are choosing individuals and must take ownership of our choices and rejections, and our friends are people whom we have chosen over and over again, and who have chosen us over and over again, enough to form long-term friendships. For this reason, our friends are our chosen, and we are theirs. We have given each other the non-renewable resource that is our time. Philosophy helps us to clearly identify and name these true, tangible values.

Miscellaneous Points

On Piety versus Nihilism: Discussions of piety may seem out of place in a philosophy that is so insistent on the scientific worldview, but I believe Epicurean piety follows a pragmatic and anti-nihilistic logic. Piety involves the recognition that we value something and hold it in high regard. It’s impossible to practice nihilism. Humans need values. Even those who say they have no values will find the most primal values when their growling bellies remind them that they’re hungry. So the choice of practicing piety is, among other things, about diligently and responsibly choosing our own values, a choice for which a morally mature individual takes full ownership.

On Epilogismos: The author (page 146) says:

Epilogismos aims to reconcile thought and pleasure.

Epilogismos is customarily translated as empirical thinking or pragmatic thinking among Epicureans. I suppose I've always associated this with the evidence of the senses, but since pleasure is part of the canon and is a standard of truth to us, it makes sense that pleasure also must be a factor in the praxis of epilogismos.

The Korakoi: The author cites the case study (p 162) of the Korakoi, a cult of the two friends (Orestes and Pylades) who were seen as "agathodaimones" (good spirits) of friendship, and she compares this cult to the cult of Epicurus and Metrodorus at Eikas.

Funerary Practices: In addition to the better known funerary inscription "Non fvi, Fvi, Non sum, Non cvro" (I was not, I was, I am not, I care not), the author cites another funerary inscription from Roman times that I was previously unaware of: “Ex epicureio gaudiuigente choro” (of Epicurus’ joyous choir).

While scanning through funeral stelae, the author argues (in page 63) that even non-Epicureans had begun to adopt a wisdom that was "tainted with Epicureanism" and that many non-Epicurean tombs had begun to show inscriptions that were influenced by Epicurean ideas in the late polytheistic era, "to the point that it seemed natural". This means that Epicurean ideas had successfully became more-or-less normalized (but do not feel natural to the author?).

Conclusion

Epicurus mentions the importance of having correct views on piety that are not fear-based or superstitious as being first among the elements of the correct way of life. I will never be able to do full justice to this book. It has vast amounts of historical references and, thanks to its unique focus, beautifully and coherently connects many threads. Comment peut on être dieu has helped to give me a more complete view and understanding of Epicurean practice.