CONCLUSION Using Max Weber’s widely used concept “Disenchantment of the World” as the point of departure, we have explored the cognitive and ontological structures of what is commonly understood as belief in the supernatural. We have seen that subtleties implicit in the cognitive and philosophical dimensions of belief and faith reveal in the place of uncompromising, monolithic ideas of a supernatural deity (or deities), and beliefs therein, the distinct philosophical possibility of a dynamic, flexible, mediated, and life-conducive gamut of shifting quasi-beliefs surrounding a God-signifier whose meanings alter along an ontological continuum with the change in the experiential matrix. What are the implications of this ontological continuum for our understanding of religion in the past, present, and future? The ontological continuum raises fundamental questions concern- ing the nature of enchantment, the antithesis of Weber’s Entzauberung.If God is only a metaphorical link among coincidences, only a name for a mystery, an absorbent signifier which captures myriad concerns, some of them having very little to do with faith per se, if mythical narratives can all be euhemerized, if putative faith is a matter of mediated ontological commitment and a function of “modular cognition,” it may be seen that there is no enchantment, or only a quasi-enchantment. Such a reconcep- tualization of faith can potentially transform our understanding of reli- gious history. Given the historically partisan character of reflections on religion, it might be of interest to the reader to find which way the present © The Author(s) 2017 105 J.M. George, The Ontology of Gods, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-52359-0 106 CONCLUSION reconceptualization swings faith. Paradoxical though it might seem, these deliberations, instead of undoing faith, retrospectively place it on flexible but realistic foundations. What was long understood as superstitious supernaturalism is revealed to be part of a natural–supernatural conti- nuum. Past societies were not naïve societies. The ages of faith were not ages of naïveté. On the contrary, it turns out that religious subjects pragmatically negotiated their beliefs. Perhaps, it was less than belief but more than superstition. Conversely, it could be the case that beyond mere utilitarian perspectives and ecclesiastical prescriptivism, ordinary people were capable of greater metaphysical conceptions to the envy of institu- tional religions (and even of deities!) and to the surprise of reductive socio-psychological explanations. (The divine itself may be more complex than humans ever conceptualized!) If this hypothesis is proven true, the so-called revivals of religion may not be as dramatic as popularly assumed. Further, the understanding that religious conceptions are fluid and mediated, and have been historically relative, lends a greater-than-assumed validity to alternative conceptualizations and religious pluralism, proves conducive to inter-faith dialogue and harmony, severely undermines the possibility of religious conflict, and annuls the premises of fundamental- ism. Naturally, once we recognize our own beliefs to be based on fluid conceptions, apprehensions of incompatibility with, and hostility towards, another’s prove baseless. Once the mediated character of religious ideation and ruptures and ambiguities in its world conceptualization are revealed, the conflict between science and religion may also prove to be unfounded. Once we understand the nature of supernatural ideation entirely, cate- gories such as enchantment and disenchantment themselves may become redundant. FURTHER READING Aaron, David H. 2001. Biblical ambiguities: Metaphor, semantics, and divine imagery. 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