Well, I’m going out on a limb now. In fact it’s a very long, very thin limb. I’m going to talk about God. Or to put it better, I’m going to talk about theories on God, or Gods, and Goddesses, and more. Now before you start making the sign of the cross, or tracing hexes on your computer screen, read on. You might actually find some of this interesting.
Throughout history, there have been many figures of gods and goddesses, the most notable being the Greeks whose deities lived at the top of Mount Olympus. There of course were the Roman deities as well as the druids and the Egyptians. Mixed in here with all of these is the Christian god. Now, how many of them were truly deities? According to Christian belief (and as the highlander would say), there can be only one. According to Pagan belief (and the term Pagan enveloping all earth based religions), there are many types based on the religious beliefs. The interesting thing here is that those who follow the Pagan deities, don’t discount or condescend upon another’s beliefs. So, now to a little history (which I am learning more of as I continue to write this).
According to some beliefs, the world started in Chaos. The first gods to arise from there were called The Titans. Their leader was Cronus. They included Gaea (also known today as they old earth goddess - there are those that still worship her), Uranus, Rhea, Oceanus, Tethys, Hyperion, Mnemosyne, Themis, Iapetus, Coeus, Crius, Phoebe, Thea, Prometheus, Epimetheus, Atlas, Metis, and Dione. Cronus and Rhea had a son... Zeus. It was Zeus who waged a war against the Titans, and upon winning, banished them to Tartarus.
Next came the era of the Greek gods (called Olympians for obvious reasons) lead by Zeus. They included Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Hera, Ares, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, Hermes, Artemis, and Hephaestus. Zeus drew lots with his brothers Poseidon and Hades for parts of the earth. Hades had the worst part and ended up ruling over the dead (as the story goes). (A lot of good information can be found at http://www.hol.gr/greece/grkpg1.htm including a family tree of the gods.)
Of course, there were the Roman deities, which included Jupiter, and June (the king and queen of the gods) as well as Venus, Apollo, Mars, Diana, Minerva, Saturn, Aurora, Cupid, Ceres, Vulcan (for all you Star Trek fans) and more. Other civilizations had their deities like Babylon (Ishtar, Antu, Tiamat), Norway (Freya, Frigga, Hel, Hodur, Loki, Norns, Odin, Thor), the Celtic (Arawn, Arianhod, Bran, Branwen, Gwydion, Cuchulainn, Finn MacCool), and others.
The last group I’ll list are the Egyptians. (A good site for Egyptian deities is http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/menu.html.) Their deities included Anubis, Atum, Bastet, Bes, Geb, Hathor, Horus, Isis, Maat, Nephthys, Nut, Osiris, Ptah, Ra, Set, Shu, Tefnut, and Thoth. According to story, Osiris and Isis were a couple. Isis gave birth to Horus. Osiris was killed by his brother Set, and now rules over the dead. The people who worship the Egyptian gods consider Horus and Isis the Lord and Lady. (A good site for information on many cultures is http://www.gods-heros-myth.com/.)
Finally, we come to the Christian god, Yahweh (pronounced yah-way). According to story, Yahweh told the Hebrews that he is the one, true god. (Of course if one wanted everyone to follow them, they would say the same thing.) One website noted that because of the Hebrew spelling, Yahweh is often mispronounced as Jehovah. Another noted that the name of God is not listed anywhere in the Bible, and it is only seen by the letters which translate into English as YHVH, JHVH, or YHWH where represents the incommunicable name of God.
Now, first off, I am not putting down anyone’s beliefs. I was raised Christian in the Methodist religion. At one time, I could have been considered agnostic as I had doubts that a god existed, but wanted proof. Through the energy work I have done, I have seen proof (at least enough to quell any doubts I have) that a god does exist. In looking into the Pagan beliefs with a couple local Pagan groups, I found their belief firmly rooted in the goddess. A book I read pointed me also to view the creator as a mother rather than a father. In working energy again, I could see both a god, and a goddess. Yet while this may follow what is expected in Pagan beliefs, I felt the god I saw was truly Yahweh, while the goddess was Isis. Interesting huh? Trust me, it gets weirder.
In teaching Reiki, I teach that the Japanese word Rei means ‘God - Consciousness’. I often refer to God, Goddess, deity of your choice. In truth it takes no religion or belief. The Reiki energy comes from the Divine, whatever you believe the Divine to be.
Unlike King Richard the lionhearted, I believe in tolerance for other beliefs. I don’t believe that we should go to war because someone doesn’t worship the same as we do. Nor do I believe we should ostracize or preach down to others that don’t believe as we do. Patience and tolerance is what should be used (and sometimes I wish some people would use some, especially when they tell me that the Yahweh I look to is not the same as the Yahweh they look to, and tell me that I’m going to hell). But I have patience and tolerance for them too. Now, here’s where it starts getting stranger.
As I followed history, I saw some things that did not make sense. In the Greek mythology, Cronus and Rhea had a son, Zeus. So what that tells us is that the gods can procreate. (Holy intercourse, Batman!) This means that gods can be born. I always thought that gods, or god just was. This does bring the thought to mind of how god came to be. In the vastness of everything, to us in this very tiny corner of the universe, it may be in comprehensible.
