Reconnecting to Spirit
Cole Butler, LPCC, ADDC, MACP
Mental Health & Addiction Counselor Candidate | Community Builder
The Death of God in Society
In the late 19th century, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote the infamous words:
God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it? (Nietzsche, 1974, p. 181)
This pronouncement is oft hailed as triumph, but the full quote reveals a broader story. Nietzsche predicted the death of God in society as a tragedy.
The Impact of the Death of God
So, what does it mean that "God is dead"? The image of God as the holiest of holy, that combining force, is no longer held at the center of society.
We could wax poetic on the abuses of the church, which are well documented, and the ways in which humans and politics broke down the divine institutions that are the church. That is not what I am hear to do, though. Rather, I want to focus on what we do about the fact that "God is dead... And we have killed him."
Nihilism
The rise of beliefs like Nihilism has gained traction since the fall of the image of God in society.
According to Google, Nihilism is:
the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless .
This article from huckmag.com shows us the rising rates of interest in this belief system and how it manifests in society:
While suffocating under the daily drudgery of capitalism, visions of a brighter future can feel like a utopian fantasy. Nihilism becomes a way to cope with reality. It makes sense, then, that the subreddit r/nihilism grew from 31,000 members pre-pandemic in January 2019 to 115,000 in April 2022. Different interpretations of nihilism are discussed on the sub but for many, the sentiment is bleak. If nothing you do matters, why bother doing anything? Why get out of bed in the morning, bother with school work, work, or have goals at all??
Nihilism and atheism share close ties, all relying on a fundamental presupposition that there is no greater meaning or spiritual reality.
Existentialism as a Response to Nihilism
Nietzsche response to this belief system was to adopt an "übermensch" (english: overman or superman) persona. Nietzsche's philosophical stance is commonly called Existentialism.
Essentially, the idea is that we each create our own meaning. In Nietzsche's view, we must each become our own god, achieving our highest version of self.
Self-actualization and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Later, the idea of self-actualization was brought forth by Abraham Maslow. In brief, the claim is thus:
“What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization” (Maslow, 1943)
Self-actualization refers to the process of becoming one's true self by meeting one's basic needs, and one's higher-order psychological and self-fulfillment needs. See the below image from positivepsychology.com for Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
Religion as a Framework for Spirituality
Religions offer a structure that one can prescribe to without much need for cognitive exploration and spiritual searching.
The clearly defined structure of any religious belief system provides a manual for spirituality, along with a clear hierarchy and solutions for solving problems. Bad behaviors are labeled as "sins" and we have a solution for the fact that we have sinned by repenting.
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Further, we are given clear solutions to scary things like what happens when we die. In Christianity we are sent to heaven if we act according to its dictates. There is a clear action associated with gaining entry to heaven: getting baptized and following the 10 commandments.
Just to be clear, I am not knocking Christianity or any other organized religion. I am just highlighting how they provide clear spiritual frameworks to help illustrate the point of creating one's own framework.
Creating One's Own Spiritual Framework
It is a much more difficult task to create one's own spiritual framework. Rather than reading a book, we have to write our own, if you will.
My worry is that we have thrown the baby (God) out with the bath water.
I think it is very important to have a connection to something greater than oneself, to live a life full of meaning, and to have a system for addressing good and evil. Pragmatically, I think this leads to better outcomes and a more fulfilled life.
The challenge is that for each individual scenario that is provided, e.g., what to do about the fact that I have sinned, the individual that is not provided with a clear framework or answer.
Instead, the individual must develop their own framework. And who is to assess the validity and truth of said framework. Left to our own devices, how do we achieve such a monumentous task?
Psychedelics as Spiritual Catalysts
I do not know how to address the lack of God in society. I do, however, know that psychedelics can be powerful agents for spiritual experience.
Psychedelics can spark a religious or mystical experience in the person who consumes them. This can, at a minimum, establish a connection to something greater than oneself.
According to the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics :
Mystical experiences, according to the philosopher Walter T. Stace , are characterized by the experience of profound unity, expressed by the idea that “All is One”; the sense of that “One” as consciousness or a living presence; a sense that what is experienced is real; a deeply felt positive mood; the feeling of accessing the sacred or divine; paradoxicality; and a sense that the experience is difficult to put into words.
Psychedelics are known drivers of mystical experience (Ko et al., 2022). Indeed, these experiences, according to the above quote, are deeply spiritual.
My Hope for the Future
I hope that psychedelics can help us each establish our own connection to something greater than ourselves. By giving us a mystical experience, and an understanding that there is a greater spiritual reality, and that our lives have inherent meaning, we can start to reform the connection to the sacred.
I think that this reconnection will start to have us all question how we can live deeper, more spiritually fulfilled lives. We will find ways to connect to God through our individual experiences, and our shared experiences with others.
We will look to tools like being in nature, gardening, prayer, meditation, community, and more to help us feel more connected. We will seek to find the good in ourselves and those around us.
With threats of another global world war, and a tense political climate, I am desperately hoping that we will all join together to find ways to reconnect to our sacred spirituality. I want us to feel the deep divine love that holds us together.
About the Author
Cole Butler, LPCC, ADDC, MACP is the Founder of Cole Butler Therapy and Integrative Care Collective (ICC). He writes about issues related to spirituality, health, psychedelic experiences, science, philosophy, and consciousness. In his therapy practice, he offers one-on-one counseling, psychedelic integration therapy, and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. Additionally, as a community leader at ICC, he helps to build relationships and offer support to other mental health providers. Learn more by checking out his therapy website or the ICC website .
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