Page 47 - Eclipse of God

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RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

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The difficulty of making a radical distinction between the
spheres of philosophy and religion, and, at the same time, the
correct way of overcoming this difficulty, appear most clearly
to us when we contrast two figures who are representative of
the two spheres— Epicurus and Buddha.
Not only does Epicurus teach that there are gods, that is to
say, immortal and perfect beings who live in the spaces between
the worlds and yet are without power over the world or inter-
est in it, but he also holds that one should worship these gods
through pious representations of them and through the tradi-
tional rites, especially devout and fitting sacrifices. He says that
he himself worships and sacrifices, but then cites the words of a
character from a comedy: “I have sacrificed to gods who take no
notice of me.” Here is a kind of dogma and also a cultic practice,
and yet clearly a philosophical rather than a religious attitude.
Buddha treats the gods of popular belief, so far as he deigns
to mention them at all, with calm and considered goodwill, not
unmixed with irony. These gods are, to be sure, powerful, and,
unlike the gods of Epicurus, concerned with the human world.

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