When you follow Egyptian mythology, you see Osiris and Isis. They have a son, Horus. Now, at some point in the history, Osiris is killed by Set. Huh? Killed? A god can die? I thought gods were gods and that they could not die. Yet, somehow, if it makes sense that a god can be born, it makes sense that one can die. Or maybe these aren’t true gods. (Don’t jump on me yet.) Or maybe they are. Maybe Yahweh is right, and that he is the only true god. Or maybe Yahweh is no different from the other gods and goddesses (other than he just has better PR). Or maybe he is different. Like I said, I ask questions. I don’t put anyone down, I just ask questions.
Let’s follow a hypothesis a moment. Let’s look at one real big ‘what if’. What if all of the beings listed above were really live, living, breathing, flesh covered beings, at least at one time? And I do mean all. What if they were simply a race (or races) of advanced beings? What if they were technically advanced rather than genetically advanced? What if they were just people that were so technically advanced that the people of the time would think of them as gods? It is possible, isn’t it? They could even be space travelers from other star systems (As asked by Eric Von Daniken in ‘Chariots of the Gods).
In an episode of the original Star Trek series, Dr. McCoy wonders if some time he could beam down to a planet and declare himself the archangel Gabriel. Why would that be any different than seeing these beings and believing that they are gods? After all, our science has gotten to the point that we can duplicate just about any miracle mentioned in the bible. I said just about. I think walking on water will need to be refined a bit. (I believe that someone talented enough in energies could do this, not that I know of any that are.) I’m sure some of you will be quick to mention that we can’t raise the dead either. The problem I have with that one is that the person Jesus brought back from the dead may not have been truly dead. It just may have been judged that way by the people back then (after all they didn’t have state of the art medical equipment). (I’m not saying one way or the other. I’m just offering up alternatives.) Today’s science can create virgin births. It can also create a burning bush with tricks from the right type of optics. We can shoot lightning out of our hands in the form of a laser. Or from close up, we can use lightning to knock someone out, in the form of a tazer (or stun gun).
The point is that we have advanced technologically enough that we can understand the possibility that some of these things could be done through technology, not magic. It was said one time that things done by a sufficiently advanced race would be indistinguishable from magic. (Again keep in mind that I am not casting doubt. I am offering possibilities and with room for thought that you will use to decide which is right based on your system of belief.
Now, let’s look at this a different way. Or maybe, let’s look at what I have already brought up and take it a step further. If we use the hypothesis that these beings, these gods and goddesses were at one point living and breathing beings, then by now, they would all have died, or passed on to the spirit realm. But that does not mean they are not doing things today.
We know (or maybe I should be saying that we believe) that once a person’s soul travels to the other side, they can still come over and visit us. After all, I have felt this with Kay coming by every now and then. Since we believe that these beings were indeed gods and goddesses, our own belief adds to the power they already have giving them enormous power. (We’ve talked about this before, about the power of belief.) So, if we pray to God, and we follow the God, Yahweh, then Yahweh has tremendous power, and can affect the physical here and now. He can answer our prayers if he decides that it is right to do so. But the same is true for Horus, and Isis, and all the other beings that have been believed to be gods.
With me so far? Now let’s take one more step ‘out there’. One of the books that I read talked about The Source, as in the source of everything, or the source of all things. (This is a term that has been going around lately.) If we immediately think about this, our first thought would be that The Source is God. But maybe The Source is not what we perceive as God. Maybe The Source created the beings that we refer to as God or Goddess.
The book suggested that we could not reach The Source as it was too big and too powerful for us to be able to connect to as the tiny little beings we truly are (at least in comparison to the universe). If that is the case, then maybe we need to go to Yahweh, or Horus, or Zeus, or Isis, or Venus, or any of those I’ve listed above. Maybe what we perceive as gods and goddesses are some type of middle level management. (Now don’t read this as ‘merely’ middle level management. What they have to deal with is massive. I don’t minimize that in the least. And if this is true, they have a very important boss to report to.) Maybe we can’t reach the source from our level. Maybe our gods can, and we need to go through them to get to the source. Interesting? Maybe? Maybe not? Crazy? Possible? Thought provoking? Well, I would hope so.
I guess that the point is that from our tiny little existence, anyone sufficiently advanced could be considered a god. But maybe also that we need these gods, because they are the only way we can reach the source of all things.
It is something to ruminate on for a moment. What do I believe? I don’t know. I know there are beings out there that have helped me. I have called one God, and another Goddess, and will probably continue to do so.
What should you believe? You should believe whatever you think is right for you. Because it is, and it works. If you believe that I am full of guacamole, or some other substance, than you have that right too, and I won’t fault you for your beliefs. You have the right to believe in whatever deity, or spirit, or religion, or belief system that works for you, simply because it does. All I do is point out possibilities and give you something new to think about or not. Like I said, I just ask questions. You have to come up with your own answers.
Take care all.