Scripture, Myth and the Costumes of Ego
Aug 27, 2026 Commentary: By Salim Muwakkil, host of the "Salim Muwakkil Show" on WVON 1690 AM, journalist, and community activist.
On my radio show recently, someone asked me if I believed in theological prophecies and other scriptural narratives. They were questioning my oft stated skepticism of sectarian dogma and wanted to make a point valorizing their particular Abrahamic creed. I answered that I regarded ALL scriptural narratives as allegorical tales that employ metaphor and allusion to convey lessons that may be too inscrutable for rational reasoning.
This, in fact, is the same function filled by what we now call mythology -- you know, those epic tales of Zeus and Apollo, or Heru and Taharka, et. al. These too were fantastical narratives, designed to impart wisdom through a kind of cultural osmosis. So, in that context, I characterized scripture as myth.
Many callers were outraged. One would have thought I had committed the utmost sacrilege by describing scripture as mythical. But actually, I was seeking semantic precision and it’s really no 'dis' to describe scripture as a species of mythology.
However, I do understand why some believers are offended by that label. In my impetuous youth, I denounced religious scripture as a bunch of deceptive mythical stories with all the derision I could muster. I uniformly decried them as false, make-believe fantasies designed to disempower naive believers. Growing up amidst the vibrant religiosity of the Black community, it seemed to me that we had to suspend critical thought in order to accept some of the irrational, scriptural narratives we were handed.
And … to make matters worse, we had to accept these ridiculous scenarios, no questions asked. As I aged and read more extensively, it became more difficult for me to understand how grown men and women could actually believe in doctrines that were justified by such illogical and supernatural tales. Christian scripture was my particular target, but I had concluded that the holy writ of most major religions spun narratives that were flagrantly illogical.
Later, I grew to understand that much of scripture is purposely abstruse and allegorical, and that many of the fantastical tales rendered are metaphors for deeper dynamics. And, soon I realized that the mature humans I once assumed were bamboozled by scriptural cartoonery, may instead have been comforted by its allegorical subtlety. I learned to grant them the benefit of my doubt.
Still ... the inscrutable allegories of sectarian worship seemed intentionally distracting and beside-the-point: Moses walking on water, dispensing stone tablets, Jonah and a man-swallowing fish; Noah and a loveboat full of infinite animals … ya'll know what I mean.
Why must spiritual insights be packaged in such cartoonish packages, I wondered? I didn’t question the power of the insights, just the cultural packaging that contained them. While searching for the spiritual gems, absent the often-absurd cultural choreography, my attention was drawn to the contemplative practices of esoteric, non-dual traditions ... (i.e., Vedanta, Zen Buddhism, Daoism, Kashmir Shaivism, etc.) practices generally depicted as “Eastern,” and it’s never left.
Most contemplative traditions adhere to the so-called ‘perennial philosophy’ (to which I, more or less, subscribe) the non-dual notion that there is One Self which is the ultimate identity of us all, and that Self is Consciousness (or Awareness).
-- The Abrahamic conception of this Self is expressed through the understanding that I AM – pristine, naked Awareness – is the literal name of the Deity (the ‘tetragrammaton’). And G-d, also Allah, is the customary (or exoteric) symbolization of this essential non-dual Self, this ultimate Un-i-city.
---The esoteric expressions of the Abrahamic creeds (Kabbalah/Judaism, Gnosticism/Christianity, Sufism/Islam) are also non-dual in essence.
-- The 'perennial philosophy' holds that this revelation of our ultimate identity --as Awareness-- is life’s purpose and that the peace emanating from this gnosis is the meaning of nirvana, or enlightenment … or heaven.
The self we think we are is a cultural costume --the EGO-- socially-imposed on our true identity. It’s an avatar motivated by culturally-conditioned wants and aversions. But it’s a costume that fits so well in the masquerade parties convened by our respective cultures, we’ve become convinced it’s really us.
The wise ones in humanity’s past understood that true social peace depended on the ability to occasionally remove the costume and diminish EGO’s dominion. They devised various ruses to remove it because it had to be tricked (EGO is absolutely dedicated to self-preservation). Respective cultures tailored the ruse to fit the tastes of their people and that ruse is what became known, mostly, as religion.
In some cases the trick worked, but mostly, it didn’t. In fact, EGO and its unruly children (tribalism, chauvinism, racism, nationalism, sectarianism, jingoism, etc.) actually flipped the script and tricked religion into wearing its sectarian costumes. And now … the denominational ‘religions’ that we embrace seek to elaborate their costumes, increasingly with prayers for abundance, weapons and the salvation of materialism.
Meanwhile, us costumed avatars attend to the attractions and aversions that protect our deeply felt but artificial identities. We feel existential dread when our disguise is threatened (or even challenged) and that often provokes dramatic reactions –like war, murder, genocide, etc. -- designed to protect and reinforce it. Unfortunately, this planet has become a playground of costumed warriors reinforcing their EGOic prerogatives.
Awareness, our true identity, abides in peace, witnessing costumed imposters produce chain reactions of civic cataclysms. We can feel that chain now … and though we desire relief, our costumed avatars keep putting links in the chain of chaos. Soon we’ll realize that desire itself may be the stickiest part of our costume. But it'll probably be too late.
Stay connected with news and updates!
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.
Don't worry, your information will not be shared.
We hate SPAM. We will never sell your information, for any reason.
