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God/dess
By CinnamonMoon
A friend of mine some of you may
know (Ambrose Hawk) sent me an email survey he was taking with
the questions: 1) Is God most high knowable? and What makes
"God a God"? I thought my answer to him was worth
posting, and perhaps we can get some philosophical perspectives
being considered here at the Lodge. This is what I sent him
in my reply:
Good Afternoon Ambrose!
What a challenging question you're
asking. Hmmmm Why am I not surprised? LOL
I agree with you that..." "God
most high" actually is knowable, in that we are beings
actually built with the design intent of coming to know and
to companion with IT. It's true that one has to deal with the
concept of "gods" applying to a large spectrum of
quite different things."
"So what makes a "god"
a "god"?"
I'm instantly reverting to thoughts
of a "god" (demi or pantheonic) as being an aspect
of Spirit personified. Spirit has many faces, many sides, being
omnipotent. To comprise the scope of that some gods manifest
for people as different attributes and symbolism of those qualities
(and faults if you're Greek!). I'm not sure that a demi-god
or pantheonic god isn't some form of Spirit Helper for a general
populace, like totems are for tribes. Since I don't deal with
pantheons in this way I don't experience the worship of gods/goddesses.
I can share with you that on Vision
Quest one time Spirit came to me. I asked to see Its face. I
was shown Cougar shapeshifting into an old man with a beard
like you would imagine Zeus to look or perhaps the Green Man.
This continued to an Indian maiden, a Gnome, Badger and on and
on...a kaleidoscope of faces melding, merging, changing and
I laughed so hard I cried. God is pure energy alpha and omega,
all things and present as essence not form. Though It can take
form at will as anything It so chooses. Therein lies part of
my answer. As Spirit that companionship and merging with it
are attainable, but only for short periods of time. The fact
of that limitation is due to such a heightened state of awareness
being required and we cannot maintain that around the clock.
We can touch it though, and we can carry that presence within
us.
Spirituality allows us to enter
into that union and be aware of it as part of that whole carrying
the life force within us to know personally a relationship based
on that union. Communication with it takes some form of ritual
to attain consciously. Thus the temporal awareness. Religion
allows worship and homage to take place.
Another form of communication. Spirituality,
IMHO, is the one on one, Religion is the masses in union guided
to obey a set of rules. The journey to explore, and the meditation
to listen to answers asked through prayer... Prayer the conversation
on our end...miracles and blessings being the answer. I'm not
sure that's what you're looking for though. Are you asking why
such an entity would be perceived as a god in the first place?
Perhaps to define that we need to see what would put someone
in that much awe as to choose that title initially. In that
way the god/dess would become
so named by the power and abilities It would demonstrate and
present to humanity.
When an entity takes on power over/greater
than that of mankind, then mankind bows to it. Worship begins
and the deity is put in place as such generally with a religious
perspective building around it and thus the worship has placement
and a following develops. The deity then takes on the attributes
of past actions relative to what people see going on beyond
their control and the power grows being fed by that worship.
In other words, in order for this
"god" to manifest it takes belief in it to create
the form of manifestation the energy/attribute/s take on. The
worship instills a deep sense of reverence, but also leads to
feeling less powerful than the deity and fear of displeasing
it would be a concern. Therein we find the awe residing. Out
of fear of displeasing this "god" and awe of Its "power/s"
the worship continues and the god/dess grows even more powerful
from that feeding. As more and more minds conceive this persona
(like any archetype) it's going to take on manifestation through
the spiritual process of thought-forms. We create them in a
sense to reflect a physical manifestation of some form of Spirit
because we cannot define Spirit on the whole in that kind of
mindset. IMHO At least that's my thoughts on it today. Have
fun with them.
Personally I see Spirit as all-encompassing
and perhaps a Spirit of Place would compare to a demi-god elsewhere?
The shamanic philosophy and path define my perceptions of God
and demi-gods, for all (to me) are one in Spirit. It's here
I can find personal communion without the ritual and creed leading
to stricture. It's my relationship for whatever that brings
to me and the path I walk in service to others. It is the Source
of all life and link to the Great Mystery of it...something
each lifeform (human or other) is related to and in this way
we are all within the body of Spirit connected through the Web
of Life. Tangible and intangible in a paradox of understanding
only an individual can define for themselves.
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Libraries
are on this row
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INDEX
Page 3
(Main Section, Medicine Wheel, Native Languages &
Nations, Symbology)
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INDEX
Page 5
(Sacred Feminine & Masculine, Stones & Minerals)
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©
Copyright: Cinnamon Moon & River WildFire Moon (Founders.)
2000-date
All rights reserved.
Site
constructed by Dragonfly
Dezignz 1998-date
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