Reddit Occultist Asks: Is the Abrahamic God a Thought-Form, and Were the Old Gods Right All Along?

THE INTERNET — A question of some cosmic weight was put to the members of the r/occult forum this week, when a Reddit user posting to the community asked readers what they made of a particular theory concerning the divine.

According to the post, the theory holds that the God of the Abrahamic religions, named in the text as Yahweh and Allah, is an egregore. This is a term from occult circles for a being said to be formed from the collective energy and thoughts of human beings. The post states that this entity seeks to dominate humanity and to feed on the energy of its followers.

The ancient polytheistic and pagan gods, by contrast, are described by the theory as the true gods of humanity. The author writes that these older deities wish to help the human race rather than command it.

The post is brief, and offers no sources, practitioners or evidence in support of the theory. It presents the idea as a proposition for discussion and does not say where it originated. The author does not claim to have witnessed any of this personally.

Readers will note that the proposal touches on matters of living faith for a great many people, and that believers in the traditions named would be unlikely to recognise the description. At the time of going to press, this correspondent could not confirm that the question had been settled to anyone's satisfaction, by gods of either vintage.