But it was not enough, and the religion of primitive man was mostly anthropomorphic. The Jews alone were radically different; for many centuries they believed in the one true God, a righteous god. Then gradually a few men in other races too began to believe in the one true God, behind the polytheism of the common people. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, the noblest of the Roman Emperors, makes this abundantly clear. Nor did Jesus introduce the idea of the sacramental union between God and man; it was in the religions of Isis and Mithras. What Jesus did by his example was to teach man that he could enter into the creativeness of God, provided he was willing to use this power only to do good. In an obscure way, he freed man from himself; from being obsessed with himself, whether it was with his own brilliance or with his own wretchedness. Evil is both much worse and more insidious than is commonly experienced; and at the same time less prevalent. There are many good people; and it is a mistake to call them miserable sinners. Not everyone is as bad this week, as they were last!
Erasmus translates the beginning of John’s Gospel as, “In the beginning was the conversation”, suggesting in his imagination that creation was brought into being by the interplay of two minds. Jesus enlarged this conversation to include the mind of man; the man in whom God’s spirit dwells can converse with the Almighty. He has the assurance to do so, just as the psalmist had a complete assurance when addressing his God.
When the communion is between God and man, there is the possibility of creating a new heaven and a new earth; when the communion is between men, there is the possibility of untold adventures, both good and bad. For solitary man there is only the prospect of reaching a dead end eventually.