It is not as in the Bible, that God created man in his own image. But, on the contrary, man created God in his own image.
[T]ruth is considered profane, and only illusion is sacred
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that society often values falsehoods over the harsh realities of truth.
Ludwig Feuerbach's quote highlights a philosophical critique of society's tendency to embrace comforting illusions while dismissing the often uncomfortable and raw nature of truth. It posits that many people find solace in illusions because they provide a sense of security and belonging, even when they are not aligned with reality. In this light, truth is portrayed as something dangerous or taboo, suggesting that confronting it can lead to discomfort, while illusions are revered and preserved, often at the expense of genuine understanding.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophical lecture on the nature of reality and perception.
More from Ludwig Feuerbach
All quotes βThe first and highest law must be the love of man to man. Homo homini Deus est - this is the supreme practical maxim, this is the turning point of the world's History.
To theology, ... only what it holds sacred is true, whereas to philosophy, only what holds true is sacred.
In the consciousness of the infinite, the conscious subject has for his object the infinity of his own nature.
This work, though it deals only with eating and drinking, which are regarded in the eyes of our supernaturalistic mock-culture as the lowest acts, is of the greatest philosophic significance and importance... How former philosophers have broken their heads over the question of the bond between body and soul! Now we know, on scientific grounds, what the masses know from long experience, that eating and drinking hold together body and soul, that the searched-for bond is nutrition.
The doctrine of foods is of great ethical and political significance. Food becomes blood, blood becomes heart and brain, thoughts and mind stuff. Human fare is the foundation of human culture and thought. Would you improve a nation? Give it, instead of declamations against sin, better food. Man is what he eats [Der Mensch ist, was er isst].
Similar quotes
I had a mind inquiring enough to question world events, as well as the passion fostered by my background to care, but I lacked the emotional maturity to process these things. That made me ripe for Islamist recruitment. Into this ferment came my recruiter, himself straight out of a London medical college.
Human nature is such that people are born with a love of profit If they follow these inclinations, they will struggle and snatch from each other, and inclinations to defer or yield will die.
In an ugly and unhappy world the richest man can purchase nothing but ugliness and unhappiness.
There is an innocence in admiration; it is found in those to whom it has never yet occurred that they, too, might be admired some day.
Idealism, alas, does not protect one from ignorance, dogmatism, and foolishness.
Philosophy begins where religion ends, just as by analogy chemistry begins where alchemy runs out, and astronomy takes the place of astrology.