Cloudy skies, still no snow, and a high of 43 degrees.
There’s an old Roman maxim that fear gave birth to the gods. The historian Will Durant elaborates: “It was fear that made the gods—fear of hidden forces in the earth, rivers, oceans, trees, winds, and sky. Religion became the propitiatory worship of these forces through offerings, sacrifice, incantation, and prayer.”
How else could our ancestors explain thunder? But our fear of nature might be more frightening today because we know what’s causing all this drought, fire, flood, and plague—it is us. Meanwhile, the old gods have grown feeble. Our sites of worship were not equipped for today’s heat and speed. The church and the temple, the faith in free markets and human reason: it all feels a bit creaky. What new gods will today’s fears create?
