God is a rubber band

[Tarbh Nathroch]

Hello all, After reading this you very well think I’m soft in the head, but I work a 3rd shift by my self. So, I have a lot of time in my own mind.

I was wondering how many of you believe in multiple gods and how many think there is one divine power with multiple names. As you know there are hundreds of god and goddess names. My take on this was it was just a product of so many cultures, languages and personalities trying to convey the same thing.

As I was sitting here playing with a rubber band. I realized that it was my exact idea of god. Please bear with me. Ok, One single item. It’s a rubber band, it’s an elastic. Still the same thing. It can also be a hair tie, if you shoot it it’s a missal, if you pull it tight and strum it it's a musical instrament. Still the same thing right. One item that can do so many things and be called so many names. So Horus, Jesus, Isis, Kali, etc all the same thing? I’ve always though of just one divine power. What are your thoughts?

[Lunacie]

Yeah, a rubber band, I can see that. I don't know if there is a name for this... for ways to relate the multiplicity of the Divine. But a lot of people have found a lot of ways of doing it. The first one I ever heard was ~ God is like a mirror, everyone who looks into it sees something different.

However, there are people who will adamantly claim that it is sacrilegous to say that Kali is the same as Zeus is the same as Cerridwen is the same as Allah. **shrugs** I just calls 'em "Lord and Lady" most of the time.

[singer]

I don't know that I would use a rubber band analogy, though I do like the elastic nature of it....

I tend to favor the viewpoint that says "everything of mine is a part of me, but I am not those parts" You know, my pinkie finger is a part of me and my big toe is a part of me, but I am not them, and they are not each other. They have very different functions and uses.

So, I see the different deity archetypes as having different functions, and not necessarily being one another, or the whole of divinity.

This pretty much keeps me from confusing Zeus for Isis.

I will agree that many different cultures have different names for the same divine archetype, much like some people call the same finger "little" or "pinky", or "4th"... these are all different names to identify the same part with the same function. But, I don't believe that syncretisation necessarily leads to monotheism because of the functional differentiation. This is probably why I don't try to sip from a cup of tea with my big toe extended... this simply isn't the function of my big toe, and, though it is related to the whole of me, (like all of the divine archetypes are related to the whole of divinity...) it still has a specific set of functions, among which tea sipping does not number.

For me, divinity is more than one elastic thing with many different names. But I still like the elasticity of the rubber band analogy... Maybe I should use Gumby's fingers instead of my own in order to incorporate "elasticity" as a concept? *LOL*

singer

[Flar's Freyja]

I get it and I like it. I see one deity with thousands of aspects. If you look at the Christian concept of God having over 100 names and that each name has different qualities, it's a similar perception.

[Mnemosyne]

I get the analogy. It took me a few seconds though. What can I say? I've never thought of comparing the gods to a rubber band.
I understand though. It's like the Hindu pantheon. In the Hindu pantheon, there are million of gods. Each god has different aspects.

[Tarbh Nathroch]

Mnemosyne
"I get the analogy. It took me a few seconds though. What can I say? I've never thought of comparing the gods to a rubber band."

Well, until the proper mix of boredom, fatigue and a conveniently located rubber band came together I wouldn’t have either. I really like Singers example of the body parts better. Each part having different names and functions all standing on there own, but still part of a whole. It helped me get a different view. I’m currently struggling with being pull to a heavy belief in one higher power and a strong affinity and need of certain gods/goddesses.

[Mnemosyne]

Originally posted by Tarbh Nathroch

Well, until the proper mix of boredom, fatigue and a conveniently located rubber band came together I wouldn’t have either. I really like Singers example of the body parts better. Each part having different names and functions all standing on there own, but still part of a whole. It helped me get a different view. I’m currently struggling with being pull to a heavy belief in one higher power and a strong affinity and need of certain gods/goddesses.

I understand 100% your point. I've felt like you before. You say that you are in need of certain god/desses. Is there anything that we can do to help you?

[singer]

Originally posted by Tarbh Nathroch
I’m currently struggling with being pull to a heavy belief in one higher power and a strong affinity and need of certain gods/goddesses.

Yeah... I know the feeling. I heard a seminar speaker in Minnesota once issue the opinion that, at the heart of it, all polytheists are really monotheist... (they are all looking for a unified field theory of divinity... like "the force" in Star Wars or something...) and all monotheists are really polytheists... (like the way the Catholic belief has one god, but gazillions of saints and angels...)

I don't know exactly where I am with this either...

I think that when I want personal attention, I seek specific individual deities who specialize in something ("Chronos... please stretch this minute long enough for me not to be late to work again...."), but when I want karmic guidance on those less-specific, overarching questions of life ("Just exactly what is my true path anyway???") I fall back on that old "unified field theory", which, really is pretty monotheistic...

