Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him.
Interpretation
Humans are influenced by their time and environment, which shape their beliefs and ideas about the divine.
This quote by Stanislaw Lem suggests that what we perceive as human creations, particularly regarding deities or higher powers, are actually heavily influenced by the societal and temporal contexts in which people live. Rather than individuals simply inventing gods, these figures are integrated into their culture and shaped by the historical and social circumstances surrounding them, reflecting the deeper truths and values of their era.
In practice
In a lecture on the influence of culture on religion, someone might cite this quote.
The only writers who have any peace are the ones who don't write. And there are some like that. They wallow in a sea of possibilities. To express a thought, you first have to limit it, and that means kill it. Every word I speak robs me of a thousand others, and every line I write means giving up another.
We didn't know each other well. I never had the time. Now I see that it doesn't make any difference. The ones who hurry and the ones who take their time all end up in the same place. Just don't have any regrets. No regrets.
Cripple God, who always desires more than he's able to have, and doesn't always realize this to begin with. Who has built clocks, but not the time that they measure. Has built systems or mechanisms that serve particular purposes, but they too have outgrown these purposes and betrayed them. And has created an infinity that, from being the measure of the power he was supposed to have, turned into the measure of his boundless failure.
We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors. We don't know what to do with other worlds. A single world, our own, suffices us; but we can't accept it for what it is.
No one reads; if someone does read, he doesn't understand; if he understands, he immediately forgets.
A writer should not run around with a mirror for his countrymen; he should tell his society and his times things no one ever thought before.
People talk about places like Mumbai as a tale of two cities, as if the rich and poor don't have anything to do with each other.
The proper role of government is exactly what John Stuart Mill said in the middle of the 19th century in "On Liberty." The proper role of government is to prevent other people from harming an individual. Government, he said, never has any right to interfere with an individual for that individual's own good.
The civility of no race can be perfect whilst another race is degraded. It is a doctrine alike of the oldest and of the newest philosophy, that man is one, and that you cannot injure any member, without a sympathetic injury to all the members
Who shall set a limit to the influence of a human being?
Well-spent aid money is saving lives for a few thousand dollars per life saved.
The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.
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