My reductive Three Peoples theory proposes three kinds of people in the modern era. There are People of the Subordinate Self that experience themselves as helpless victims that need to adhere to a powerful lord. There are People of the Responsible Self that experience themselves as responsible workers and householders called to make the best of life according by using their talent in the market economy. Then there are People of the Creative Self that believe they are called to make the world anew.
But what of their religions?
I argue that the People of the Subordinate Self experience God as a powerful and unpredictable lord to whom they must sacrifice and subordinate in order to enjoy his patronage and avoid his wrath.
I argue that the People of the Responsible Self experience God as the creator of the world and the maker of divine law that humans are called to observe. It is up to humans to responsibly use the created world that God has provided and to follow his divine law that tells them how to wive and thrive.
I argue that the People of the Creative Self experience themselves as God, for they are called to create the world anew. There are two strategies for this. One is the way of the Egoist Hero that creates a new world in his own image. The other is the way of the Sacrificial Hero that creates a new world through an internal journey into his unconscious and that sacrifices his life on the border of Order and Chaos.
See also "Three Layers" and "Three Peoples."
Next step: Three Peoples Religions Table of Contents.