Somehow, I think by depersonalizing the pull you speak of, I have moved it beyond the range of the mono/poly issue... so it pulls at me less... not that this is a "solution" by any means... it just keeps me quieter while I wrestle with the dichotomy. *BG*

singer

[AmbivalentMirage]

I like the thinking... ^.^

This gives me something new to consider. :)

[Armitage]

I always used the analogy of a cluster of crystals (or, thinking now, could be a bunch of grapes, too). There's a whole, and there're parts of that whole existing both as parts and as individual things in their own right.

[Tarbh Nathroch]

Originally posted by Mnemosyne

I understand 100% your point. I've felt like you before. You say that you are in need of certain god/desses. Is there anything that we can do to help you?

You're doing it by posting. Just reading other points of view is priceless. The need part has to do with...well. My wife does an Eclectic Wiccan thing totally flavored with the Celt. Being 100% Irish this is working for her very nicely. I have been doing this with her, being mostly Irish myself. I enjoy it a great deal, but certain Egyptian (sorry for not saying Kemet, No disrespect, I just grew up speaking English. I know Horus, Isis, etc isn't what they were called) just wont get out of my head or leave me alone. To the point of feeling I'm force feeding other gods to myself. I was thinking of continuing on with the Eclectic Wiccan thing and just subbing these god names for the ones we're currently using. Think this will satisfy? I know when it comes down to it I have to answer that last question myself, but still interested in opinions.

[Rainx]

Originally posted by Tarbh Nathroch
I enjoy it a great deal, but certain Egyptian (sorry for not saying Kemet, No disrespect, I just grew up speaking English. I know Horus, Isis, etc isn't what they were called)

I think if it's more comfortable to you as Egyptian you should use that term. Also, usually when someone says Kemetic people who know about Kemeticism think they meant Egyptian Paganism - as in, the ethics, principles, beliefs, and practices of Egyptian Paganism, not just working with the Gods. You can easily do Wiccan rituals and call on the Egyptian Gods though.

Another term to know is Tameran, Ta-mery was the Kemetic word for "beloved land". Tameran is basically "Kemetic Wicca", or, Egyptian Paganism mixed in with Wicca. If you really get into Kemeticism but want to stick with Wiccan rituals you might sometime call yourself Tameran.

I tend to waffle on this - usually I say I'm Kemetic because I'm taking classes on Kemeticism and am very interested in Aset, Asar, and the Gods as they were in Kemet (rather then Isis, Osiris, and as they are in "Egypt"). But then I'm still kinda Wiccan, and interested in other stuff too, so I might say I'm Tameran too. Hard to say.

[lovepoet]

I feel my credulity stretched beyond its elastic limit here!

:shaker:

[Sylv]

Hmmm-I have a question about the body part theory, lol. Would you say that each human could be analogous to a body part with the body being humanity or not?
Tarbh Nathroch (btw, what does your nick mean for the poor, unenlightened non-Celt, lol?), you asked for our takes as well. So here's mine.
First of all, I believe at the basic level everything is created by energy. So while I might not call it a unifying force, that's what I think everything has in common. Now on to my view of one god/many gods.
I don't think there is one divine and many faces. Definitely not. I think that there are different gods (I'm not sure how many), though probably not as many as have been worshipped. Instead, I think each of these beings probably 'hang out' in more than one culture (wouldn't you be bored always seeing the same people?) and when they're in different cultures they have different names. However, they keep their personalities. So I guess my view is a mix of both. :D

Being 100% Irish this is working for her very nicely.
*laugh* I'm always jealous of people who have one country in their background. I'm such a mutt-1/4 German, 1/8 French, 1/8 Polish, and the other half of me is a mix of Irish, Scottish, English, and maybe a but more German. I think that's why I had to create my own pantheon-I can't think of myself as anything but American.

To the point of feeling I'm force feeding other gods to myself.
If that's how you feel, you should probably trust your gut. It's not fair to you or the gods to feel forced to pray to them-you lose out on that special relationship.

[Myrddyn Emrys]

All are one, many faces.

Look at an exquisetly cut, flawless diamond. One diamond, but with many facets that each reflect the light in different ways, yet is still a part of the whole.

Myrddyn Emrys

[Emerald Oak]

Doesn't a rubber band snap if you stretch it too far? And don't they come in many different sizes and colors?

Hear me out on this one. The fact that they stretch too far and snap is symbolic of how fanatics have a tendency to distort a religion so they'll have a reason to hate other people... IE, they stretch it out so far that it is ruined, it snaps.

As for the colors and sizes... For those of you who didn't catch this one immediately, those differences represent the different sizes and colors of the various religions on this planet. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Wicca... They all have their own color and size.

Wow, rubber bands are good for philosophizing. How is it...? "Rubberbandtheology?"

My Latin sucks :p

[Tarbh Nathroch]

Nice, Excellent direction with that last post.

[Myrddyn Emrys]

Originally posted by Emerald Oak

"Rubberbandtheology?"



Naw, try "Elastomeric Ring Theology"
:nyah:

Myrddyn Emrys