The fallacy of monotheism is that a spiritual absolute would be the essence of sentience, from which we rise, not an ideal of wisdom and judgement, from which we fell. Conflating the absolute with the ideal is useful in a primitive sense, as it places a community’s values above question, especially respect for authority, but it really doesn’t stand up to logic. It also instills a cultural narcissism, when we assume our social systems are universal, rather than unique expressions of our time and place.

Good and bad are not some cosmic dual between the forces of righteousness and evil, but the basic biological binary of beneficial and detrimental. So there can never be a set moral system, as it will always be that tension between desire and judgement. The heart and the head. Youth and age. Liberal and conservative.

It really is more the yin and yang, than God Almighty.

Religion always was a political tool, to try and control that raw essence bubbling up, like the head tries to control the heart. Like civics and culture tries to control the people.

What drives us is not so much the objects of our desire, the ideals, as it is the fact of our desire, the fire within, seeking pleasure/power/knowledge… To consume. The appetite gives the meal meaning.

Consciousness drives thought, not the other way around.

Though we need to judge, in order to function. Potential is nearly infinite, while actual is a small fraction and residual much smaller. So decision, which desires are beneficial and which are not, is necessary.