The God-Shaped Hole

It is said that humans have a god-shaped hole in our consciousness. This metaphorical hole, as it goes, can only be filled by a relationship with god. Humans around the planet, more or less, can generally agree on the overall truth of this statement. But have we missed something here? Did we maybe oversimplify? What truth is lost in the simplification?

Let’s consider, shall we? We say we come from apes. Religion says we come from gods, and points to this hole as a kind of proof. If it fits, you must aquit, or something like that. Regardless, at some point, gods stood next to a sleeping ape, and through whatever mystical process we choose to imagine, modified the ape’s DNA with pieces of their own (Genesis 1:26). This act, whether benevolent or otherwise, closed out the Younger Dryas Period and gave rise to the Neolithic Period, roughly 12,000 years ago. Millions of years of evolution. Think of all that has happened in the last 12,000 years. All of the technology- invention and innovation- in between is compressed into a tiny sliver at the end of time, as of now. 

To this day, our DNA still carries markers from the ape. From earlier versions of ourselves. Our DNA also carries other markers. Things not seen in other beings on this planet. Things unique to the human animal. These are the god markers. Things we can do that other apes can’t. The pieces of the puzzle that were added. That were and are, inherently, non-ape.

So let’s get back to the god-shaped hole. How do we know that the yearning is for god? To understand that, we must understand the part of ourselves that yearns. Is it the ape yearning to understand the meaning it was given? Or is what we call “yearning” simply the god’s innate ambition urging us to their purpose? 

While we’re at it, if we are given a measure of god-hood, why does the non-god portion yearn for it? Does it not know it is there? Are we to spend half our lives training quiet into the ape so we can hear the whisper of the gods?

I don’t think it’s a hole, this god-shaped thing. And I don’t think it is god-shaped, as a matter of fact. I don’t think it is a shape at all. It’s a sound, more likely. I think it is an awareness of our own vibration. This is not a hole. It is a conscience-call, that pulls at us when we stray from our purpose that is embedded in our DNA. 

The gods that created us passed on a trait- whether they did so intentionally or whether it was a by-product of “whatever mystical process we choose to imagine” is irrelevant at this point- clearly (from what we can infer based on what we can read) prevalent in their society. This trait has to do with their sense of community, calling, and purpose. It is, I believe, the innate frequency of their species (at least what we “know” of them). We are made in their image. We ring to the same tune as they. At least part of us does. 

The ape sings, too. In the moment. It’s song is instinctual, primal, driven by evolution’s urges to drink, eat, fight, fuck. The ape’s traits have their own resonant vibration. It’s the tune we live to day in and out. We call this behavior in apes “surviving”. We refer to the same set of concerns and behaviors in humans as “living”. They aren’t the same. Our lives are consumed by gathering the needed resources to continue our civilized brand of “living”. We spend so much time supporting our physical survival, we have damn little left for what remains. 

Humans, this go-round, have forgotten that the physical realm is a temporary experience. We are spiritual beings. At least in part. Embedded in our maker’s DNA, then woven into our own fabric, is a generational awareness and acceptance of a higher, spiritual plane and our place in it. 

With a dual nature, we humans get to choose. Do we sing the tune of the gods? Or do we resonate with the needs and wants of the ape? The ape’s vibration is loud. We feel it in our bones. Our stomachs. Our genitals. Our brain screams at us to align with the urges of the ape. Civilization doesn’t help. Advertising, slogans, road signs, billboards, flashing lights, neon signs, ads on phones and TV’s, yada, yada, yada. Ape, Ape, Ape. The vibration of the gods isn’t like that. It’s underneath….a quiet bed track that we hear in moments of quiet. We must quiet the ape to feel it.

We don’t have a hole in us. Literally or figuratively. We are simply made in the image of something, but we aren’t quite that “something”. And we aren’t quite ape. We are both. 

We get to choose.