Zongman: The comprehension is against the sky, shocking the star gods

At this moment, Su Mo looked at the puppet girl in front of him and asked quietly.

"Why are star gods and planetary native gods definitely not the same species?"

"what?"

Hearing this, Heita and Ruan Mei were both shocked.

The black tower stayed still for more than ten seconds, then looked at Su Mo with suspicion and confirmed.

"Are you really not kidding?"

Do we still need to ask such common sense questions?

"The gap between the Star God and the native gods of the planet is even greater than the gap between humans and insects. Whether it's the structure of existence, the form of existence, the source of power, or the scale of power, there is a huge gap between heaven and earth. How could they be the same species?"

Black Tower asked this question as a matter of course.

Star gods are by no means larger versions of the native gods of the planets. This has been verified countless times in the early days of civilization and there is no room for doubt.

In response to this statement, Su Mo simply asked back lightly.

"The gap between heaven and earth? Essentially different? No structural similarity at all? Isn't this a typical feature of transmutation?"

"—!"

Hearing the word "transmutation", Heita's eyes suddenly widened and he stood up.

Recalling what they had talked about before, she finally understood what Su Mo wanted to express.

144 Cosmology, Philosophical Concepts, and the Convinced Black Tower

　　Su Mo's previous conclusion was that the Star God was not born out of thin air, but was transformed from some kind of existence.

Later, he emphasized that the birth of star gods was related to the development of interstellar civilization, which was obviously a characteristic of the indigenous gods of the planet.

If the two points were combined, what he wanted to say would become clear.

"You don't mean to say that the existence of the level of Star God is the result of the planet's native gods being upgraded to a higher dimension, right?"

Heita supported himself on the table with both hands, his head very close to Su Mo, his lavender eyes staring at him intently.

This is a very bold and crazy conjecture with many fatal loopholes.

It’s not like someone hasn’t proposed a similar idea before. After all, star gods are gods, and the native gods of the planets are also gods. To ordinary people who are powerless, there is no difference between the two, and they are both a kind of god.

However, in the early days of the birth of Star God, many researchers had already disproven this conjecture.

As more and more star gods appeared in later generations and more and more research was done on them, this conjecture was gradually abandoned. Even now, even children would not think that the two are the same.

Given the abilities Su Mo had demonstrated before, Heita found it hard to believe that he would support such a flawed view.

however--

“To a large extent, that’s how I see it.”

Su Mo's answer directly confirmed this point.

Hearing this, Heita stared at Su Mo without saying a word. Only after she was sure that he was not joking did she sit back in her seat and ask seriously.

"Why do you think so? How can a star god that can shake the universe and a native god who relies on faith to survive be the same kind of existence?"

"Even if it is a transformation, a certain basic framework structure will remain unchanged. Gods that need faith to survive and gods that do not need faith at all, even their basic forms of existence are different, right?"

She did not rashly deny Su Mo's opinion, but made careful inquiries.

The reason she did this was, firstly, because she had already recognized Su Mo and did not think that Su Mo would say nonsense.

The second reason is that similar things have happened before in the history of the Genius Club.

The second member of the Genius Club once confirmed the existence of phlogiston, but not long after, the third member disproved the existence of phlogiston. When phlogiston was regarded as a pseudo-scientific joke by the entire universe and was sneered at by everyone, the seventh member proved the existence of phlogiston again.

With this precedent, no matter how absurd Su Mo's conjecture is, as long as he is recognized by the Black Tower, the Black Tower will take it seriously.

Because she understood one thing deeply.

That is, the more absurd and incredible the conjecture is, the greater the storm it will cause once it is proven to be successful.

If she missed the chance to understand the origin of the Star God due to her arrogance in the face of the truth, she would definitely regret it for the rest of her life.

Black Tower's questioning was very serious, and the reasons he gave were the most convincing reasons that could best distinguish between star gods and the native gods of the planet.

One regards faith as his life and will disappear without faith, while the other does not need faith at all and even has a tendency to destroy the world. How can they be the same thing?

Faced with this reasonable question, Su Mo shook his head and asked back.

“Do you understand faith?”

"what?"

Heita was stunned for a moment, then immediately replied.

"As for the belief in the Star God, my opinion is that it is useless. The Star God cares less about belief than about ants."

"If it is the belief of the indigenous gods, I have done some research on the existing materials, but I dare not say it is particularly in-depth. I only know that for the indigenous gods, belief is the basis of their existence. Without people's belief, they will disappear."

In today's interstellar society, although the planet's indigenous gods cannot be said to be on the verge of extinction, they have long ceased to develop and have become museum-level existences.

Relying solely on the remaining information, Heita has a certain understanding of this, but the information obtained without field research and investigation is often seriously distorted, so she dare not say that she fully understands it.

Hearing Heita's speech, Su Mo immediately shook his head.

"First of all, I want to correct you. If no one believes in them, they will disappear. This is only the case with animistic gods in the earliest stages of mythology."

For example, the tribal gods of early religions, or the hodgepodge of eight million gods in Fusang mythology, only these weird and hairy gods would be so fragile and so dependent on faith.

If they were in the regular pantheon, these mountain spirits and wild monsters would only be considered as demons outside the organization.

"Oh? I know a little about animism. It is indeed the early stage of religion. Do you mean that the indigenous gods of planets in later stages do not need to rely so much on faith?"

When Heita heard Su Mo pointing out his mistake, his eyes lit up and he asked curiously.

