A Free Man's Worship

When Heidegger spoke of "the divinities" or "the gods," he does not appear to have had in mind any of the deities presently worshiped in any existing religion. In his view, those deities are all reified; they are "idols" unworthy of what Bertrand Russell called a "free man's worship."

For Heidegger, the religious imagination of the Occident was exhausted. Dasein would have to repair to the Clearing to await the return of gods. What such a reunion would be like, if it were even to occur, he did not say. He appears to have anticipated that such a meeting would be unlike anything that anyone could or would expect.

We are too late for the gods and too early for being. At present, we make do with religions.