The shared center — held across the tradition
The Great Being is Humanity, and most of it is dead.
Comte's object of worship is the species as a continuing organism. Since the dead outnumber the living enormously and built everything the living use, the dead are most of what is being worshipped.
Go deeper — context →
The dead govern the living.
Comte meant it as a description before a slogan: language, science, law, tools and cities are all bequests, and the living operate almost entirely inside decisions made by people they cannot consult.
Go deeper — context →