“It’s not that we don’t rely on faith at all, but the way we rely on faith is different from what you imagine.”

Su Mo shook his head and then spoke.

"Do you know how many ways gods gain faith?"

"do not know."

Heita immediately shook his head rapidly.

It is not shameful not to know, but it is shameful not to admit it. And in the realm of gods, it is normal for Su Mo to know more than her.

After all, Esther had already told her his identity.

"Then let me briefly introduce it. The most primitive gods can only gain faith through the worship and fear of others. Once they lose their believers and are forgotten by everyone, they will naturally disappear. This kind of god is generally called a tribal god or an indigenous god."

Su Mo spoke freely in his own professional field.

In ancient times, there were countless gods who lost their faith and disappeared completely because their tribes were defeated in wars and annexed.

What the Black Tower mentioned, and what most people in this world know, are only the gods at this stage.

"After that, as time went on, the various civilized tribes communicated with each other, and different gods constructed complex myths. Later, colorful myths replaced the single belief in gods and became the mainstream."

"During this period, gods were able to gain faith through the spread of myths by humans. Even if they lost their followers, were no longer worshipped by anyone, or were even forgotten by the vast majority of people, as long as they were still part of the myth and as long as the myth was still being sung, they would not completely disappear."

"I call this kind of god a mythical god."

With the help of mythology, even the weakest gods will not worry about disappearing, and powerful gods can also increase their power through faith.

For gods, joining mythology is arguably the best decision, there is no other.

"Interesting. By sharing the burden equally, can we reduce the difficulty of obtaining faith and increase the source of faith?"

Heita immediately realized the beauty of mythology. Richer stories can attract more believers and reduce the dependence of gods on believers.

"But even so, we can't completely get rid of our dependence on faith, right?"

She pointed this out astutely.

"If even mythology is forgotten, won't the entire pantheon disappear with it?"

Weaving myths can only reduce risks, not completely overcome them.

Mythological gods still need to rely on faith and are not the same as star gods.

"What you said makes sense. In fact, many mythical gods did disappear due to the loss of mythology."

Su Mo nodded, confirming Heita's idea.

Myths will be defeated by bigger myths. If they are incorporated, it is still okay, the gods can still exist in a new form. But if it is a war at the level of genocide, or if there is some natural disaster or man-made disaster, it is not impossible for the inheritance of myths to be broken.

"In order to compete for faith and avoid being forgotten, various pantheons and their believers will naturally have various conflicts."

"In the War of the Gods, people soon discovered that the victorious gods all had something in common that transcended time and space. By studying this commonality, a new way to gain faith emerged."

Having said that, Su Mo paused, and then continued his introduction.

“This commonality is the true core of mature mythology—the cosmological view.”

"A cosmological view?"

Hearing this term, Heita tilted his head.

"You mean, a unified view of the universe?"

"Yes."

Su Mo nodded.

“Mythology can be used to replace individual gods in gaining faith, and cosmology can be used to replace mythology in gaining faith.”

“Therefore, even if people have completely forgotten the myths, as long as they still remember and agree with the core cosmology of the myths, the gods will not disappear.”

"I call gods of this level civilized gods."

In fact, there are more wonderful uses of the cosmic view, but here, the main discussion is still on the relationship between faith and gods, so Su Mo did not extend it too much.

Hearing Su Mo say this, Heita immediately asked.

"If humans forget the corresponding view of the universe, won't they also disappear?"

"Do not."

Su Mo shook his head firmly.

"As long as civilization continues, they will never forget these things."

Otherwise, he would not be given the title of the God of Civilization.

"Why do you say that?"

Heita asked with a little confusion.

"No matter how sophisticated a cosmological view is, isn't it easy to be forgotten after a long time?"

"On the contrary, the cosmology at the core of mythology is often not sophisticated, and can even be described as crude and simple."

Su Mo shook his head and introduced concisely.

"For example, the Zoroastrianism's dualism of good and evil. As long as you adhere to the basic dichotomy and recognize that good will triumph over evil, you are considered to have inherited this worldview."

"For example, the Buddhist view that all dharmas are without self, as long as we continue to explore our inner selves and realize that all phenomena are non-phenomenal and all actions are impermanent, we can be considered to have inherited this cosmological view."

"For example, the Tao of Taoism, the original sin and the theory of form of Christianity, the great cultural integration of Roman mythology... In fact, to understand these cosmologies, you don't even need to know the mythology. As long as you live in the corresponding cultural background, even if you are an atheist, you will inevitably be completely immersed in the cosmology."

It is a very simple phenomenon. When a person asks someone else about something and says "Do you know?", he may not be aware of it himself, but the word "Tao" in the word "know" he uses contains fragments of the worldview.

In this case, the cosmology has become the foundation of culture, a thinking tool to help humans understand the world, and, together with human history, has been deeply engraved in the annals of the planet and has become the cornerstone of civilization.

Even if you destroy your own writings, betray your own civilization, and erase your past, you cannot erase the way you understand the world in your mind.

To this extent, with the help of the worldview, the civilized gods can almost be said to exist alongside human intellect and civilization.

"Under this cognition, no matter whether an individual likes myths or hates them, whether he is a theist or an atheist, even if he is completely unaware of the existence of gods, gods can still draw faith from his cognitive framework."

As he spoke, Su Mo looked into the black tower's eyes and asked a question.

"Do you think this kind of civilized god still relies on so-called faith? Does he still care about so-called believers?"

"……Won't."